Please elaborate why Salem, OR is wishful thinking. Is that a great race venue?

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- Nick
Now that I know some of you guys look through the special needs bags for kicks, I'm gonna put some really weird stuff in mine. I can see it now. "What the heck was he going to do with a family pack of KFC chicken, a football helmet full of peanut butter, a 12 inch rubber dildo, and naked pictures of Bea Arthur?"

My grandfather lives in Salem and the area would be simply awesome for a race. There are long sections of the Williamette River with a slow enough current to have a swim (the water would be extremely cold though!) . Plus there are lots of beautiful lakes to have a swim.

The bike course could be insanely challenging or wickedly fast. The roads around Salem are well maintained and offer plenty of elevation change to be difficult.

The Salem area is also littered with trails that weave through hills, woods, and along the edges of vineyards and farms.

The weather isn't bad either. In late April the chances of a rainy, cold day are as good as a perfectly clear, low humidity day.

I'd love to race near Salem, or even better Portland for Nationals this coming year, but all I heard was rumor and I am curious if a site has been selected yet.

I've heard rumors it is the weekend of April 23 in New Orleans, but cannot confirm that either.

--Marcus George
UCLA Triathlon
http://www.triathlon.ucla.edu

I'd love to have Nat'ls in Salem, considering a few of my long rides (70+) make it up there :-)

It's not in AZ again?

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The question of who is right and who is wrong has seemed to me always too small to be worth a moment's thought, while the question of what is right and what is wrong has seemed all-important.

-Albert J. Nock

Here's the low down on Collegiate Nationals:

After three horribly managed national championships in Arizona (please boycott all Tucson Racing/Jonathan Grinder events) USAT decided that the Collegiate Commission should be reformed to oversee the race. One of the main objectives of the commission was to choose a site for next year’s race. However, after forming the commission, USAT waited around for 2 months and never presented the commission with the 5-6 race site options it had promised them. Instead the commission was told that time had run out, and they had to approve the New Orleans location. The commission had become what USAT promised it would not turn into again, a rubber stamp.

So we are pretty much stuck with New Orleans for '06. I don't think I have a problem with the location, just the way it was forced on us. The race will probably be/should be on the East Coast in '07; maybe Claremont, FL or Atlanta, GA.

If you think Oregon is a good location tell your college commission representative, or try to get on the commission yourself next year. Some things to consider though:

1. The race has always been in April/May time and the logistics of changing the time of year for the race would be difficult. I'm not sure what the weather is like in Oregon then, but the swim shouldn't require a wetsuit.

2. The race site should be close to an airport, camp ground, hotels, and probably a brewery.

3. You'll need to find a race director capable of putting on a national championship caliber race with 700+ athletes.

Scott

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"Triathlon" is a misspell according to the Slowtwitch spell checker.

This is unfortunate. I really feel that USAT is missing the boat with collegiate competition. They seem to put a lot of emphasis on U23. Well, the majority of those U23's can't go train in Colorado Springs. They're going to be attending college somewhere. By putting at least a little effort into developing the sport at the collegiate level we could have a great national program for up-and-comers as well as everyone else who may be on a collegiate team. USA Cycling seems to have a pretty good collegiate program. They have well-defined conferences, official races, points-based omnium, a conference director who attends all the races, a conference championship, etc. Even those who ride for a pro team will come out to race the entire collegiate season and some of the nation's top cyclists have come through the collegiate program. Collegiate Triathlon has none of this as far as I can see. I really hope the Collegiate Commission will be be given the recognition and respect needed to do its job. There are some great people on the commission who can make a much-needed difference.

--Marcus George
UCLA Triathlon
http://www.triathlon.ucla.edu

This is ironic. The collegiate commission was reformed because of the uproar from collegiate athletes when we heard a rumor that collegiate nationals was going to be bundled with a worlds qualifier. It seems like USAT put the commission back together to pacify opposition to their plan, and then went ahead with their plan anyway. I think New Orleans is a good site geographically speaking, but i would really like to see the board serve the function it was created to serve.

Well, if Nawlins is buried in toxic jambalaya after Katrina leaves town, we may not be headed there at all. I'm still voting for Portland or Salem.

As far as i know it has been decided that NO will be the location. I doubt a storm 8 months prior could prompt a change in location.