Club Trophy Series
It was agreed at the committee meeting last night to have a series of club races in 2009 that we can all enter and compete in for a club trophy
Details and points scoring have yet to be decided, but the important thing now is to select which races to do so we can all enter before they fill up!
The series will probably have a sprint, an olympic, a half Ironman and a full Ironman race, with members needing to enter 3 out of 4 to qualify.
My question to you is: can you recommend any suitable races, or have you already entered any (particularly Ironmans which fill up early)? And if anyone has suggestions for the format, put that here too.
To kick things off, my vote is as follows:
Blenheim Sprint
Milton Keynes Olympic
Vitruvian Half Ironman
Ironman UK (sorry Ian, Lanza's too early for me!)
+ the club tri
What about adding an off-road races such as Xterra UK or one of the monsterman off road duathlon races . Might provide a more rounded series if some mud is included.
Pete
Decisions, decisions!!! I Have to say Nick's choices are good - we all know Blenheim and the organisers floated the idea of discounted entry in return for a days volunteering in 2009. The MK Olympic is a brilliant course, although you'll have needed to practice Hanno and Phil's sighting drills in order to master the swim course!! Vitruvian is a double dambuster and Dambuster is a great event up in rutland water. The only thing might be dates I think I'm right in saying Vitruvian and IM UK are on the same weekend this year, would need to check the 09 planner. I also support the xterra/offroad idea and we should have a Duathlon too maybe one early season like monsterman and then one pre tri season such as Swindon Duathlon. I guess the Ironmen and ladies amongst you might be looking to go overseas for your IM fix in 2009 so to go an event where you'll know other members will be would be pretty cool.
Great idea BUT: how about a long and short distance trophy? I'm sure I'm not the only one in the club that has no intention of racing beyond Olympic distance - if we have to do a long distance race to qualify for the series it will exclude the likes of me right from the start! Like the idea of including duathlons & off road too.
As someone who can't run 5.4k (at Blenheim) without getting bad cramps I'm with Sarah in having a short and a long distance trophy. I do like the idea of targetting races we do preferentially and the club now has a membership that could support a range of distances and surfaces. Good suggestion - gets my vote.
I have to agree about the long and short distance trophy idea. Although I may be venturing into the 70.3 world next year I think that two trophies means that everyone has a chance to go for glory!
Here's the thinking behind the suggested format:
Having 4 different distances is intended to test people's all round Tri abilities.
If it's only Olympic and below, the race will be between just a few people who are very quick over those distances (you know who you are!).
Adding variety spices up the competition and encourages people to try something new. That's why I think Peter's idea of an off-roader is good.
It is supposed to be something of a challenge, would medals for completion help?
The longest you'd need to do in the '3 out of 4' format is a middle distance which is doable by most people in the club, despite whatever doubts you may have! Apparently Vitruvian is a good first Half Ironman. I'd be reluctant to fragment it into two competitions. What do you think?
Nick et al
I think the key is to encourage participation within the club. It will get more of us at the same races, increase the friendly rivalry that already exists and perhaps improve individual performances as a consequence. At a personal level it won't be about winning whatever the format but I would be more likely to go to some events if they were part of a club championship rather than isolated events.
Ultimately the format should be the one that encourages most club members to get involved - it may be worth doing an email shot with options once more ideas have been offered on this thread.
I understand the desire for variety and including off-road etc races makes sense. At a personal level I won't ever be doing a half ironman so would be excluded from the format you're currently proposing but if that was the majority format no problem. An option is to have shorter and longer distance championship and an overall winner who will have competed successfully in events from both series
John
I am with Nick on this one.
When I did Blenheim for the first time in 2006 I had never done a triathalon before. In my eyes the distances where crazy- way too far for someone who could hardly swim 50m without a rest. Next month I am doing my first Ironman- now the distances are crazy, though I feel now they are do-able.
By selecting a few races will also ensure that when they do their first 1/2 it will probably be well supported- that can be priceless. I will enter the club championships- I will not win it and do not care. I see it as a good excuse to try my hand at different distances and have a bit of fun.
The great thing about Oxford Tri is that whatever your ability you will get support from the club.
For those who prefer the short stuff my advice is try going long- you just do it (even) slower.
Guy
Sorry Guy, I have to disagree! I would prefer to concentrate on going faster at the shorter distances......I know I could do a 1/2 tomorrow if I wanted to but that is not a motivating factor for me. If I had to do a 1/2 to qualify for the series then I simply would not bother to do the series. At our running club we have an overall series trophy, short distance trophy & long distance trophy - as Antia mentions above it is a good way of including everyone and having a lot of fun along the way!
A fantasic idea as said before just to bring the club together at different races is cool. As we want it to be for all then I guess a long and short trophy is a good idea. If we also include an overall then everyone is happy and will try to get to most events. We need more awards for our to be fab annual dinner.
The Headington Road Runners have a club championship
It is a series of 11 races over distances from 5k to marathon. Your best 8 results count
You get points for completing the race and then additional points based on finishing position compared to other club members in the same race. This way you get points for participating and for going fast. The higher number of races available in the list allows people like me to not be forced into doing a marathon just to be able to qualify. Also the points just for finishing are useful in leveling the playing field a bit as some of the faster competitors compete less often so miss out on 'easy' points. It is something to consider.
I am not suggesting that we go with such a high number of races (to expensive, to much travel, too hard!) But the format for the points and the range of distances is nice.
I also appreciate the support for the duathlons. Helps add a feeling of legitimacy to the forgotten older brother/sister to triathlon.
just to add a little more, we could do a series trophy as this discussion seems to be going, or we could just have a race which is for the sprint, a race for the duathlon champs etc etc
If the club goes for the Long and Short distance option all round triathletes will still be able to prove their abilities by competing in both Championships.
Location and prices should probably be taken into consideration. Blenheim is £62 which is a lot for a sprint but it does benefit on the locations side.... Newbury Sprint triathlon is £26 and is really close. It is in Sept though - would it be a good idea to have the shorter distance races at the beginning of the season and work upwards on the distance - any thoughts?
Cowman might be worth a consideration for the 1/2 ironman distance - but that is is MK as well (same location as the MK Olympic). In fact I think that Big Cow the Milton Keynes lot do a full race series. This year they were:-
SPRINT TRI - 18th May, 1st June, 6th July
OLYMPIC - 20th July
1/2 IRONMAN - 06 July
This is just a thought with regard to the IM-distance race as it might be difficult for everyone to do the same race. Also, some people may wish to do something like Big Woody as it is cheaper and easier to get into than an IM.
People could nominate the IM-distance they are doing at the start of the season and, depending on how the overall championship scoring is to be worked, could get points based on their placing or percentage of time from the winning time (not sure of the exact workings, but I’m sure something could be worked out).
As many of the IM races need you to book a year in advance, it will allow those who have already signed up for overseas races to have their chance in the championship. Obviously, if you’ve nominated race x, then dnf, you can’t change it to race y later in the season and hope for a better result as this wouldn’t be fair on the other distances where you only get one chance.
Please don’t think this idea is down to my own self-interest (I’ve entered IM Lanzarote 2009) as I can’t see myself entering many other races next year as I’ll be trying to pay off my Ironman debt!!
Good Idea.
But just to add my two pennies worth - if the intention is to test the 'all round abilities' of a triathelte/member then it follows that there should be one series that contains a mix of events. Otherwise people stick to their favoured distances and the series has not really tested any 'all round' ability. I think 'all round' needs a definition....
I am with Sarah and John on this one. Some of us simply have no intention of racing long and an overall series trophy would exclude many members from even bothering- this probably includes many of our new members who are new to triathlon and would find the prospect of a 1/2 IM very off-putting.
I would prefer to see an individual trophy for each distance race and OK an overall trophy for those who enjoy self torture. I think Petes idea about an off-road race is fantastic we could also look at aquathons, duathlons, and possibly single sport events e.g. reading or marlow 1/2 marathon, town and gown 10K, etc etc. Lets really make this incentive as open and accessible to as many club members as possible from beginners to multiple ironman finishers.
I think Claire has good points having the series with individual swin, run or bike races encorporated but as a Tri club we could get too concerned accomodating each members strengths and miss the point of the series which i don't think is about finding a winner but mass participation at the same events for maximum comradery and fun.
I think the series is a great idea for motivation and competition and i support the short, long and overall idea but don't think the amount of races needed should be too high.
Also i am wanting to do an ironman next year are there any thought where people are want ing to go?
Hi,
The concept is a brilliant one, have events that lots of Oxford Tri members turn up to and race. It gets more complicated when you add a short course/long course competition and detracts form the prestige of the overall award. By increasing the scope of the competition to a larger number of competitions, (for example adding a standard and sprint distance duathlon) or a road running race/cycling time trial, or even best BAR time (although this is a training event!) we could add more flexibility to people that don't want to go long. Perhaps we could add a weigting to the longer races to reflect the fact that they can be harder.
By adding more events we could allow people to pick and choose what they do, for example picking 5 of 7 selected races, negating the need to go above standard distance
It would be difficult to allow people to be able to nominate IM events, as times are subject to course and conditions for the specific event. Suggest nominating an IM event early enough for people to ensure entry, and avoid anything in Africa/Asia/N+S America so that people can get to it easily and frugally (looks as if France fits the bill this year!).
My suggestion would be:
IM
70.3
Olympic
Sprint
Standard distance duathlon
10km run
10m cycling TT
With a possible weighting of
IM 2
70.3 1.5
Olympic 1
Sprint .75
Standard distance duathlon 1
10km run .50
10m cycling TT .50
Jerry
Or is this unfair on the swimmers amongst us?
i think gareth has hit the nail on the head, the real benefits of this series are getting mass numbers of oxford tri people at the same races for the extra support and to make them more fun
ive done races with several others in the club and they are far more fun than those where no other club members are doing them
With regards to Gerry's list of possible events (below) why not have a swim race as well. 2/3/4 laps of the circuit at Cassington. That could be incorporated into normal Saturday lake sessions at no time / financial cost to members. It could even be trialled this year....
Gerry's List:-
"My suggestion would be:
IM
70.3
Olympic
Sprint
Standard distance duathlon
10km run
10m cycling TT"
My two cents: This is a fantastic idea and everyone seems to agree. I think if the point is to bring people together at the same events and to encourage people to try things they wouldn't normally then a single award that gathers results from the full range of distances is best idea. If people are put off by longer distances then the idea of the club championships would be there as an incentive to give them a go. The point is nobody should win at all distances because sprint and ironman are so far removed they seem almost like different sports. To keep the people who prefer the shorter stuff included I don't think there should be a weighting that places more value on long distance events.
Thanks for all the suggestions, some really good ideas there.
Gareth is spot on: the primary purpose is to get a great Oxford Tri turnout at a few select events with the associated atmosphere, camaraderie and support. The trophy is just the nominal reason to enter these races. However, whatever the details, it should be the case that any member can do well by putting the effort in, and that the winner will have really earned it.
So back to the important point for now: which actual races do people suggest/vote for? To summarise suggestions so far:
10k: Oxford Town and Gown
1/2 Marathon: Reading, Marlow
Cycling TT: ?
Aquathon: ?
Duathlon: Monsterman, Swindon, Bletchingdon BAR
Sprint: Blenheim, Newbury, club tri
Olympic: Milton Keynes, Dambuster, Xterra
Half Ironman: Vitruvian, Cowman
Ironman: Lanzarote, Big Woody, UK, a European IM
PS Stephanie, sorry I thought we were doing this early.. perhaps we should start planning for 2010!
Just to ad confusion to the mix... Another 1/2 marathon that is close and cheap is the White Horse half marathon. Just out around Grove area. Good flat course, cheap, and local
Just to add my two pence worth:
1) Totally agree that the series should include all distances from sprint to IM. If you liken it to cyclings's Best British All Rounder (not that we should take Time Trailling as a shining example of how to grow a sport and encorage participation!), they have to submit times from 10 miles to 24 hours (although I think you only "have" to do a 12 hour to qualify), so that the winner is just that - the best all rounder.
2) Just because people are not "going long" and therefore wont be in the overall competition, it should still acheive its objective of getting lots of members to a select number of races. If it were me I would look at a race and think - "that's in the club series, there'll be loads of Oxford Tri there, Ill do that", rather than "I wont bother doing that cos I wont be doing enough races to qualify in the competion"....
3) As with all club matters, my view is if someone is happy to take on the job of administering the series then, once they have garnered opinion, they can decide the rules, the races, the points system etc - if you dont like what they have done then you can step up and offer to do it next year!
Personally I think the series should also include elements of beer drinking, barbequing, lounging around on the sofa and eating lots of burgers and chips.....
I can recommend South Cerney Classic - a new event on the calendar this year organised by votwo. It is Olympic distance, low key, well organised, relatively cheap, pretty close to Oxford (just past Swindon), quite a friendly event... and has a friendly start time of 10am.
So the local (UK based) events are fairly easy to choose from but given the IM events has anyone already entered IM events for 09 that would maybe help decide on the key overseas event to put in the series?
I thought this might be helpful, a list of when the races are:
IM France - 28th June 2009 Shouldn't fill immediately, no panic
IM Austria - 5th July 2009 Will fill immediately, enter early at first opportunity July 15th 0.00 a.m
IM Germany - 5th July 2009 FULL Already! 2000 entrants in less than 12hrs!
IM Switzerland - 12th July 2009 Shouldn't fill immediately, but may only be a week or two this year??
Also
Quelle Challenge Roth - 12th July 2009 I think this fills very fast - someone please confirm
Norseman Xtreme - early Aug 2009? 09 entry approx Oct/Nov - will fill v quickly or use Endurance life support package
IM Lanzarote - 23rd May 2009 Shouldn't fill immediately, no panic
Challenge Barcelona - 4th October 2009 ????
I am thinking of signing up for Austria (gasp) but maye be persuaded otherwise (no no, dont do an IM you crazy fool) as someone mention IMCH is nice..
Emma