WattFest Returns for 2023
Switch your fan to FAST and grab a towel, WattFest is back!
From February to the start of April, athletes from around the country will get to race in this Triathlon Ireland league across four power categories and over a mix of time trial and draft legal formats.
WattFest23 has nine rounds. A rider’s best six count to their final score. And there’s a team competition which takes in each team’s best four riders every week to contribute to their final team score.
All rounds have been specially selected to give different riders a chance to shine and to help progress everyone’s riding over the course of the winter and spring.
New to Zwift Racing?
If you’re new to Zwift racing, don’t sweat it (yet) – getting started is easier than you’d think and racing is way more fun than you’d expect!
Triathlon Ireland’s Zwift races are community affairs so you’re likely going to know lots of your competitors from the triathlon scene (we have more than 500 racing each league) and there’s a big range of abilities racing so don’t be daunted.
To get started, you’ll need four things
- A Zwift Account
2 & 3. A Power meter and heart rate monitor
Zwift Basics – from connecting to racing
4. A free ZwiftPower Account (so your race result can be recorded).
Still having Issues?
Zwift Support will be able to help you and should be your first port of call.
We are also standing by to assist if you’d like to drop us an email but bear in mind that Triathlon Ireland only manages race selection and the format of the league – all other aspects such as the race rules (categories, disqualifications) and technical issues such as drop outs etc are handled by Zwift.
League Format
WattFest22 has some important changes from our last Zwift league – all of which have been introduced on foot of rider feedback in our most recent survey. Please read this section carefully.
- Races start at 19:20 on nine consecutive Wednesdays.
- The races in WattFest23 are set up as private events – this means they are not publicly listed on the Zwift Companion App or the Zwift Website (a move Zwift has made because event congestion). To find and enter the events you must click on the links below or go through the links on the WattFest23 ZwiftPower page.
- With that in mind, we strongly recommend you enter all events now – this will save you searching for the link every Wednesday.
- Best six of nine rounds count towards an individual’s final score.
- Men and Women will start together in their respective cats (A-D) and will be scored off the same system. BUT there will be separate Women’s and Men’s leagues on the WattFest23 Zwift Power league page (A-D for men and A-D for women). This measure is being implemented at the request of a majority of our female riders and is designed to make racing more engaging.
- A win scores 100 points, 2nd scores 96, 3rd scores 94 and every other place scores 90-1 on a descending scale.
- Regular Zwift racing rules are in force and will be automatically applied. See all ZwiftPower rules and regulations here.
CATEGORIES (MEN AND WOMEN)
A: 4.0-6.0 W/Kg
B: 3.2-3.9 W/Kg
C: 2.5 – 3.1 W/Kg
D: 1.0-2.4 W/Kg
TEAM COMPETITION
Each week, the team competition adds the results of a team’s top four riders to compile a team score.
All affiliated Triathlon Ireland clubs will be eligible for the team competition – to have your results contribute to your triathlon club you must be set up with that club on ZwiftPower when you race.
The team category is a mixed competition so a club’s four best scorers of either gender are included each week (note – ZwiftPower does not currently allow for separate men’s and women’s team leagues deriving from mixed gender events).
Note: Riders should not choose Triathlon Ireland as their team if they want to be included in the team competition.
WATTFEST 2023 ROUNDS & ENTRY LINKS
NB: WattFest23 events are all private so won’t be listed on Zwift or the Zwift Companion App – we strongly recommend you enter all rounds together (log in to Zwift first)
| Round | Date | Course |
| 1 | 8th Feb | Tempus Fugit iTT |
| 2 | 15th Feb | Neokyo All Nighter |
| 3 | 22nd Feb | Watopia Figure 8 |
| 4 | 1st March | Temples and Towers |
| 5 | 8th March | Bologna iTT |
| 6 | 15th March | Everything Bagel |
| 7 | 22nd March | Innsbrucking |
| 8 | 29th March | Jungle Circuit |
| 9 | 5th April | Tempus Fugit iTT |
WEEK 1: TEMPUS FUGIT iTT
The league opens next Wednesday (February 8th) with an individual time trial on the Tempus Fugit TT course.
We’ll be starting and finishing the league on this same course so if you’re looking to see how Zwift racing can improve your FTP over ten weeks, this is your chance to do some comparison testing!
That’s it – See you in Watopia!
