Dan, this is exactly the type of direction that I would like Trican to set from the top, and then the provincial federations across the land can do their piece for implementation.

Perhaps even a "participation" ranking, where you get points for just finishing events. For example: your first tri in your life =100 pts, sprint = 20, Olympic = 40, Half ironman = 80, Ironman = 125. This way weekend warriors could automatically see how their points compare against dudes across the country, regardless of speed...and yes, the LC guys get more points, but they also cannot race as much.

There are many low cost high impact items that can be implemented that make age groupers feel included. They see that the folks running the show at the top, care about them and actually acknowledge their existence !

Right now, someone could go to the Triathlon Canada website and for all intensive purposes, they'd get the impression that there is no age group competition/participation going on.

Dev,

I can't understand where you're trying to go with this topic. I'm not a fan of TriCan either, but I think for different reasons than you. Contrary to what you seem to believe, I don't think TriCan has much in the way of resources at it's disposal, financial or otherwise. So I think they best use those on the high-performance end of the sport...helping out the best and best up-and-coming athletes. Unfortunately, I think the way they're doing this at present with the NTTC setup is not working at all. Do you agree with that?

Can you honestly compare tri canada to USAT? I would highly doubt the numbers are close in terms of members (but I don't know for sure, so I may be wrong?) do you honestly think tri canada has near the amount of money to put into the things that usat does? If you are going to compare, maybe try apples to apples? I am in a bit of conflict of interest as I VOLUNTEER at tri b.c., but honestly we operate very seperate from tri canada. I see problems and hear of problems with tri canada and leadership, but I don't see that as being the reason for lack of age group support?

Joel,

What is the proper process for getting some of these ideas to the Board?

I think the best place to start might be an electronic newsletter that gets sent out to members or other interested parties. Swimming Canada does this and there's usually an e-mail every week or so (depending on the time of year). Here are some topics that I think could be included:

- Results from Major Competitions (Elite, Junior & Age Group)
- Athlete Profiles (also Coaches, Officials, Bd member profiles as well)
- Upcoming Events (i.e. Annual General Meeting)
- Volunteer Opportunities
- National Team Information
- training articles or tips from Canadian Coaches
- Rules Updates or reminders
- National Training Centre Reports
- Coaches section (i.e. CBET updates)

This might be a good way to keep members informed, especially those that don't visit the website on a regular basis.

Do you think this would be feasible and how could we get TriCan to consider it?

Dan

Joel, Canwi and others, it is valid to compare Tri Can to other federations such as USAT. I don't expect the same output from them given the limited resources.

See Dan's suggestion about a newsletter. This is low cost and can be done by volunteers. If Trican will endorse it, I'll even spearhead the newsletter and be the editor as long as we can get things organized to get content from the various fronts for a monthly publication deadline.

Trust me, there are tons of guys and gals willing to roll up their sleeves and do work for free to improve the sport in Canada. Many of us are already involved helping to organize events, coaching folks etc etc. We're just not on the board, but as members, it does not mean that we don't care what the board is up to.

As a democracy, we fail when the voters no longer care what the elected officials do. In some sense, I detect this is the case with Triathlon Canada, where the rank and file Triathlete has no interest in what they do. Largely, this is a failure of our structure. Putting something back to the age group masses will only strengthen the sport and our national federation.

So where do we get started. Do I have volunteers to help with a newsletter ?

Dev, I think that there needs to be more work in getting some one in at the board level who could test the waters for AG representation at that level before you run off putting together a news letter. That is unless you want to start up the "Dev Paul chronicles". I certainly doubt any real success will be realized as this fiefdom is controled by Bill H and he's not a very open person to any ideas, reminds me very much of Les(s) McDonald of ITU.

With regards to the comparison of USAT and TriCan there really isn't any. USAT is all things to all athletes. TriCan is barely anything to a limited number of athletes. The resources are certainly not the same. Again it really comes down to vision and leadership. I do understand that TriCan is trying to make their wesite more attractive and easier to navigate but I'm not sure what that would mean to the average athlete.

For those on the email thread, with regards to ranking systems; it's not done on a provincial level but at a national level. take a look at http://www.usatriathlon.org. As well take a look at what USAT does offer to AG athletes and so on.

I think you have some valid points. fyi kevin mckinnon is trying to put together a newsletter that encompasses canada in general. But not sure if he is getting the financial backing.........Maybe contact Kevin?