I have a friend, avid triathlete and budding race director, who is hosting 2 races Sunday, March 7. One is an XTERRA offroad Triathlon and the other is an Olympic Distance Road Triathlon. He only has about 100 entrants to both races at this time and is not even close to breaking even on expenses.
Since the field is pretty small this would be a good chance for some of you perennial bridesmaids to perhaps pick up a victory…
I know of 2 confirmed pros that will be racing: Jamie Whitmore and John Koenig.
He advertised it in Sweat Magazine and I think in Race Place. I think he also had some flyers up in some of the bike shops. What do you think he could have done to better advertise the race?
That’s too bad! It look’s like a great race to me I’m not sure why more people aren’t signing up. I’ll try and spread the word…
One thing though… I read a few weeks back that the XTERRA swimmers would start after the roadies… I think the XTERRA athletes should be given the chance to go first since they are racing for points. Won’t be a problem for my slow ass but it seems like a disadvantage for the faster swimmers in the second wave.
Only roughly 100 people! Do you know if they plan to cancel it if they do not get enough bodies? I hope not. I’m driving 6+ hours to get there. I guess this is good for people who want Xterra pts(like me), but its always more fun when there is 1500 people instead of 150.
Talk to you friend(race director) and see if you can get him to make it a mass start for both races? I know they share the same swim and trail run, and I have a couple of buddies in both races. It would be great if I got to catch people or be passed by friends. Thats part of the fun. Ok, maybe not being passed.
Where are you in AZ? I’m in Scottsdale. I knew about the race because I signed up for the mailing list. but alas, I have just been cleared to run after suffering a stress fracture in November and have no running base what so ever!
I am still waiting for him to call me back, but I think it will be a mass start. Unless we have an unusual cold snap, it should be very good conditions. The water will be low to mid 60’s and the air temp starting in the 60’s and probably climbing to the mid 70’s by the end of the race.
The XTERRA bike should be interesting. I’ve ridden a few times out there and it is a mix of sand, hard pack and rocks. Lots of elevation changes and some pretty good views of the Superstions as well as Four Peaks - probably snow capped.
The run course should be pretty challenging as well. If it is the same one that I ran when he was initially mapping the course, it’s got a couple of good climbs a little bit of sand and is on jeep trails, so there is a lot of room.
I moved up from tucson over the holidays. My wife had already been living here off and on for work but is now here full time. We are building out in laveen. The wife has been doing the sat morning runs at the scottsdale running company, at least I think that is the name of it. A couple more moves from one to another temp house then into the new one and life can settle down.
Stress fx’s suck. I had one years ago and spent 9 weeks not running. Be careful during the running build up.
Any other advice for the race course? How about the “rolls” that are mentioned on the website? Any single track riding on the race course or is it mostly Jeep trails. I’ve been doing alot of hill work on my mtn bike and long distance on road to prep for this race and Calif. 1/2 Ironman on April 3rd.
I know I’ll have the endurance, but I’m learning the more I prep and find out details about a race course, the better prepared I am before/during/after the race.
Also, I just picked up the ‘Competitor Magazine’ and the race is listed in their as well. Just thought I’d let you know.
I haven’t seen the specific course that he drew up, but I think it is primarily jeep trails. It’s called the “Rolls” because it’s all little ravines. The water flows from the north to the south, so if you are travelling that direction your either in a creek/stream bed which is sandy or you are on top, which is hard pack and rocky. It’s when you travel east west that you go from one bed to the other that you go up and down through these ravines - the Rolls. If you can find a USGS map of the area, it’s easy to see what I mean.
The entire course is ridable if you are have decent skills. I’m not a very good mtn biker, so I had to walk it a few times when I was out there. There is a little bit of single track out there, but I’m not sure if he is using any of it.