Race Previews

Looking at the 2016 Schedule...

Sunday, 03 January 2016 00:10

Gosh, it's 2016 already. Can you believe it?

It's time to talk about the 2016 outdoor tri / du season. At the height of triathlon's popularity, circa 2009 - 2011, there were as many 78 adult outdoor tris and dus staged annually on MInnesota soil. This number did not include the Pigman races in Iowa, the St. Croix Valley, Croixathlon and Burrito Union races that are staged in western Wisconsin. Last year that number dipped to 69. Currently, there are 61 Minnesota tris and dus slated for '16.

What races are going away? Here's are those events that are not scheduled to return:

- Burrito Union 5 & 10-Hr. Triathlons

- Land Between the Lakes (It has been converted to a canoe tri)

- Manitou Sprint

- Ztri

- Paul Bunyan Olympic & Sprint

- Lakefront Days Triathlon

- Waseca 1/3 & Sprint

- Square Lake Long Course ....

It's sad, isn't it? These are all great races. Also, two western Wisconsin events--Shell Lake and Osceola Du--which draw more Minnesotans than Cheeseheads, will not return. (Osceola was a late schedule scratch in 2015.)

Also affecting the schedule is the return of the Chaska Tri, cancelled in '15 due to road consctruction, and Capitol City, which was cancelled briefly, then Trudles, who loves that race with all of her heart, decided to keep it going.

It's possible thatTri For a Cause will return, also, but we haven't heard from Henry yet.

There will be at least one brand new event. It is the Bertram Blast, an entirely off-road tri that is the ambitious brainchlid of Dr. Brett Oden, the founder / architect of the iconic Buffalo Triathlon.

MTN will be revealing more about this race in a few days.

Finally, we pleased to note that at least thirteen kids tris / dus are slated for 2016 at Minnesota venues. This is a big deal. The MTN Guys expect triathlon numbers to rebound in the next 3-5 years and we expect young people to be at the forefront of that change. We also foresee the return to short course racing, thus more frequent racing, by those who have previously dedicated themselves to IM and 70.3.

FYI - We got an email from Adam at Apple Du recently. He asked if we could remind everyone that Apple registration opens on Januart 31. We're glad to do this because, in our opinion, Apple is the best duathlon in the US. Here's an info LINK.