Yay to reviving olympic/sprint races!
Theyâve had these for a few years now. I think it is a great idea, but it hasnât been executed super well so far in my experience.
I was at the Colorado state championship this year, the Boulder Peak Triathlon, and there was absolutely no way to know that this was the USAT state championship. No mention on the race website, no USAT presence (banners, signs, etc.) at the race like at Nationals, no mention of state champions during the awards. It was 100% a normal local race. Just seems like a way for local races to advertise their race on the USAT website (which isnât a bad thing in itself). Tri Boulder has the Colorado state championship this year so maybe theyâll do a better job with it.
I think there is huge potential with USAT regional and state championships to create a short course race series that is as competitive and popular as Ironman 70.3 races. I think the key is to limit USAT Age Group Nationals qualification to these regional and state championship races. I think that would attract better fields and get people focused on and talking about these races. I posted more about this idea here: https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/?post=7613963#p7613963
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Think everything in here is really well said. Would love for these races to take off. Have done a couple of state champs & theyâve felt like regular races. Feel like you know in road running when youâre doing a USATF championship or regional championship/race series. Then it feels like road running has a ton of historic races that get huge numbers. Doesnât seem like triathlon has a ton of those non-IM, non-USAT, branded races that draw big numbers.
Triathlon used to have these non-Ironman races that were historic (to some extent, triathlon hasnât been around that long) and drew big numbers back when I started racing 12 years ago. Ironman has done a very good job of systematically destroying these races through acquisitions (sometimes continuing the event as an Ironman branded races, sometimes just getting rid of it like they did with all the popular Olympic distance races in the midwest in the early 2010s) and placing Ironman races around the same time and same place.
USAT use to be very focused on the age-group athletes and promoting races and series. This came to an abrupt halt when they were focusing on trying to get triathlon as an Olympic event. As I recall the reasoning was that the visibility of the Olympics would be a boon for triathlon. Well that didnââŹâ˘t happen and USAT never went back to the previous focus on the age-group athlete.
Theyâve had these for a few years now. I think it is a great idea, but it hasnât been executed super well so far in my experience.
I was at the Colorado state championship this year, the Boulder Peak Triathlon, and there was absolutely no way to know that this was the USAT state championship. No mention on the race website, no USAT presence (banners, signs, etc.) at the race like at Nationals, no mention of state champions during the awards. It was 100% a normal local race. Just seems like a way for local races to advertise their race on the USAT website (which isnât a bad thing in itself). Tri Boulder has the Colorado state championship this year so maybe theyâll do a better job with it.
I think there is huge potential with USAT regional and state championships to create a short course race series that is as competitive and popular as Ironman 70.3 races. I think the key is to limit USAT Age Group Nationals qualification to these regional and state championship races. I think that would attract better fields and get people focused on and talking about these races. I posted more about this idea here: https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ost=7613963#p7613963
These regional/state events are from what I know generally established events that bid to get the âchampionshipâ. From the ones Iâve been involved with no USAT staff shows up, just some awards and maybe some tear drop flags⌠maybe some fence banner material.
USAT from what Iâve seen lists the events but the individual RD/Company are largely responsible for the advertising of it being a âState Championshipâ in addition to all the other race operations, timing, staffing, etc⌠I did a regional USAT Olympic event a few years ago, they did two awards ceremonies essentially and I got a ribbon with a medal for the regional AG win. No overall, no masters⌠just AG awards.
Theyâve had these for a few years now. I think it is a great idea, but it hasnât been executed super well so far in my experience.
I was at the Colorado state championship this year, the Boulder Peak Triathlon, and there was absolutely no way to know that this was the USAT state championship. No mention on the race website, no USAT presence (banners, signs, etc.) at the race like at Nationals, no mention of state champions during the awards. It was 100% a normal local race. Just seems like a way for local races to advertise their race on the USAT website (which isnât a bad thing in itself). Tri Boulder has the Colorado state championship this year so maybe theyâll do a better job with it.
I think there is huge potential with USAT regional and state championships to create a short course race series that is as competitive and popular as Ironman 70.3 races. I think the key is to limit USAT Age Group Nationals qualification to these regional and state championship races. I think that would attract better fields and get people focused on and talking about these races. I posted more about this idea here: https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...ost=7613963#p7613963
What? I was there tooâsoâŚIâm the âState Champâ in my age group? Nobody said a thing about it that I recallâŚdang. Thanks for the info!
Doesnât matter, it was still just a weekend workout, no real meaning aside from thatâŚbut funny it was a championship of sort.
Do I get a coupon for Benniganâs with a free meal equal to or lesser than one fully priced one? That would be a great awardâŚ
It seems like a no-brainer that USAT would send an email the every member of a given state about that stateâs championship race.
What do you mean by âbetter fieldsâ?
USAT Nationals is one of the most competitive fields there is in the US.
Better fields was regarding the regional and state championships. These are, for the most part from my experience at a few of them, just normal local race fields. Or at least no more competitive than the same races were without the USAT championship designation.
Ironman 70.3 races are popular at least in part because you know there will be a deep, competitive field compared to a local race. This is somewhat of a chicken/egg scenario, but the point is there are things that USAT could do (like the bare minimum email promotion as mentioned above) that could create more interest in these regional and state championship races that could lead to more competitive and deeper fields like Ironman 70.3s have (and vice-versa, more competitive and deeper fields could lead to more interest).
I just look at the change in the race landscape over the past 12 years and wonder how we got here. In my time, Ironmans have always been super popular. They have the allure of Kona qualification and are huge city-wide celebrations of the sport. Then there were a bunch of independent or small series local races - sprints, olympics, and half Ironmans. For the most part, they were equally popular and well attended (this was in the midwest).
Ironman 70.3 then somehow became a hugely popular thing. No Kona, no history, but certainly the Ironman branding along with an exclusive qualification-only championship race helped. Ironman created a 70.3 championship out of thin air, and created great demand for the championship race and in turn the series of races that qualify for the championship. This was clearly to the detriment of olympic distance races. There was an entire segment of the professional field that specialized in these non-draft olympic distance races. The big professional olympic distance races had deep, competitive age group fields that attracted people from neighboring states. Now that scene is almost completely gone and all that same non-full-Ironman focus for professionals and competitive age groupers is on Ironman 70.3.
I just think USAT has the opportunity to re-create (at least for age-groupers) this segment of triathlon that used exist. I know they donât have the same for-profit view that Ironman does, but they have a popular championship race in Age Group Nationals. Use it strategically to create a compelling series of short course races throughout the country. Right now theyâre doing almost nothing with it.
Totally â like the Amazon model or any other corporation out to kill small businesses.
Agree that USAT should do more to promote events. I live in the northeast. USATF-NE has a robust road racing championship scene. They partner with local races & have a individual/team series every year. Those races are usually well attended & competitive. It seems like USAT should develop regional chapters to help grow things at the local level. I donât think they have the reach to help with all of these races so they just attach their name to them & it doesnât go much past that. USAT has to be focused on the bigger events they host. There are some really cool races out there. The state champs Iâve done have all been great & decently competitive. But choosing a 70.3 guarantees you a deep field. Even the state championships might not be big enough to have your score rating matter if youâre after an elite card. If you go to Texas & do the Olympic Tri, you could knock it out of the park, but it might not be big enough to have your score count for elite qualification. Youâre almost penalized if you want to stay local & support these races. I know itâs slightly off topic but it seems like the scores, in general, are higher at 70.3âs that have pro fields. I would do away with the 300 person minimum. Encourage folks to race locally. Shouldnât have to sign up for a $400 race if youâre trying to move up in the sport.
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Agree that i would love to see a more prestigious series of smaller races (non IM brand) and i think youâre right that this would be a good starting point. Of course the timing is silly for New England people, VT and NH are on the same date, and RI and ME are a day apart. But a point series with some goal would be great, whether entry to nationals or some some series final etc.
the other thing (off topic) that would be a great antidote to IM dominance would be a change in the style and format of races. Super league is on to something i think. short 15-20 minute races, with heats, semi-finals, finals etc and eliminations. Venues that are smaller and easier to control, and where multiple races can go on all day. similar to the feel of CX.
It also would help get people into the sport with a more achievable first goal. If all people see is Ironman Kona and think âI could never do thatâ theyâll never get started. But make it a 500m swim, 12 mile bike and 5k run and thatâs not too unreasonable to complete.
I enjoyed doing weekly crits, USAT needs something comparable (because road cycling in the US is a great example of success).
reviving this old topic as i recently saw the 2025 list of State Championships. Any idea how these races are selected? Arent they usually larger races? I was incredibly suprised to see Wonders be the new NJ state championship. A race that had ~30 people the last 2 years, and has taken place on THE worst roads for a race Iâve ever seen, i cant even explain how rutted and pot holed the road is.
I love the idea of having a series of State Championships.
However nobody is gonna care about going to a State Championship until they become prestige events. As others have said US Nationals is one of the deepest fields of the year and because of that it becomes an important race.
Thereâs the potential to make State Championships important but it would require a rethink of how USAT does qualification for Nationals. Right now you can get to Nationals simply by placing 1st or 2nd(or top 15%) of your age group at ANY USAT sanctioned triathlon. Thereâs simply no need to go to a state championship where its top 5 or 35% unless you live somewhere where your local racing is a ridiculously deep field.
If you remove that auto qualify at any race and made the State Championship series the primary way to qualify for Nationals Iâm willing to bet youâd see a higher level of interest in those races.
This could potentially have a knock on effect on participation at local races so to offset that you could use the Age Group Ranking System to round out your Nationals field. Take say another 35-40% of the top 50 in each state who havenât qualified through State Championships. That way if someoneâs hurt or canât make it to State Champs thereâs still a pathway into Nationals. This also has the added effect of making the National Rankings more important than just for the end of the year All American selections.
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I think it was around 1987 they lowered the standards required to qualify for Nationals when it was in Outterbanks NC
and was cancelled due to a storm
BUT that was a while ago and my memory may be way off lol
As mentioned in the conversation above, it is likely somewhat of a bid process. Though I wouldnât be surprised if it takes a decent amount of recruiting by USAT to convince a race to pay some additional fee to be on the list.
Thatâs too bad that they chose a not good race.
USAT has a formal RFP bidding process for all state and national championships.
That being said, USAT really provides little oversight on the vibe or quality of the championship experience. I raced the Gravel Tri National Championship race in Michigan and the ONLY way youâd know it was a National Championship race was because there was a single USAT official there (flown in for the race) and there was a 2nd set of podium medals that said âUSAT National Championâ. No podium, no awards ceremony, no hoopla. To be fair, the RD seemed kind of irritated at how hands off USAT was and said that registrations didnât increase with the Championship designation, like he had hoped.
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So I commented on this thread years ago, complaining that USAT had stopped putting in effort to promote age group participation. Since then Iâve seen more social media activity focusing on age groups and glad to see emphasis on State Championships. The Ohio event was well orchestrated and the award ceremony was what one would expect of a major championship.
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They reach out to race directors in each state. Race directors apply for the opportunity to host the championship. Then USAT picks the best option.