Now I hope Slowtwitch doesn’t consider this marketing, after all the Boston Warrior triathlon doesn’t even exist yet. And it never will if we can’t convince the City of Boston to allow our run to go through part of the city. Boston is way behind in regard to the sport of triathlon. Of 26 U.S. cities with a population of greater than 600,000 only two have no long course tri (Olympic, 1/2 Iron). Boston is one of those. So we’ve started an online petition (available at the Odyssey TriSport facebook page or www.odysseytrisport.com). Please sign it and let others know to do so as well. We don’t want to end up like Ironman NYC and have to have our race in New Jersey. (Not that New Jersey is bad, but call it Ironman Hoboken then.)
And if this is marketing then I apologize.
-Matt Brackman
Why would you want to have a long course triathlon in Boston with crappy roads and dirty water when you can go an hour in just about any direction and have lots of low traffic roads and clean water to swim in?
Without revealing too much of the details, the swim is not planned for downtown Boston. That would be absurd. The Bike would not be on Boston roads, that would be just as absurd. As the original thread says, it is the “run” portion that would be in Boston. In case you were’nt aware there’s a race called the Boston Marathon that goes along Boston roads.
How many triathlons are there within an hour’s drive of Boston? (seriously, I don’t know). I live in a county with 900k and we do not have a single open-water triathlon of any length, yet we have a dozen within one hour’s drive, and several dozen within two. Is this the situation there?
Most of the U.S. (99%) doesn’t give a rat’s ass about triathlon and consider us a nuisance when we mess up traffic. I consider big-city events the exception, not the rule.
Without revealing too much of the details, the swim is not planned for downtown Boston. That would be absurd. The Bike would not be on Boston roads, that would be just as absurd. As the original thread says, it is the “run” portion that would be in Boston. In case you were’nt aware there’s a race called the Boston Marathon that goes along Boston roads.
The original post also says you don’t want to end up like IM NYC. But your suggested plan sounds just like IM NYC.
Without revealing too much of the details, the swim is not planned for downtown Boston. That would be absurd. The Bike would not be on Boston roads, that would be just as absurd. As the original thread says, it is the “run” portion that would be in Boston. In case you were’nt aware there’s a race called the Boston Marathon that goes along Boston roads.
It goes along the Boston roads only for a couple of miles at the very end. On a holiday
and it’s the oldest annual marathon in the world
and it pays an obscene amount of money to the towns it runs through
Slightly off topic: but going to your web site I see you have the “First Martha’s Vineyard Triathlon” and that would certainly be historically inaccurate. Rich Havens hosted olympic and full ironman triathlons on Martha’s Vineyard in 1994.
I like the idea but I think the devil is in the details. I think you might have a lot more support if you provided details to get people excited about the prospect.
Also, I grew up in the Boston area and am now in Atlanta. I think you need to realize that New England is a pretty unique place from a geography perspective. Everything is really close together. For example, there are many triathlons in Atlanta, but being in Atlanta doesn’t mean a ton since the city is so spread out. You might still have a 50 minute drive to reach the triathlon even though you are still (loosely) considered to be in Atlanta. The same for many southern and midwestern towns.
If you took that same 40-50 drive and applied it to Boston, you have a wide field of locations and events to choose from. That drive will take you to Rhode Island, Connecticut, Worcester area, and parts of New Hampshire.
My point is that you should try to provide the benefits of having an event in the city of Boston and provide details. Is it for convenience? Is it for coolness factor? Is it because the course will be epic? Elaborate so folks can get excited. I don’t think people would see the value of the race if it was just convenience in Boston (as you can tell from comments) when there are many suitable venues a short drive away.
How many triathlons are there within an hour’s drive of Boston? (seriously, I don’t know)
Within an hour’s drive? Well countless sprints. A bunch of Olympics (Cranberry, Mass State, Lowell, etc). For Half Iron or above, you basically have the Patriot Half in Freetown which is not a 70.3. For a couple of years there was a full Iron in Plymouth that they keep saying they’ll bring back but I have my doubts.
If you can drive 1.5 to 2 hours, you can add a bunch of half Iron distance races: Timberman and Mooseman in NH, the 70.3 in Providence (whose name escapes me) and the Pumpkinman in South Berwick Maine.
But for for a full iron distance you are driving quite a bit longer, I think
there will also be a rev3 race in old orchard beach. It seems to me, there are plenty of long course options (as you mentioned) for the boston area (with the exception of full ironman). You have 3 official mdot events, a rev3, and 2 independent races to choose from…all within a reasonable drive.
As a former bostonian, I can’t imagine the logistical nightmare of trying to get a race going in the city. I’m not saying it can’t be done…just that it seems like it will be very hard.
Some good thoughts. The problem with revealing too many details is that once the towns, the Parks Dept, Police, Fire, and on an on get through with you the course can change radically. The basic premise, and the one I am looking for support, is that Boston is a world class city with no more than a sprint tri. Even if only part of the course goes in or through, that would be special. Look at Providence (which I have raced). The entire swim and bike are nowhere’s near the downtown, which is the main attraction, but the run does take a bit of a tour around town. I think that is what makes the event enticing. If one could race towards Boston, see the skyline approaching, run over the bridge from Cambridge or Charlestown, head down those old familiar roads, see the statues, the Common, the place where everybody knows your name, that would be a special “Boston” event. So you naysayers keep naysaying, I’ll get this done with our without you. If you have something constructive to say I give you thanks.
I don’t want to be a Naysayer. Let’s just say I want a Boston ***area ***long course triathlon. And if you can make it finish in Boston without forcing them to close down a bunch of streets that are going to make every non-runner/cyclist I know hate me all the more, then I’m all for it. If you want to tie up Boylston St for half a day, then no thanks.
Woah woah woah! This is the guy who does Martha’s Vineyard’s first (not true) tri?! Ha! That race was a NIGHTMARE last year. Timing disaster and even spectators were charged. No thanks. Why don’t you try and get your Oly distance race right before you go creating a monster.