THE 'NEARLY' (BUT NOT) EXTREME RACES

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Now and again we get "Why don't we list this race?". These are usually great races but we have to draw the line somewhere with our criteria and focus. See the previous page for the simplified criteria guide, and we also hold a far more detailed design criteria. And if the criteria scoring for a new race is close then our Global Advisory Team vote, usually with the simple question: "Does it feel like an adventure?". 

 Here's some of the 'nearly but not' races we don't list (but are all great) ... 

• Hilly bikes, flattish 'urban' runs - There's several such races, e.g. Embrunman, Triathlon des Gorges, Triathlon des Pyrenees, Montblanc, Natureman VAR, Ventouxman, and even Alpe d'Huez.
• Toroman, Spain - Fantastic off-road challenge but just too ultra, i.e. 3 day event with planned sleep. We have one or two ultra(ish) races we do list, but that's usually because we have a 'single' full distance option, e.g. Brutals and Kiwiman, and sleep is optional in the x2 and x3 Brutals. Who knows, we may list all 'Ultra Extremes' in the future.
• Olympic (and sprint) distance races - Who knows, we may actively promote these in the future like we did Halfs back in 2020. But we do want to avoid confusion with Xterra, and respect our 'long tough races' origin. Some of our listed races do have these options, which we do show. There's also the Steiraman X-treme Triathlon (2200hm over 51km), but no, we don't list it, or maybe not yet!

Yes, these are all great races, but we have to draw the line somewhere.