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R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon
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Corrigan Sports pulled the plug on a once-huge local race in Maryland the other day. No race this year or plans to go forward.

https://www.trimaryland.com/cse-ceases-two-maryland-triathlons/


Locals here in Maryland will remember the race for its announcement of the start of race season, challenging hills on the bike and run, and one foul lake to swim in.


A decade ago the race would sell out with 1000+ participants (maybe as high as 1500 iirc) well in advance of race day and the field would usually be quite strong. A traveling pro might even drop in from time to time. I was ref'ing there the day Chris McCormack rode off the bike course when the leaders missed a turn. Chrissie Wellington showed up for what was likely a nice training day in 2009 and finished 6th!


It will be missed by at least some of us.
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [ElGordo] [ In reply to ]
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Sad news. That was a fun race usually with a pretty strong pro field. Best memory from that race was seeing all of the 'secret service' guys in the suits randomly standing around along the run course, I think due to the DC mayor racing.
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [pacco] [ In reply to ]
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very sad -- did it the last 3 years. Great course and well run race. Challenging though -- not many Oly first-timers wanted to do it. Swim was canceled a few times due to lake bacteria levels post rain as well.
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [ElGordo] [ In reply to ]
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Very sad, this was one of my favorites and a great early season test of fitness. It all seemed to go downhill after TriColumbia folded.

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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [ElGordo] [ In reply to ]
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another great race bites the dust...great memories from this race always having great competition to kick off the season for the east coast...was sifting through old results from the mid-late 90's and had some great names on the list
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [pacco] [ In reply to ]
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pacco wrote:
Sad news. That was a fun race usually with a pretty strong pro field. Best memory from that race was seeing all of the 'secret service' guys in the suits randomly standing around along the run course, I think due to the DC mayor racing.

I was there as well! I remember the Mrs. being starry eyed upon seeing Mayor Fenty (who's a REALLY good athlete)!

Tough course. It's a shame that it's gone.
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [ElGordo] [ In reply to ]
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I did that race in '95 and '96. I was still almost solely a swimmer, and didn't really know what I was doing.

My memories from '96: it was a very hot weekend, after a very cool week leading up to it. At bike check-in, I heard at least 3 tires burst. The next day, at the race, it was hot as blazes and super humid. I had no idea about fluid replacement or nutrition, so I just pounded water during the run and after the race. I was surprised that I kept feeling worse. I went to medical, got an IV, and felt moderately better, and decided to drive home. It was in the drive home that I blacked out taking the Connecticut Avenue exit off the Beltway, and crashed into a road sign, another car, and the bridge pilings of the beltway above. I was dazed when I crawled out of the car, and don't remember much about being in the ambulance. I woke up the next morning in the hospital with IVs and a foley in me. I blacked out again, and kept coming to at intervals of 2 hours for the rest of the morning....

Hyponatremia sucks. I've taken great care to avoid it,and have done really well. I eat tons of Chinese buffet the day before races, with lots of soy sauce. I don't drink too much on the course, either.
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [ElGordo] [ In reply to ]
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Isn't this meant to be the year that "triathlon is coming back", or so sayeth the Slowman?

This is really sad. Good local tris are the foundation of this sport, and we've lost way too many.

'It never gets easier, you just get crazier.'
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [ElGordo] [ In reply to ]
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What a shame, used to do that regularly when I was at the Naval Academy. I believe Vigorito (probably spelled wrong) used to put that race on & it was 1st class! I was there the year Tim Deboom won it. One of the toughest Olympic distance races around.
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [donhensley] [ In reply to ]
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I guess I have a slightly different opinion of the Columbia Tri. I always thought the bike course was very poor to the point of being dangerous - lots of time on narrow roads with constant near misses by passing cars. Very difficult to pass safely on the hills.
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [ElGordo] [ In reply to ]
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IIRC this was one of the short course races that WTC owned and gutted. Along with Memphis in May and some other classic Oly's. 5150 tri series iirc?

Hopefully Dan's triathlon is coming back year includes some pretty awesome Oly tri's, although, sadly, I suspect not

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Last edited by: desert dude: Jan 14, 18 13:35
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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [desert dude] [ In reply to ]
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Negative. When they acquired the TriColumbia assets, they sold the race over to the Ulman Cancer Fund. Regs required a 501(c)(3) in order to be able to use the park.

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Re: R.I.P., Columbia Triathlon [rrheisler] [ In reply to ]
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And the nonprofit promptly drove it into the ground and ruined what was left. They eventually "sold" it to CSE for $1 and anticipated being the beneficiary of a large donation each year. Nope the damage was done.

This makes three races Ulman tried to run and there that failed.
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