I respect your desire to race Kona, but this race is meant for those that prefer long course duathlon. I'm specifically targeting Kona weekend to provide a season ending goal worthy race that's an alternative to Kona. Zofingen moved itself to the third week of August to allow top pros to race Zofingen and Kona. By holding our event that same weekend, racing both Zofingen and our race is an option, one that I intend to avail myself of this year. Good luck at Kona, and the half this weekend.

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2015 American Zofingen Du is May 17.
R.I.P. Chris Gleason

Wayne - an epic training day is always a good fallback option, but I think we can do better. Our calendar needs a season ending ultra duathlon. As far as adding those roads to the traditional loop, I've thought of that (in fact, wouldn't going to the top of Perkins Memorial Drive be a real kick in the pants!) and will do the necessary recon prior to submitting a proposal to the park when I return from Italy. My recollection is that those roads are rough and some corners on the descent could take a fatigued rider by surprise. Some may claim boredom with multi-loops, but we need to consider marshalling and fluid and nutrition support as well. Zofingen itself is 3 loops of 50K each and I was never bored once. Also, multi-loop is spectator friendly and I'm hopeful that out-of-state racers will use the event as a reason for a family trip to the beautiful Hudson Valley during peak fall foliage.

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2015 American Zofingen Du is May 17.
R.I.P. Chris Gleason

I'm in. Can we get some cool T-shirts made?

Yes. We hope this will become an annual event, so we want to be sure to have excellent memorabilia for those who were there when it all began.

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2015 American Zofingen Du is May 17.
R.I.P. Chris Gleason

I'm just thinking about boosting attendance for the race, not "Kona vs. Powerman" -- IMO the best run/bike/run guys race tris primarily, and Kona is where it's at in October.

Good luck with the race, it's great to have more focus on Harriman as a venue.

John, If you get the October 16 race built this year...count me in. That's just up the road from me in Quantico, VA...and I think I'd rather race that than do the Marine Corps Marathon again this year. We can hold a moment of warmup or something for Chad since he'll be in Iraq.

Tribriguy - We'll hold that moment for Chad and all the rest who defend our freedom just as soon as we finish the National Anthem. I don't know why more races don't start with it. The more Marines, the merrier. You guys kick ass. I've raced Doug Marocco and Del Marriott in the past. Fast, strong men. You'd better bring a bunch, however. I think Army's got this one in their sites!

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2015 American Zofingen Du is May 17.
R.I.P. Chris Gleason

Thanks Brian,

I'm sure the bike is going to suffer, even if I manage the odd trainer workout, but look out for my running when I get back. It looks like I'll have a good two hours to PT in the a.m. so I may be able to crank out 10 or 12 hours of running per week. As I told someone that warned me to bring a DVD player the other day, "I'll be training any time I'm not working, eating or sleeping or reading."

Chad

   

In response to another comment above, we shouldn't care one bit if our big race conflicts with Kona. Are there a lot of fast people who might come who will be racing in Hawaii? Sure. So what. If they want to swim, then more power to them. I find great irony with Ironman distance triathletes who look down on duathlon, because the swim is almost, but not completely irrelevant, in long course triathlon.

An example: last year's Quelle Roth race--Most of the top 10 finished the swim between 48 and 52 minutes. Thus a gap of 4 minutes. The gap on the bike was a fairly substantial 20 minutes for that same group. On the run there was another 20 minute gap. So of the 44 minutes McCormack beat the others by, 10 percent of that was swimming and 90 percent was duathlon. So Ironman-type races are really just long duathlons with a little swim warm-up. :)

Don't take that too seriously, but we certainly don't need to worry about whether or not we conflict with Kona.Chad

Thanks to everyone for all the positive responses. I'm fully committed to making this race happen this October 16th. Once I return from Du LC Worlds I'll be submitting a proposal to Harriman. If you are interested, please periodically check www.hudsonvalleyvelodrome.com for updates. JM

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2015 American Zofingen Du is May 17.
R.I.P. Chris Gleason