Late Season Races

The fall duathlon in the mid-Atlantic has been a bit of an endangered species of late, but I see some signs of resurgence. Sure, Brad Jaeger's Triathlantic and its fall Greeting of the Geese duathlon may be no more (GotG was my first du, and Brad even held a December duathlon at one time). But we do have John McGovern's successful American Zofingen (and we pray he does it again next year), the Orange Crush in Clemson, SC, and another event in Smithfield, VA.

Now this takes us back to one of the points raised in the IT article of a few weeks back: When is duathlon season? Tri directors would have you think that duathlon season is any time that doesn't conflict with the prime triathlon season (May-August). But I really don't see standalone autumn duathlon event numbers growing (these three notwithstanding) any time other than April-May, unless they're held in conjunction with a triathlon. Right now, if the duathlon isn't planned for a fairly narrow April 1-May 30 window, it's not going to happen unless it's the stepchild of a triathlon.

So what about it? Let's have some more October-November duathlons, tri directors. If you're serious about helping the sport, October ought to be a prime season for the tri directors to put their money where their mouths are. I know people still want to compete!