I did the race yesterday, my third Duathlon Nationals, and 6th USAT National branded race (others are Sprint, LC Du, and AG Nats). On the whole I though USAT and the race director did a good job. The venue they picked was very good, lots of parking right near transition, the course wound around a small business park and what seemed to be a quite retirement communities on the outskirts of Tucson. The race hotel was very nice, with spectacular views, near restaurants and the organization was top notch. The Course, while it wasn’t much for views, was simple and easy to follow with great roads and very good traffic support - I felt very safe on-course. If Duathlon ever gets to the point where 1500 people show up, this course would probably be overmatched, but with 450 or so folks it was not crowded.
The bike course is very fast. It is undulating more than hilly and only has one real climb, which you do twice. The run in some ways is perfect. A flat first mile, a descending second mile and you basically climb the last mile up a hill that is just steep enough to scrub a lot of time off those unwilling to dig deep.
The pointy end of the field seemed pretty competitive for all age groups. My feeling is that the top 25% of the field is about as competitive as AG Nationals, they get some mid-level filler hoping to qualify for ITU Worlds, but not as much as AG Nats, and there is really almost no back end of the field. Generally, it seems that you are pretty committed athlete if you are doing Du’s.
This might be unfair, because I left for the long drive home pretty much right after the race, so didn’t experience all the post race stuff, but they failed to create a festive atmosphere at least right after the race…that might be my prime complaint.
As to what USAT can do to promote Duathlons…
Maybe not much. Perhaps WCT has too big a hold on the imagination of the multi-sport masses and all those no-swim types are content to suffer in the inglorious mosh pit swims of the mid and back packers rather than the dignified pain of the second run of a duathlon. Or, maybe the 600 or so people who did both races is a good turnout. I just don’t have the perspective.
As for my race…I went in thinking if I had a reasonable day I could mix it up with the top competitors and vie for an AG (50-54) win. Then Bruce Balch signed up at the last minute and it became a foregone conclusion the rest of us were racing for second place - I could fool myself that there are longer, swimmier venues where I could mitigate his biking skills and hold up my side of the competitive bargain, but not this one. Anyway, he buzz-sawed my age group in half. I got dragged into second transition in third place by marking the first guy who passed me on the bike, ran myself into second, completely imploded on the last hill as I emasculated myself by trading all ambitions for simply not hurting anymore. I almost got my wish. I managed to pick it up a little the last 150 yards and barely held on for second as several fast closing competitors made it exciting. Barely hanging on to achievement rather than grabbing it rather seems a little Pyrrhic, but I’ll take it. Drove home 8 1/2 hours with an aching sciatic and lower back. Next big one…BSLT.