It’s at this time of year (if you haven’t already) that we start getting out our calendars and wallets, and start signing up to races. But which race should you pick?

There are many factors to consider … location, course, goals … everyone is looking for a different race experience. But there are certain trends we have noticed over the past few years when it comes to what athletes are entering.

The Big Championships are at the Top

Unsurprisingly, the big championships attract the most participants. In 2025, the World Standard Distance Championships had 430 finishers, followed by the World Long Distance Championships (252 finishers) and the European Championships (251 finishers). The fourth highest race was the US Standard Championships.

2024 saw a similar trend, with the World Standard Distance Championships being the largest aquabike race in history with 534 finishers. Again, the World Long Distance Championships ranked second, then the US Championships and European Championships sat in third and fourth (albeit the other way round to in 2025). The standings were the same in 2023.

With the World Standard Distance Championships being held in Spain in 2026, we have every reason to believe this will once again top the tables in terms of finishers. So, if you’re after a busy, competitive event, the major international championships are the ones to aim for.

2025 Most Participated Aquabike Events Worldwide

 

UK Specific – Qualifiers and Championships

2025 was the first year that the UK had national championships. Interestingly, these saw slightly fewer finishers (104) than all three World Championship qualifying races (Blithfield topped the table with 117 finishers). With the British Championships being held in Scotland this year (a fairly long distance for most England-based athletes), it will be interesting to see if this trend continues.

 

What Distance are Brits Choosing to Race?

Looking at the UK in 2025, the top 4 events for finisher numbers were standard distance – the three qualifiers, and the national championships. But after that, the next 4 were all middle distance, namely Cotswold 113, Vitruvian, Lakesman and Outlaw Half. Apart from Triathlon Y Bala (Standard), the next 7 most participated events were all middle distance.

So, of the top 16 most participated events in 2025 in the UK, 11 were middle distance. In 2024, 10 of the top 16 were middle distance, and in 2023, 7 of the top 16 were middle distance. This suggests that apart from qualifiers and championships, middle distance events are by far the most popular, and numbers in these events are continuing the climb.

Interestingly, no sprint event makes the top 20 in the UK in any of the years looked at. These are usually smaller and more local events.

So, in 2026, expect to see the biggest start lists at the Standard Championships and qualifiers, and many middle-distance events. If you’re looking for the easiest way to get a medal, a non-qualifying standard event or a sprint event is likely to be your best bet!

2025 Most Participated Aquabike Events UK

 

And How About the Rest of the World?

Discounting the World, European and US Championships, in 2025, 6 of the next 10 highest participated races globally were standard distance, and the remaining middle distance. In 2024, the numbers flipped with 6 of the next 10 being middle distance, and in 2023, 7 of the next 10 were middle distance. These numbers look to have been influenced heavily by a surge in British athletes taking part in Standard distance qualifying events for the World Championships.

Looking at another country – the US. Of the top 10 most participated races in 2025, 3 were standard distance, 3 middle distance, and 4 sprint distance … a very different picture to the UK. In 2024, 4 were standard distance, 3 middle distance and 3 sprint. And in 2023, there were 4 standard, 4 middle and 2 sprint in the top 10 most participated races in the US.

So, if anything … the US is going the opposite way to the UK, with higher participation in the shorter distance races.

Looking at a few European countries – in Spain, all of the top 10 most participated events in 2025 were middle or long distance, the French have 6 middle distance races in their top 10 (all of the top 5, then a few standard races and one sprint), and Germany’s biggest races list also featured middle distance races most frequently.

 

A Closer Look at Australia

Aquabike racing in Australia has seen huge growth over the past few years.

Races began much later downunder compared to the US and UK, with barely any races before COVID. In 2021, there were 30 aquabike races in Australia. By 2025, this number had grown over 500% to 153 – a staggering increase, and mainly down to regular club races across the country. In that period the number of athletes that participated in at least one race tripled from 374 to 1092.

This growth may have been helped by the fact Australia held the Long-Distance World Championships in 2024, and Standard Distance World Championships in 2025. This also will have most likely affected the races Aussie’s opted to enter. In 2025, Standard distance races were most popular (potentially due to the World Championships), followed by middle distance. In 2024, the top 10 most participated races were an even mix of middle and standard distance. In 2023, the top 6 races were middle distance, and the remaining 4 making up the top 10 standard distance. This would suggest Australia, like the UK, tends towards middle-distance racing, with major standard distance championships being the main reason for divergences from this trend.

It’s also worth mentioning that in 2022, Ironman 70.3 Geelong offered an aquabike option for the first time. By 2025/26, six of the seven Australian Ironman 70.3 races had an aquabike race. Unfortunately, two of these (IM 70.3 Western Australia and Sydney) have removed aquabike again – hopefully this isn’t a sign of things to come.

In Summary…

The major championships attract the highest participation numbers, and due to the selection process for Standard Championships in countries such as the UK, this puts several standard distance races high in the table.

However, when you remove championship races and qualifiers, middle distance races appear to be the firm favourites across the majority of the world, and this is a trend that seems to be increasing.

The exception to this is the US, where sprint race participation has increased over recent years.

 

Will this info affect what races you enter in 2026?