You forgot to mention the pull of the Spirit of Racine flawlessly. 2000 people in the half, and a bunch in a sprint the day before.
A very nice race. That’s why their current attempts surprise me so.
Good points Dan. I do consider myself a stakeholder in the sport of triathlon, and part of me thinks that the obsession with IM and the huge turnover in the sport is ultimately destructive to the sport. I saw the 101 series as a really nice alternative to IM that was a great challenge, but not as all-consuming or as bad for your health as a full IM. I have signed up for other first-time races, some of which were really far away. I did the IM South Africa its first year in Port Elizabeth when it was a 1/2 IM. Though people say to stay away from first time races, I think this was the best race I have ever done. One of the best parts was before the start when the mayor of Port Elizabeth thanked everyone for coming and said he knew there would be mistakes because it was the first time there was a race there, but he promised they would improve. The race was wonderful. Maybe I’ll have to re-think my position a bit and see what the future plans for these races are before automatically saying I won’t sign up.