Is winter triathlon bound for failure?

Soapbox time.

Number of ski races we have done: 200, 300, whatever its a lot
Number of triathlons we have done: 100+ (including 2 xterras, 5 ironmans)
Number of winter triathlons we have done: 21 or so
Our interest in doing winter triathlons this year: 0

I (E) was skimming through the USAT magazine a while ago and was saddened to find a little blurb from the Northeast region that was title like "Largest Winter Triathlon in the Country Held ..." and started with "with nearly 60 competitors, the ...". OMG, the largest winter triathlon in the country for 2008 had less than sixty people. A quick check using "the google" found that 53 people did nationals in Oregon and a whopping 19 people did the Durango race. In 2007, 103 people started and 90 finished the US nationals that was held in Winter Park, CO.


So, the sport shrank last year. Why? My belief is that it is just like real estate: location, location, location. There are other reasons like course selection, lack of race consistency, timing, etc., but location is the one that causes winter triathlon to represent less than 1% of the particiation that Ironmans in the US get.


For some background, Amber and I both were cross country skiers before we were triathletes. Winter triathlon (run, bike and Nordic ski) is a natural extenstion from what we do in the winter and what we do in the summer. We jumped at the chance to race in the winter tri's that Barry Siff (5430 race director) had starting in 2003 or so. He had 2 or 3 a year for a couple of years but never got that much participation and stopped doing them. The courses at Snow Mountain Ranch ranches were difficult but not too bad unless the bike course (normally a ski trail) was soft and a majority of the riders were forced to walk/run a bunch.


One year without them and then Danelle Ballengee held two race in 2006. The first race sucked for me as the bike was either up on roads or down on a snowshoe trail and I almost lost my bike shoes multiple times. The second race was great as the run, bike and ski trails were all firm.

In 2007, Barry again held two races with one of them being the national championships. The bike course got so soft and slow that i spent the time afterwards to compare the proportions that every competitor spent in the three disciplines. The first five guys spent between 39.5 and 42% of their time on the bike (30% or so on the run and ski). The slower people were, the longer proportionally they would spend on the bike to an average later of 46% of their time. These people also tended to spend longer on the ski than the run, suggesting that the bike tired them out more than the first finishers, not surprising since some spent over an hour trying to ride their bike through cottage cheese. I spent 48% of my time on the bike and Amber spent 50.5% of her time on the bike. So, after the race we said "screw this, let's just ski race next year", so this past year we didn't even consider traveling to Durango or up to Bend.


So, how would I fix winter triathlons? I go through 5w's (why, who, what, where, and when).


Why?

A fun, winter racing option. Not designed to surplant summer races for triathletes or ski races for skiers. As such the course shouldn't be that difficult. Fitness and skill for the ski will always be critical, but the course itself shouldn't be the limiter for doing well. There are other options (Mt. Taylor Quad for instance) where you are racing the course as much as you are racing others. Cyclocross is booming for cycling as a nice fall alternative as they are short races that are hard but don't take a whole lot of training for most folks to get ready for.


Who?

This is a complicated one. I think the courses that have been used recently highly favor those with the best mountain biking skills, altitude training and the means to travel (see Mike Kloser), while leaving others behind. The problem with that is that is means an elite team that isn't necessarily the best to do well at worlds and other athletes don't want to do the races (see Amber and Eric Rydholm). I believe that the main priorities currently should be to get as much participation from young skiers as possible and to get summer triathletes try the sport. The future elites will likely come from ski ranks (see Rebecca Dussault) and the future age groupers will come from summer triathletes who learn how to ski. Two ways I see for this are high school races and relays. There are thousands of high school skiers in Minnesota, Alaska, Colorado, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah, Michigan, New York, and Maine (I probably forgot a state or two). Get these kids interested and involved.

What?
Short races. Easy races. Not races that leave skiers wishing that they had stayed with skiing.

Where?
The midwest where skiers are used to driving to races such as the Birkie and the Vasaloppet. Near the front range of Colorado, where front rangers are used to going for races (Durango is not near the front range). Alaska with a crazy population. No Bend which is a cluster to get to in the winter.

When?
Before or after bigger races at the same location (Monday after the Birkie?, a few days before Sr. Nationals, a week after state for high schoolers or even the same weekend as state for those that couldn't qualify).