According to USA Triathlon (USAT), thousands of US athletes are leaving their goggles and wetsuits at home and focusing on duathlon instead.
"People love to run, and most have ridden a bike at some point in their lives," said Tim Yount, USAT’s Senior Vice President of Sport Development. "The swim tends to be the part people are most intimidated by since it entails so much of the unknown."
Whether athletes fear the water or feel less than proficient in their open water swim, they are able to find duathlon events all over the US. USAT notes that the popularity of run-bike-run events has surged in recent years. Ahead of previous years, in 2009, USAT sanctioned 573 duathlons and hosted the 2009 ITU Duathlon World Championship on home turf in September in Concord, North Carolina.
This rise in popularity of duathlon was on display in Richmond, Virginia, on 24-25 April when another record-setting crowd attended USA Triathlon’s 2010 National Duathlon Festival.
Before the Richmond Sports Backers team took over the event a few years ago, the National Duathlon Festival drew less than 400 participants. This year’s event saw nearly 1,800 athletes competing in on- and off-road duathlons across the weekend.
"We’ve created a festival atmosphere with a live band and a rocking post-race tailgate party that many athletes said was the best they’d ever attended," said Race Director and Sports Backers Executive Director Jon Lugbill. "The downtown urban course is a proven crowd-pleaser and attracts experienced athletes vying for a spot in the world championships, as well as novice athletes wanting the challenge of trying something new."
The race atmosphere may have something to do with the record number of athletes flocking to Richmond, but many key groups have had a hand in the event’s success. "I think the excitement generated by USA Triathlon through e-mails and features really kicked duathlon back into mainstream in spring 2009,"said Faye Yates, Chair of the USAT Duathlon Committee. "The advertisement leading up to the 2009 event worked to promote Duathlon Nationals as a race ‘not to be missed’."
Following this tagline, Sport Backers and the Mid-Atlantic region focused on recruiting USAT members, single-sport athletes and local residents to sign-up for the festival, which offers events for youth, juniors and age-groupers. Sport retailers, workout facilities and run/cycle clubs were all approached and encouraged to send athletes to the event, and Sport Backers even created training programs, giving athletes the opportunity to have coaches prepare them for their race.
Even after last weekend’s National Duathlon Festival, the USAT Duathlon Committee continues its mission of increasing participation in duathlon for new and existing athletes alike and has plans to work with race directors to create new duathlon events, even if they are held in cooperation with an existing triathlon.
"We want to create new promotional and outreach programming with the goal of building excitement around the lifestyle," said Yount, who also serves as the staff liaison to the committee. "If the committee can help to ignite some interest in the sport in different arenas, the sport should see growth. We want to simulate the success that popular events from the past had, like the Coors Light Duathlon Series and the Dannon Duathlon Series."
"Racers want to be part of something exciting," added Yates. "If you build it, they will come."
