Challenge Salou 2025: Date, start times and how to follow live as Anne Haug returns to action

The Challenge Family calendar continues to tick along with the 10th edition of Challenge Salou in the South of Spain, which takes place on Sunday May 11.

A festival of triathlon, the event boasts professional men’s and women’s races over the middle-distance, age group racing and even Olympic-distance competitions. PROs, however, will tackle a 1.9km swim, followed by a 83km bike and a 21km run, with reasonable size fields set to feature on the Balearic Coast.

Anne Haug is the star name on show for the event, with a plethora of up-and-coming talent keen to make their mark also on the start line. Here is our guide to Challenge Salou 2025.

Start time and how to watch live

Challenge Salou gets under way on Sunday May 11. The PRO Men’s middle-distance race will begin at 08:00 CEST, which will correlate to 07:00 BST, 02:00 EST and 23:00 PST (Saturday May 10).

The PRO Women will then embark on their race at 08:05, before the age group racers take to the water in a mass start 15 minutes later.

Challenge Family host a Live Tracker for the event on their website, with the feed set to get under way at 08:00 CEST.

Pro Women start list

German legend Haug, the 2019 IRONMAN World Champion, is the hot favourite heading into Challenge Salou for the 10th edition of the race, boasting eight career wins over the middle-distance.

She appears in fine form having won the oldest international triathlon race in Spain, the Club La Santa Volcano Triathlon set over the Olympic-distance, last weekend. Her pedigree and consistency – she has recorded nine podiums and five victories in nine career Challenge Family race starts – makes her almost a certainty for contention this weekend.

She’ll be joined on the start line by Italian Elisabetta Curridori who claimed Peniscola Infinitri gold at the start of April – her first professional victory since 2019. She boasts familiarity with the course – she has previously earned three top-five finishes in Salou back in 2019, 2022 and 2023, but has yet to earn a podium berth.

Great Britain has a pair of stars racing – Rosie Weston and Rachel Brown, the latter finishing second at Challenge Salou in 2024 behind Frenchwoman Aurelia Boulanger. Home representation consists of Judith Corachan Vaquera – the winner of the race back in 2018 and 2019 – Zaira Lorenzo Perez and Eider Bereziartua Agirre.

Pro Men start list

Great Britain’s Thomas Davis and Belgian talent Jonathan Wayaffe appear to be the class of the men’s race. The latter claimed the Challenge Barcelona crown to end the 2024 season and has climbed to the top step of the podium on three occasions over the middle-distance.

Davis, meanwhile, recorded a DNF at IRONMAN Texas two weeks ago and the 30-year-old has raced 20 times over the past two campaigns with no victories and two podiums. He did, however, finish in the top 20 at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in New Zealand last December.

In terms of home talent, Victor Arroyo Bugallo is likely the biggest threat to the podium. The 39-year-old was consistently in the top 10 across five races in 2024 and could benefit from the relatively week field here. He was seventh at Challenge Salou in 2023.

Another Brit, Louis Buttrick, finished sixth at Challenge Gran Canaria in April and was consistent across all three phases.

Challenge Salou course

The race will take place over the middle-distance and will begin with a two-lap swim in the Balearic Sea before triathletes return to shore to take on a three-lap bike course.

The route takes competitors west of the seaside resort of Salou inland toward the port city of Tarragona along the C-318. The course runs through an industrial area, with a plethora of golf courses lining the road.

The run leg consists of a four-lap route along the shore line in an out-and-back format before race completion next to the beach.

It’s interesting to note that PRO athletes will be using a special 20m long, 3m wide antidrafting zone, with overtaking required to take place within 40 seconds.

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