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The end of HITS Triathlon Series?

edited January 10, 2018 2:06PM in Races & Places 🏁⛺
Years ago I predicted the HITS triathlon series would not survive after it was first established in 2011...that thread must be in the forum somewhere.  Certainly, their full distance races never took off with many having just 20-30 finishers year after year.  And in recent years, the number of race venues in the series has been pared back to the point where all that is left is a handful of races in Florida, New York and California.  

After all these years, I finally did my first HITS triathlon, the Naples Olympic distance this past weekend (Jan 7).  It was brutally cold for a triathlon in Florida with the air temperature in the morning at 46 and the water temp at 58 degrees.  But they still had 130 finishers in the sprint and 90 in the Olympic.  The day before had 68 in the half and 16 in the full.  Despite the weather, I thought HITS did a decent job of organizing and executing the race.  I did not feel unsafe or witness any major errors in race management.  But I truly think this is the last year for HITS.  Here's why.

I registered for this race the day after last year's event when they had a 24 hour special price.  I think I paid $65.  About noon on Sunday I saw that their website already had the dates up for next year's edition of this race.  But by the time I got back to Tampa the 2019 dates were gone.  However, Active.com had the Naples 2019 registration up on their website for each distance with prices for all categories, but the links were inoperative and there was verbiage to check the organizers web page first.  The active.com page was still there on Monday but was removed today.  The down turn in triathlon participation plus Ironman announcing a 70.3 the week after the HITS championship race at the same location seems to have been the final straw.  The irony is that just today, Dan Empfield posted an article noting that 2017 was the end of the retrenchment for triathlon and predicting that 2018 would be the start of another growth period.  

If I'm right that this year marks the end for HITS, I will give them credit for hanging in there for 7 years; and I tip my hat to those hardy souls who completed a HITS full in what must have felt like a solo training effort.
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Comments

  • @Paul Hough Interesting insight. I've done a few HITS in Napa, CA. The numbers last year for that actually grew. We shall see.
  • That Napa bike course was brutal, though I did the half there earlier in my tri career, so it may have just been brutal then...much like their other races, I can't imagine doing the full.  Very lonely training day:o)
  • Yeah, when I saw you did that, I said to myself "Are they still around?" I did one, in far western CO, about 4-5 years ago. Well-run, but nothing special.  Pretty hard to do a sustainable national series, so many have bit the dust over the past three decades. WTC is not national, Xterra is off-road. USAT is really the only reliable national championship year-in, year-out. Their Olympics, while huge, are quality events.

    Bud Light, USTS, Rev3, HITS, LifeTime, and so many more I can't remember...R.I.P.
  • Was hoping they'd be a viable competitor, but just didn't have the participation and therefore, the deep pockets that some OTHER (cough cough) companies have.

    Sad.
  • @Al Truscott - Lifetime is still around but has reorganized.  Most significantly, they cut ties with USAT.  They don't seek USAT sanction, do not require a USAT license to race, and are thus not scored by USAT.  You can see their list of events at their website...some are pretty big.   http://www.lifetimetri.com/
  • I've done HITS Napa x2 Havasu x1 and Palm Springs x1 all HIM.  Was bummed about no more Havasu as it was my old home town-and parents still there.  Always good -low key events .... wasn't until IMAZ that I saw the contrast in #s of racers and fans etc.   The Napa has had some adverse weather -Lake always cold and I can see the challenges for their "every distance" model as Havasu had a good OLY/Sprint-decent HIM but <20 IM which seems about par. "who wants to do a 140mile race without saying 'your an Ironman'" issues I guess.  Most of the complaints have been those who haven't done other small events such as some ultra races or local HIMs etc that I've done.....ie no on course food/jells...."here's a map...see you at the finish" type events.  Its cool to have a big swag bag, but that's not what I go to race for.  They all seem a bit more challenging -Napa changed its bike after first year -brutal climbing....and Palm springs was dead flat-but rough- then changed to a huge climb and sketch decent on non closed road -changed back to flat rout.

    I was considering doing Palm Springs again this year....But may "sell out" and do IM 70.3 Indian wells.....mainly for the chance to go for a WC slot (long shot at best).  This was not WTC doing this by accident....this was Walmart building next to K-mart Kill the competition.  I actually expect this location to close once HITS is dead unfortunately.  Sad.

    I suspect in a few years it will be just Mega Corp run races....and the other extreme really small grass roots races with tough courses and minimal support but die hard fans (old Vineman or ones like Rat Snake etc) Too easy now for WTC to pop up a race- test for profitability and close it or another down just as easy.  


  • @DavidHoward, I like the Mega Corp races although I do indies here and there.  And I don't see the end of them in Florida.  IM70.3 Miami is now gone and the very large, always-done-well MiamiMan HIM is still standing.  These two races were only 3 weeks apart.  Score WTC: O, Multi-Race: 1.   Meanwhile, Multi-Race added a new Florida HIM for April 2018 (i.e., they are going head to head on the calendar against IM70.3 Florida) and Challenge is coming back to the US with a Florida HIM in December.  Oh, and Sommer Sports Intimidator HIM is still very much alive (Mar).
  • @Paul Hough Good on you for getting out in those conditions, but it's really only the water temp that's an issue.  46 is t-shirt weather considering it's currently -8F today here is Saskatoon.  I too am surprised that HITS and held on so long.
  • @Gordon Cherwoniak - for us Floridians it was a shock to the system!  I'll be in D.C. on Sunday with a low of 17 and a high of 31 before the windchill.  It's going to be a toss-up whether I run outside or end up on the treadmill.  :)

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