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Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us?
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In our area, within 20 miles of each other, we've had two formerly very popular sprint triathlons for ten years or more. "Back in the day," one of them drew 650+ entries and the other probably 450 to 500. For 2018 . . . one dropped to fewer than 50 entries and the other to 67. A third sprint tri, about 50 miles away, cancelled for lack of entries. A fourth, about 40 miles away was down for 2018 but still drew about 225 entries. For 2019, one of the nearby tris has already announced that they're cancelling the event. The organizer of the second SAYS they're hanging on for another year . . . but rumors say it's not likely to happen.

Is this common among sprint triathlons these days? Is the local sprint triathlon in decline? Or is this just a Tennessee thing?
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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This is the trend I’ve seen in Montana as well in the 10 years I’ve been racing. The biggest race used to sell out the ~450 slots in 15 minutes but has been running low 200’s the past couple years. A few races have folded and others are on the edge as they used to get 150+ and are now getting 50ish. The ones that offer a kids tri after the adults seem to do a bit better. Definitely sad to show up and see such small fields compared to what it used to be.

I’ve been meaning to crunch the numbers for each race and graph them out but haven’t go the chance.

Matt
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [Pun_Times] [ In reply to ]
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Agree here across the board in NorCal. Most notably World Toughtest is the latest.

My guess is people have 'been there done that' and only those who want to race every year are still out there. For me racing an IM a year eats up my 'hall pass' so I defiantly race less small races due to that.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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In NC it seems that sprints are about the only thing you find now. Most of what used to be olympic races are now sprints.

I know one of the RD companies in NC saw an increase in their pool tris and a decrease in their OWS tri's for a few years. Net increase overall iirc

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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Not in San Diego. We have a total of 7 triathlons from May to October:

SuperSeal in March (Olympic and Sprint)
Spring Sprint in May (International and Sprint)
San Diego International in June (International and Sprint)
Solana Beach Tri in July (Sprint)
Chula Vista Challenge in August (Half, International, and Sprint)
Rock the Bay sometime September
Mission Bay Tri at the end of September.

Challenge Family has also added a sprint race (together with their half distance) on March 10 down in Ensenada.

And also down in Ensenada there is a Draft Legal event (Oly and sprint) in August, by a local team called Tri-Jex.

On top of that I think UCSD puts together a Draft legal race in March.

So, plenty of short course races here in Sunny San Diego.
Last edited by: TulkasTri: Dec 18, 18 16:05
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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The problem is that a lot of people think triathlon is just Ironman, anything shorter isn’t worth doing.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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I used to be able to do a sprint for $30.
Now it's $125.
And don't forget your license on top of that.
No thanks.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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I can find a few with down numbers in So Cal. Down about 20% over 3 or 4 years ago but I also find many with steady numbers. Long Beach has the new Legacy triathlon which is committed to being held through 2028 Olympics and LA has the new Herbalife24 triathlon. I think the number of events is high enough to not be much of a concern. Down numbers means more parking on race morning is how I view it.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [TriguyBlue] [ In reply to ]
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TriguyBlue wrote:
The problem is that a lot of people think triathlon is just Ironman, anything shorter isn’t worth doing.

the problem is that a lot of RDs are afraid to do anything beyond what they've done previously.

hey, any quality RDs out there without a solid pathway forward? call me.

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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Interestingly enough I did 3 sprints in MT this past year and none required a USAT license. Granted that means USAT points for those who are into rankings

Cost was still nice for two of them - $40 and $65. Unfortunately the other is up to $100 this year (even though it has less giveaways/prizes/schwag and isn’t chip timed like the others) which has me thinking about skipping it. The north Idaho races I do usually run about $75

Matt
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
I used to be able to do a sprint for $30.
Now it's $125.
And don't forget your license on top of that.
No thanks.

This is especially noteworthy because here (MN) I can do a p/1/2/3 crit and a 3/4 crit for a total of $30 for multiple races. Running races are 20-40 bucks depending on race swag/organizers. I can do an omnium (road race, crit, TT) for $80, and the prizes are like 10 deep so I have always made $$.

Why are all the sprint triathlons over 100 bucks??!
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [ In reply to ]
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no kidding... signed up for a sprint for $115 and that's with 20% off.. USTP events are not cheap... doing another small city one $65 and the series in my neck of the woods is about $75per when you pay in advance.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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But where in Tennessee?

For the most part I'd say the Phoenix market is pretty strong. Or at least 4 Peaks Racing holds onto their core sprints and is trying to build their new Cactus Man property which is a cool local race, similar to the Lifetime Tri being in Tempe Town Lake, but the most races they do are road runs.

The Mesa Sprint is just getting bigger...but holy hell the RD had some massive safety flub ups when it came to placing volunteers on the bike course. I was pissed that day Sherpaing.

Tri-Family racing seems to have cut back on some sprints but now they're doing tree Olympics which I find pretty intense: Barlett Lake Fall and Spring, Lake Pleasant Tri Fall.

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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Iowa's Pigman Sprint, running for 26 years every June, with course records by Tim DeBoom, Liz Downing, and David Thompson, used to sell out in January. Last year, it didn't sell out and had 289 finishers. In 2011, there were 648 finishers.

I'll put in a plug here: If you're in the Midwest, this is a well-produced, fun race on a nice course with a couple decent hills on the bike. There's prize money, so it attracts some pros, and random number drawings for some decent prizes, courtesy Gear West, for the age-groupers. https://pigmantri.com/

Strava
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
I used to be able to do a sprint for $30.
Now it's $125.
And don't forget your license on top of that.
No thanks.

The two soon-to-be-extinct sprint tris I mentioned above charge $40, plus license. In their cases, money isn't the issue. At one of them, in addition to a medal, the podium places also receive good prizes that are worth more than the entry fees. I hate to see them go.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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Mid-Atlantic coast: June 1 - Oct 1, you can probably do a sprint every weekend, or more.

no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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Here in Southern California we have a pretty good selection of sprint races, virtually every weekend in the summer. And we have a lot all winter long too, few in pools, some out in La Quinta/Palm Springs area. In fact, I saw that you could sign up for the HITS sprint for $50 a couple weeks ago, but that has gone up a little since then, and that race is now in October. I will be up for it, just waiting to make sure they are still going to be around now that WTC has eaten their lunch at that venue..

Someone put up a San Diego list, then there is the LA Tri series at Bonelli park, going for 35 years now. There are several up in Ventura county, although we did lose the Santa Barbara tri because of road closures. And I believe the Catalina sprint that I started up in 1984 is still going in some format, and the Newport triathlon that was going in the late 70's too..And I think I just heard that someone is bringing back the LA tri that goes from Venice to downtown again, not sure why, but wish them luck with that nightmare course..
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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I've read several articles in the past couple of weeks, both local and national, regarding the trend where the large metro areas are healthy and growing in size and affluence, while the rest of the country seems to be trending in the opposite direction. Could the same trend be happening in triathlons, especially with local sprint tris?

Where in TN are you describing? If my guess is correct, the local sprint tri scene in metro Nashville would be doing well.

The sprint tri scene is doing well in Ohio, where we have three large metro areas that are relatively close to each other.
Last edited by: Mark Lemmon: Dec 18, 18 17:21
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [philly1x] [ In reply to ]
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philly1x wrote:
Mid-Atlantic coast: June 1 - Oct 1, you can probably do a sprint every weekend, or more.

Definitely this. I'm in Jersey and there's a race every weekend somewhere. Not just the oft-talked about Delmo races, but lots of local races all over the place. They're good races, and I really enjoy doing them. Attendance has been pretty steady every year.

I talk to myself because mine are the only answers I'll accept - George Carlin
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [TulkasTri] [ In reply to ]
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Are the participation numbers in decline at all?

There also used to be sprints in Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Camp Pendleton 5-10yrs ago...


TulkasTri wrote:
Not in San Diego. We have a total of 7 triathlons from May to October:

SuperSeal in March (Olympic and Sprint)
Spring Sprint in May (International and Sprint)
San Diego International in June (International and Sprint)
Solana Beach Tri in July (Sprint)
Chula Vista Challenge in August (Half, International, and Sprint)
Rock the Bay sometime September
Mission Bay Tri at the end of September.

Challenge Family has also added a sprint race (together with their half distance) on March 10 down in Ensenada.

And also down in Ensenada there is a Draft Legal event (Oly and sprint) in August, by a local team called Tri-Jex.

On top of that I think UCSD puts together a Draft legal race in March.

So, plenty of short course races here in Sunny San Diego.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [Mark Lemmon] [ In reply to ]
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Mark Lemmon wrote:

Where in TN are you describing? If my guess is correct, the local sprint tri scene in metro Nashville would be doing well.

Nashville/Murfreesboro area. The city is BOOMING, but the sprint tris (and a lot of bike races / centuries / gran fondos) are dying. It may be that people have way too many other things to do.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
I used to be able to do a sprint for $30.
Now it's $125.
And don't forget your license on top of that.
No thanks.

Took the words out of my mouth. If i'm gonna spend $100+ on a race, I want to make it a big deal, where I prepare specifically for it and have some really fast competition on race day. There's 0 chance I'm gonna pay that much for a damn sprint that's over in an hour with 100 people in the field. That said, there's some sprints which can be as low as $50 if you sign up enough in advance in NC that I'd consider.

Personally though, not a fan of sprints because they don't suit me. Comparatively slow swimmer, super strong cyclist, decent runner with an embarrassingly low top end (think 5k pace barely faster than half marathon pace)... yeah I'm not gonna be competitive in a sprint unless the bike leg goes up and down a mountain. If I were better, I'd consider racing sprints, but still $100 for a half mile swim in a lake, out and back on a country road, and run around a parking lot isn't the best bang for your buck.
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [ZackP] [ In reply to ]
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Dont know about Encinitas, but I believe there is still a race in Pendleton, and for sure the Carlsbad triathlon is still going;

http://www.carlsbadca.gov/.../races/triathlon.asp

That race has been around forever, won it a couple times as I recall too...One of the last of the surf swim races, those are as rare as a white rhino anymore...)-;
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [stevendex] [ In reply to ]
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In MN you can find plenty of quality sprint tris for reasonable prices if you look:

Buffalo - $75
Lake Minnetonka - $73
Heart of the Lakes - $65
Brewhouse - $65
Green Lake - $59
Hopkins Royal - $65

Even Lifetime MPLS is $109 right now.

So most are less than $100 currently. If you wait to sign up on race day, the prices are higher.

Ryan
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Re: Are local sprint triathlons dying, or is it just us? [FlashBazbo] [ In reply to ]
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FlashBazbo wrote:
Mark Lemmon wrote:


Where in TN are you describing? If my guess is correct, the local sprint tri scene in metro Nashville would be doing well.


Nashville/Murfreesboro area. The city is BOOMING, but the sprint tris (and a lot of bike races / centuries / gran fondos) are dying. It may be that people have way too many other things to do.

There goes my theory. Maybe there are too many young people moving into Nashville? We have that in Columbus too, but there are still plenty of us old baby boomers who still want to race.
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