Since Challenge is pretty much a 70.3/140.6 company, let's speculate that they are teasing about a new HIM. And since Mar-Apr in Florida already has 4 HIM races on the calendar (edit - 5 if we include May), while the end of IM70.3 Miami leaves only one on the calendar for Sep-Nov, then I would speculate they are talking about the Fall. But most races on the east side of the state swim in the intracoastal, not the beach, due to sharks; and Daytona Beach is #1 for sharks. Challenge races have failed miserably in the U.S., but I'll reserve comment until I see a specific announcement.

1. Volusia, Florida - 275 (1882-2016)
Florida wins in terms of shark attacks in the U.S. Volusia County, home of Daytona Beach, has had the most shark attacks by far, but very few have been fatal. At New Smyrna Beach in Volusia, there are more shark-related incidents per square mile than on any other beach in the world. In fact, if you’ve ever gone swimming in New Smyrna beach, chances are you’ve probably been within 3 meters of a shark, according to Regenold. That’s probably why Volusia is nicknamed the “Shark Attack Capital of the World.”

That's what I thought! Maybe it is just a generic picture.

Also thong bikinis are banned there with a penalty of up to $500 and 60 days in prison. So that's two strikes against :-)

I looked at the photo. The sand isn't white so it's not on the Florida Gulf Coast. And the Atlantic doesn't look that blue on Florida's east coast although they may have shot the photo on a great day ... or doctored it. Regardless, I'm going to guess the new race is not in Florida, especially since they already tried and failed in this state. I doubt it's even in the U.S., but we'll find out tomorrow.

My guess is Jensen Beach, Fla.—those don't look like the typical Daytona-style waves, IMO. It's too deep on the inside. Jensen (and that area) generally have waves that are very crumbly on the inside due to the steep dropoff.

Plus, a company that used to run a half-iron distance race in Jensen went under recently.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Multi-race has already announced a new HIM at Jensen Beach on 22 April 2018.

Whoop Whoop!


Too bad I'll be getting destroyed at collegiate nat'ls. :(

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Gary Hall Sr. has a funny story about doing a triathlon in Daytona Beach. After he'd retired from swimming, he picked up triathlon and, as you'd expect, he led most of the swims by a considerable margin. While about half way through the swim of an Olympic distance race in Daytona he felt something nudge him and he thought "good for that guy to be swimming with me!" A few seconds passed and he felt a much more distinct hit on his hip at which point he thought "Man, that's rude. There's plenty of room out here for both of us."

After another fifteen seconds or so he felt a big hit on his side which caused him to stop swimming. He thought he was going to grab the guy and say "knock it off!" However, when he looked around he noticed the closest swimmer was over 100 yards away from him. That's when he saw the dorsal fin swimming towards him: it was a massive hammer head and IT WAS PISSED. Gary decided to swim BACK towards the main swim group and then "hide" in that group for the remainder of the swim. Apparently the hammer head harassed that group as well.

I've heard this story told a few different times with other people taking credit but I first heard it from GH Sr. In any event, that's a code brown incident!

If I were them I'd go for something late season. Maybe November. The race calendar in FL is packed from January through May.

I have no idea about your story about Gary Hall, but this is my story, told here many times over the years. I was the owner/race director of the race in question in Daytona, and I was also the guy off the front of the swim when that hammerhead hit me. I would be interested to know if he is actually running around telling that story, or it has just gotten thrown some many times it is a game of telephone.

Mike Garcia and a couple others got hit that day once I swam back to the lead group, there is a slight chance Gary was in there? I don't have the old results for AG'ers, that would be the one case where he had a story to tell...Here is my first ST account of the incident in 2003, I have some magazine articles from the mid 80's documenting my tale..

http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...tring=monty%20shark;

I've heard the same story but it wasn't Gary Hall. No matter...I don't want to swim off the Atlantic Coast.

I'm 99% sure he told that story to a group of swimmers (myself included) at a camp at Islemorada ~4 years ago *but* I could be mistaken... perhaps he even told the story as someone he knew... so I don't want to throw him under the bus.

In any event, that's quite a story.

One of my parent's neighbors down in Palm Beach paddle boards nearly every morning and he always tells me about all the sharks that he sees. I'll stick to the lakes here in CFL!

As someone who grew up surfing the east coast of Florida and trained in Orlando, I'd take swimming in the Atlantic over swimming in any body of freshwater in Florida. Despite the hammerhead incidence, sharks generally stick to themselves; however, gators and amoebas only exist to screw your day up.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

You haven't lived until you've swum the Rainbow River ... no gator or amoeba concerns in those waters.

I was lucky to live after I raced in Baldwin Park in Orlando a few years back—Lake Baldwin was by far the most disgusting swim I've ever done.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

So long as you're swimming with a decent sized group, smaller gators will run away (5' and smaller). I won't swim in a lake on my own and I won't swim with any of the monsters. One of the lakes by where I live has a 12' gator in it right now!

I always go straight to the domain registry and whois URL's:
https://www.whois.com/...hallenge-daytona.com

There you go. Registered by Triple Performance, the company that runs Challenge Almere-Amsterdam by the looks of it.
I'd say Daytona is a pretty good bet based on this.


Don't know anything about Daytona, but given all the shark comments on this thread, couldn't you do a swim in Lake Lloyd at the speedway? Just googled and found some triathletes did an open water swim event there...

Thanks for the intel. I hope they are smart enough to put it in the fall because the spring calendar is saturated!

DNS lookups are fun, cuz no matter how secret an org might try to keep a race, you know they will have to register the domain at some point.
Ironman is a bit tougher as they own so many domains, a lot of them could be cheaply bought place holders instead of new races.

If my domain lookup skills are correct, Challenge has a new race in South Korea soon....

So Ziby found a European sucker to put on a Challenge race in North America? Buying into a declining market backed by a brand no one in that market buys. I give it one year.

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@rhyspencer

Not my money. Florida is pretty much the last place on my destination list too.

Speaking of that, you live in Penticton, right? I give Super League a year.
Same weekend as Kelowna Apple which is the Canadian champs? LOL.
Mike Brown has lost his mind and his money.

Really? You honestly think people would rather do the Apple which didnt run in 2017 because they couldnt find a race director than Super League? And you really think Super League is funded by Mike?

You think athletes would rather do another same old olympic distance race vs 3 days of racing (or 1 if they want) that includes a Time Trail on a close car circuit at Area 27? Once they finish they can hit a beer tent and watch the best pros in the world race?

I just dont see a comparison at all. I do see the old guard Triathlon world including BC tri and Trican desperately wanting to hold onto the past though with ridiculous fees to put a provincial and national events, archiac rules, and cost overhead to host delegates who add no value....like the trican president who decided it was better to do a social ride than be at finish lines of world championships events at ITU Multisport. One race where Canada won gold!

..I did Apple once 2015. 2 lap run course with shit signage i was sent off course. . I had to drive an hour Saturday to rack my bike at a specific time of day. Then wait an hour. Then come back next day and race. This isnt ironman, its an olympic distance event. Expensive with a bag of Apples for the AG win. I found the whole thing overly bureaucratic and it wasnt even a national event! Good luck working with Trican. Overly bureaucratic and expensive.

Anecdotal but i know a few people who havent done Triathlon in years buying a bike and doing super league.

Now Super League might not work, but at least its fresh and brings new blood into sport, and is not living in the past like Penticton so often does.

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@rhyspencer

NASCAR

http://www.challenge-family.com/race/daytona/

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

It's toast. By mid-Nov, Florida athletes are at the end of an incredibly long season...one that typically ends with the last long course race of the year IMFL, MiamiMan, GFT or earlier. Powerman Florida tried the race track approach a few years ago further down the coast...it didn't work. They moved it to Ocala on the same weekend in Dec...too late in the year...they canx this year a week before the race was to be held. Everyone is either taking a break for the holidays or they are focusing on the Florida running season. The time of year and location is everything here and Challenge has shown me once again that they don't understand this market.

Pretty awesome idea in my opinion but I also grew up in Charlotte NC going to NASCAR races three times a year so the idea of racing on Daytona is a new manufactured dream that was never a remote possibility that had ever entered my mind until this announcement.

I would imagine Jimmie Johnson and some other NASCAR drivers might have a hand in this. Cycling has infiltrated the entire NASCAR community during the past several years and the race being in early December, all the drivers and crew will have the opportunity to participate.

Obviously the main unknown for this race will be how much cross over there is with the NASCAR demographic and triathlon demographic. This race is a full go for me as soon as I saw the announcement but will there be enough triathletes that grew up with NASCAR that won't be able to turn down the opportunity to race on Daytona?