That is a brilliant idea.

Having a 1-3 K uphill run to the bike racks would be killer, esp. if it was a draft legal race where getting contact with the main pack would be v. imp, would be very spectator-friendly as well. From an age-group non-draft format, it would totally spread us out.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

The biggest challenge of duathlon to me is riding on legs you've just run on and vice versa. To do both, you've got to have at least 2 transitions. I've done several "adventure races" which were a mix of trail run and road cycling segments and I've done many typical run/cycle/run duathlons, mostly "sprint" distance. I really enjoy both. Well enjoy may be the wrong word, but you know what I mean!
The transition from one discipline to the other is a fundamental defining aspect of these events and while I expect I'd perform better in a run-cycle format, I prefer to keep the transitions. That's what makes these events something other than the accumulation of separate run and cycle times. More transitions, not less are the way to go! Many triathlon clubs around here run duathlons in the spring before open water temperatures are sufficient for triathlons. These tend to be approximately 3km Run - 20km Ride - 3km Run. I think that's a great format. Approachable for beginners, yet really painful for those with experience who race flat out from start to finish. There's not many longer duathlons about, but if there were, my preference would be to add more legs, not longer ones. I think the proportions are good with the run distance anywhere around 20-25% of the total distance.

I'd love to try something like a 3-15-3-15-3-15-3 format. That seems far more interesting and challenging to to me than a 12-45 or 45-12.

Also, it's far better to start and finish on foot from a safety and logistical perspective, even if that means cycling within a couple of hundred meters of the finish, racking the bike and sprinting for the line. One of the adventure races I used to do had a finish like that and it worked rather well. It also made for a good spectator experience. A bit of (safe) drama at the finish line!

This sounds like a fantastic idea, and could make for a really exciting finish if there is more than one person there at the same time. It brings some real strategy into that transition...like do you even bother putting on shoes for that final sprint? Good stuff.

I echo your sentiment on shorter distance duathlons. I think that is where the future of the sport here in the US lies. Powerman has done a good job around the globe with its 10k/60k10k format but here in the US that distance dies a quick death.
I know the duathlon series I put on is 2 mile run/ 12 mile bike/ 2 mile run which is short enough for the weekend warrior to do but challenging enough to give experienced athletes a workout.
If they say its too easy they didnt go hard enough. ;)

I did three Duathlons this year. They were all stand alone events. My last race of 2019 had a canceled swim and so it was sort of a duathlon, only they sent us out one at a time every 5 seconds pushing our bike rather than a mass run start. The Triathlon with the canceled swim had some people who registered for the Duathlon option. They did the same race as all the Triathletes but were scored separate and I noticed that the over all winner for the Duathlon would have been 4th place in his Age Group if he had been scored with everyone else. So I would defiantly say only do stand alone duathlons. The duathlon option at a Triathlon is not for racing. It it is for people that are using the race as a training workout (i.e. they have never done a full IM so they start with doing the full distance Duathlon to shorten the day as they build their volume, etc.). Or for people who's doctor won't let the swim (i.e. they got stiches they they aren't supposed to get wet or something like that).

I am disappointed to hear the stand alone duathlon options are disappearing in Houston since I will be moving there next year. I should be in Eastern Oklahoma long enough to do the March in Okarche Triathlon in the Oklahoma City area 2-1/2 hours away and possibly even the Iron Pig Duathlon in April in Arkansas 3 hours away before I move. We didn't get 200 people at any of the duathlons I did this year. I think the average number of people was about 30 people (which worked great for Covid precautions). The people that were there were fast though. I was averaging USAT scores of around 104 which you would think would be enough to win a race with 30 people, but we had winner with scores close to 115 at two of the races (and that guy who was an overall winner at a full ironman race in 2018 was runner up on the podium at one of the races). Small races are way more fun than large races when the field is stacked, but diluted races aren't fun at all.

Ya...the Duathlons that I did this year were dirt cheap too. Two of them were no frill races. So, no tee shirts, no finisher metals, etc. We did get fresh bakery cinnamon rolls at the finish though and with the USAT and on-line registration fees included were only about $40 for USAT certified races. One of the no frill races also had $200 price money for the podium finishers so with my $25 for placing 3rd I did pretty good. I see people on this thread saying that swim training is expensive, but if you are paying $100 a race tne trying to compete regularly is a pretty penny too.

It's a pure strength event. It also hammers home that being good on the run in a triathlon is as much a function of being a very strong biker and/or riding within abilities as it is actually being good at running so you have it left for the run. Triathlon gives you a lot more wiggle room, because the swim doesn't sap your legs, but in a du, there is nowhere to hide. You have to be a very strong cyclist and runner or you need to basically jog the first run and go very controlled on the bike or you are going to blow up worse than you ever have on the third run.

So in this respect, learning how to race a duathlon (balanced and controlled efforts within you capabilities) has a lot to teach us about how to race a triathlon successfully.

I don't know what "It's a pure strength event" means to be honest. Surely you can say the same about any running or cycling event that doesn't involve tricky cornering?

Notice how you ended up discussing duathlon as a means to improve your triathlon? That's a big part of the problem IMO. It is an event in it's own right. It doesn't exist solely as a sidekick to triathlon.

I really like 5/30/5 as a Du distance for a few reasons. One is that it doesn't just adapt the tri standards of Sprint and Oly (and thus reinforces Du as its own sport), and two because it sort of splits the difference and ensure you just have one race. Usually in the races around here there is just a Sprint Du, but there are a couple where they offer both a Sprint and an Oly, and all that does is shrink the already small fields. There should only ever be one Du option.

How much of swimming is technique compared to physical effort? The split I have heard is 50/50. So compared to it's multi-sport brother (triathlon) it's almost all strength and no finesse, because the technique heavy event is not included. I am comparing it to triathlon, because even though I agree it's a different sport, that's the most appropriate comparison.

And yes, you can say it about standalone running or cycling events. but per your point, duathlon is just as close to a single sport even as it is to a triathlon (+/- 1 discipline).

Im 100% with you. I was on the USAT duathlon board for a while back in the late 90's and early 2000's and I was trying to get them to bring back the 5/30/5 distance as a standard here in the US but everyone kept whining about 10/40/5 etc....
A 3 to 1 ratio bike to run was studied and deemed fair way back in the beginning days of duathlon and I loved it.
When we went to 10/40/5 for Nationals participation dropped off. Im glad they added back a sprint option.
I agree on having too many options at races. I know of a RD who sometimes offers 3 different distances for a duathlon at his races and it just waters them all down to just a handful of competitors in each one.

This is one thing that stops me competing in some Duathlons/triathlons. I don't want to do some arbitrary distance like when a race is advertised as a sprint tri and has a 20 mile bike. I want to be able to do the same distances in all races I do. It would be good if all races just followed the ITU and do 10/40/5 and 5/20/2.5

All race distances are arbitrary in so far as they have no real meaning. They're picked to have nice round numbers, or to match the available terrain, or based on some historical event. Presumably you want to do the same distance each time so you can measure your performances against each other? Of course, in reality, course profiles and conditions are so variable that no two races are all that comparable and even the same race on different days can be a totally different proposition. Regardless, I understand your preference, but I hope it doesn't happen. I think that sort of standardisation does more harm than good. I'd far prefer a wide variety of distances, dictated by the terrain so we have good courses and good variety instead of silly course design dictated by trying to achieve a specific distance for no really useful reason.

Here is why:
1) Step 1- "I don't like swimming. I think I will just do triathlons."
2) Step 2- "My legs are really sore. I still can't win anything. Bodybuilders say I am 'puny' and personal trainers say I need to do more strength training."
3) Step 3- "With all this strength training- I don't have time to run and bike any more. And who cares! I am way more manly now. All the other guys at the gym say so."
4) Step 4- "I am not fat. Lot's of fit guys have heart disease and diabetes. I can brench 180."

What question are you answering?

Why duathlon is NOT more popular.

This is what happens. One starts out looking for reasons NOT to do something (in this cases swimming). But the process of NOT doing ultimately takes over and one ultimately ends up NOT running and cycling as well.


What is better about triathlon than duathlon - is that swimming is an upper body activity, that also help develop core strength and flexibility. It stretches out the muscles and joints and allows for extra low impact training.
The bad part, is of course, that it takes up time.

But many of the people who say they have no time for swimming, will non the less, find time for strength training.

 

I'd love to do some Duathlons.

I am NOT paying for a gym with a pool.
Competitive HS wrestling and seven years in the Infantry have given me a nice dose of shoulder arthritis.

Triathlons are on the menu but right now the cost of a better bike and the time and money for swimming is just not going to happen

In races where the swim is canceled and the event turns into a Du it has always surprised me how many people just quit the race. I asked a couple of people and they replied that they didn’t want to run that much (only an additional 5k). Loved the PowerMan series, and love doing Duathlons in April and May, September, and October. Favorite race of all time was the Formula One duathlon (2 mile run, 6.5 mile bike, 2 mile run, 6.5 mile bike, 2 mile run). Use to be able to do four or five a year, now only can find around two (I’ll do the Tri instead of the Du if the water temp is above 70).

Completely unsubstantiated, but I found that popularity of Duathlon started to decline around the same timelines as Triathlon got Olympic status... It was as if the Olympic status denoted that Tri was a legitimate sport, and not just a bunch of weirdos riding their bikes in speedos... Since that point, Du tends to be an afterthought. I prefer Duathlons, i race the odd, tri, but have primarily raced Duathlons for the last 18 years... And fortunately at least in most of the races I do, what there isn't in numbers there is in quality of the field, so you still get a very competitive race. I loved it 15 years or so ago when you would get the shoulder season duathlons where the tri guys who hadn't turned their nose up to Dus yet would race too, and we would get a chance to beat on them, but we're seeing less and less of that, as more triathletes won't race anything without mDot branding, and would rather race three times a year for ridiculous fees, than race 10x for year for half the total cost at more gras-rootsy type races.

I am lucky that we do have a reasonable number of duathlons that I can access (In ON/QC most tri events have a du), as well as some of those shoulder season grass rootsy races where you get a mix of tri and du folks too. But I realize that's not everywhere, and depending on the RD it can feel like an afterthought (I can think of a HIM Du where they changed the first run the day of, and the lead biker only showed up as the leaders were enterring T1 (fortunately the few of us on the front of the pack had studied the map). I can also remember my very first du, when the aid station volunteers were napping in their cars as I ran by, and I had one tell me the run was after the bike, and another tell me I was running the wrong way (the 1st run was in the reverse direction of the second, which would have lined up with the olympic tri), they quickly realized that I wasn't going the wrong way, when the larger pack came by them a few seconds later... Either way, nearly 20 years on from some of those events, those are some of the things we remember hundreds of races later, and I wouldn't trade those for sterile mega events with no character...

I too prefer smaller, more gras-roots races. Swag is nice, but I’m good with some post-race food from a local restaurant or bakery or ???, a unique course (odd distances are fine by me) and maybe the option to opt-out of a shirt/swag in exchange for lower entry fees and I’ll be a regular participant.

I’ve done several huge events with thousands of participants, shuttle busses, corrals, etc. and while it was kinda cool, I do have more fond memories of the smaller events I’ve done “way back in the day” where it was just a few dozen of us (and maybe more) gathered around a couple of picnic benches, chowing and chatting afterwards.

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"Du or Du not-there is no Tri" - Yoda

The article is starting to take shape. The thing I am trying to do in this section is explain why triathlon has become more popular than duathlon. I know I have crossed a few lines here and will reign them in as I get closer to the real thing.

The Ironman calf tattoo.


People are stupid, lazy, and fickle. In the greater world that is Canadian mainstream society if a person was to follow a sport, it is likely going to be hockey, basketball (if the Raptors are doing well), baseball (if you live within sighting distance of the CN Tower) or CFL football (if you live within sighting distance of a combine).


Triathlon is a sport that not many Canadians know about, and even fewer care about. For that small segment of our population who has heard of it, it is almost always going to be Ironman. And if you do triathlon, when you need to tell the world about it on your skin, you are going to invest in the most powerful symbol in all of triathlon - the M-Dot tatoo.


Let's face it. If you are going to put in the work in training and finish something that consumes all of your financial resources, wrecks your marriage, and has your kids putting up “my dad has gone missing” posters at the local 7-11 bulletin board, you sure as hell aren't tatting up with something from the Bare Bones Duathlon in Penticton... even if one existed. No. You are going for the one that at least that lunatic fringe 1% is going to recognize, maybe strike up a conversation, to let you tell them about your war stories and training conquests and traumas.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

I was thinking of starting a new thread, but I'll post here instead.

If a big $ sponsor who hired an experienced RD decided to start a North American duathlon series and signed Lionel Sanders to be the spokesperson and race at every event, could they attract enough athletes to the series to keep it going for several years and potentially revitalize duathlon? Could Sanders be the biggest name in duathlon since Kenny Souza?

All respect to Sanders for his tri results, but after reading about his splits yesterday in Daytona, those questions just popped into my head this morning.

Ive thought the same thing for years.
Maybe if a sponsor could pony up some $ for pro prize purses that would attract some top tri guys it may help with duathlons image.
Back when Zofingen was the biggest paying multisport race all the heavy hitters showed up.
Media or lack there of doesnt do any favors to duathlon.
I think if some major media organization would do a production for Powerman Zofingen like they do with IM Hawaii making is seem larger than life etc...it may help participation.

Only if Lionel drove the truck and delivered everything :)

Sorry, hope this keeps the post near the top...