Charlottesville Triathlons (sprint, OLy, Xterra) - lots of open spaces

I am posting to let people know of our local Tri series of races. For some reason, this year registration hs been slow, so lots of places open. Part of this may be the cange in setupevents site - it is much harder to find these races. The races have been well received for the past years they have been run, so it is not the quality of the race holding it back - maybe jsut one of those years.

The basic information is at http://www.cvilletriathlete.com/ - with links to registration.

We are offering a sprint, Olypmic and Xterra, all centered around Walnut creek park - about a 30 minute drive from town.

The lake is very clean, spring fed, and will be warm, no need for wetsuits. A 550 m swim for the sprint, 1500 of OLy and 750 for Xterra.

The bike is challenging. The first mile is an 9% average grade out, and you can consider that a warmup for the rest of the ride. Constantly rolling, virtually no flats, some short steep climbs.

The runs are trail runs, and these are technical trails. Actually, the trails are the same as used in the biking for the Xterra, so expect some challenges there as well. Walnut Creek Park specifically built these trails for the MTB community, and have a full range of skill level available. Oh yes, and the occasional bear just to add interest.

Overall these are challenging events. Charlottesville is a great destination event for a weekend, lots to do with the family, great history, beautiful contryside in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, and a couple of great brew pubs I can refer you to.

So if you are in the Virginia area, or near enough to make a good weekend out of it, give it a consideration.

I’ll be moving to Staunton next week. How would I get to walnut creek park from there?

You are a bit of a haul away - you would take 64 over the Blue ridge towards Charlottesville - Take 5th st exit at Charlottesville - head right - this becomes Old Lynchburg Rd. Take that straight to Walnut Creek Park - You will hit one stop sign - after that it is about a mile on your left.

Welcome to the nieghbourhood - take some time when you settle here to get on the club local mailing list - we have quite a few things going on every week.

Not to take anything away from Walnut Creek (great trail system), but if you’re in Staunton drive the other way to the GW National Forest…oh my singletrack!!

Wanted to add that I did the sprint race in C-Ville last year. It was my first race and a very pleasant experience. Everything was well organized and the courses were well staffed. The bike course had some killer hills but nothing too ridiculous. The run on the singletrack trail was awesome; it rained all night so it was a mud fest. I’ll be back for the oly distance this year.

If you live in the area (or don’t mind traveling), then I highly recommend these races.