The Phoenix tri scene is on its last legs. Hardly any races left. We used to have 3-4 race companies running local races - now down to one. No more Xterra or half Ironman. We have all the right conditions for triathlon - lakes, pools, good roads, great weather, large metro population. We are missing athletes. Especially young ones.
Phoenix and Tucson have a decent tri scene I think. They just do Ironman.
Ironman AZ had about 1700 participants last year. A few years ago it was consistently above 2500. Ironman cancelled the 2024 70.3 in Phoenix.