Wednesday, August 24, 2011

TRI-Star 111

What is Tri-Star 111.  Well, its a relatively new international race series making its first appearance in the United States in none other than Minnesota.  Maple Grove more precisely.  The "111" is for the one hundred and eleven kilometer distance the race covers: 1 k swim, 100 k bike, 10 k run.  That's roughly .62 mile swim, 62 mile bike, and a 6.2 mile run.  I think 111 is better than going with 666, if you know what I'm sayin'.  Personally, I think its a great format.  However, the initial US appearance of this race is seriously suffering registration numbers.  Tuesday when I checked it they were at 98 total. That's men & women AGer's and pro's.  Not good.  They are offering $10000 pro purse too! 

I don't think there is anything wrong with the race, the distance, the format, the idea, etc...  I think the whole problem is timing.  Had this been in May, I would bet they'd fill it up at 500 participants.  Think about it... Perfect for getting prepared for a IM 70.3 or other Half Ironman distance racing.  One of there philosophies is that they want to give people an option of longer course racing without shredding your legs with a massive run.  They know people like to race almost weekly, but if you throw in an IM or half, you really can't (or don't want to) race the week before and you may not want to, feel up to it, or do very well the week after.  A 111, well, most of it is on the bike so recovery time is much faster so you can do olympics and sprints, running races, etc and throw in a 111 as well.

Anyway, here's the link to the RACE SITE.

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