Inaugural Cross Tri Mixed Team Relay World Championships

Snowy Mountains – Cross Triathlon Mixed Team Relay made it’s debut at the 2016 Cross Triathlon World Championships with Australia taking Gold and Bronze and New Zealand Silver.

But it wasn’t all about the places and medals it was more about getting this fantastic Cross Tri format off the ground at a World Championships, Switzerland with only 5 athletes in total at the world champs fielded a team along with Japan, Belgium, Netherlands, Great Britain, Canada, 2 teams from the USA, New Zealand and Australia.

International Triathlon Union Results – Cross Triathlon Mixed Team Relay

With so few countries able to field 4 Elite athletes at the Cross Tri World Champs the composition of teams was modified to enable many more countries to enter. The final format agreed with the ITU that enabled 13 teams to enter was:

  • Each team must include 2 male athletes + 2 female athletes,
  • A maximum of one Male Elite/U23 competitor,
  • A maximum of one Female Elite/U23 competitor,
  • The remaining places are to be filled by age group athletes,
  • Where a country does not have a male and/or female Elite/U23 competitor those places may be filled by age group athletes meaning that the entire team can be comprised of age group athletes.

With Cross/Off-road Triathlon growing in popularity we really hope that this format remains accessible to every country to enter a team at next years Cross Triathlon World Championships, more teams means a greater spectacle and Australia has the inaugural Gold to defend.

The full results are available here: Mixed Team Relay with links to all the photos from the weekend.

DirtTri Magazine were at the event and provided the following write up after speaking with a lot of the athletes involved:

The 2016 ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships hosted the first ever Cross Triathlon Mixed Team Relay. The event, comprised of four athletes, two females and two males, representing their home country, saw each athlete complete a super sprint triathlon back to back to back to back. Twelve teams from eight nations took part in a unique version of this event, with teams being comprised of both elites and age group athletes (typically it is elite only or age group only). The event went off without a hitch on the final day at Lake Crackenback, in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. Spectators were treated to fast paced, action filled entertainment and the athletes themselves were absolutely abuzz about it afterwards…

“I would love to see this event at every race!” — Jan Pyott from Team Switzerland

Read the Full Story from DirtTri HERE

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