Supertri League is coming to the Toronto Triathlon Festival on July 27. It’s the first stop on the race organization’s 2025 series calendar. Last month, the brand announced it had bought the Toronto Triathlon Festival and hinted at changes coming down the pipe.
Fans in the downtown core will get to see some of the fastest elites and Olympians racing through the city on Saturday. The team format pro race will draw some of the biggest names in triathlon to compete in the unique three-round format of swim, bike, run. The pro teams have not yet been announced.
In the coming weeks, Supertri is set to make two more announcements about the league, and following that will reveals the teams competing in Toronto.
Elevating the experience for athletes and fans
Bringing Supertri racing to the existing Toronto Triathlon Festival is aimed at drawing in more spectators to watch the action on Saturday, and elevate the weekend in terms of excitement, viewership, and crowd support. The increased interest and visibility the pro league brings has shown to attract more participation in the age group races, also held on the weekend.
The pro event is a great time for fans and athletes to watch the race, get hyped up and come back the next day inspired to race in the amateur event. Some of the pro athletes will be participating on Sunday as well, racing in relays and welcoming athletes across the finish line.
Supertri Co-Founder and CEO, Michael D’huslt, said the integration of the pros into the age group events is to motivate and encourage them, as well as inspire newcomers into the sport. As the brand grows and expands its newly acquired races, it plans to add events like swim clinics, coaching advice, a closed Facebook group, and a free first-timer promotion to the Toronto venue.
Building support and community for age groupers
These add-ons go a long way to create a community around the event and the sport in general. Beyond offering community, training and skills support, there’s a plan to eventually add timed segments on the bike and run for athletes who want to add a little spiciness to their race and compete for rankings.
“We’re looking at next year to implement a lot of new strategies, and also how to tie the different events in North America together,” said D’hulst. “Starting next year we’ll see a lot of changes to the event itself, and how we set up our finish lines and do our starts.”
It’s an event model that Supertri has been testing and building on since it began to acquire existing urban races, such as the Ascension Seton Austin CapTex Triathlon, Long Beach Legacy Triathlon, Chicago Triathlon, Kerrville Triathlon and Toulouse Triathlon.
“We’ve seen a massively positive impact on having a professional event next to an age group event,” said D’hulst. “There have been registrations for the Chicago Triathlon up 20 per cent year on year.
Last year, the Chicago event was the most widely-viewed triathlon event of the year, with live broadcasts in 144 countries, 277 million global TV views, 23 million radio impressions, and a total media reach of 444 million through online and print. The weekend also drew 15,000 spectators to the downtown core and along the Lake Michigan shore.
The Toronto Triathlon Festival has been a beloved local race since 2012. The main event is a 1.5-km swim in front of Ontario Place, 40-km bike on closed highways, and 10-km run along Lake Shore Boulevard, drawing top age group athletes and newcomers alike.
Next up for the Supertri League pro racing is Chicago on August 23.
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