The Hubbard Lake Tri in northern Michigan is a great “retro” race. When you cross the finish line they give you a popsicle stick with your finishing position. Great rolling hills (24 miles) of which Mount Maria (old ski place) gives a great view of the surrounding north country. The run is on mostly dirt roads (more hills). The swim is fantastic; cold water (68 degrees) and crystal clear. I watch crayfish moving on the bottom in greater than 15 ft of water. Fewer than 100 participants.
Virginia
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Smith Mountain Lake Sprint (mid may)- 750 yd. Lake Swim, 20K bike in State Park and rolling Viginia hills, 5K run in park. Race is well run and a nice low key event to start the season.
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Charlottesville Sprint Tri (late august)- Killer Sprint! If you don’t like hills, this definitely isn’t the race for you.
Indiana
- Indy Triathlon (mid july)1K, 33K, 8K- Nice (but hot) race on a fast course.
River Cities Triathlon, Shreveport, LA - Sprint Dist, Great Food, Great Swag
Tinman, Shreveport, LA - Olymp Dist, Great Food, Great Swag (Home of Age Group National Course 2003 and 2004)
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Any triathlon in South Louisiana.
Crawfishman, Mandeville, LA - crawfish,red beans and rice, beer and margaritas - $45.00
Cajunman, Lafayette, LA - Jambalaya, gumbo, beer - $45.00
Abitaman Series, Mandeville, LA - Jambalaya, beer - $45.00
Louisiana Triathlon, New Roads(near Baton Rouge) - same as above - $45.00
(All are the best post race parties in the USA. Everwhere else pales in comparison).
Most people in any race - 600
Bob Sigerson
Bob is right, but selling these races short. Cajunman included free ice cream and Quessadillas as well as the Cajun food and had a Live Zydeco band performing afterwards. Louisiana Triathlon was only $35 and had free burritos as well as Jambalaya.
How about Indian Creek Tri - Woodville, LA
Goodie bag includes: hat, running shorts and t-shirt
Plenty of free beer, bar-b-que, and jambalaya after - $45, 200-300 participants
I’ll bump into you after the race one of these days, Bob.
dave judice
Mike
That is a great list. I have done some of those and plan on doing all of them eventualy. I would add the Mullet Man triathlon on the Florida/Alabama border held at the Florabama lounge and package. It has a real grass roots feel. The post race party can’t be beat.
Mike P. in Perdido Key
Short / Oly Course :
Tri-Shark - Bloomington,IL
Race For Sight - Columbia,MO
Lake Hagg - Portland,OR
St.Louis has a 8 race series of short mostly non-USAT races which are pretty good, low key races.
Long Course :
Pigman Half - Iowa
Ironhorse - Springfield,IL
Ultramax - Ozarks,MO
I thought MulletMan was a bit sloppy organization-wise this year, and I hated the weird way the bike course either had you dodging pedestrains in the bike lane, or forced out onto the rumble strips. For informal in that region, I’d go with Crab Trap sprint in Destin instead which is still a nice mellow old school race, but a little better run, IMO. (and for those that care about such things, they didn’t limit you to three beers at the post race bash like MulletMan did)
I was impressed with the recent Abitaman race they ran at Navarre Beach, FL. Very professional job, great location on the beach and a bike course through Gulf Islands national seashore. Here’s hoping they come back next April.
And would someone please do a Panhandle Oly distance race again? I don’t want to have to drive to Tampa to find something longer than a sprint, but shorter than Gulf Coast, and I suspect the one they used to do at Tyndall is permanently defunct for national security reasons.
In Ohio:
25+ events this season set in nice parks throughout the state. Races range from sprint up thru 3 halves and 1 full IM. Some off-road stuff, a series of races, and all well organized.
The Pacific Coast Triathlon is a fun sprint in a coastal venue between Newport and Laguna Beach, Cal. Protected ocean swim in Crystal Cove, rolling bike course, paved/sandy beach run. I did it in 2000 when it was the USAT National Championships, and there were tons of spectators, superb post-race buffet, great atmosphere.
http://www.pacificcoasttriathlon.com/
At $85 a pop, though, it’s expensive as heck for a sprint (in my book) – but that price range seems to be par for the course for the SoCal tri scene. Even the Bonelli races are getting more expensiver.
bub