3 Races. 3 Days. 1 Beautiful Island. For more than 45 years, runners from around the world have traveled to Bermuda in January to run in paradise. The Chubb Bermuda Triangle Challenge offers something for everyone: from a mile race to a 10k walk/run to a half or full marathon, …
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3 Races. 3 Days. 1 Beautiful Island.
For more than 45 years, runners from around the world have traveled to Bermuda in January to run in paradise. The Chubb Bermuda Triangle Challenge offers something for everyone: from a mile race to a 10k walk/run to a half or full marathon, or – for the truly adventurous – the Half or Full Bermuda Triangle Challenge.
The recently redesigned PwC Bermuda Marathon course is IAAF certified and a Boston Qualifier and lets participants take a running tour of the island with a start in the historic Royal Naval Dockyard and a finish in downtown Hamilton. The PwC Bermuda Half Marathon makes a perfect training run for spring marathons, such as Boston and London, especially if you want to escape the snow and cold of harsh winters! While Bermuda’s weather in January is unpredictable, the average high is 70F and the average low is 60F, and more than half of the days are filled with clear, blue skies and sunshine!
The Chubb Bermuda Triangle Challenge is better than ever, featuring an improved Race Expo, enhanced on-course support and entertainment, and epic post-race celebrations. And, new as of 2020, participants in any of the races can choose to raise money for one of four local Bermuda charities, or a charity of their choosing, through the online global fundraising platform GivenGain.
The Chubb Bermuda Triangle Challenge makes the perfect RUN-cation. What are you waiting for? Register NOW! Can YOU survive the Bermuda Triangle Challenge?
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Hills, Humidity, Winds & Gorgeous Views
Bermuda is a very easy destination to get to from New England and is only a 2 hour flight from Boston so we decided to use this race weekend as … MORE
Bermuda is a very easy destination to get to from New England and is only a 2 hour flight from Boston so we decided to use this race weekend as an excuse for a family trip. I participated in the Bermuda Triangle Challenge which is the 1 miler Friday, 10K Saturday and Half or Full Marathon Sunday (I did the half) and it is great as there are races for people of all abilities so my entire family participated. I’m going to use this review for overall logistics and review of the half and will write a shorter race specific review for the 1 miler and 10K. Pre-race communication was good with email updates and a very detailed (almost too detailed) athlete guide. For the race weekend we arrived early afternoon on Friday. Flight was easy as there is a direct flight from Boston. I’m pretty sure half the runners were from the Boston area as I saw so many shirts from New England Running clubs during race weekend. Of note while it was much warmer in Bermuda than Boston. It wasn’t particularly warm. It was mostly in the 50s and 60s. While you could run in shorts and a T-shirts it was pants and a light jacket weather for exploring the island and a bit cold for hanging at the beach. Not really a complaint as I’d rather run in those temps but if you are looking for a hot, tropical vacation you may want to go further south. The host hotel is the Hamilton Princess and it’s also where the expo is. We decided to stay at a smaller guest house about 1/4 mile away from the Hamilton Princess but our guest house was not that nice and if I were to do it again I would splurge and stay at the Hamilton Princess. It is expensive but not outrageous. You can also go through Marathon Tours. If I was traveling solo I would have done that but it was a bit pricey for the whole group so we planned the trip ourselves. After we arrived and settled in we went to the expo. It is a small expo but along with packet pick-up there are a few other interesting booths with lots of local items for sale. The swag for the race is great. You get a nice tech shirt, a drawstring bag, a towel and if you do the challenge you get a jacket. Only swag complaint is the jackets ran teeny, tiny. I needed an XXL whereas typically I am between a medium and large. The half marathon is on Sunday. The full marathon starts at a separate location and starts at 7am and you take a ferry there. The logistics for the half are much simpler as it starts at 9am right outside the Hamilton Princess. There are about 500-600 half marathoners. This is the perfect amount to never be running alone but also not be too crowded. The race has a 4 hour time limit and since it’s more of a relaxed, vacation race there are a lot of back of packers. There weren’t waves but I just kind of lined up near the back. The half marathon course is a loop around the main island. The weather was perfect running temperature but was very windy and very humid. Wind and humidity are not a great combination for me. The course is also very hilly. It had about 700-800 feet of elevation gain. This combination was not great for me so I didn’t have my fastest race but a slower pace meant more time to enjoy the scenery. As I’ve said before I don’t mind hills if it is scenic and there is a long time limit and this race had both. The scenery is beautiful and there are lots of lovely waterfront views of the turquoise water. There are also views of some historic buildings and tropical vegetation. Pretty much the whole course is scenic. There are also a good number of spectators. It’s a small island but there were lots of locals cheering us on. Production for the race was overall good. The first aid station didn’t come for about 3 miles but after that aid stations were very frequent. All aid stations had water and powerade. One aid station also had Gu. Two aid stations had “rum stops” which I skipped. There were porta potties at most if not all aid station and they hardly ever had lines. Course was for the most part well marked and had lots of volunteers. There were also accurate mile markers. They do use miles in Bermuda. However the roads are narrow and there aren’t a lot of options for closing things down. The streets were half closed but there was traffic going fast on the open half of the streets. While they seemed to have as many course marshals as they could some motorists particularly people on motorcycles were quite rude. One motorcycle ignored us and if I wasn’t paying attention could have hit me. The course marshal told him to stop and apologized to me that he went so I can’t fault the race to much but traffic is something to be aware of. The finish line was on the main street and had a large clock with your time and some staff and volunteers cheering you on. My finishing time was okay. I realized with the humidity, hills and wind I would likely not be able to be under 3 hours which I wasn’t but I was happy to be under 3:10 in these conditions. There is a nice post race party in a park by the finish line. One minor criticism is you have to go down stairs to the party area to get your medals instead of getting them right at the finish line. This is very minor but sometimes I like to take a selfie right by the finish line. The medals though are amazing. You get this beautiful and large triangle medal for each race and if you do the challenge you get a fourth medal. They are magnets that connect together to form a scene. They are some of my best medals. The post race party was good. There was rum but also juices and sodas if you don’t drink alcohol. Food included typical post race food like granola bars and chips but also hot dogs (sadly no veggie dogs but I think a lot of people asked for them because they said they would have them next year) and some pastries and ice cream. While I would have liked veggie dogs there was enough other vegetarian options to hold me over until I could get lunch. Overall this was a very nice race and a fun, easy vacation if you are coming from the East Coast. It was in between a 4 and 5 sneaker race so I decided to give the half 5 sneakers and the 10K 4 sneakers. It is definitely a race I would recommend. Although how strongly I would recommend it depends on where you live. If you live near Boston or NYC and have a passport and can get a direct flight sign up right now. If you are on the west coast while you would still likely enjoy this trip, Maui is a lot closer and cheaper than Bermuda for you. There are a lot of races I want to do on MLK weekend and a lot of other great races I have done on MLK weekend but I would consider doing the Bermuda Triangle Challenge again some year.
Great Destination Race!
I'm glad I came to Bermuda! This was a fun weekend since it starts with a 1 mile run Friday night, 10K run Saturday morning, and the marathon/half marathon Sunday … MORE
I’m glad I came to Bermuda! This was a fun weekend since it starts with a 1 mile run Friday night, 10K run Saturday morning, and the marathon/half marathon Sunday morning!
For the marathon, we took a ferry to the Royal Naval Dockyard and ran to Hamilton! The first half was extremely hilly and windy since we ran along the shore, but it was beautiful! It was HOT (mid 60s), so I had to walk a lot since I don’t do well in this type of weather.
There weren’t many spectators sadly or fun signs, so I was running by myself most of the time. The refreshments prior to each day included tea, coffee, and pastries! As for the finish line refreshments, there was beer and dark and Stormy’s (from Goslings) as the alcohol options. And hotdogs and ice-cream as the food options.
This was supposed to be the 50th anniversary, but it didn’t seem like the production acknowledged it. Like the shirts or medal didn’t say it was 50 years old, and the race director didn’t say anything either.
I would come back one year and probably do the half marathon!
So Many Hills
I did this 10K as part of the Bermuda Triangle Challenge. My review for the half marathon has most of the general logistics for the weekend. The 10K is on … MORE
I did this 10K as part of the Bermuda Triangle Challenge. My review for the half marathon has most of the general logistics for the weekend. The 10K is on Saturday. They also added a 5K on Saturday but only the 10K counted for the challenge. My dad also did the 10K and my aunt did the 5K. It starts at a sports complex about 2 miles from the host hotel. There are shuttles you can purchase but they are $10 one way so it is $20 there and back. Since there were 3 of us we decided to take a cab since it would be cheaper. It was about $15 for a cab so if you are going solo the shuttle is cheaper, for 2 people when you add tip it is close to the same price but for groups more than 2 a cab is definitely the cheaper option. They line up at the host hotel so we walked there and got one and they were again lined up at the stadium at the finish so it was really easy. The sports complex was a nice staging area for a race with a large grassy field. The course was a loop and boy was it hilly. it was similar to the half but was on some more interior streets though there were still ocean views. It was really, really, hilly. At least for the 10K the weather was absolutely perfect and there was less humidity and wind. There was also good crowd support though not as much as the 1 miler or half. There were frequent aid stations with water and powerade. It was well marked and very clear where the 5K and 10K split was. Again my biggest complaint along with the hills was the traffic. The big issue is just the streets are so narrow that even with the streets half closed it is tight to run on. My time was okay. I started out pretty well but the hills tired me out. The last mile was almost all uphill and I mostly walked it as I knew I had a half the next day. The finish line was set up better than the half with it on the field so the finish line sort of blended into the post race party so there were more people at the finish line and you got your medal in the finish chute. My finishing time was fine. I was hoping to break 1:20 but there were too many hills. It was still my fastest 10K in 2-3 years. The medal is again excellent. Post race food was similar to the half with hot dogs (but no veggie dogs) and granola bars and also rum and juices. Overall I enjoyed the 10K but I’m not gonna lie I kind of wish you could do the 5K as part of the challenge as I wouldn’t mind only doing half the hills.
The Best Part of the Challenge
This 1 mile race takes place Friday evening at 7pm and is the first part of the Bermuda Triangle Challenge. It was surprisingly my favorite of the 3 races so … MORE
This 1 mile race takes place Friday evening at 7pm and is the first part of the Bermuda Triangle Challenge. It was surprisingly my favorite of the 3 races so try to take off Friday and do the 1 miler if you can. Even if you aren’t doing the challenge and just doing the half or full try to do this race as a fun warm-up. The race takes place on Front street which is sort of the mains street for Hamilton, Bermuda where most of the stores and restaurants are at. It seems like the entire Island comes to Front Street for this race. The street is just lined with spectators. It is also really fun as the national band plays before the race and there is also a mascot race. Then the race begins in waves. The waves seems to divide the runners up properly but I don’t know how they decided the waves because they seemed to have mixes of slow and fast runners. My mom wanted to participate in the race weekend so signed up for the 1 miler and I walked with her. We also walked with another walker we met in our wave. We were the last finishers in our wave but still had fun and were cheered on by everyone. The course is also flat and fast. Maybe the lack of hills were why it was my favorite part lol. At the finish you get your medal. it is an excellent medal. It is almost too nice for a 1 mile race. Our finishing time was very fast for my mom so I marked it 4 sneakers. Overall this 1 mile race is a fun way to start the Bermuda Triangle Race weekend and it’s a short enough distance that anyone can finish it.
Great challenge, best medals ever
A fantastic well organized event with fabulous medals. If you do the Triangle challenge (Mile Fri night,10k Sat,marathon Sun), your medals snap together to make one very artistic mega-medal. The … MORE
A fantastic well organized event with fabulous medals. If you do the Triangle challenge (Mile Fri night,10k Sat,marathon Sun), your medals snap together to make one very artistic mega-medal. The course is hilly with excellent support. Lots of variety – lonely country lanes; coastal roads; bike path through a tunnel.
Bermudaful race
I participated in the Bermuda Triangle Half Marathon Challenge--3 races in 3 days (1-miler Friday night; 10k Saturday morning; and half marathon Sunday morning). Even though it was a particularly … MORE
I participated in the Bermuda Triangle Half Marathon Challenge–3 races in 3 days (1-miler Friday night; 10k Saturday morning; and half marathon Sunday morning). Even though it was a particularly windy weekend in Bermuda, it was still Bermuda! I very much enjoyed the weekend and would do the Challenge again.
I booked the trip through Marathon Tours–which took care of airport transfers, the bib, the pasta dinner, and the hotel (the start line for the half marathon was right out the front door of the hotel). I would highly recommend going this route for ease of trip planning.
The expo was bigger than I expected (I thought it would just be a bib pick up). Again, the expo (like the pasta dinner and the half marathon start) was in the hotel where I stayed (the Hamilton Princess).
The swag was great. A technical tee (one for the whole weekend, there wasn’t one per race), a jacket for those doing the Challenge. And the medals?!?! I received 4 medals–one for each event and one for completing the challenge. The medals magnetically connected to form one large triangle medal. Awesome.
The race course included some nasty hills. The worse part to me, though, was that for the 10k and the half marathon, the roads were open to traffic. Bermuda roads are quite narrow for cars normally, adding runners into the equation created some unsafe situations in my opinion.
I would highly recommend.
Great weather in January
This race is very popular with Canadians (and Americans from northern states) looking for somewhere warm and sunny to run in January. Some years it might almost be too warm … MORE
This race is very popular with Canadians (and Americans from northern states) looking for somewhere warm and sunny to run in January. Some years it might almost be too warm (especially for the marathoners) because the temp doesn’t really drop overnight in Bermuda so you’re starting out around 20degC even early in the morning. I strongly recommend you carry water even though there are many water stations. You’ll dehydrate quickly if the sun is out.
Beautiful ocean views through much of the second half. A few rolling hills give a bit of a challenge, but not too much. Very friendly local crowds who come out to cheer you along and will often greet you by name because the bibs have your first name printed quite large!
As a half marathoner I really appreciate races like this where we get to run the whole course rather than some consolation prize version. It’s the marathoners who get the booby prize here because they have to run two laps, and it gets really hot by the second time around.
One request to the Race Director: to make the distance official there’s a last minute 100 metre deke up a side street. I understand the need for it, but it happens just as the finish line comes into view. Talk about soul-destroying. Please put it at the start of the race, not minutes before the end!
Great t-shirts, especially if you do all three races in the Bermuda Triangle weekend challenge (1 mile on Fri, 10km on Sat, Half or Full on Sunday).