Agree it was shortish. That's why I raced it.

10 of the top 13 were from different states. In my group 5 of the top 9 were from different states so there was a fair amout of out-of-staters.

Yep, no matter what happens, in any race, some will complain.

Bottom line the folks who wanted to race against the best showed up. I have not been to a Nationals for 10 years since anything back east is just too expensive for me.

And it was great to have what I call a "Nationals course". This means hills, both on the bike and run, rather than a flat boring course with tons of drafting.

Now the altitude did nail me at the beginning of the run, but I just kept at it and settled down. Folks who do not bike or run hills may have paid the price. I sure saw
lots of leg cramps.

Why some get so worried about who gets on the teamusa just makes me smile. If the "slow" folks do not get in and go, there is no race!

I have raced for 20 years, and never basically race duathlons. But now that I have race 4 this season, I might keep them in my schedule going forward. It is nice not having
to worry about the swim. And duathlons really make one have to give some real focus on the run. Plus I love the cross training aspect. But without question, Duathlons
are MUCH harder than a triathlon!!!!!!

And I love the Aquathlon also. No bike to hassle with. But if you cannot run, ....

Going to be a great Worlds in BC in 2017. I just need to get in to the other 2 events so I can do 4 of the 5.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

You know what? Go to hell you elitist prick. You can only race who shows up. I understand that duathlon is a very niche sport and USAT did the sport no favors by putting this race in Bend. I busted my ass since duathlon nationals last year in Minneapolis, trained like a MF'er, and finished first in my age group. I'm going to worlds because it would be an honor to represent my country no matter how I qualified. Take your successes like a man (or woman) and move on.

Yes, definitely plan on going...although my focus will be long course tri. So looking for a double with the standard du. No plans to try for any others.

Totally agree with you.

Congrads on your hard work. For me, just not willing to put the time in to try and get better on the bike. I just try to run down folks. :(

I am always amazed at the folks who make judgments about races.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

I agree with you. LC, should be long, minimum 3 hour finishing time for the winners. If the long course was really long, some people who aren't real long course guys would think twice about it and race standard distance.

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*********************
"When I first had the opportunity to compete in triathlon, it was the chicks and their skimpy race clothing that drew me in. Everyone was so welcoming and the lifestyle so obviously narcissistic. I fed off of that vain energy. To me it is what the sport is all about."

I agree Bend is not the "easiest" place to get to. The only races I have ever flown to were Alacatraz and AmZof (I did it 5 times as a local before I flew back from OR), however in both cases I made a week long vacation out of it.

So when someone says it is hard to get to Bend, I might agree, but the difficulty is if you were planning to just go for the weekend and race and then go home. If you flew to PDX, drove to Bend (3 hrs) and stayed for a weeks vacation, was that really so much travel as compared to a typical vacation? I don't know exactly where Cary is, but would you spend a weeks vacation there? My point being is that Bend is a vacation destination and if you look at it like that, the travel is not a big deal. I had a friend come out from NY to race with me and he spent a week here is OR and loved it. We spend two nights in Bend, we went to Crater Lake, he hung out at my house in Corvallis for 4 nights hitting up some brew pubs and he had a great trip.

Bend in the summertime is awesome. People should have realized this, planned ahead and made a week out of it. Me personally, I would never bother to fly anywhere for a weekend just to race (okay, I am planning to fly to SAC for a weekend this year to race a marathon, but it is like a 1 hour flight and I don't need to worry about bringing a bike and a bunch of other crap).

Even more so when they gave out the sprint awards first.

Congrats on your national title. Don't be so insecure about it.

I guess we'll add condescending to your lovely list of character traits.

Spot on. Brought the family to Bend and made a vacation out of the PNW. Went to Cary alone, flying in the day before, raced, packed my bike at the venue afterwards and then straight to the airport.

So what was your favorite thing about Bend?

Deschutes has great food, we ended up eating their for dinner twice and I had Pork Shank Osso Bucco for my pre-race and post-race dinner.

I also took my buddy tubing on the Deschutes river on Saturday after the race.

I'm tall, I can't help but talk down to everyone. If you want to add condescending to funny, fast and smart I'm okay with it. Even I'll admit I'm not perfect;)

Weather, Old Mill District, scenic beauty everywhere, integration of housing and commercial space, etc. It is now on our list of potential retirement towns.