(Quebec) The arrival of the Challenge series in the capital in 2024 is a golden opportunity for Quebec City to become an international triathlon destination, in the same way as Mont-Tremblant, believes Bruno Marchand.
“We are working on twisted scenarios for the course,” said the mayor of Quebec in front of an audience gathered Tuesday to announce the arrival of Challenge Family in Quebec.
The Challenge brand represents Ironman’s main competitor in the long-distance triathlon niche. As La Presse announced on Tuesday, the first edition of the SAIL Challenge Cap Québec will take place from July 19 to 21, 2024.
Organizer Dominique Piché said Tuesday that it was Challenge who contacted him after his departure in 2022 from the Ironman Mont-Tremblant organization. The former race director of the Ironman and the Montreal Marathon did not foresee this “second chance”.
“Since 2016, I have been watching Quebec. There is a question of timing. When the Port of Quebec gave back access to swimmers, with the current mayor and then the interest of Challenge, this company which has family values… Everything happened at the same time. I asked myself, “Am I jumping on this adventure again?” I said yes. »
The organizer has already started to imagine the different routes. The plan is that swimming will take place in the Louise basin of the Port of Quebec, cycling on the Dufferin-Montmorency highway to the falls of the same name and running in Old Quebec.
Discussions are taking place with the Ministry of Transportation to see if the underused highway could be closed to traffic in the morning this July weekend.
Dominique Piché does not hide the fact that he dreams of one day presenting a full distance triathlon in Quebec, perhaps even as early as 2025 if all goes well. The Ironman Mont-Tremblant organization announced this summer that it was abandoning the full distance (3.8 km of swimming, 180 km of cycling and 42.2 km of running) to concentrate on the half.
“It touched me that full distance was leaving Quebec. I was very sad, says Mr. Piché. We need full distance in Quebec. We will evaluate it after the first year. I hope there will be full distance here in Quebec one day. »
Challenge Family represents Ironman’s main competitor in the long distance triathlon scene. The organization no longer had any races in North America after presenting up to 14 annually around fifteen years ago.
“That was before I came to this position. But from what I know, we had difficulty finding the right partners. Our head office is in Europe. Unfortunately it didn’t always go well. So we decided to take a step back and wait for the right opportunity to come back,” explains Jort Vlam, CEO of Challenge Family.
Quebec City therefore represents a return to North America for Challenge. Already, the organizers expect to attract between 1,500 and 2,000 athletes, a third of them from outside Quebec.
“I dream of participating in it. But you have to reconcile vacations and family,” said Mayor Bruno Marchand, a fairly gifted Sunday athlete who even participated in two duathlon world championships, in 2018 and 2019.
“Swimming for me is a problem,” admitted the mayor, who recounted once completing the swimming portion of a triathlon hanging from an official’s kayak. “So I could see myself doing the long distance as a team, with a teammate who swims.”
