What’s in your area that could host Nationals?
Give a short description of the course.
Think about the peripheral issues: lodging in the proximity, traffic, spectator accessability, parking, etc.
My vote: Lake Mission Viejo, CA. It is big enough to handle a half IM. The 2000 Olympic cycling course wraps around it and a 10K encircles the lake. Plenty of hotels close by, John Wayne airport a half-hour away. Hilly, but great roads. Beautiful area. The only problem is, they did have a tri, there. No longer because apparently, some car got on the closed course, hit a racer. Racer sued everyone and their mother and the city had to pay out. I think it’s in their charter to never hold a triathlon again. Too bad.
If there is a Long Course AG Nationals it has to be Whirlpool Steelhead. That is such a great race.
A good venue for AG Nationals in this area at the Oly distance is the venerable Sylvania Triathlon.
They held pro nationals for four years on what is basically the current Steelhead course (called Schu’s) - but in three of those years, Lake Michigan “turned over” in the hours before the race and they ended up with water temps around 47 degrees. Hasn’t happened the first two years of Steelhead, but it will. They say they can switch to a river swim, but it will be a much less palatable alternative.
Sylvania is a fine race, but the facilities are darn near maxed with the current 750 entries. Plus the bike course is extremely flat and I’m not sure they could close the roads (so as to allow two-lanes on the bike) for the time it would take to start 1500 highly competitive athletes.
The best potential course in Michigan would probably be in Traverse City, with the swim at the park on East Bay and the bike on the Mission Peninsula. Three problems, however. (1) The water is extremely shallow for a long way off the beach (might involve 600 meters of dolphining); (2) Traverse City wouldn’t want us until after Labor Day, and you know what can happen in northern Michigan at that time of year; (3) Traverse City airport only has commuter planes, which means the nearest airport of any size would be Grand Rapids, which is about 140 miles away. This would be a better site than Shreveport, but still have some significant weaknesses.
Hmmm. Good points. I am glad I don’t have to make decisions like this.