Back on September 27, 2026, in celebration of World Tourism Day, we announced a new sporting event in Nepal – The Royal Trek Triathlon
From the creators and race directors of the well-known Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon, we are excited to announce a new international sports tourism event to take place in Nepal’s spectacular Pokhara Valley.
On December 10, 2026, we are holding an initial test run of The Royal Trek Triathlon with mostly local, Nepalese athletes and planning on a 2027 international debut.
This new event is being introduced at a critical time for Nepal’s tourism industry. The August 2026 flooding disaster played out in the worldwide media, caused significant loss of life and property and created negative international publicity for Nepal.
The Royal Trek Triathlon is intended as a proactive initiative to help restore confidence with those wanting to visit Nepal, revive tourism and send a positive message to the international travel community that Nepal is indeed open, resilient and ready to welcome visitors.
This same initiative was undertaken over 20 years ago when Nepal was amid a political crisis, causing a significant drop in tourist visits. At that time, our Nepal partner, Mr. Bikram Pandey, introduced a one-day running event from Mount Everest Base Camp to Namche Bazaar. This successfully brought well-needed international attention back to Nepal and helped restore a degree of confidence in Nepal’s tourism industry. In 2003, the event was given the name “Tenzing-Hillary Everest Marathon” by the grandson of legendary Tenzing Norgay Sherpa.
The Royal Trek Triathlon will take place in and around the beautiful, lakeside town of Pokhara and will comprise of the traditional swim, bike and run platform. The December 10, 2026 test run will allow us to tweak the course(s) and distances to be offered.