UIPM 2019 Biathle-Triathle National Tour: Trailblazing Tbilisi (GEO) makes more history

The Georgian capital of Tbilisi made more history by hosting the first instalment of the revitalised Biathle-Triathle National Tour (BTNT).

The BTNT, which gives people from new communities the chance to try two UIPM development sports in one day, has been kickstarted again following the huge success of the Global Laser Run City Tour, which also made its debut in Tbilisi (GEO) in April 2017.

Almost 200 competitors were drawn from Tbilisi, Rust’avi, Sachkhere and Gori, and organisers tested new shorter distances than the traditional Biathle and Triathle parameters at the Lisi lakeside complex.

Viacheslav Malishev, UIPM Executive Board Member for Development, said: “Biathle and Triathle are two of the pillars of UIPM’s global development programme, enabling athletes to transition between running, swimming and, in the case of Triathle, laser shooting and enhance their chance of becoming pentathletes.

“I am delighted that the UIPM Biathle-Triathle National Tour is now up and running and I am certain that other countries will enjoy the experience as much as Georgia did during the first instalment.”

Kakha Gotsiridze from the local organising committee said: “The new distances made this event more competitive and fun. The attendance was bigger than previous competitions.

“At the 2019 Biathle-Triathle National Tour we had almost 200 athletes, the schedule worked smoothly and this helped organisers to deliver the programme.”

Leading athlete Natia Kochiashvili added: “The competition was really challenging and dynamic and the new distances helped everyone to be competitive.

“The competition was attractive and everyone was happy to participate.”

About 100 cities have been selected in 2019 as hosts of the BTNT or GLRCT, with the BTNT venues including Sevan (ARM), Abidjan (CIV), Bamako (MAL), Colombo (SRL) and Hurghada (EGY).

The full calendar can be viewed at the UIPM website, where you can also find more information on UIPM’s various multi-discipline sports.

The UIPM 2019 Biathle-Triathle World Championships will be held in Saint Petersburg, Florida (USA) from October 23-27.

In December, Laser Run and Triathle will both feature for the first time in the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines.