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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Dev, I think the timing of this race is perfect. We do not need another Northeast half iron race in July or August. I am sure it will be a success and I certainly hope to be able to make it to the inaugural race.
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [johnnybefit] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks Johnny your positive comments are appreciated! I will provide updates. People can also sign up for the race newsletter if they like from the website, http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com. The plan is to unveil more and more of the family activities and attractions that will make this a family experience, along with a great race. The website at this point is a "soft launch" to showcase the race courses and explain the point to point race. I expected that a few athletes would be a little leery of two transitions and am hoping that providing this key information and process upfront would alleviate concerns. As I said in an earlier post we have produced two transition races before and if you plan properly, from the perspective of the customer, they should not be that difficult for the athlete/customer.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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The Canadian is never big in numbers anyway and we can ride clean races there too.

...not so sure about that! I had at least 3-5 people drafting behind me at a lot of points in the 2 years I've done that Iron distance race. I wasnt particularly fast, but not spectacularly slow either...just goes to show that people from all abilities show up for that event.

I do wish the guys doing the Canadian get more publicity + organize for a longer race loop including the Ottawa River Parkway though.

Duathlete by choice?
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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John, also I wanted to thank you for being creative to take full advantage of the featuring the run course by the falls. That will certainly be interesting and would get many people to travel over for it. I definitely agree that it will be one of the most iconic races in Canada.....why not just go with "most iconic races in the World" vs. "fastest and most iconic races in Canada". I don't think you need "fastest" as part of the marketing. The Falls are the main feature as they should be. This is what differentiates your race. Any event can be fast.

Dev,

Glad to see you have moderated your feelings on this. You need to get outside your box! :)

I had not been to Niagara Falls in years. For people in Southern Ontario, I think the Falls are an under-appreciated attraction. It's really impressive to see them up close and in person. In this race, you'll get to run right by them, and in particular the brink, of the Canadian Falls twice!!

When Europeans are asked to name North American places that they would most like to go and see, guess which place consistently finishes in the top-5?



Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [John Salt] [ In reply to ]
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For those coming from the U.S - we need a passport for the race as well as plan time to cross border? Would you recommend staying on the Canadian side?
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Hey Dev, Thanks for the kind words. I do like your suggest of a tag line, "most iconic race in the world". We are actually still making decisions as it relates to brand. The goal for these first few months is to help athletes understand that a race with two transitions can work, be athlete friendly and also ensure that friends and family are part of the race experience. In the coming weeks and months we will unveil more pages on the website that are dedicated to those aspects and more such as accommodations, attractions etc..

I should also mention one aspect in the bike course design has been rail lines. We had looked at another bike course, suggested by a local pro, but there is a major rail line which cuts through the course. If you look at the area this is an issue which has to factor in course design. Unfortunately it looks like we are just not able to get specific train schedules to be sure a freight train does not come through the course on race day.

Having said that I would be happy to hear from anyone who has suggestions and ideas to make this a better race. It is another reason that we announced this 17 months out. We have a great course and have all aspects of the logistics nailed down. Our series has grown because we are focused on the customer, so Ideas that will help make this an even better experience are welcome.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
Last edited by: John Salt: May 1, 13 14:54
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [johnnybefit] [ In reply to ]
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We are working with the local BIA and tourism groups and will be adding information on accommodations and travel in the coming weeks. To answer you specific question, yes, I believe that staying on the Canadian side in Niagara Falls will be the best and easiest.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [John Salt] [ In reply to ]
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John's being modest here. I did the Colligwood LC race years ago (RIP...that was an amazing race) which John produced as a point to point.

Utterly flawless.
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [John Salt] [ In reply to ]
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John,

I just realized that this is in 2014. That is a lot of time to get the marketing all ramped up. I have a very good chance of attending as my son will be in college by then and I'll have an empty house (where did time go....one moment you can't wait till they are grown up, then they are and it is too late). Let's talk offline about your race. It is kind of cool that the swim is happening in the Canal that ships used to bypass the Niagara Falls, but then you actually take us right there. Athletes will be doing the opposite of what the early explorers were faced with. They had no canal to get by the falls and had to land portage. You're bike portaging the athletes in the reverse route.

Dev
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [mfreeman72] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks Mat!
Yeah, we really liked that set-up with the Finish in Blue Mountain resort. Unfortunately the town of Collingwood has just grown too much and with increased traffic and the building development by the water it is a R.I.P. I still have quite a few athletes asking for us to bring it back, alas it is not to be.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Dev,

I would love to discuss the race with you. Nice angle on the historical back-drop. We won't ask the athletes to carry their bike and portage the bike course though. Please drop me a line at john@multisportcanada.com and let me know a good time and number to call you.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [mfreeman72] [ In reply to ]
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John's being modest here. I did the Colligwood LC race years ago (RIP...that was an amazing race) which John produced as a point to point.

Matt,

Not trying to make too big a deal about this, with a really good race management organization, point-to-point should be a non-issue. It's all about having a plan and executing on that plan, and having redundancy built in (because invariably there will be problems).

I have confidence this will be OK. It's only a 20 minute drive from Niagara Falls (the T2 & Finish) and the start (swim & T1). This is a race management organization that has proven over many years that one of their strengths is execution.

The one challenge is there is limited hotel accommodation at the start in the town of Welland. But, 20 minutes away, in Niagara Falls, there is an over-abundance of really good Hotels. So, the smart person, I would think, for the out-of-town person would be the base themselves in Niagara Falls, and take whatever transfer and shuttle help they need to the start.



Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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I'm wondering what the weather will be like up there that time of the year??
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [mhazla1978] [ In reply to ]
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September is usually quite nice around here. Warmish days (low 20's on average) without getting too warm. Nights can start to get quite cool towards the end of the month (average in low teens to high single digits). Water temp should be perfect as long as the race isn't too close to October. I always wondered why there weren't more races in September since it seems like much better racing weather than July and August.
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [mhazla1978] [ In reply to ]
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The historical average daily temperature and rainfall in September is 22C or 71.6F and 76mm or 3 inches of rain. The Falls actually has a bit of a micro-climate which lends well to a warmer race day. The swim is in the Welland Recreational Waterway which also stays warm and does not have the temperature fluctuations of larger bodies of water, where wind can cause a turnover of colder water coming to the surface.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [mhazla1978] [ In reply to ]
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Hahaha...I just realized that my last post could be read that there is 3 inches of rain a day in September. If that was the case we could make it swim, canoe and float. Historically, it is actually 3 inches of rain for the MONTH, and it will be swim, bike, run.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
Last edited by: John Salt: May 8, 13 16:06
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [John Salt] [ In reply to ]
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John, as I discussed offline, I'd like to follow the "making" of this production and understanding all the behind the scenes that you and your team are going through to put this on. As I mentioned, it is important that there is a large ecosystem of non WTC events that service our community so please keep us informed on what you are doing. It's not that we want either WTC or non WTC, it is that we just want to create a larger sport overall so that everyone benefits. As an example, in June, I will race the Tremblant 70.3 and Tupper Lake Half IM 6 days apart (probably stupid), but there is a place in the sport for both types of race, each servicing a slightly different athlete and community need. In the case of Tupper Lake, the race is organized by high school coaches in the community raising all the money for school sports teams. That's slightly different from generating revenue for Providence Equity. But contrary to what many feel, the latter is not bad either. Revenues and profits for everyone is important for the sport to be healthy.

Dev
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [John Salt] [ In reply to ]
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John,

I'm a little torn about the timing of the event. Living in upstate NY, I'm a big fan of adding stellar races, especially longer ones. Within 2 hours of my house (read- ideal for me!) we have a half in June (IM Syracuse), July (Musselman), and Sept (Pain in the Alleganies). Nothing in August. Now you go a schedule another one for Sept. Anyway you could move to August?

I suppose that there are reasons for you wanting to do a race in Sept. Granted, I'm being selfish here but I personally think that Aug would give you more daylight (I hate setting up shop in the dark and cooler temps). There is a large crowd of multisporters from the Buffalo/ Rochester/ Syracuse area that you are tapping into.

Anyway, food for thought. Thank you for listening.






Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [Fleck] [ In reply to ]
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Finally a swim course map with an elevation profile! We talk about MSC getting execution right, and it's the little things like this that make the difference.
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [twoadays] [ In reply to ]
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You don't know the half of it.....we had to take out the hill on the swim in Welland. The funny thing is we actually could have had a swim with elevation, but we thought it might be too much of a challenge to swim UP the Falls.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
Last edited by: John Salt: May 9, 13 5:18
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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Dev, it was great chatting with you and I would love to share the "making" of the Niagara Falls Half Iron Triathlon. I also couldn't agree with you more on the need for a large triathlon ecosystem in order to keep the sport healthy and growing. As I was telling you, in the past 12 years a large part of our growth strategy has been developing reciprocal relationships that are win/win. We have avoided having races on dates which might conflict, especially with a local independent race, worked with triathlon stakeholders like coaches and clubs and assisted some with race production. As I said, I will be happy to share our journey with you and appreciate your interest in telling the story.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [Tri-Banter] [ In reply to ]
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It was basically a desire to create a race with a huge differentiator. Why have a race in Niagara Falls unless you can take full advantage of the Falls? While there are a few races which end just before the Falls, for us it was absolutely necessary for the run to go by the Falls or there was no point. Twice by the Falls was the dream run.

We also had to factor in that Niagara Falls, and what would be the run course, is extremely busy with vehicular and pedestrian traffic in July and August. The reality is Niagara Falls does not need an event like ours in July and August. The safety concerns for athletes and disruption to the community is just too great. For the past three years we have been working with the Niagara Parks Commission and the City of Niagara Falls to find a way to get our run past the Falls, which also meant going through the city. Both the NPC and the City were supportive of our goal but it came down to a simple choice. If we wanted that run we needed to find a date on the shoulder season where we would cause the least disruption to the City and its visiting tourists. That left June or September.

We already have the successful Welland Half Iron in June so it did not make sense to change something just for the sake of change. Also, as you say, 70.3 Syracuse is in June, so why bump up against another event that is so close by? That left September and the logic was compelling. Niagara Falls has a bit of a micro-climate and it stays warmer deep into September with minimal rainfall. September is a great time of the year for families to visit the nearby attractions before, during and after the race. The Niagara Grape and Wine Festival is that weekend which is a bit of a draw away from the Falls but could be an attraction for some of our athlete's families (and maybe a few athletes). The NPC and City would support the third week in September and give us the run course with two loops past the Falls, so it just made sense.

So, in the end, the answer to this is relatively simple.....we really didn't feel we had much choice if we wanted an epic run course. Thanks to the NPC and the City of Niagara Falls we have it and I hope we see you there.

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
Last edited by: John Salt: May 9, 13 8:37
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [John Salt] [ In reply to ]
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Hi John,

Any updates to share on the race?

Thanks, John
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [johnnybefit] [ In reply to ]
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Hey John,

Thanks for asking.

We are down to a short list of hotels in the hopes of securing a special athlete rate. The reality is there are so many hotels that rates are very good to start with. I spoke with Dev a couple of months ago and we are planning to discuss the race in September, with the possibility of him providing an objective perspective for Slowtwitch. I obviously hope that happens.

We are really happy with the number of people who have expressed an interest in the race by signing up for our newsletter. We will start sending news releases to those athletes just before registration opens. Registration will open on September 21, 2013, a year before race day. You can sign up for the newsletter at http://niagarafallstriathlon.com/news/

John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"
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Re: New Race In Niagara Falls Canada [John Salt] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks John, signed up for the newsletter. I am eager to add this race to my plan for 2014 and make a nice vacation out of it as well.
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