 Pablo Etchevers  Dirección de Turismo de la Paz
Those who love swimming, cycling and running have the perfect excuse to gather at the City of La Paz every year. The triathlon includes it all. |
Every year, on the third weekend of January, one interesting activity stands out both in the national and in the international sphere.
What It Is About
The City of La Paz International Triathlon, as it has come to be called, has managed to gather sportsmen from all over the country and the world for over 20 years to compete within an environment of unusual politeness and companionship.
This competition has acquired an identity of its own and has succeeded in getting the city, including its institutions and its people, to devote entirely to this event. |
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The triathlon is one of the most important competitions in the country and one of the three most important in this specialty.
In order to complete the race, competitors swim along 2,200 meters, cycle along 40 kilometers and run a 10-kilometer marathon. The winner is the one who manages to do all this in the shortest time possible.
Since 2006, the event has been considered as an ITU class Continental Event. Its score will be valid for the Pekín Olimpic Games classification, as well as in the PATCO Panamerican Ranking. These acronyms are familiar for all those who are immersed in this kind of competition.
A Little History
The first triathlon organized in the Argentinian littoral area took place in February 10, 1985 and set the beginning of this tradition of La Paz that has been in force for over 20 years. |
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A group of local inhabitants had a brilliant idea. They copied some of the images of a sports program that had a great success in Argentina (El Deporte y el Hombre) and did something similar but in their own city. Thus, a brief notice in the local newspaper, called El Paceño, invited “the most daring” to take part in the event. And the first time, the most daring were less than twenty. However, years later, urban legends and popular myths have multiplied the number quite significantly.
The winner of the first issue was Antonio Domínguez from La Paz. He got to the 25 de Mayo main square while the entire town was waiting to see who would cross the finishing line first and salute him as a hero.
In 1990, the Triathlon Argentinian Federation determined that the national calendar would be reduced to only 5 of the 40 events already existing. La Paz was counted among the chosen ones, which represented a remarkable growth for this activity in the city and in the Province of Entre Ríos.
The triathlon managed to turn into one of the typical images when talking about the City of La Paz and it summons a real crowd at the city harbor, in its streets and its hills every summer, who follow the sportsmens' steps with joy. |
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The date chosen for the triathlon is the third weekend in January. Therefore, it is essential to make accommodation reservations in advance. Nevertheless, the various campsites in the area are good alternatives when hotel vacancies are complete. One of them is El Eucaliptal, which has extraordinary surroundings opposite the Paraná River.
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