We are seeing just as many sprint duathletes as sprint triathlete signing-up for the June 12 Oly/Sprint Tri/Sprint Du/Aqua-bike in Muncie.
Does this mean that the ‘swimming’ challenged will op for the Duathlon component, have just as great a race, just as much fun, just as much pizza and beer after, and we get an overall safer event because stronger swimmers–well swim!
We are really liking the whole concept anyway and can not wait.
But does adding a duathlon to all of our events reduce risk?
I recently added a duathlon to a Sprint Tri as well…so far not a single sign up. I thought we’d have lots but maybe we will as time gets closer.
We didn’t do it for the safety aspects, but to serve the population who are pretty nervous about an open water swim in the ocean. I hear it every year we could just never break the code with the permit until this year. It also helps introduce the sport to some younger athletes who don’t want to swim in the ocean yet. We’ll see how it goes.
they used to do that for a lot of races in AZ. The du option was never popular.
I want to know how many ppl sign up for the aquabike. I’ve never seen one of those!
Right now, with two weeks to go, we have 7% Aqua-bike, 17% Du, 17% Sprint Tri and the rest Oly! I have done some Aqua-Bikes and found it to be a great time and kept my fitness level at a 7 during a foot injury.
How can you go wrong with swim-bike-pizza!
It sure makes us shakey open water swimmers feel better! I’ll almost always race a DU over a tri if it’s an option. I think that your first event showed that Duathlon is still alive and hopefully experiencing a little growth. I’ve seen more event planners add DUs the last couple of years! And, if an athlete feels safer running the Du instead of the tri then yes the event is safer overall!!!
And stand behind the typical American attitude…“I cant do it, dont want to train to do it…but I want the glory of accomplishment”…
beh…pathetic. A Triathlon is just that, a Du is for when the lake is still frozen or far too cold.
And stand behind the typical American attitude…“I cant do it, dont want to train to do it…but I want the glory of accomplishment”…
beh…pathetic. A Triathlon is just that, a Du is for when the lake is still frozen or far too cold.
Do you feel the same about competitive cyclists? That they compete in cycling because they are too lazy to train for running or swimming?
I would love to do tri’s, but full time work, kids, etc., means I don’t have time to train for 3 sports. Not everyone has the same amount of time to train…
Bike race = Bike Race.
Running Race = Running Race
Triathlon = Du-Aquabike and every other variation. While I agree 100% with Aqua bike for a person who is injured any any of many other iterations based on personal (emphasis on PERSONAL) abilities at the time (pursuant to injury) - creating entire class of race during a real triathlon (of any distance) is just a crutch for folks who cop out in mass.
And stand behind the typical American attitude…“I cant do it, dont want to train to do it…but I want the glory of accomplishment”…
beh…pathetic. A Triathlon is just that, a Du is for when the lake is still frozen or far too cold.
Triathlon is tough…not everyone can do it. I **can **do it but I’ve very nervous in open water and have done several Tris. I’m a much better Duathlete and can compete very well in them. I respect Triathletes for what they can do and would expect the same from Triathletes.
And this isn’t a ‘typical American attitude’ as Duathlon is very big in Europe…so would you say the same about all of the Duathletes across the pond?
I don’t accomplish anything…I compete…in Duathlons…
Bike race = Bike Race.
Running Race = Running Race
Triathlon = Du-Aquabike and every other variation. While I agree 100% with Aqua bike for a person who is injured any any of many other iterations based on personal (emphasis on PERSONAL) abilities at the time (pursuant to injury) - creating entire class of race during a real triathlon (of any distance) is just a crutch for folks who cop out in mass.
So is a stand-alone Duathlon race OK? Is it only bad when it is held at the same time as a tri?
Duathlon is a sport too, no? Yet you refer to it as a “class of race…”.
Who decided that triathlon is a real race, and duathlon is not? Was ‘3 sports’ the magic number for a real event?..
Do you know what a quadrathlon is?? I wonder if the people in that sport would say you’re a pussy because you can only handle a triathlon…
Sorry to rant, just really rubs me the wrong way when folks, especially a typical non-standout AG’er like yourself, preaches about how people are coping out because they don’t do the same event you are doing.
Did you miss the “during” part? Du is Du but it is NOT a Triathlon. I in the years have met far too many folks who do part of this, part of that (then again, a mass of the AG’s are blatant cheaters anyway and get the ST pass by many). Turning a Tri into a DU for fear of peoples swimming ability just “waters down” the sport.
What I really love is folks who do a Sprint race that occurs during a Half…most of the sprint folks fail to mention that they did the sprint race. For instance - someone does the “Tinman Sprint” and the half was concurrent. At work on Monday AM the folks just say “Yup, I did Tinman yesterday” and just fail to mention that they did not do the full distance event. Classic example was after Goofy Challange in the Orlando airport. Team in Training folks professing that they did the Goofy Challenge (to anyone who would listen). They oddly only had one medal (yes, they were all wearing them in the airport) and it was the medal for the Half on Saturday.
I once won a “Free Ticket” on a Lotto scratch off…I suppose I shoulda told everyone that I won the lotto…
i would rather do a tri but right now du’s are in my schedule. i live in a small town with no pool. the only place to swim was the high school and due to budget cuts they closed it. my 24 hour work schedule and and a family makes it hard to go out of town 3 days a week to swim. i am a new swimmer only learned last winter and i have to be consistent to make any progress. so saywhat you want about dus. i love them. to be honest i did 5 tris last year and two dus. this year i have done two dus. i think dus are harder than tris. that first run wipes you out more than a swim.
That would appeal to me right now as I face rotator cuff surgery, but I like the challenge of becoming a better swimmer…as much as am embarrassed at how pathetic I am in the water. It’s part of why I love the sport…you will never run out of areas to improve, ever!
And stand behind the typical American attitude…“I cant do it, dont want to train to do it…but I want the glory of accomplishment”…
beh…pathetic. A Triathlon is just that, a Du is for when the lake is still frozen or far too cold.
I think the basic “glory of accomplishment” nonsense is not very applicable to Du’s at all. That mindset is much more prevalent in long course tri’s; meanwhile, duathlons are usually done because they are just more fun. Looking at the average sprint tri at 7:30 AM, probably 75% of the wetsuit-clad athletes don’t actually want to jump in the water. Swimming is not their strong suit, the water is uninviting, they are going to get kicked----but because of attitudes like yours, duathlons become the redheaded step-child of the multi-sport world.
It doesn’t have to be that way; it shouldn’t be that way. The events can coexist, and can make any event stronger by giving the option to eliminate the leg that a majority of “tri”-athletes don’t even enjoy anyway. The glory of accomplishment only presents as a problem when non-swimmers force themselves into the water.
OK…so your problem with all this is about recognition…you want people to recognize that you did a harder event than the guy/gal who did the duathlon instead…
I guess we all participate for different reasons…
We had a marathon this past weekend. At said marathon, there were also half, 10km and 5km events. Lots of people I work with participated in the various events. None of them came in and said “I did the marathon, but buddy over there only did the 5km…”
I just did the Duathlon out at Galena. Screw that going forward, much harder. I’m going back to Triathlon!
Running a Duathlon does not make a Tri ‘safer’, it makes it a Duathlon. There’s nothing wrong with Duathlon, and it is not a Step Child to Tri, it is a Duathlon. I don’t think there is any problem running multiple events at the same time. If the chuckleheads around the water cooler want to brag about doing an event that features a Half Iron and a Sprint Du on the same course and they give people the impression they went 70.3 and not what 2/10/3(?) then that is really not my problem. Does it kinda irk me that people do this - sure, but only to the point that I’d call them out infront of their friends if they were out of control about it.
Besides, I know a couple guys that can hand me my ass on the bike and the run, but won’t do Tris because they can’t swim very well. That’s fine by me.
As an RD for nearly 20 years, I can promise you it makes the swim portion more logistically functional with less swimmers.
That said, the whole rant on Du during a Tri and who did what and all that is just BS. All finishline have joy and everyone out there doing it is much better than the Nothing Weekend Potato Chippers!
eliminate the leg that a majority of “tri”-athletes don’t even enjoy anyway
Thank you for making my point - then it is not a triathlon, that simple. If you take the swim out of a Triathlon it is not a triathlon. Like I said, a Du is a Du, a run is a run and a bike race is a bike race.