Germany to host XTERRA Short Track and European Championship Races

The XTERRA European Championship returns to Zittau, Germany for an action-packed weekend of full distance and televised Short Track off-road triathlon racing on Friday and Saturday, August 20th & 21st.

It’s the 12th time XTERRA has raced around Olbersdorfer Lake on the edge of Zittau, a historic town near the Polish and Czech borders, and the fourth time it’s hosted the EU Championship.

What is new this year is the adrenaline-filled XTERRA Short Track race onFriday afternoon featuring the sports fastest off-roaders going shoulder-to-shoulder in an exciting prelude to Saturday’s full distance showdown.

As the name suggests, XTERRA Short Track is a fast, multi-lap, made-for-TV event combining two 200-meter swim laps with an exit in-between, four 1.5km mountain bike laps complete with jumps and berms, and two 1.3km run loops.  Winning times are expected to be in the 30-40 minute range.

Saturday’s XTERRA European Championship combines a 1.5km swim, 37km single loop mountain bike, and 10km trail run. The entire elite fieldwill take part in both events, with a $7,500 USD purse up for grabs on Friday’s Short Track spectacle, and $25,000 USD on the line on Saturday.

The men’s elite race stars include 2019 XTERRA European ChampionArthur Serrieres who has already won four full-distance XTERRA races this year, his friend and rival Arthur Forissier – the reigning ITU Cross Tri World Champwho has won both XTERRA Short Track events so far this season, 7x World Champ Ruben Ruzafa, the uprising Maxim Chane fresh off full-distance wins at XTERRA France and Italy-Scanno, Short Track speedsters Jens Emil Slot Neilsen and Lukas Kocar, and home country legend Jens Roth.

The women’s field is equally impressive with reigning XTERRA European Champ Morgane Riou, 5x XTERRA European Tour Champ Helena Karaskova-Erbenova, 2019 XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour Champ Carina Wasle, and five elite women who have won an XTERRA major or Short Track race this season including Loanne Duvoisin (Garda ST + Czech full winner), Sandra Mairhofer (Scanno full), Solenne Billoin (France + Belgium full), Marta Menditto (Czech ST), and Eleonora Peroncini (Switzerland full).