Event Details - Utah Beach

The Day 4 event format is Aquathlon, or Run/Swim in stages with time gaps in between stages.  This means a run stage is conducted in running gear, and a swim stage that follows is conducted in swim gear and a wetsuit.  In between stages there is time programmed for gear changes, nutrition, and hydration.  Day 4 begins with a 7km run stage that leaves the Utah Beach Museum and loops through the upland to reach the beach again at a unique memorial.  Here at this remote site we will find multiple monuments including one to recognize the landing of the first reconstituted French Division, the 2nd Armored Division, and their commander General LeClerc.  An educational walk through the German shore batteries and fortifications adjacent to the monuments follows, and from there we will transition to the first swim stage of the day.  That swim stage will take us north more than a mile, to reach the furthest beach exit for the landing forces.  After a transition behind the beach, our second run stage of the day will follow the road the landing forces took 5km to the towns of Saint Martin de Varreville, where our second educational walk will take place.  There we will see buildings where German forces established a local headquarters, and visit a major artillery position that was a primary target of Allied forces.  The final run stage of the day will depart from town, and head through farm fields and forests back to the coast and the beach.  The final stage of the day and the event overall is a swim, 1.5km back south down the beach to land at the museum and attempt to imagine what that day more than 80 years ago was like for those heroes who accepted the liberation mission.  

The map on the main event page will walk you visually through the course.