The Southman from within, the Triathlon that climbs Mount Teide, perhaps the hardest test in the world

Probably the hardest non-competitive triathlon on the planet 

Cristina Loring, coach of Rebook Sports Club la Finca where she is a coach of the high performance section and collaborator of Triathlon News, she tells us about her experience in Southman, non-competitive triathlon considered by its organizer, Trystrong, one of the toughest on the planet.

Trystrong organizer of the Triathlon Ball of the World and the Sierra Nevada Triathlon has always brought us hard and spectacular tests and on this occasion has organized a non-competitive event, which Cristina has lived from within and he tells us in the following chronicle, we hope you like it.

"Trystrong says that it is possibly the toughest triathlon in the world.

 For me it was, put my body and my mind to the limit, but I think I got over it, because as a good triathlete I am very stubborn and even being the only 7 girl that we dared to do this first edition I knew I would not quit.

This test is not available to the majority, it requires a lot of training and even then you may not finish it as it happened to me. Height puts you to the test, and I am sure that if I did not train in hypoxia I could not have climbed the Teide (3.718 m height).

Personally I fell in love with triathlon for this type of tests, I was a city girl and the only time where I approached nature was when I escaped on weekends to compete in different places with tours near the sea, lakes, swamps ... It was my moment of happiness.

With the new regulations you have to limit the cycling circuit perfectly and you end up feeling like a little mouse circling, besides instead of fighting against yourself and the adversities of nature you find yourself competing with 2.000 people, in a bad mood shouting at the next one so he does not do drafting and fighting for a shirt with a logo that is no longer original because they have the 90% of the triathletes who make long distance.

The Southman is a unique test that takes you away from all the nonsense regulations of triathlon, in this test you will not get a yellow card, they trust you and your conscience.

What I liked the most is the closeness of the organizers and at the same time the philosophy of ... "With your means you can". You need to bring a mandatory suporter that will follow you by car on the bike circuit and will run with you. This is a great advantage because you decide what you want in each moment, whether sweet or salty, whether cold or hot, I could change clothes on the bike something key to be able to continue without having a bad time or being uncomfortable, this is not what you have an Ironman with conventional regulations.

They were 3.800m of crossing from one beach to another in a straight line without turning, I had never done a tour like that without having to turn a buoy hitting me with a bunch of triathletes to continue, maybe that's why it was my best partial water in an Ironman

We were following a team of jet skis and a motorboat with good reference and without any problem. The water was calm and warm, the easiest part of what awaited us.

Upon leaving the water they prepared a spectacular refreshment that our companions enjoyed more than us. My suporter helped me to change and get my bike, 160km with 5.000 of positive height was waiting for us, going up twice to the Teide, one on the south side and another one on the north side.

Most of the time you spend biking is going up, so you have time to enjoy the landscape of great volcanoes and the breathtaking views on top of the Teide where you feel you are going through the clouds. A unique circuit that runs through the island, recently paved roads and very little traffic. 

I arrived at the race at dusk, a hot soup and some tortilla gave me the strength to continue, the race is pure trail, 40km with 2.000 unevenness, the first 10km are hard and it seems that you are not advancing, it is the climb to Teide (3.500m ).

We arrived at night and did not want to go down, I had never seen so many stars together, it seemed that we were in space, I had to stop for a while to enjoy them. Although to 3.500 of height the yield diminishes, and with the accumulated fatigue I had signs of height that made me pass difficult moments where I had to fight with all my strength to keep going, in the end the organization forced me to take a more visible downhill path and marked because the triathletes who had passed in front of me had been lost several times and it was already very late, the route they designed was a real challenge of orientation at night in the mountains, finally I ended with 35km of mountain having climbed the Teide but with I wish I could have completed the official tour.

Bittersweet taste for me in this sense that I'll have to take it off by repeating it another year, but even so I finally left happy for the great adventure I had lived. I fell in love with triathlon again. "

More information: https://www.southmanxtremetriathlon.es/