I'm glad someone is thinking about it. I might get flamed for this, but here is what I think the issue is: LC and IRONMAN, for the most part appeal to the hard type a personalities. They get their satisfaction from setting goals, results and achievements. I think the event is just a vehicle for getting those. Maybe not, though. Fun means different things to different people. To some people you can only have fun with success. Not to me, though. I can have a great time going out hard from the start in a 10k, trying to hang on, only to crash and burn a half a mile from the finish line! That's just as much fun for me. It's still smile inducing because I gave it all I could. I just didn't succeed that day. Maybe on the next one I make it all of the way before the wheels come off. Or I run it right and set a PR. I have options. It doesn't really matter, I'll still live to race another day. I can't say that about LC or IRONMAN. For me, it is always about being able to race another day.

This event definitely has appeal to me. I'm looking for unique, grassroots events that are NOT 140.6 or 70.3, where its a mixed bag for people participating - some wanting to see how quickly they can do it, but the majority of the folks are there to enjoy the journey of the day.

My preference is to have the event be longer because if I'm driving to a Destination "Race", it just feels more worthwhile if I'm going to be out there for >5 hours (preferably closer to 10 hrs).

I haven't done SOS, but its on my radar and has the uniqueness and epicness that is appealing. I did Sea to Summit last summer, and absolutely loved it despite horrible weather (swim canceled and no mountain top finish because of lightning). The SwimRun events that are popping up also hold appeal.

If you are trying to get more interest, you could entice newbies with a sprint distance (<90 minutes) to compliment medium (90-180 minutes) and long distance (>180 minutes) race options (I'm intentionally not including distances).

As others have said, I don't think these types of events will ever appeal to the masses, but that is one of the attractions for me. I'm tired of the races with the masses. And the mainstreaming of IM distance events is a big detractor for me, especially when race organizations "wussify" the courses by having downstream swims and flat rides to enable faster times.

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Tad

It took awhile, but I finally discovered that its not the destination that's important, but rather the journey.

Ironman has a logo that can be attached to an experience that brings social capital and brand recognition, along with a profit. All of those things have their place, but an event like this- which exists solely in my head- would be the anithesis of that. Instead of "I am an Ironman but almost didn't finish because I forgot my calf compression sleeves," on twitter, I want the finishers of this event to say "I raced this morning, and I almost didn't finish because I narrowly avoided a porcupine while I was checking out the view of the Catskills" while sitting at the bar.

I'm a college swim coach, and 28 years old. So often, I run into issues with my swimmers and with my peers (and myself) when they (I) seemingly have to jusitfy their (my) actions on social media or to themselves- If it's not the perfect use of their time, complete with a perfect picture, there's no reason to do it. If anything doesn't go according to plan, it seems to be a failure- my swimmers get so bent out of shape when they have to change their plans because of something out of their control. *

This event would exist only to exist- I am not thinking about putting this on to make money, but simply because I want to race this event, and hopefully race some other people. It's a chance to test oneself- the results will have no other comparable event- and try to adapt mid race to different challenges.

The unknown is the appeal to me. I want something different, after racing as a pro for 5 years, and college athletics before that. I have raced more than 50 Olympic distance races, and I remember parts of some, and none of others. This is more about creating a series of moments that I want to revisit mentally than it is about instagramming a podium pic. The test is still the same- 'how quickly can I cover this course-' but instead of planning for it, the event will be more about adapting and overcoming challenges the terrain, weather, and our minds can put before us.

I want to combine the spirit of Cool cycling events, e/g Rasputitsa, etc; adventure racing or orienteering (which is inherently unpredictable, cool) and rock climbing- (also unpredictable and cool). Maybe this can never exist, but it's been really fun to think about. and thanks @Slowman your article certainly made me think about this a bunch.

* I know this is a generalization, but it is my perception of the population with whom I work most closely.

I think a sportif would flourish if started 100% grassroots, but might have trouble gaining traction (ha ha) if they are kicked off as big events. Kind of recreate the conditions that started the sport in the first place.

"At 6am, I am going to swim from Excelsior beach around Frog Island and back. Then, I am going to ride the 48-mile Tour de Tonka route. After that, I plan on running the last part of the Lake Minnetonka Half-Marathon course to Navarre and back. If anyone cares to join me, you're more than welcome. Next month, we'll head up to Elm Creek to go off-road."

 
this sounds great!

my favorite races have been odd-distance multisport. exciting to race, making use of the natural features of the geographical area. Point to point trail runs, strange bike, swim across a lake, etc.

winter opens up the possibility of even more cool multi sport races, like the incredible pentathlon des neiges in quebec city (bike>run>ski>speedskate>snowshoe)!.

I like the idea and I think it would work well as a multi day event, sort of ultraman in remote location, possibly a team event like otillo. Long swim day 1 or even swim run day 1. Long gravel ride day 2 and trail run day 3. You could choose to participate to one day only, two days or the three. If your wife only runs or bike, that would give her a chance to particpate. Near a lakw with a camping site so you could make it holiday with the family.

I'm really excited about the idea of more gravel triathlons popping up in the near future.


When Wildflower announced its comeback for next year I noticed they had renamed the Mountain Bike Sprint to "off-road" sprint and after looking at the course description noted that it stated the bike had to have "knobby tires". I recall the old race specifically having a rule against riding a cross/gravel bike so I emailed Tri-Cal to see if something had changed. I got an email back from Terry Davis saying that indeed you can ride a cross/gravel bike and I have to say I'm more fired up for this race then anything else on my schedule for next year. It's unique and different and after doing tri's for 15 years I'm all for a new twist on swim, bike, run.

Hope to see more of these.

A close friend and I have been discussing something similar. Our idea would be a Strava type triathlon. Build your course, and challenge the crowd. Transitions don’t matter, as you might be the only one at the parking lot that particular day. Only segment times count. This way you could swim at lake A, bike route B, and run route C with more variety. Keep,the course open 30 days. Participants meet at the local watering spot, where the winner receives a free beer, or whatever. Challenging, local, grassroots, social.
Done.

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Only those who risk going too far can find out how far they can go...

i think this is a great idea, AmZof continues to be my favorite event, I tried to get into SOS for the 1st time. It took me 6 years to move up from "participant" to "competitive" in triathlon, but agree completely on the comment that events succeed because they appeal to all. In that veign, I'd suggest keeping this as simple as possible -
-swim - keep it a short course & simple, 2x 800s is good so people feel the break between laps.
-bike - not sure you want anything with a treacherous up or downhill, again you want more participation, not to hurt people.
-run is all good, as we are all on our feet.

for the participation idea, you can actually rope in a bunch of people that don't normally do "events." one could do this course, if selected right, on a gravel bike, road bike, MTB, Fatty, or even the hybrids that many people have..

keep at it, this can succeed, especially if your goal is a local grass roots event with a AmZof type of transition area and virtually no commercialization.

So we swim through melted cheese?

Or ride through knee deep melted cheese?

Cross streams of melted cheese on the run?

I gotta say, I'm not gettin' this idea.

Interested.
Nice to do non standard and non branded races. Low key as well.
I live in Westchester county, close enough to the Hudson valley

I am looking for something different to rekindle an interest in multisport. Gravel certainly appeals from a course stand point, I'm just not that wild about forcing a triathlon into those parameters. Biking, running, hiking, climbing, kayaking, in some combination would be cool. I'll leave the swimming for after the race.

so basically all talk....no action. Glad the friends that started Swim/run did not have a conference to explore multisport business opportunities....

At the risk of being crass - there was a want for this to be a viable business opportunity because many things in this sport right now are not sustainable. They APPEAR to be looking in from the outside but are not sustainable over a 5 - 10 year plan.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

That is awesome to hear Slowman.... You have got to come visit SOS next September and get a small dose of the carriage roads "better sounding than gravel" that we have here. I have space for you right in the heart of all of it. This type of racing speaks to the soul first and all the other noise later..

I put on a couple of gravel (I call them multi-surface, because there's a fair amount of pavement involved) rides each year. One in May (Elbe Multi-Strada Loop Ride -- https://www.facebook.com/...ts/1722342027810684/), and one in July (Lucky Masochist's Gravel Deuce -- https://www.facebook.com/events/150306302270855/). The May ride will be the 5th edition, and it's grown each year -- this past year we started with 17 riders. The July ride is a two-day thing, but people are welcome to do either day or both. So far I'm the only one who has done both days, and usually the Sunday ride is much smaller (I did it solo the first year). Both rides are free (including free food/beer after the first day ride), and they're characterized as a group ride on a prescribed course, not a race. No closed roads, no traffic control.

I've toyed with the idea of doing an off-pavement tri, but once you introduce a swim, you NEED to have insurance in place (in my opinion). I have good friends that put on a LOT of races (running, cycling, and tri -- BuDu Racing, for those in the PacNW area), and I know the amount of work it takes to even put on small multi-sport events.

I've also toyed with a "burrito" event (continuous repeat tri, sbrsbrsbr...), and have venues and courses laid out. BuDu has said they would help, but I also know I'm the one that would be doing the heavy lifting on that one, and quite frankly I don't have the time.

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

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I love races like that, but I might be a bit of an outlier. For example, one I have done a couple times is run, kayak, gravel bike (in that order). It is one of my favorites. I am a craptastic mountain biker, so I am going to see if one of my friends will do a relay Xterra race with me, because he wins local mtb races but doesn't swim or trail run.