This competition is part of the worldwide Challenge series with triathlon competitions over the long and half distance.
The long distance consists of a swimming distance of 3.86 km, a cycling stage of 180 km and a marathon (42.195 km), which are held one after the other. On January 20, 2007, the first Challenge was held here after the Challenge Roth (since 2002).
In July 2015 it was announced that the next edition on February 20, 2016, the Challenge Wanaka would host the New Zealand Ultra Distance National Championships and prize money of NZ $ 80,000 . The race was held for the tenth time in 2016.
In 2018, a parallel race over the middle distance was held and for the first time there was an aquabike race this year. The last event was on February 14, 2020.
Route
The swimming distance is two laps in Lake Wanaka .
The bike course starts in Wanaka, runs in one lap past the three lakes Lake Wanaka, Lake Dunstan and the small glacial lake Lake Hāwea to Cromwell, from where it goes back to Wanaka.
The running route lasts two laps and finally ends in Albert Town .
Winners list
Long distance
3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling and 42.195 km running
New Zealander Dougal Allan holds the course record : In February 2017, with a winning time of 8:26:38 h, he repeated his success from the previous year and again undercut the course record.
For women, the course record has also been held since 2017 by the Dutchman Yvonne van Vlerken , who achieved the record time of 9:15:44 h on her second win here.
In addition to the long-distance race, a half- or middle-distance race has been held here since 2010:
1.9 km swimming, 90 km cycling and 21.1 km running