Agree.
I prefer to mix up my race season between ones I do every year and a couple new/unique/bucket list races.
Don't have to be USAT sanctioned or standard distances either, more about the experience for me.

we would pretty carefully vet the race before we ever wrote about it. high points would be photography, race quality, stuff like that. we wouldn't be traveling to these races all the time or even much of the time. we would rely on stringers. they would be our eyes, ears, and they'd be the photographers. so, it'd be 60 percent the quality of the race and the scenery, or whatever is special about that race, and it would be 40 percent the quality of the person generating the content. we would commence a hunt for those who could generate quality content.

i've been thinking about this for awhile. i'm now in the fact finding stage.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I would definitely be interested in learning about more regional/local races. You could also discuss why the area is a fun place to visit. We are always bemoaning the lack of non-Ironman races... well let's increase the awareness of these races and help grow the sport!

I live in MI and have seen races like Michigan Titanium and the Grand Rapids Tri come up on the message boards but I don't believe I've ever seen races like that mentioned on the front page. It seems like if a non-Ironman race is discussed it's usually a big race like Roth or something different like Swim/Run or one of the extreme races. The Grand Rapids Tri, for example, had 1300-1500 participants in various distances this year and was once again the Clydesdale and Athena National Championship. From previous discussions about USAT I know that won't matter to a lot of people, but it's still something fun for our town and that seems like a decent sized race to this small town boy. Grand Rapids is also a pretty cool place to hang out with some world class breweries, great museums and gardens, etc.

Absolutely 100% yes I would, however, I think I am likely one of those outliers around here. I love reading the race reports about those little known races people do instead of reading about the races I already know (Ironman brand). Heck, the only reason I found out about the TTT was because of slowtwitch and for that I will forever hate you for that. ;) I would love to see more writeups of races like that one. (I would think that would be your first writeup).

I'm sure you remember this but the old Inside Triathlon newspaper used to have short write-ups on 3-5 races per region each month. I even got mentioned in one of their "local race scene" articles. Unfortunately, this was b/c I had a 10-min lead coming out of the water but still got caught at mile 5.9 of the 6.2 mi run. It was not one of my more stellar runs. :)

I voted "Will definitely read" in the poll.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

right. predating this was Triathlon Today!

i have something a little different in mind. rather than treating AG races like pro races, just they're AG races, i'm going to expect more from the local race. not fair perhaps, but, i've got a magazine to run! the coverage of the race, in every way, photography, scenery, production, the care given to the textual content, will have to be twice what any pro race is we're covering.

for example, you look at all the swim/runs we cover, and the extreme tri races, or races in far flung parts of the world like greece or bulgaria, the photography, videos, etc., whomp any of the coverage we do of any of the pro races. so, it'll be more like that, or we won't want to cover the race.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

The important thing is that the write-ups are fun to read. Win that battle, and they could be a shopping list for all I care. They need to be funny and full of drama, imagery and excitement.

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Books @ Amazon
"If only he had used his genius for niceness, instead of Evil." M. Smart

I really like this idea. I think a lot of us have our favorites that we would like to see covered, yet this puts the onus on us to make that coverage happen. It has the potential to connect consumers to events. It's like open mic night - a chance to discover or be discovered.

Would you be open to races that aren't necessarily triathlons? Off-road triathlons? Cycling events? Running events? Swim events? Branching out a bit could be healthy, but I suppose, at some point, you have to draw the line as to not dilute the content.

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

I like this too Dan. And second the idea of including epic rides or other non-tri events. I will volunteer to act as stringer at the Kerrville Half in central Texas. IMO, it is the best half distance race in the state and it is an indy. Thanks,
-Doug

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It is the mind itself which builds the body.
-Joseph Pilates

Absolutely and that would probably help grow some of the "local" races.

I'm much more interested in hearing about a cool race that I might want to do than I am who won Roth.

Reading the race reports got me to AZ many years ago. Reading about any IM or Challenge race has never convinced me to do one of them.