Morning endurance fans…

Saturday’s here – and it’s shaping up to be a right cracker of a weekend.

Start lists are stacked, race calendars are firing, and across triathlon, marathon and cycling, the action is coming thick and fast. From early-season showdowns to big statements waiting to be made, this weekend has all the ingredients for something special.

So grab a coffee, get comfortable and settle in – here’s what to watch as another huge few days of endurance sport unfold. 🏊‍♂️🚴‍♂️🏃‍♂️

🏊‍♀️ LCB BID: She may be out injured and unavailable when it comes to triathlon, but could the reigning IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion, Lucy Charles-Barclay, make a late dash to qualify as a Commonwealth Games swimmer? Read HERE.

😅 STACKED: Another incredible field of top-class athletes has been announced for the IRONMAN 70.3 at Oceanside later this month, as full-distance world champions Solveig Løvseth and Casper Stornes start their seasons. Read HERE.

🏆 RUNNING MAN: Former elite runner Hugo Milner is back on the triathlon trail as he looks to put a year of fitness frustrations behind him and discover some form ahead of a new season in the multi-discipline format. Read HERE.

❌ CANCELLED: This weekend’s Tenerife Bluetrail by UTMB has been cancelled because of severe weather warnings for the Canary Islands, with star athlete Courtney Dauwalter rerouting to the Ultra Trail Chianti Castles by UTMB. Read HERE.

🤔 RE-THINK: The ‘Hardest Geezer’ Russ Cook has admitted a temporary defeat in his quest to run the London Marathon in a sub-2:30 time and has instead set himself a new target for next month’s race. Read HERE.

The second IRONMAN Pro Series event of the season sees a mouthwatering line-up of athletes arrive in Geelong this weekend for what promises to be a titanic battle of triathlon greats.

Kat Matthews (GBR) leads the women’s field, fresh from her opening win at IRONMAN New Zealand and eager to get more early points on the board as she looks to defend the Pro Series crown that she won so handsomely last year.

The likes of Tamara Jewett (CAN), Grace Thek (USA), Milan Agnew (AUS) and Nina Derron (SUI) are all lined up to challenge her.

Excitement over the men’s race has been almost at fever pitch ever since the start list was announced, and the mouthwatering prospect of seeing Hayden Wilde (NZL), Kristian Blummenfelt (NOR), and Jelle Geens (BEL) do battle was first revealed.

As three of the biggest names in triathlon, they arrive in Geelong as champions in their own right from last season, with Wilde winning the T100, Blummenfelt taking the Pro Series, and Geens snatching the 70.3 World Championship.

There is also history between them all, with Geens having overhauled Blummenfelt to win his 70.3 title last year and doing pretty much the same to Wilde in the same race a year earlier.

This one simply cannot be missed. 🍿

The opening race of the T100 season saw American Taylor Knibb overhaul T100 rookie Jess Fullagar on the Gold Coast of Australia this morning.

Short-course specialist Fullagar was making her debut at the distance but never once looked out of place as she was first to exit the choppy seas of Surfers Paradise and then led for large parts of the bike leg before Knibb closed in.

Knibb, the 2024 T100 champion, took the lead with 33km to go on the bike, and took a 1:17 advantage into the run over Fullagar, who never gave up in her pursuit of the outrageously talented American.

The British athlete was, however, forced to settle for second place, as Knibb eased to a comfortable win, with Switzerland’s Imogen Simmonds in third.

🥇 Taylor Knibb (USA) – 03:27:53
🥈 Jess Fullagar (GBR) – 03:28:53
🥉 Imogen Simmonds (SUI) – 03:33:11

Gemma Hillier-Moses returns to Chianti Ultra Trail by UTMB this week, 12 months on from putting herself in the spotlight when winning the 73km race.

That was the British runner’s first UTMB World Series win, and while the memories from that day in Tuscany are still vivid, she will face a very different challenge this time around as she tackles the full 120km distance in the Ultra Trail Chianti Castles – the longest race she has ever attempted.

Hillier-Moses, who is coached by her husband Lewis Moses, heads to Italy in superb form after beginning the year with victory in the Arc of Attrition 50 to continue her impressive upward trajectory.

The stunning streets of Rome will host the latest big-city European marathon this weekend as a sell-out field of 36,000 starts on the Via dei Fori Imperiali under the shadow of the Colosseum before embarking on a tour of such historical sites as the Piazza di Spagna, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Saint Peter's, and the Piazza Venezia before finishing at Circo Massimo.

The race starts at 8am local time (07:00 UK; 03:00 East Coast US; 02:00 Central US; 00:00 Pacific US), and you can follow the action on the official Run Rome YouTube page by clicking HERE.

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Britain’s Tom Pidcock (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) took victory in the Milano-Torino one-day race this week after powering away from the front runners on the final climb to the line.

That leading group included former Slovenian winner Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), who came in third, just behind runner-up Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility) – the Norwegian crossing the line four seconds behind Pidcock. Defending champion Isaac Del Toro (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) was not riding.

The 174km 1.Pro race, founded in 1876 and known as the oldest cycling race in the world, marked the Briton's second victory of the year, following his stage win in the Vuelta a Andalucía last month.

For a full report on the race, go to Cycling Weekly, HERE.

It is an argument which has raged for many a year; what is the toughest of all the endurance sports?

Runners, cyclists, triathletes and swimmers around the world have, no doubt, all had their say on the subject – each of them convinced that their particular discipline carries the badge of honour, singling it out as THE hardest of them all.

Crossover is, of course, commonplace across the challenges of endurance, with many athletes starting off in a single discipline before moving on to try their luck at triathlon or duathlon and just as many going the other way, having decided to focus on their one favoured pursuit.

But actually agreeing on which is the toughest? That has been a conundrum which has constantly split athletes, with no side seemingly willing to give any ground in their argument.

Now, one man who has spent the last five years competing in a race that many believe to be the ‘ultimate test’ of endurance is planning to spend 2026 trying some of them out to, maybe, finally come up with the definitive answer.

Canadian cyclist Michael Woods first raced in the Tour de France back in 2019; he won Stage 9 of the 2023 edition and retired from professional cycling at the end of last season when he crossed his last ever finishing line in Paris.

A winner of the Milano-Torino in 2019, Woods’s career also saw him win bronze in the UCI Road World Championships (2018), win two stages of the Vuelta a España (2020 & 2024), and compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where he finished fifth in the road race.

As a promising middle-distance runner before he started looking for success in the saddle, the now-39-year-old has always had a thirst for extreme endurance sports, and upon his retirement from cycling, he has targeted a series of events which he has called ‘Way to Race’.

Having already taken part in a gravel race in Spain and two SKIMO (ski-mountaineering) events – one in Andorra and the other at the Pierra Menta in France – his calendar will now include a series of road and gravel bike races before lining up for IRONMAN Lake Placid on July 19, the Leadville Trail 100 MTB on August 15, and – provided he qualifies – the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona on October 10.

Explaining the concept on his website, he writes: “I’m a firm believer that one of the most beautiful things you can do in life is challenge yourself. Fifteen years ago, I did that in cycling, and the years that followed proved to be some of the most exciting and fulfilling years of my life.

“Now, at 39, I feel as though, physically, I have a few more years left in the tank. I want to challenge myself again. I want to put myself outside of my comfort zone and try to compete in and against the best endurance athletes across a range of disciplines. Therefore, I present to you ‘Way to Race’.

“In collaboration with Ventum Bikes and some amazing sponsors, over the course of 2026, I will be taking on a range of endurance disciplines: triathlon, gravel, MTB marathon, and skimo. The aim is to see how, after 15 years of building an aerobic base in one sport, I stack up against the best endurance athletes across a number of disciplines.

“Pierra Menta, Ironman, Leadville, Unbound, and many other events will feature on my calendar. Will my body hold up to the test of an Ironman? How does a World Tour pro stack up in the social media/influencer world of privateers? Is the Tour actually the world’s hardest endurance event?

“These are just a few of the questions I hope to answer during 2026.”

So, over to you, Michael… the endurance world will be watching.

While it is unlikely that many of us will ever get the opportunity to test our endurance skills by competing in the Tour de France, there are plenty of other races and events around the world which are open to us amateur athletes and which offer up the kind of test that can make even the strongest of legs and arms wobble.
After much discussion, the Daily Split team has come up with this gut-busting dirty dozen of endurance challenges… do let us know what you think is missing.

The women took being centre stage for Saturday’s opening race of the T100 Triathlon World Tour event rather too literally when the official photoshoot was held on the Gold Coast this week.

Admittedly, they were somewhat egged on by the T100 crew, who instigated the Pick a Pose Challenge with some truly comical results.

Our favourite was Sara Perez Sala, who clearly has some Spanish Salsa in her veins.

As we edge ever deeper into the new triathlon season, it is a fair bet that many among you reading this will be preparing for your first-ever race… and we understand that anxiety and tension levels might be starting to rise.

However, do not fret, because the Daily Split is here to help you with this Complete Beginners’ Guide to your first triathlon.

Swimming, cycling and running all in one race sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? However, the good news is that with the right approach, it’s far more achievable than most people think. This guide breaks everything down step by step, from choosing your first race to what gear you actually need and how to train. If you’re starting from zero, this will give you a clear, realistic path to the finish line.

For beginners, the challenge isn’t just taking on each of the disciplines but also learning how to combine all three into one continuous effort – making sure you have the right gear, know how to transition, and have the right nutrition and training behind you.

The first decision you make is also one of the most important – choosing the right race distance. For most beginners, a sprint triathlon is the ideal starting point. It’s challenging enough to feel like a real achievement, but short enough to prepare for in a manageable timeframe.

If you’re completely new to endurance sports, a Super Sprint can be an even better introduction. On the other hand, jumping straight into longer distances like Olympic or 70.3 often leads to a tougher first experience than necessary.

‼️ REMEMBER: The goal of your first triathlon isn’t to push limits — it’s to finish strong and enjoy the process.

One of the biggest misconceptions about triathlon is that you need a lot of expensive gear. In reality, you can start with very basic equipment.

Here’s what you actually need to get you through your first race:

As you gain experience, you can upgrade your gear, but for your first triathlon, the focus should be on consistency and preparation – not equipment.

‼️ REMEMBER: Keep it simple and focus on what matters: getting to the start line and feeling confident about yourself.

Training for your first triathlon doesn’t need to be scientific. The key is consistency across all three disciplines rather than trying to push too hard in one area.

A simple weekly structure might include:

‼️ REMEMBER: The goal isn’t to train like a professional. It’s to get comfortable moving between swim, bike and run while building steady endurance.

Race day can feel intense, but knowing what to expect makes a big difference.

You’ll usually arrive early to set up your transition area – laying out your bike, shoes and gear so everything is easy to access. The race then follows the same order every time: swim, bike, run.

Transitions are part of the race, so moving efficiently between disciplines is important, but for your first triathlon, the focus should be on staying calm and organised.

If you get stuck on something, then always ask; there are volunteers and marshals operating at every race, and they are there to support and assist you… Don’t be shy.

‼️ REMEMBER: Expect nerves at the start – that’s completely normal. Once you begin, things settle quickly.

A few simple tips can make your first triathlon much smoother:

‼️ REMEMBER: Your first triathlon is about learning and building confidence. Once you’ve done one, everything becomes much easier.

This is Dominik Stroh, an athlete and content creator who made his name earlier this year by running a 5k in a plane toilet during an 11-hour flight.

Well, he is at it again; only this time, he completed his 5k run in the toilet of a train during a five-hour journey. Despite the efforts of the guard to get him to come out, he confirmed the 5k was completed by posting his Strava!!!!

We just hope there was nobody waiting to use the facilities… 🚾 🚽

Together, we go the distance. — @247_endurance 🏃‍♂️🚴‍♀️🏊‍♂️