Does the Tri Club of San Diego belong in that first list?

jake

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Get outside!

i don't know. you live down there. you tell me.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I think the answer is yes. I'm not sure what the current registered list of members is, but it used to be quite substantial.

jake

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Get outside!

How can you miss triathlon club of San Diego!? Currently 1,500+, peak 3000. If anything an important statistic is active participation. You will see up to 300 members at one event sometimes (even our own - our summer aquathlons hit that high)

Also fil-am tri club has similar vibe, spread across San Diego and LA.

Ride cyclery team is big in Oceanside, even thou pay to play, with high active participation amongst members (75%? In a group of 200). Coached by Michelle Jones putting out some good athletes

Hey Dan. TriBike Transport's team is brand-specific. We do team races every year and often travel and race with our teammates. We have about 25 on the team, including several pros, lots of elite amateurs and others who are very involved in their local tri scenes or with the tri industry. Last year we were the #1 ranked Group V team in the U.S.
Cheers,
-Doug

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It is the mind itself which builds the body.
-Joseph Pilates

Oo so I have a question. Is it worth joining these clubs?

I am near the St. Pete Mad Dogs and the fee is very minimal. Does everyone like joining them? I tend to workout solo but my lord is gets extremely boring after a while haha and unfortunately all my friends are lazy alcoholics who want nothing to do with what I do

I think a distinction needs to be made between a team and club. There are people on team zoot yet in tri club San Diego. A club offers a bit more than a team, and is less exclusive (team makes you were certain gear, makes you promote them on social media).



Many teams are virtual at that... So.most these numbers might be duplicated people

+1 to team EMJ being on the list

I would say they are one of the most successful clubs out there as far as podium slots in competitive races just based on what I’ve observed. They are small but bring home the hardware

What about Purplepatch? How big are they?

EMJ is definitely the best armature club. But that is also because people who make it onto the team already proves that they can produce some of the best results and thus is able to bring more people to Kona than teams that are 5 to 6 times their size.
As far as I can tell, Wollongong Wizards is the most successful triathlon club in the world at the moment even without Gwen training with them. They still have McShane, Gentle and a bunch of other ITU guys in the team.
Can't really call Bahrain 13 a club since the guys on it don't train together but rather they just wear the Bahrain 13 logo on their jersey.

I would rather call that an online triathlon community that gives you the DTU pass/license, not really a club where you can go to and regularly meet your team mates. But anyway, there are a couple of such "clubs" in Europe with 1000+ members. Getting a license and probably an online training plan seems to be sufficient for a lot of folks.

Looking at real clubs and looking at Germany, Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburg Triabolos (if I am not wrong) have 1000+ members. Both probably fall under the "largest" tag, not necessarily under "successful" though...

I guess the best clubs in the world would be in France as the grand prix is by far the best club competiton in the world. and poissy is the most successful with 16 en titles. its a massive club
And in the last few years santorim had the brownlees and gones as club members so I guess thats what you call successful in no ironman racing lol.

Still might be interesting for some to know what happens outside the US. If not, I will shut my mouth ;-)

Erdinger's Pro's certainly can be called a team. But everything else is a virtual thing. No participation in the DTU league races, no training together etc. Nothing wrong about it, just the not a club. And, well, I am also member of a traditional club, with even more than 50.000 members in total, and more than 1.000 in the triathlon division. But anyway, those are just statistics and does not make anything better or worse...

Team Zoot is about 300 members. Also ONE Multisport in AZ is about 200.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
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In Sweden clubs are pretty popular, Kalmar rc is quite big as well as Stockholm City Triathlon, though they pale in comparison to Terrible Tuesday's Triathlon ;)

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

Once again here... EMJ is a team, not a club. You have to make the team, a club accepts all. A club is face to face, not virtual

Well, not US based and definitely not the biggest one but I want to think we are doing pretty well in terms of both camaradiere and results :)

If interested in some insights from Ironman Global Champion in the "smallest clubs division", that is sub 50 racers, just drop me a message! Not every team or club is interested in growing the numbers, for us its making our athletes faster, healthier and more happy is enough... Kona AG wins doesnt hurt though :))))

When you think of some top international successes it is hard to miss work of Joel Filliol, Paolo Sousa, Jamie Turner or Ian O'Brien, who created great squad environments that are just textbook examples of what it takes... great inspiration for AG athletes as well!

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coaching via trinergy.pl
TP Training Plans
IG @kowalski.coach

There are also clubs that exist to exploit vanity and low self esteem to create an alternative delusional FOMO social media universe that balances out real life... like Team Betty.

There you can leverage all kinds of filters and edits to hit your social media quota, complain about all the creepers who DM from your provocative poses and use IG as a dating app to develop future intimate relationships without your SO knowing about it.

I believe they also exist to sell 'activeware' with faux-profanity to appear edgy. Although all those selfies seem to limit actual athletic achievement.

So maybe not successful, but still large.. and with a huge pool of potential insecure applicants working hard on increasing their likes and follows for next season's team?

this reminds me of a Dave Chappelle routine.

“The girl says "Oh uh-uh, wait a minute! Wait a minute! Just because I'm dressed this way does not make me a whore!" Which is true, Gentlemen, that is true. Just because they dress a certain way doesn't mean they are a certain way. Don't even forget it. But ladies, you must understand that is fucking confusing. It just is. Now that would be like me, Dave Chappelle, the comedian, walking down the street in a cop uniform. Somebody might run up on me saying, "Oh, thank God. Officer, help us! Come on. They're over here. Help us!" "Oh-hoh! Just because I'm dressed this way does not make me a police officer!" See what I mean? All right, ladies, fine. You are not a whore. But you are wearing a whore's uniform.”



don't ban me disclaimer: I in no way endorse or support the judging of women in any way and I think they are beautiful no matter what they wear and they should all be treated with upmost respect and deserve to be treated like queens.

I think the underlying discussion here boils down to whether or not we are lumping teams (which often have an application process and are not open to all) with clubs, which tend to accept all members so long as they pay whatever dues are required of them.

Either definition is fine, but I think it does color the discussion a bit (see, e.g., the rather brutal takedown of Betty above).

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I often wonder if WTC has any discussions about this team vs club concept. A team in the truer sense is not going to score the points to be able to win any of the Ironman divisions. They just don’t have the numbers. Per capita points are probably outstanding for something like EMJ but it’s nothing in comparison to a large coaching-based club like EN from an overall points perspective. EN will never be dethroned at the top of the Div 1 rankings as the system now stands.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

IMO I don't think WTC particularly cares about the distinction.

However, for the purposes of this discussion, I think it's relevant. When I think of "successful," I'm thinking of:

• Are they good stewards/representatives of the sport?
• Do they look to build relationships in their local community beyond "may I have a discount at your store?"
• Do they encourage new participation in the sport?
• Are they open and inclusive to all? Or is there a screening process for participation?
• Is the club population growing, or in the face of the overall sport's decline in participation, maintaining their membership?

Under my criteria, I think most team's would fail due to their nature of selection--there is inherent exclusivity to their selection process, whether by race result, or social media presence, or some other requirement.

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