Triathlon at the castle

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Yes, Vadstena Triathlon August 27 in Sweden used the courtyard of a medieval castle for transition. It is probably the most beautiful triathlon I have participated in. This post will partly read like tourist information.



The city of Vadstena is old, picturesque and pretty with a castle built by king Gustaf Wasa around 1545, and a nunnery and monastery inaugurated already 1384. I arrived a day early and walked in the city and then biked on small roads, looking at old churches and a stone age burial site. Would not mind returning and do a longer bike tour around lake Vättern.


This competition also served as the Swedish Championship on Olympic Distance. I had signed up two years earlier for a competition in Stockholm, but due to covid, the event got postponed two years and new construction in Stockholm forced the event to Vadstena. Now I found myself at the top of my age group on a distance that is not my best. Well, I compete to enjoy, and although I was far from medals, it was one of my best experiences due to the setting and good organization.

We had beautiful weather the days leading up to the competition, but on the day, forecast threatened with thunder and torrential rains. Luckily, the morning was just gray. My age group started 2.15 in the afternoon, and by then we had a light drizzle and some wind. The lake was getting choppy and the 1500m swim was a little challenging. It felt slow, but the time of 36.32 is ok for me on this distance, although most in my start field were ahead of me. At one point, my goggles misted up and I could not see the buoys, so I had to stop and rinse them. The waters were clear and not very deep, I could see several crawfish traps as I was swimming, quite interesting. This weekend opened the yearly crawfish season in Sweden.



Bike was two loops and fairly flat with some light rain and went ok, maybe I was a little sluggish, I had mostly trained on the MTB for the last two months. The run was 4 loops that took us along the shore around the abbey and through the city center. There were plenty of onlookers and we got well cheered. The first lap felt a little slow as it always does, getting off the bike, but I felt good on the second loop. I took an energy gel at 5km. Third and fourth loop were slower, but still decent and run time was under an hour. Total time 3.08.51, 4th place.

Run went past the town square 4 times



When I picked up the bike, the rain started and an hour later the full rainstorm started. But by then I was nice and dry in the hostel. Car got a full wash!


Links for tourists and history buffs:

Vadstena Castle - Wikipedia

Vadstena Abbey - Wikipedia

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