Swim
Doha currently has three pools where public swimming is available:
- Two at Education City - Recreation Centre (50 meters) and Aswaj Pool (25 meters). Both are booked via the Education City app. Aswaj more recommended for less competant swimmers
Recreation Centre location, closest parking here
Aswaj location - Vortex at Hamad Aquatic Centre. At time of writing, their Instagram has more information than their website location
For open-water swimming we recommend TriClub Doha's Saturday morning session at Fit Island, Doha Sands in West Bay. One full lap is up to 650 meters depending on how wide you take the corners. You will have company almost every Saturday morning throughout the year (members only).
Pearl residents can also swim open water at any of the beaches on the Pearl, with Viva Bahriyah offering the most extensive swimming options. There are other paid access beaches at West Bay, Katara and others.
Masters Swimming
There are plenty of clubs and swimming lesson options for younger swimmers but the situation with organised masters squads and adult fitness swimming is quite fluid. At time of writing, we are aware of the following:
- Hydra (at ASD) - a traditional swim-all-four-strokes masters squad, suitable for stronger swimmers
- AquaGuild offer squads at various levels of ability from adult learn-to-swim upwards. They tell us that even their masters swim squad is suitable for single-stroke triathletes
- Pirananas is a triathlon focussed swim squad with a French accent operating at Lycee Boneparte
- Tritanium is a coached triathlon specific squad which caters to different levels
- It may be worth checking with other swim teams and swimming providers what they currently offer adults
Bike
The main venue for cycling in Qatar is the Olympic Cycling Track - a purpose-built, bike-only road which extends 33 kilometers from Doha to Al Khor. There are various places to join along its length but the main parking is here.
This is also where you'll find TriClub Doha for tuesday evening training.
Doha also has an extensive network of cycle paths. Some of the best for training are the network around F-Ring road anf G-Ring road; from Mall of Qatar to Al Jemayliyah; and beside the Shamal Road from the north of the city. The best map of these trails is Open Streetmap and cycling route planning applications which use Open Streetmap as a base (e.g. RideWithGPS).
Run
You can run with TriClub Doha on a Saturday morning after swimming at Fit Island and also at our regular duathlons and aquathlons. Other running groups we can recommend are Doha Bay Running Club, Adidas Runners, New Balance Run Club, Pearl Pacers - find all of these groups on their social media.
Joining TriClub Doha provides many opportunities to train with fellow triathletes of all levels through our weekly training schedule where you can join experienced triathletes and other members.
