Anyone know the date of duathlon nationals in Arizona for 2012? It’s crazy that in this age of sign-ups a year in advance, the date of a national championship is so hard to find. (If it has even been finalized) How do they expect to grow the sport like this?
No exact date yet, most likely late april
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USAT Du Nats are April28…registration opens Jan5 per the half page advertisement in the fall issue of USA Ttiathlon magazine.
thanks
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I agree. The dates and promotion of the sport is weak compared to triathlon, especially for the long-course duathlon National Championship (hosted by Powerman Alabama). I have been hesitant to get into duathlons because the dates aren’t available when I am putting my race calendar together by 12/31 and the depth of competition/field of athletes is relatively small.
I think the off-road duathlon nationals (hosted the same weekend as the on-road oly-distance) was canceled due to poor registration numbers.
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Mmmm…sorry, but as someone who has recently returned to multisport racing with a du-heavy bias (for a number of reasons), a couple things here touch on raw nerves. General rant, not directed at you personally:
Low promo…smaller # of events…pointy end of field as percentage of field lower than tri…field cannibalization by concurrent tri @ same venue OR scheduling on a tri-heavy weekend* …
staying away because of these (and any of the other popular reasons) ends the cycle how exactly?
no-show = no growth. simple as that.
want to improve the top competition as % of the field in the current du environment? do the race and be one of those 2-3 guys near the top who Joe-Tri-Crossover or Longtime-Runner-With-a-Bike looks at and says “!@%^#$@%^, I can beat that guy/gal…when’s the next race?”
of course, this only attracts the competitive set, which by itself can’t support anything but the longest most well-established events with qualifying standards. you need participants. finishers. pack-fodder. MOPs and BOPs. newbies. biggest losers. aspirationals. the people challenging nobody but themselves. swag-bag millionaires.
let’s work to figure that one out. but let’s not make things worse by perpetuating the low-participation problem.
- Both of which I consider myths. IMO and IME the vast majority of tri folk aren’t du folk. Trifolk *identify *with the combination of three sports. You aren’t losing #s to them because they’re just not that into you. In their mind or the minds of their friends (or what they imagine is in the minds of their friends) du doesn’t conjure up visions of great personal triumph over inner demons or spark “wow, you do all that on one day” conversations. Is that a function of popularity, awareness, NBC’s Kona special interest stories? Sure, but it is what it is…*and it isn’t what it isn’t. *A tri on the same day, even in the same place, isn’t the problem with du#s.
Nor do I accept the argument that concurrent events dilute/prevent du from establishing its own cachet. Quite the reverse, says I: I imagine watercooler conversations where the tri-type is engaging in the 4th discipline (i.e. telling everyone about their race) and - OK, this is a stretch - somehow the fact that a DU was held that same day comes up. "Those nutcases ran twice. " If personal challenge is what’s going to get the impressionable wannabe, listening in, off his/her duff, what better than the idea that this tri-ath-a-lete* wasn’t *doing the most impressive deed on the day.
I don’t subscribe to the notion that there’s a harder/better/worse dichotomy between tri and du, mind you…but there are those that do. And Du, because of it.
Is Powerman Alabama going to be the 2012 long course championship? I read, probably here, Blackwater was going to be the LC championship.
Edit to add: Did a little updated search. Blackwater it is, June 3rd.
http://www.examiner.com/triathlon-in-baltimore/blackwater-duathlon-june
Where is the venue? I’m in school at Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. I’m interested in doing my first du. I have heard they hurt more than triathlons.
Not responding to OP but… I see there is an option of Spring vs. Standard distance (which is really the old sprint distance eh?).
Any sense of whether they’ll space the events out so that athletes can enter both?
re the distance…If they are not going to run an actual Oly distance, where there is a price to pay for the last run, I wish they would just shorten it to a sprint distance and make it traditionally fair. I don’t get the point of the 35k bike ride.
Is Powerman Alabama going to be the 2012 long course championship? I read, probably here, Blackwater was going to be the LC championship.
Edit to add: Did a little updated search. Blackwater it is, June 3rd.
http://www.examiner.com/triathlon-in-baltimore/blackwater-duathlon-june
Im busy debating whether I hate myself enough to do that race. It’d be like Eagleman with more pain but less jellyfish.
Short Course Nationals will be 28 April in Oro Valley Just North of Tucson, AZ the website is http://www.usatriathlon.org/events/usat/2012/04/duathlon-national-championship.aspx
Long Course Duathlon Nationals will be 3 June in Cambridge, MD the website is http://www.tricolumbia.org/events/?eid=13
Regarding More Cowbell “The dates and promotion of the sport is weak compared to triathlon, especially for the long-course duathlon National Championship (hosted by Powerman Alabama). I have been hesitant to get into duathlons because the dates aren’t available when I am putting my race calendar together by 12/31 and the depth of competition/field of athletes is relatively small.”
We are working on the promotion with USAT. What is weak about the dates? The dates have for the National Championship have been out for about two weeks. The depth of the competition is stronger than you believe. The National Duathlon Champ came from your Age Group, he also was 4th in 40-44 at USAT Tri Nationals. Dan Stephens won his Age group at Duathlon Nationals and was 2nd in his age group at 70.3 World Championship. I could go on with the depth, just come to Oro Valley and experience the field of athletes that show up. I agree the numbers are not as large as tri’s but the competition is very tough.
Isn’t a bigger problem that come June, at least in the northeast, there are no Du’s on the schedule until October? I’d do Du’s all summer if there were events (I’d much rather run than swim anyday of the week) to compete in. Triathlons are much more mainstream than duathlons and therefore the race organizers go with what sells. I’ve always wondered why (other than logisitics I guess) that tri’s don’t offer a Du option (there is one here in Mass in May) to get the “panic swimmers” to try the sport.
Your question about summer duathlons is a good one. I know in Minnesota where I live they don’t typically draw well as stand alone events and I think the logistics of creating a duathlon to go with a triathlon rarely seem attractive to race directors – more work for small numbers of athletes.
For those who race primarily duathlon, the lack of summer races is a real issue but I don’t think there are easy fixes
It is only because of lack of summer events that i bother to do Triathlons.
Wow-that is going to be fast. I love duathlons, talk about resetting your suffer perspective.
I’m in.
You need to move to CO. We have the Mile High Duathlon Series starting in May (www.racingunderground.com) that I’ve found attracts some very competitve fields. Not huge numbers but very competitive at the pointy end. I haven’t podiumed in my AG in the series since 2004. Man, the 35-39 and 40-44 AGs are loaded! I miss the old Coors Light Series. Although Duathlons hurt more and take a little more time to recover from, I’ve never understood why they can’t attract more newbie athletes. Without the swim about 90% of most newbs anxiety would be gone.
Where are you in the NE? I grew up in NJ and used to race a long duathlon in Harriman St Park back in the early 90s. Think it was called the Killer Loop Biathlon- 6 mile-45mile-6mile- started at Lake Sebago. Used to have a New York Bi Series as well.
So is this something that one would have to qualify for or is it just whoever wants to pay the entry fee can get in?
I’m not sure if you know the answer, but… Are both distances for Short Course Nats going to be raced on the same day?
If they spread them across both days I’d do both. 