Racing to Make Comeback in Rotterdam with SLT Arena Games

Jul 17, 2020 | supertri

Super League Triathlon announced yesterday the first major professional triathlon event of 2020 through a trailblazing new concept.

The SLT Arena Games will make its debut in the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands, on 23 August 2020.

Developed as part of a new partnership between Super League Triathlon and Zwift, the global online training and racing platform, the SLT Arena Games will deliver exciting racing to fans across the globe through the first esports competition to legitimately feature the three disciplines of triathlon: swim, bike, and run.

The racing will closely follow Super League’s groundbreaking Triple Mix format where the athletes compete in three rounds of short and unpredictable racing, with the order of the disciplines altered each time. However, in a first for the sport, the SLT Arena Games will bring together real life and virtual racing and provide an immersive viewing experience that allows fans to get up close and personal with the best triathletes in the world and enjoy live power, speed and heart rate data from Zwift. Athletes will also be racing for a cash prize to add extra incentive to race at full throttle throughout.

The swim segment will take place in an Olympic-sized swimming pool and the bike and run legs completed using Tacx smart trainers and self-powered treadmills poolside. The power and speed of the athletes will be turned into a visual race on the Zwift platform.

The venue set-up, hosted by Rotterdam’s futuristic Zwemcentrum, is designed to allow for competition while also observing social distancing regulations.

Super League Triathlon has recruited the biggest names in the sport with ten women and ten men competing, including Olympic medallists and world stars currently headquartered in Europe: Jonathan Brownlee (Great Britain), Richard Murray (South Africa), Jonas Schomburg (Germany), Cassandre Beaugrand (France), Taylor Spivey (USA) and Rachel Klamer (Netherlands). Both men’s and women’s fields will feature one Dutch rookie as wildcard — an incredible opportunity to test themselves against the very best.

The SLT Arena Games were born out of Super League Triathlon’s aspiration to be immersive and drive emotion, and how to make use of technology to show the athletes’ wattage, heart rate, and speeds to create insight for the fans into how much effort goes into the racing.

Early conversations with Zwift were targeted for the long-term future to become part of what Super League does. With the emergence of COVID-19 the concept was fast-tracked and implemented. The SLT Arena Games is envisioned not as a one-off, but to become a standalone series and deliver something new and innovative for the sport the way Super League Triathlon always has.

The event will be broadcast globally, including free on superleaguetriathlon.com.

For more information, visit the SLT Arena Games Rotterdam event page.

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