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70.3 World's to Leave Vegas

Al TruscottAl Truscott
in Community Forum 🏠
WTC announces starting 2014 the WC for 70.3 will "rotate among the various global,regions" to give athletes outside the US a better opportunity to attend.

I wish they'd give details soon to aid planning!

Comments

  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    I understand this but I'll admit I'm disappointed. I'm not going to travel to Brazil or Europe to do the race, even if I qualify. That said, I understand that it's more equitable world wide and may lead to a truly superior field.
  • robin sarnerrobin sarner
    Sounds good.
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    They should be announcing the 2014 location by the end of June. I am a huge supporter of this concept. First, I am more suited to the 70.3 distance and have raced Clearwater and Vegas one time each. Second, neither race was worth repeating. I thought I was done with 70.3 champs until this announcement. There has been a lot of moaning on ST about the cost of traveling overseas but that is the very issue that is faced by foreign triathletes who had to come to the US. Most races are in North America anyhow, so I suspect 1/2 of the championships to still be accessible for most Americans. But when they shift overseas you can expect some deep roll down slots to open up. If they pick some good European locations then my wife will give me an automatic SAU green light and it is game on!
  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    I appreciate Paul's position, but I'm one of those guys who will (or at least would) be one of those guys letting the slots go if it's in an exotic location. I'm just not at a time in my life where I can take an expensive week's vacation in some exotic locale. I'm already choosing races primarily based on convenience both of calendar and location. I can bend once in a while, but I appreciated that LV and FL are both relatively inexpensive places to get to and stay in. The policy will make it a better world championship probably, but it will do so in part by filtering out the relatively casual qualifiers like me.
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    William, you are going to have to define "casual world championship qualifier" for me. I think this is a test for Kona, for sure, and an interesting play. At the very least it could open up the door for a "North American Championship" held either by WTC or a competitor....
  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    Patrick-

    I assume you're kidding a bit... but I mean guys like me. Yes, I set goals. Yes, I work my butt off. And if I qualify this year again (which I hope to do, but I recognize is a severe challenge at 49), I'll give the LV race my absolute best. But I also know that the game for me is qualifying...I'm just not the caliber athlete who is going to compete at the Championship level to win...I'm there to do MY best.

    But just like I don't have a $12,000 bike, I also kind of draw the line at where this game interferes with my family - financially, time wise, etc. Going to Germany (for example) would be an awesome experience, no doubt, but it's not the right time in my family's life to drop the coin to take them all for 2 weeks or something. That's an enormous investment. In Las Vegas, I can get my bike there for $100 or less each way, I can stay in a $100/night hotel, I can get reasonably inexpensive flights, etc etc. It's still a <$2000 deal for me and my wife to do a long weekend, but it's not blowing the whole family budget for what is fundamentally "dad's playtime." I got my P3 as 2year old overstock. I bought my entry level wireless PT and Garmin new, but I still race on a training wheel with a disc cover and my front race wheels have been bought used...and most of those upgrades came from money that came in on little consulting jobs. <br />
    Maybe I just have a somewhat different take because of the age of my kids and trying to preserve all their interests, but it feels like a pretty selfish thing for me to set the family agenda for a whole year for "my game."

    I think there are fewer people who are in my position that are Kona qualifiers. That bar is just THAT MUCH harder, and there is such a tradition around Kona. If I qualified for Kona, I would go, and I obviously know it would be much more expensive thing than the championships in Las Vegas.


    But anyway, there is now a Rev3 "championship" that you qualify for based on doing two of their races. I haven't looked into it that closely, but I have a friend is big into their races.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User]
    Next year it'll be in Mont Tremblant.

    http://www.ironman.com/triathlon-news/articles/2013/05/mont-tremblant-to-host-ironman-70.3-world-championship.aspx#axzz2Ut50Fcnc
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Zzzz. Dan Empfield says it will go to Europe in 2015. Wake me up when they make that announcement.

    At William, I fully appreciate your position, and not too long ago I would have said the same. But 3 of my 4 kids are now out of college on their own and my youngest is a teenager. Finalizing a destination race is a joint decision with my wife and I do not get any pushback for suggesting Europe. By contrast, some stateside IMs yield only groans and a starting deficit in SAUs. However, MT 70.3 WC should be just as close for you as Vegas.
  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    Posted By Teri Cashmore on 31 May 2013 04:02 PM


    Next year it'll be in Mont Tremblant.



    http://www.ironman.com/triathlon-news/articles/2013/05/mont-tremblant-to-host-ironman-70.3-world-championship.aspx#axzz2Ut50Fcnc

    Cool. Literally. I've never been interested in 70.3 WC, but now, maybe ... since next year is age up time for me, I'm looking @ the 70.3 schedule to see if I can fit in a qualifier amongst all my other plans. Pucon in Jan?
  • William JenksWilliam Jenks
    And Paul.... I appreciate you're in a different position in life than me! :-)

    MtT might be doable. We'll see. :-)
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