Maybe some people who have done them can chime in but I just would assume any xterra/gravel is free to ride however on the bike.

Meaning it’s essential “draft legal” but just not thought of as this negative association like on road triathlons are...or maybe just the benefit of it.

So like xterra events I’d assume gravel would be “draft legal”.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

@ B_Doughtie: I must have misunderstood. I thought Mark said he was doing a specific draft legal gravel tri. I didn't think that they all may be DL like Xterra is.

@ Mark: I was planning to do Portage Lake which would be the day after Ugly Dog. I could do them both but I don't want to give CH any advantage :)
Also, I don't own a gravel bike so I'd have to borrow something (which I don't think I'd have a problem with).

I would be shocked that you have a gravel triathlon and it be "non-draft". I don't think the culture of off road will allow it, as I don't think "drafting" in CX/gravel/mtb riding is perceived as this negative connotation that it is on the road. So I would be more shocked that it wasnt just "ride however you want".

I'm not sure how many gravel tris we've had in the U.S., but xterra allows "drafting", and I'm guessing that culture/mindset would apply in gravel racing than having a bunch of gravel guys riding down a gravel path strictly to "non-draft" rules. I would imagine that would actually be a huge turn off simply because imo gravel riding is a "freedom" that isn't there in road.


But again drafting in cx/mtb I don't think is really the same as drafting on the roads. Is it benefits of drafting in a gravel race that is on a 10' wide soft surface path, sure, but I think there's a real culture difference between road and non-road racing.


ETA: In the same light I don't think people call xterra "draft legal" off road racing either. So if gravel was "draft legal" I don't think that would be the applicable name, I think it would likely be understood. So "drafting" in off road racing is just perceived (and the actual drafting is much different etc) much differently than on the road. So I don't think there would be a need to apply draft legal gravel unless truly the industry went with non-draft gravel triathlons. I just can't see that happening.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Thank you very much.

2 of them.

DAMN (day across Minnesota) (gravel)

Marji Gesick. Maybe most epic MTB race in the country?

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24 Hour World TT Champs-American record holder
Fat Bike Worlds - Race Director
Insta: chris.s.apex

Since I got a knee replacement on Halloween that has likely ended my 33 year triathlon career....

I am looking forward to:

• My last triathlon in July where I will walk the run if I have to to say farewell to the sport that has been a huge part of my life for a long time.
• Hiking Wales, England and Scotland with my Wife and Family in July. We plan to knock off Snowdonia and Scafell Pike as well as other hikes and peaks
• Doing some Mt bike events (short race at the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival) and some shorter gravel events if it fits my schedule, I will use my mt bike and do it as a participant, since, well...I am not great and I am a bit older....61
• My greatest "look forward to".....Watching my 9 year old girl who is a solid athlete. Talk about multi sport!!....she does Fencing tournaments, Soccer League, Basketball League, Track and field (100, 200, 400, Long jump, shot put and a heck of a good high jumper) Swim Team.....along with Mountain biking single track, trail running races, and kids Triathlons.......nothing comes close to the thrill I get from just watching her!

Boston Marathon! I’m 57. I qualified and raced in 2018, but the weather sucked so back that it wasn’t anything like the event I was expecting. Managed to qualify again and I’m hoping for better conditions so the crowds come out to cheer us on.

Ugly Dog, which is the only true gravel tri I'm aware of, was a non drafting race. Talking with Dan the day before the race he envisioned it as draft legal. In reality it was made clear on race day that it was a non-drafting race primarily because it was USAT sanctioned.

If gravel tris become a thing, I think it remains to be seen if they will be primarily draft legal or not.

Just curious, how was it officiated? Of course I guess it being a new race that's the least of there worries, it's why I would just assume "ride as you want" would be ideal for gravel/xterra.

Officiating the bike in a gravel race seems all but impossible, so I guess it's back to old school riding legal cus you don't want to be a dick to your competitors.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

they will be draft legal. these races, as i envision them, are an amalgam of 3 standalone activities, and the primary fealty will be to the culture of those activities. gravel bike tri will respect gravel bike. gravel bike has no prohibition to drafting, pretty much like there is no drafting prohibition in CX, MTB or xterra.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I don't think it was officiated at all. It was a small race with multiple distance options, drafting wasn't an issue.

The Ugly Dog was/is the only gravel tri I have read about and it wasn't draft legal last year as Thom explained. I have little interest in doing a gravel tri unless it is draft legal and most of the run course is off pavement, which it is at Ugly Dog.

Jaret, look forward to racing with you at Portage this year.

That makes sense, as I said I think "draft legal" for a off road event makes all the sense in the world simply because that's what everyone does + it's impossible to officiate + "draft legal" off road is completely different dynamics than on road triathlon. So as I said it's really much less "draft legal" out there and more just everyone out for themselves and if you sit on a wheel and can take the rocks in the teeth, you'll sit there and take the dusty mouth but you'll more than likely just move at your own pace. But I don't think gravel tris will turn into DL on road tactics where it's all about making the "group" and then doing no work. Even in "draft legal" gravel type events will be much more individual races than their on road counterparts.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I'm organizing a 200km gravel(ish) sufferfest with 4000m+ of elevation.
Gravel roads, some single track, power line right of way trails, a couple of creek crossings.
The only limitation when I designed the course is it had to be doable on a CX/gravel bike, not require a MTB but be too crazy for road bike.
I'm hoping if it goes well to make it an actual event.

There is a lake near the start/finish, and some killer trails, so I'm going to see if anyone wants to make it into a bit of a triathlon.

Speaking about race cancellations, I wish they would give this another try, now that new formats seem to be in the air. It didn't quite take off, but it was awesome. Short, draft-legal races on a raceway (pool in the middle of the raceway):
http://rev3tri.com/...rmat-to-rev3-series/
Here's a video:


In terms of what I'm looking forward to, short races with pool swimming have been popping up. I think I only did one or two triathlons with open water swims in 2018 (I did some other OWS standalone races) - and will do mostly pool tris in 2019 once again (typically 200-400 meters). Really enjoy the format.

Ugly dog = DL

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I went to that race 2 years in a row at the Richmond motor speedway and it just failed terribly with low attendance. The 2nd year the local tri community in richmond- Endorphin Fitness didn't really support it much as there was another local semi big race for those athletes down at Virginia Beach.

It was a GREAT race format, it was super fun to race multiple times each day or weekend.

I talked with Rev3 about bringing that pop up pool to Raleigh and put it in the PNC Arena parking lot, as they could get a 1 or up to 2.5 mile "lap" around the arena. The only issue they have suggested that it has to be 100% flat due to it being a pool and creating fill issues if it's on a slant at all. I think I found the place they could do it, but now I dont know who has the pool equipment anymore.


I think it would be a hell of a good race now with the amount of junior teams in the U.S. I had 8 juniors/elites racing it back then and my team is very very small (less than 5 juniors that do DL pathway).

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Thanks, I saw that on the race website last week.

That was a lot of fun, wish something like that was still around.

Looking forward to finally taking on SwimRun under Herbert’s watch at SwimRun NC. Time to experience it on the other side of a camera. My Charleston friends can’t stop talking about how awesome it is.

Also, in the same vein, I’ll be doing my first real gravel race at the Hellhole Gravel Grind. It’s another I’ve spent several years documenting with my camera.

What is stopping a gravel tri from being swim-run-bike or swim-run-bike-run. Just to reduce the drafting benefit that stronger swimminig weak riders may benefit from to make it "more pure" (so to speak). As I mentioned elsewhere, putting the run before the bike (or having a transition run) CAN also substantially simplify race director logistics.

Because I dont think people who put on gravel or xterra races give one iota for "drafting" issues. It's just an entirely different world when you go off road. That even if there is "drafting" it's not really to the degree that can happen in a road triathlon and it's just not that big of a deal.

So if you want to change the format, by all means change the format, but I just dont see the need or the issues that will happen with "drafting" in gravel or xterra races. It's why I kinda think most people are viewing "draft legal" with a very road bias basis when they think of "draft legal" triathlons and then apply that to off-road. I just don't think it's a big deal, thus using the phrase "draft legal" is technically correct but I dont think people in off-road go around using that as a tactic if that makes sense.

ETA: Like at some point "draft legal" is the basic of basic rules, it basically means there are no rules. There's no riding position violations, no slotting in, no time check to pass, it's simply go ride your damn bike and that's very much the "free spirit" that off road racing is all about.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Brooks I think it will depend in the course. Spend some time in a group on packed gravel roads at 20+ mph and DL *can* be significant.

Oh I'm sure it can be super significant. I guess what I'm more getting at is that with gravel racing it's going to be "low" numbers compared to other events. So it's not as if we are going to see 5 groups of 48 guys all sitting up holding hands like we do at some IM events. Not once in my life have I heard xterra races described as "draft legal" even though they don't have drafting rules. It's just racing. Which I think is what gravel likely will be once it gets figured out. As the others said, the 1st one was non-draft I think more because USAT had no idea how to sanction it properly if it wasnt.

So my point more was, I think it wont matter if 20 guys form a group, good for them. And if you can drop them, even better for you, if you cant, you cant. But "draft legal" allows really the most "pure" racing....You simply race, no rules to follow, if you draft you draft, if you don't, you don't. So that's what is part of the off-road scene and I think the reason why almost all gravel will down the road be "draft legal". But I also dont think we'll call it "Slowman's Draft Legal Gravel Triathlon", it'll just be "slowman's gravel triathlon". We don't need to qualify it as "draft legal", I think it'll simply be understood.

But yes any drafting can help and the bigger the group the more you can "sit in" but I also think it's not going to be this big issue from a safety or "fair" play standpoint. I think it'll be understood that you simply go ride your bike and do whatever you need to do. Like I said, I've never once heard of issues in xterra and I know some very high caliber xterra athletes. It's just racing.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

A cogent inquiry. Dan. My two cents:

Draft-legal AG racing is gaining traction and I have always enjoyed the Clermint (Florida) DL series and also USAT DL Nationals, next year venued in Tempe, Arizona it is rumoured.

I had read somewhere that USAT was considering AG super sprint and AG mixed gender relay racing. Those formats would be very exciting and allow AG racing to develop in a new direction. Yes, those formats could be applied to gravel tris as well.

Finally, while not a new format, the ITU Multisport World Championships with Team USA have been and continue to be most enjoyable and a training priority. They should not be overlooked merely because they are not new.