Cycling and triathlon events in Cyprus follow the cooler months, so the season a visitor can enter runs from November to early summer. This is our calendar for 2027: the road, gravel and mountain bike events, the triathlons and the open-water swims, with the date each organiser has published and what each one asks of you.
Every date below comes from the organiser’s own website or the cycling federation’s published calendar, checked on 13 October 2026. Where an organiser has not announced its 2027 date, we say so rather than guess, because dates here do move: the 2026 Cyprus Gran Fondo was postponed, and some listings still advertise the old pattern for 2027. Check with the organiser before you book flights.
The 2027 season at a glance
- 6–8 November 2026: OCEANMAN Cyprus, open-water swimming, Ayia Napa Marina
- 7 November 2026: O3 OlympusMan, half-distance triathlon from Paphos harbour to Mount Olympus
- 15 November 2026: Lefkara Classic, long-distance road ride, Pano Lefkara
- 15 November 2026: Larnaka Marathon, running, Larnaca seafront
- 28 November 2026: Nicosia Gravel Adventure, gravel ride, Alambra
- 20 December 2026: Ayia Napa Half Marathon, running, Nissi Beach
- 24 January 2027: Nicosia Marathon, running
- 20 March 2027: Ayia Napa Swim, open water, Nissi Beach
- 21 March 2027: Ayia Napa Triathlon, middle distance, Olympic and sprint, Nissi Beach
- 26–28 March 2027: Cyprus Gran Fondo, three days of road racing, Paphos
- 3–4 April 2027: Limassol Marathon, running
- 4–11 April 2027: Bedrock Gravel Festival, guided gravel riding, Tochni
- 5 June 2027: 0-2000 Cycling Challenge, sea level to Mount Olympus from Limassol
- 17–18 July 2027: Troodos Bike Festival, mountain biking, Troodos Square
Not announced yet: the Larnaca Triathlon (last held 26 April 2026), Protaras Open Water at Fig Tree Bay (18–19 April 2026), SwimRun Cyprus in Protaras (17–18 October 2026), and the Limassol, Pafos and Mazotos triathlons. We will add them when their organisers do.
Cycling events
The Cyprus Gran Fondo is the island’s best-known amateur road event: three days in Paphos, a time trial and two road stages, starting at Pafos Castle and run by Activate Cyprus. The organiser now gives 26 to 28 March 2027, a week earlier than some listings still show, which is the clearest example on this page of why the date is worth reading at the source. Paphos is at the other end of the island from us, so from this coast it is a trip within the trip.
Activate Cyprus also runs the gravel events: the Nicosia Gravel Adventure around Alambra on 28 November 2026, and the Bedrock Gravel Festival at Tochni from 4 to 11 April 2027, which is sold as a guided four- or seven-day package rather than a single race. Its 0-2000 Cycling Challenge climbs from the sea at Limassol to the top of Mount Olympus; the organiser’s event list gives 5 June 2027, though the event’s own page still shows last year’s dates, so confirm it before you plan around it.
The Lefkara Classic, on 15 November 2026 from Pano Lefkara, is a long-distance ride in the brevet style rather than a race. Mountain bikers have the Troodos Bike Festival on 17 and 18 July 2027 at Troodos Square, which the Cyprus Cycling Federation lists alongside its cross-country championships, with an event open to everyone.
The rest of the federation’s calendar (hill climbs, time trials, the national road championships) is licensed racing for club riders rather than something a visitor can enter, which is why it is not listed here.
The Ayia Napa Triathlon
The Ayia Napa Triathlon is on Sunday 21 March 2027, with the Ayia Napa Swim the day before. It is run by Nireas, a triathlon organisation that has been putting on races since 1993 and is a founding member of the Cyprus Triathlon Federation. The hub is at Nissi Beach in Ayia Napa and the swim is in Nissi Bay, about fifteen minutes from our door.
It runs several formats at once: a middle distance, an Olympic and a sprint, and the standalone swim is there for people who want the water without the bike and the run. That last one is more useful than it sounds and we come back to it below.
What it asks of you is a sea swim, a coastal bike leg where the wind matters more than the gradient, and a run in the sun with very little shade. The long version is our guide to training for the Ayia Napa Triathlon, which goes through the last six weeks in detail.
Nireas also runs the Larnaca Triathlon (sprint and super sprint at Mackenzie Beach) and the Limassol Triathlon, and Activate Cyprus runs the Pafos and Mazotos triathlons and the OlympusMan, a half-distance race from Paphos harbour up to Mount Olympus on 7 November 2026.
Open water at Fig Tree Bay and Ayia Napa
Protaras Open Water is organised by the Cyprus Swimming Federation with the Paralimni-Deryneia municipality, at Fig Tree Bay in Protaras. It is a real international fixture rather than a local swim: the bay has hosted a European Aquatics open-water cup leg, with a masters event alongside it seeded in waves by age group. The 2026 edition was on 18 and 19 April; the 2027 date is not out yet.
The distances are long by amateur standards (the headline race is measured in kilometres, not hundreds of metres), but the masters and shorter events are the accessible way in. OCEANMAN Cyprus brings an international open-water series to Ayia Napa Marina from 6 to 8 November 2026. If you want the honest picture of what swimming in this sea is like before you enter anything, swimming in the sea here covers the water rather than the racing.
SwimRun Cyprus
Held in Protaras, under the auspices of the Cyprus Triathlon Federation. Swimrun alternates running and swimming over a course, in the kit you started in, and it runs several distances from a short relay and a family-length event up to a long course, so somebody who is not a racer can enter it. The 2026 edition was on 17 and 18 October.
It is also the event on this list that best fits the coastline it is held on, and the one with the least written about how to train for it. Training for a swimrun is our attempt at that.
Running
The Ayia Napa Half Marathon is on 20 December 2026 at Nissi Beach, with a half marathon, a relay, a ten kilometre and a five kilometre, which makes it the most family-shaped event on this coast. The Larnaka Marathon runs along the Larnaca seafront on 15 November 2026.
Racing from Protaras or Ayia Napa
If your race is the Ayia Napa Triathlon or the swim the day before, the start is about fifteen minutes from our door, and the rest of the calendar is a drive away. Two things we can take off a visiting athlete’s list:
- A road bike for race week, delivered to your hotel in Protaras, Ayia Napa or Larnaca and set up to your height. The minimum hire is three days, which covers a race weekend. Most of our sizes are a single bike, so book when you have your entry rather than when you land. Bikes, sizes and prices are on our page for bike rental in Cyprus.
- A check before race day if you flew your own bike out. Our workshop will look over a bike that arrived in a box before you trust it on a fast descent.
None of the events on this page is run by us and we make no claim to be part of any of them. Enter through the organiser.
Which one first
If you have never raced anything, the honest order is usually the opposite of the ambitious one.
- A five or ten kilometre road race is the lowest-friction first race in existence. No kit, no transition, no water.
- The standalone swim at a triathlon is an underrated second step: the atmosphere and the mass start of a triathlon, without owning a race bike.
- A sprint triathlon next, with one caveat worth taking seriously: a sea swim is a bigger step for a first-timer than a pool or lake swim, so get sea time in beforehand. Several sessions, not one.
- Swimrun at a short distance, if the idea of running wet appeals more than the idea of a bike leg.
- The long courses after all of that, and not before.
Training for a race that is on your doorstep
The advantage of living here, or of coming here for a block, is that you can train on the actual terrain rather than on an approximation of it. That matters more in these events than in most: the sea state, the light off the water when you sight into a low sun, the wind on an exposed coastal bike leg and the lack of shade on the run are all things you can rehearse within a few kilometres of each other.
Ramo offers triathlon coaching and swimming coaching on this coast and races himself. What that buys you is a plan written by somebody who has swum in that bay and ridden into that wind, which is a different document from a generic twelve-week template. If you want the volume in one concentrated stretch instead of spread over a season, that is what the training camps are for.
When are races held in Cyprus?
Mostly from November to June. The cooler months are the racing season here: the triathlons, open-water swims and road events on this page sit in autumn and spring, and mountain biking in the Troodos runs into the summer. If you are coming for the riding as much as the race, cycling here in winter is what the months either side look like.
Do I need to be in a club to enter?
Not for the events on this page, which take individual entries; the licensed club racing is left out for exactly that reason. It is worth knowing that the clubs in Cypriot triathlon and swimming are concentrated in Nicosia, Limassol and Paphos (there is no equivalent in the Famagusta district), so almost everybody racing from this corner is doing it as an individual.
Can I race one while I am here on holiday?
Plenty of people do, and the shorter distances are well suited to it. The one thing worth building in is arriving early enough to get into the sea a couple of times before race morning, because the sea is the variable that a visiting athlete has not rehearsed.