Water Fire Triathlon Extreme Etna: Course, Elevation & Route Profile

Course & Elevation

The start is at 05:00 at the Lido Lorenzina in Taormina. The 4.2 kilometres run first towards Capo Taormina and then along the coast to Giardini Naxos; yellow and orange buoys stay on your right, boats and canoes escort the field, and every swimmer is given a luminous tow float. In October the water is usually around 20 degrees, a wetsuit is compulsory, and below 14 degrees a neoprene cap would be added. T1 is about three kilometres from the start beach, with a 04:30 shuttle for it.

From Giardini Naxos the 176 bike kilometres begin, and the course climbs almost from the outset: up to 900 metres in the first 45 kilometres, then 40 kilometres back down to around 170 metres, before the climb the 2022 Giro d'Italia rode starts at Nicolosi at kilometre 115: over 19 kilometres and 1,200 metres of ascent to the Rifugio Sapienza. After the descent and Zafferana Etnea comes the last climb: 22 kilometres and another 1,200 metres up to Piano Provenzana, where T2 is. The roads are fully open to traffic and marked only with directional arrows.

The marathon then starts and finishes up at Piano Provenzana. It is entirely technical, on dirt and lava sand, climbing to 2,500 metres and dropping back to 1,800 metres at the finish. Trail shoes are compulsory, low gaiters and poles recommended, and race judges check your mandatory kit and water before you set off. Over the final eleven kilometres a supporter must accompany you on foot.

Pacing Strategy

This race has no flat section in which to make up time and none in which to recover. The day is one long upward movement from the sea to 1,800 metres, interrupted by two descents that mostly cost concentration. So think in time windows, not in pace: swim by 07:00, bike by 18:00, run kilometre 31 by 23:00, finish by 01:00.

On the bike the trap is the first climb. Nine hundred metres inside the first 45 kilometres feels easy that early and that fresh, but the course then stacks two 1,200-metre ascents back to back, and the second one ends at 1,800 metres. A lot of road lies between the two feed stations, kilometre 133 and T2, so carry what you need and eat while the road is still flat.

The run is the part hardest to plan. It begins at 1,800 metres already, runs on lava sand, and after kilometre 31 there are still some 900 metres of climbing left. Take the first 15 kilometres markedly slower than you feel, put the warm layer on before dark, and agree with your supporter where they meet you for the final eleven kilometres: from there you travel as a pair.

Training plan for Water Fire Triathlon Extreme Etna: 12-week build

Prepare three things separately: long open-sea swimming, very long climbing on the bike, and technical running at altitude. No single session covers more than one of them.

The swim happens in the dark and in salt water, with buoys as the only reference. Practise open-water sighting before sunrise, in a wetsuit and with a tow float, at least once over the full distance: not for the time, but so that the first twenty minutes on race day are not new.

On the bike the task is clear: two long climbs at the end of an already long ride. Train five- to seven-hour sessions in which the biggest ascent comes late, and ride them in traffic rather than on closed roads: the Sicilian road is open, and the descents have to be braked with tired hands.

For the run you need lava sand and altitude. Find steep, loose ground and train hiking with poles as seriously as running. And plan for the night: the marathon starts in the late afternoon and finishes in the dark for most, in weather far colder than the beach at Taormina: headlamp, warm layer and your supporter belong in the training, not only in the kit bag.