I cannot find a definitive answer, but I’d like to know how I can get licensed/qualified to race an ITU race.
What categories are there for ITU (U23, elite, etc…)?
Thanks guys !
If you’re in the US, get your USAT Elite Card and you can race in any ITU Continental Cups in the Elite division. There are details on the USAT website as to how to get a USAT Elite Card. To race World Cups you have to submit your name to USAT and they essentially ‘select’ you to compete. I’m sure the new ITU World Series races are much harder to get into (MUCH harder) but I haven’t looked into is because there’s not a shred of hope for me to get into one!
bizarrely enough (only bureacrats could come up with something so illogical), you have to race well in non-drafting races (and get an elite card for this) to then qualify to race in drafting races.
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bizarrely enough (only bureacrats could come up with something so illogical), you have to race well in non-drafting races (and get an elite card for this) to then qualify to race in drafting races.
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That makes sense IMO. As a federation you'd want to ensure the athletes you are endorsing to enter an event were actually at a certain level of ability. With that in mind you'd need evidence of their ability, having information on the athletes past record against the clock would seem the most obvious way to determine whether they are in fact capable of mixing it up with other elites before they 'don' their countries colors.
Here in NZ the NF introduced time trials for entry into international events. If you’re not in the upper echelons of NZ triathlon (Bevan, Kris, Sam, Debs etc) and have thus already proved you can win on the international circuit, you now have to prove you can run 5 km’s under pre-determined times dependent upon age group and sex. Like wise, swim time trials are also compulsory. In the past far too many athletes have packed their bags and headed over to Europe to race in minor ITU / ETU races before being able to actually win at home. Tri NZ, I believe, wanted to ensure these developing athletes didn’t miss a valuable step in their growth.
Having witnessed some of the ‘elite’ athletes coming out of the water around 10-20 minutes on the leaders yesterday at IMNZ, I’d suggest the above system to be spot on.
it doesn’t make much sense to me. sure, in selecting for raw horsepower, the system works but very crudely. but to race successfully in itu draft-legal triathlons, you should know how to race (correctly) in a pack. and, in that way, the selection process is a non-starter. you don’t have to do a single draft-legal race to qualify. and when you watch draft-legal itu triathlons, the fact that many of the riders have no experience or skills in the tactics of pack racing is painfully obvious for all to see (even in the friggin’ olympic games).
the “selection system” is just plain dumb.
it doesn’t make much sense to me. sure, in selecting for raw horsepower, the system works but very crudely. but to race successfully in itu draft-legal triathlons, you should know how to race (correctly) in a pack. and, in that way, the selection process is a non-starter. you don’t have to do a single draft-legal race to qualify. and when you watch draft-legal itu triathlons, the fact that many of the riders have no experience or skills in the tactics of pack racing is painfully obvious for all to see (even in the friggin’ olympic games).
the “selection system” is just plain dumb.
So what would you suggest…
-Perhaps a twenty question test to measure that they “know how to race(correctly)”:
- You’ve just exited the swim 90 seconds down on the front pack, do you:
a) Ride around the course, waiting for the officials to pull you out when you get lapped,
b) Look around for a group of athletes to ride with, soft pedal waiting a further 90 seconds, and then try and encourage them to chase up the 3 minutes you’re down now,
c) Go eye balls out, ride as hard as you can for as long as you can, to the absolute limit of your “raw horsepower” trying to catch them.
Seems a no brainer to me mate personally.
Sure, I’d agree there’s alot more to racing at the elite level than just the athletes physical capabilities. But a fairly obvious place to start if you want to know if a race car is capable of winning a race, is how fast it goes?
I think the situation that arises is that you get guys who can win a non-drafting Olympic distance race by over a minute who would not race well in a draft-legal race because their swim is 30-45 seconds off the pace, and you might have an athlete who has no chance of winning a non-drafting Olympic distance race because they can’t TT a 40k but have the swim speed and the run speed to do well in ITU as long as they can hang with the pack on the bike. The current qualifying system in the US to get an Elite card to race ITU races would not every identify the talent that the second athlete described has, but would allow the first athlete to race in the ITU format.
So what would you suggest…(?)
i would suggest the logical thing, the thing that nearly every other sport on earth does: you gotta compete in the same sport to qualify to race at a higher level.
draft legal tri racing is a totally different beast from non-drafting tri racing. itu wanna-be elites should qualify by racing and winning in lower caliber draft legal races. this is not a crazy idea. what is going on right now (at least what is going on in the usa), ***that ***is crazy.
I think the situation that arises is that you get guys who can win a non-drafting Olympic distance race by over a minute who would not race well in a draft-legal race because their swim is 30-45 seconds off the pace, and you might have an athlete who has no chance of winning a non-drafting Olympic distance race because they can’t TT a 40k but have the swim speed and the run speed to do well in ITU as long as they can hang with the pack on the bike.
bingo !
the system we have in the usa serves no one well. maybe that’s why we stink at olympic triathlon …
since I coach some elite juniors and U23 through our regional high performance team…Ill throw what I know it.
Most of the folks coming up to ITU ARE racing draft legal events, but are doing so as juniors or U23 (there are a number of events around the country that meet that criteria).
So, if you are a senior (24+), yes it is tough to get into these standalone unless you have some wicked fast swim and run splits. E-mail me and I can tell you the Junior criteria for selection.
Kurt
Most of the folks coming up to ITU ARE racing draft legal events, but are doing so as juniors or U23 (there are a number of events around the country that meet that criteria).
yeah, really? how many events nationwide in the usa? do you know how many triathletes there are that are under 23 and under in the usa? according to the USAT, there are around 25,000 youth members in the USAT. add to that non-USAT members, and we are talking a huge pool of athletes.
and if you over 24, you’re just SOL?
good question.
I am more on the junior side, but can only think of like 5-6 total races in 2009 (we lost HyVee).
I know USAT and Barb L. have started a collegiate plan, and this might include a ITU/draft focus.
Kurt
I had some trouble in finding out too. For how excited USAT is about athlete development, they’re not making it any easier on us.
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The first response was absolutely correct- work towards getting your Elite Card and build up your fitness/racing prowess with the Continental Cup Series.
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The very first thing you should do is make an athlete profile (there’s info on the USAT site).
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Buy a Cervelo Soloist
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Unless I’m not remembering correctly, they’re going to want you to be able to do a stand alone 17min 1500m swim and a stand alone 30min 10km run before you get incorporated into the World Cup candidates. Work toward this while you build up your racing ‘palmares’ and stay in contact with USAT.
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Check out the Twenty12 Olympic Development ID program (also on the USAT website). I received an invite to it and that looks like the way to go if you’re looking to make an impression. Racing collegiate nationals and USAT regionals and nationals, and Worlds if finances allow it, would be great also.
Best of luck (sweet tagline by the way).