Summer
Cross Triathlon and Swimrun des Aiguilles d'Arves, at the Albiez lake
Two races in mid-July at the Albiez-Montrond lake, 300 m from the flat: cross triathlon in the morning, swimrun in the afternoon. Formats, distances and start times, from age 8.
The Cross Triathlon and Swimrun des Aiguilles d'Arves takes place in mid-July at the Albiez lake — 300 metres from the flat. Two races in the same day, open from age 8, in a setting where you swim facing the Aiguilles. It is a morning and an afternoon; the rest of the week is yours.
Two races, one day
The cross triathlon, in the morning
Swim, mountain bike, then trail-style running. Three formats, sorted by age:
- S format, 16 and over — 500 m swim, 11.97 km mountain bike, 4.8 km run. Start at 9.30am.
- Ages 12-15 — 200 m, 5.4 km, 2.4 km. Start at midday.
- Ages 8-11 — 100 m, 5.4 km, 1 km. Start at 12.45pm.
The swimrun, in the afternoon
Swimming and running, alternating, no bike. Five formats, one of them in pairs:
- S format, 16 and over — 900 m swim, 8.8 km run.
- Ages 12-19, in pairs or solo — 450 m, 4.8 km.
- Ages 10-11 — 360 m, 640 m.
- Ages 8-9 — 60 m, 580 m.
When: a mid-July weekend
Where: the Albiez-Montrond lake, 300 m from the flat
From: age 8
Morning: cross triathlon — swim, mountain bike, trail
Afternoon: swimrun — swim and run
Entries: through the French Triathlon Federation calendar
From age 8, and that changes everything
Most mountain events start at sixteen, which settles the family holiday question: the parents race, the children watch. Here all four age brackets have their own distance, on the same lake and on the same day. An eight-year-old swims their 60 metres and runs their 580, and wears a number like everyone else.
It is also, very concretely, why sleeping next door beats sleeping forty minutes away: a 9.30am start for the older ones and another at 12.45pm for the youngest makes a full day on site, with wet kit in between.
The lake, 300 metres away
It is the same lake as the rest of the summer: supervised swimming, paddling pool, pedalos, inflatable structure, playground and picnic area. The detail is in our article on the Mollard lake.
From the flat you walk there. No car to park on a busy day, no bag to carry for a whole day out: you go back up to change between starts, and the south-facing balcony dries a wetsuit in an hour.
Staying the week
The race lasts a day. What surrounds it lasts longer, and that is where a stay is decided:
- The six waymarked walks from the village, from 40 minutes to 3½ hours — enough to scout a route or to recover on foot.
- Mountain bikes and e-bikes, with the BMX race track in the middle of the village.
- The Col du Mollard, at the edge of the hamlet, if you brought the road bike.
- And everything that makes it a holiday rather than a sporting trip: Albiez with children.
The full season is on our summer page.
Read next
- Trail de l'Étendard and the Espace Trail des Aiguilles d'ArvesThe race route also exists as a permanent waymarked trail: you can run it all summer, without a number.
- Tradi'Cimes, the traditional festival of Albiez-MontrondTwo festivals in a fortnight in a village of 300 people — and this one costs nothing.
- Preparing for the Marmotte Granfondo Alpes from Albiez7,500 places gone in a day. Albiez is not where to sleep on race morning — it is where to spend the week before.