After the cancellation of the Ironman in Nice, which was to have nearly 4,500 participants, due to an orange heat wave alert, no fewer than 300 triathletes set off this Sunday morning, in complete autonomy, on the originally planned course. An account of an unusual morning on the Promenade des Anglais.
This Sunday morning, at Ponchettes Beach, Liliana, a triathlete from Île-de-France and her family, all came specially from Paris. It was at 6:03 that she was the first to set off into the sea for the full distance, without a race bib, without official refreshments or any barriers. Just a few meters away, partygoers were ending their night on the pebbles, tourists were already swimming and a garbage truck was heading up the Promenade. It is in this disconnect that the most singular Ironman of the year is told.
Here, no official start, everyone chooses their own time. At 6:20, the official start time for the Ironman 70.3, about fifteen athletes were swimming in the sea under the encouragement of their loved ones who remained on the beach. An hour later, at 7:30, the scheduled start time for the full Ironman, more than half of them had already completed the swimming portion and changed into their cycling gear.
The start lines stretched across the waterfront at Ponchettes Beach, where the gathering was densest, up to the edges of the Amour Hotel. The atmosphere swung between determination and lightheartedness.
One concern did come up among several participants: their bikes. With no organization whatsoever, no one watched the equipment during the swimming portion, even though some equipment is worth several thousand euros. Many organized themselves in an underground parking lot near the beach, where they changed clothes, left their belongings and set off on their bikes. A stark contrast with a regular race, where the transition is part of the competition and decided by the second. Here, no timer: organization happened through mutual aid.
A race improvised on the fly
In the parking lot where competitors are preparing, the atmosphere is relaxed. That’s where I meet Carla. Originally from the Southwest, the athlete came with her club for the event. For her, this race meant a lot. « I cried all day, I have no more tears », she told me the day before about the cancellation. It was “her race of the year”, a competition she had been training for for months. Her loved ones, including her elderly grandparents, had planned to make the trip: « It’s mainly the absence of my loved ones that broke my heart », she explained. It was ultimately her club that remotivated her: « My motivation mainly comes from the club; alone, I wouldn’t be here today. »
Without any device on site, the athletes had to fend for themselves, in a dynamic where autonomy was mixed with mutual aid and group cohesion: saddlebags fixed to bikes, stops at public fountains and detours through local bakeries. During one of these improvised refueling stops, Carla opts for a slice of pizza, far from traditional energy gels, before heading back out to tackle the ten kilometers of climbing at the Vence pass.
Used to training on open roads, group members are familiar with traffic constraints. But without the security of an official event, coexistence with motorists sometimes proved delicate. At one of the meeting points, midway through, some tensions appeared: impatience from some drivers, risky overtaking maneuvers… Situations that reminded both cyclists and cars of the need to be extra vigilant and work together on the road.
Mutual aid, the key word of this day
On the final event, the group chose to cover only ten kilometers of the twenty originally planned for the Ironman 70.3, to preserve themselves, while others continued to the end. Despite different distances, the triathletes remained united: they advanced at the same pace, waited for each other and avoided any unnecessary risks. Under the encouragement of a small group of supporters, they finally crossed the finish line. Without an arch or medal this time, but with the feeling of having achieved their challenge.
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“headline”: “Immersion with the triathletes who completed the Nice Ironman independently”,
“datePublished”: “2026-06-28T18:37:43”,
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