Almardà beach in Sagunto hosts the 10th Morvedre Triathlon on Sunday
Almardà beach in Sagunto will host the 10th Morvedre Triathlon this Sunday, 6 September, with over 500 entrants — a participation record — and the regional Olympic-distance championship.
Residents of Sagunto's northern beaches will find much of the traffic around Almardà affected this Sunday, 6 September, by a sports event: the Morvedre Triathlon Club is holding the tenth edition of its triathlon, setting off from 8:00am from the car park on Muntanyars street. The event has the backing of the council's Physical Activity, Health and Sports Department and, this year, carries an extra draw: it will also double as the regional Olympic-distance triathlon championship, with technical support from the Valencian Community Triathlon Federation.
Entry numbers are already close to 500, the highest figure since the race began a decade ago, confirming how much the event has grown year after year. The club behind it, Morvedre Triathlon, has been running since 2011 and has earned a reputation over time as the leading club in the Camp de Morvedre district: more than 200 athletes have competed under its banner altogether, picking up both individual and team results. It is no coincidence that a club with this track record is smashing its own entry record precisely now, just as it hosts a regional championship.
The race follows official Olympic-distance rules: a 1,500-metre swim, 40 kilometres on the bike and another 10 on foot. The swim leg starts and finishes right in front of the Muntanyars car park; from there comes the cycling stretch, looping around Canet and skirting Sagunto's beaches before returning to the starting point, and finally the run, completed over two laps of the same route used every June for the night-time 5K race.
A few days before the race, the event was officially presented with Sagunto mayor Darío Moreno; the councillor in charge of sport, Javier Timón; and two representatives of the organising club, secretary Javier Manrique and board member Basilio Espinosa, all in attendance. Moreno stressed the family atmosphere of the day — open too to anyone who simply wants to come along and enjoy it — and the chance for outside triathletes to discover Almardà, Corinto and Malvarrosa, Sagunto's northern beaches, alongside the municipality's historic and industrial heritage and natural surroundings. Timón, for his part, said Sagunto's selection as the regional venue reflects both the club's track record and the good shape the northern beaches are now in following recent improvements.
The organising club says participants have responded very well to the physical setting of the course, and it is already looking to repeat it in future editions. Aware of the disruption a course like this can cause for neighbours, organisers have signposted every crossing along the route in advance; that said, while the race is running, anyone with a car parked inside the route will not be able to move it. To ease that inconvenience, the club has added a section to its website explaining where to park outside the marked-off zone, so residents can still get around as usual during race hours.
The tenth edition also lands at a moment when the club is marking ten years since it first organised this race, a milestone that, alongside this year's entry record and its first regional championship, gives the club three separate reasons to consider 2026 a landmark year in its history.
The Valencian Community Triathlon Federation's choice of Almardà for its regional championship also amounts to recognition of a decade's work by the local club and of the setting where the race is held. Those not competing have a date on Sunday too: coming along to watch and soak up the sporting atmosphere, bearing in mind the traffic and parking restrictions organisers will keep in place for as long as the race lasts. According to Sagunto City Council, with additional background from the Morvedre Triathlon Club's official website and Wikipedia on Olympic-distance triathlon.