This is a bit convoluted, but hang in for a couple of minutes. I feel “like I’m taking crazy pills!” and would appreciate it if you could weigh in and let me know if this makes any sense at all. Here it goes:
Duathlon long course world champs are scheduled for Oct 21 2007 in Richmond, VA. Duathlon short course world champs are scheduled for May 19 2007 in Gyor, Hungary.
Most of you know that elite duathlon is too small right now to have LC & SC specialists (vs. triathlon where very few athletes will race ITU SC worlds & Kona)
USAT has proposed using Powerman Alabama (held on April 15 2007) as the selection race for the elite LC world championship team. This means having a LC, TT format race 1 month before the world championship in SC, draft legal duathlon. As you can imagine the preparation for these events are totally different, with much more emphasis on the run since the bike is draft legal. The real kicker is that US elite nationals will be held on September 29th (Powerman Ohio), but other than giving the winner the title of “elite national champion”, the race will be meaningless. This could easily result in the national champion not representing the USA at LC world championships. If the selection race were to be held at Powerman Ohio, it would allow the elites to focus on the SC world championships (and other SC races) for the first half of the season, then transition to a LC focus for the national & world championships for the second half of the season.
Am I missing something here? Please, feel free to disagree. Also, I don’t think the whole ”well that’s the rules!” argument holds much water here. I’m all for following the rules when they make sense, but if we don’t take ownership of our sport, decisions will be continued to be made by people who may not be totally in touch with the needs of the athletes.
Mike Sharkey
Duathlon long course world champs are scheduled for Oct 21 2007 in Richmond, VA. Duathlon short course world champs are scheduled for May 19 2007 in Gyor, Hungary.
Most of you know that elite duathlon is too small right now to have LC & SC specialists (vs. triathlon where very few athletes will race ITU SC worlds & Kona)
USAT has proposed using Powerman Alabama (held on April 15 2007) as the selection race for the elite LC world championship team. This means having a LC, TT format race 1 month before the world championship in SC, draft legal duathlon. As you can imagine the preparation for these events are totally different, with much more emphasis on the run since the bike is draft legal. The real kicker is that US elite nationals will be held on September 29th (Powerman Ohio), but other than giving the winner the title of “elite national champion”, the race will be meaningless. This could easily result in the national champion not representing the USA at LC world championships. If the selection race were to be held at Powerman Ohio, it would allow the elites to focus on the SC world championships (and other SC races) for the first half of the season, then transition to a LC focus for the national & world championships for the second half of the season.
Am I missing something here? Please, feel free to disagree. Also, I don’t think the whole ”well that’s the rules!” argument holds much water here. I’m all for following the rules when they make sense, but if we don’t take ownership of our sport, decisions will be continued to be made by people who may not be totally in touch with the needs of the athletes.
Mike Sharkey