What Distance Is An Ultra-Triathlon?

What Distance Is An Ultra-Triathlon? - Fitness Health

 What Distance Is An Ultra-Triathlon?

An ultra-triathlon, as the name suggests, is a very long distance triathlon. The term ultra-triathlon refers to the three events that have a distance greater than the events of the ironman triathlon. Therefore, this insinuates the fact that each ultra-triathlon should have more than 2.4 miles of swimming, a whole marathon which means 26.2 miles of running, and 112 miles of cycling for it to be classified as an ultra-triathlon. 

A standard triathlon involves the three components; running, cycling, and swimming in a particular consecutive order. However, this isn't the case in an ultra-triathlon. The three disciplines can be included in any order. In fact, they can even be in consecutive multiple individual triathlons held on consecutive days.

The different ultra-triathlons

There are several distances in ultra-triathlons. These are:

  • Double ultra-triathlon
  • Triple ultra-triathlon
  • Quadruple ultra-triathlon
  • Quintuple ultra-triathlon
  • Deca ultra-triathlon
  • Double deca ultra-triathlon
  • Triple deca ultra-triathlon

Double ultra-triathlon

In this type of ultra-triathlon, competitors have to swim for a total of 965.6 m. This means that he or she has to swim eight laps, each of 4.8 miles. Biking, on the other hand, in this competition, has to be done for a total of 224 miles. This means that 37 laps, each of 5.96 miles have to be covered on a bike by the participation. This distance does not include the portion present at the start of the biking competition. The participant has to run for a total of 52.4 miles which is 26 laps, each of 2.015 miles. 

The total time that each participant has is 36 hours, and to qualify for this ultra-triathlon, a participant has to be older than 21 years and should have taken part either in a full distance triathlon or he or she must have similar other prominent accomplishments. 

Triple ultra-triathlon

In this ultra-triathlon, athletes are supposed to swim a total of 456 laps. Each lap is 25 meters which mean that the total distance that athletes have to cover through swimming is 11,400 meters. As for biking, each participant has to bike for a total of 146 laps where each lap is of 3.7 km. Lastly, for the running part of the competition, participants have to run for a total of 40 laps, and each lap covers a distance of 3.165 km. 

The time that the participants have for this ultra-triathlon is 60 hours. To take part in this competition, participants should have participated either in an Ironman triathlon or any other similar event which is comparable to the Ironman triathlon. 

Quintuple ultra-triathlon

The quintuple ultra-triathlon involves swimming for 19km where each lap is 50 meters while the course for the biking component is usually flat and runs for a total of 900km. Each lap for the cycling event is 9 km long. Participants are expected to run laps of 1.25 km for a total of 211 km. 

The time limit that participants have for this competition is a total of 153 hours which basically equals to 6.4 days. Athletes who want to take part in this competition should have completed either an Ironman competition, an ultra-triathlon competition or other similar comparable races. 

Deca ultra-triathlon

The deca ultra-triathlon and the quintuple ultra-triathlon are quite similar regarding the distance of each lap in the three components. The qualification details for the two competitions is also quite similar. 

However, the total distance for biking, swimming, and running varies. In a deca ultra-triathlon, the total distance that a competitor is expected to run is 422 km, while the distance that should be covered on the bike equals to 1800 km and the swimming distance is 38 km. 

 

 

 

 

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