Monday, November 26, 2018

Utah Triathlon Championship Series 2019 - FINALIZED


Below is a summary of the Utah Triathlon Championship Series for 2019. Please scroll down for additional details as well as registration links. See you at the races!






Overview
  • Like 2018, the 2019 Utah Triathlon Championship Series will consist of 10 local events from March - September, in addition to a State Championship race & party welcoming all abilities and experience levels
  • The State Champs venue rotates annually. TriUtah's Brineman hosted in 2018, with RaceTri's SALEM STATE CHAMPS hosting in September 2019
  • NEW FOR 2019, each event in the series will have ONE distance that counts towards rankings, season awards, etc. For example, the Olympic distance has been chosen as the official series race for Echo.
  • The intent of this is two-fold: 1) it builds prestige for the official series races, and 2) there's less "pressure," no results analysis, rankings implications, etc, for the non-series distance(s). This would be a good option for someone who just wants to come out and enjoy the day, someone coming back from injury, using the race as a training day, etc.
  • We hope that this format will continue to grow participation across the board, as people can self-select races according to their goals and what they want to get out of race day
  • The current breakdown of Championship Series races is 2 Sprints, 6 Olympics, and 3 Halfs
  • In collaboration with RaceTri and TriUtah, we worked super hard to get the Salem State Champs and the Brineman Half on different days... unfortunately it was to no avail due to local city conflicts, but both will be great races.
SALEM STATE CHAMPS!!  (Sep 7, 2019)

Based on 2018 participation, here are the races comprising the Championship Series for 2019:



1) March 30: ICEBREAKER - SPRINT

2) May 4: ST. GEORGE 70.3


3) May 18: SAND HOLLOW - OLYMPIC

4) June 1: DAYBREAK - OLYMPIC
5) June 8: EAST CANYON - OLYMPIC

6) June 22:  THE UTAH HALF 
  

7) July 13:  ECHO - OLYMPIC


8) Aug 10:  JORDANELLE - OLYMPIC
9) Sep 7: SALEM STATE CHAMPS - SPRINT


10) Sep 7: BRINEMAN - HALF


11) Sep 21: KOKOPELLI - OLYMPIC



Structure (same as last year)
  • Similar to European soccer (eg England's Premier League), the Championship Series will include a system of "promotion" and "relegation"
  • This means a max of 2 races NOT in the Championship Series (aka "Challenger Races") one year can be "promoted" into it the following year if they out-draw races currently in the series
  • In that example, the races currently in the series would get "relegated" AKA bumped out for the following year
  • This way, the tri community as a whole decides what races make up the Championship Series any given year… it's up to RD's to promote their races and athletes to support the races they choose


Awards (ditto)
  • Utah Tri Buzz rankings, age group awards, Most Improved and other swag for the season will be based on the Championship Series (average of top 3 races like previous years)
  • We also want to continue driving a local culture of volunteering at races & supporting each other; it's expected that each participant will volunteer at least once (more if you can), and those who go above and beyond will be recognized for their efforts!
  • You don't have to race Salem State Champs to qualify for season awards. However, the rankings system will include a significant points bonus for those who do race the State Champs. This was enough to move the needle at Brineman 2018 in a few age groups!
  • There will also be awards from the host race company for the single day State Championship race

In summary, should be fun!

Below are links to all the races in the 2019 Championship Series:

Below are links to all Challenger Races:





We started a Patreon account (link below) with the hope of raising a few bucks towards awards & swag for athletes of all abilities in our tri community. We've given out a lot over the past 2 years, but would like to continue to expand our offerings & the volume we can do.

If you enjoy Utah Tri Buzz and would like to pitch in, any amount would be greatly appreciated... (there may be something in it for you as well!)


We're also always grateful for talented people who contribute in terms of time... let us know if you'd like to be part of the Utah Tri Buzz team.

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Utah Triathlon Championship Series 2019 - UPDATE


Although there are still a few details to iron out, we know enough to begin hyping the Utah Triathlon Championship Series 2019!


Overview
  • Like 2018, the 2019 Utah Triathlon Championship Series will consist of 10 local events from March - September, in addition to a State Championship race & party welcoming all abilities and experience levels
  • The State Champs venue rotates annually. TriUtah's Brineman hosted in 2018, with RaceTri's SALEM STATE CHAMPS hosting in September 2019
  • NEW FOR 2019, each event in the series will have ONE distance that counts towards rankings, season awards, etc. For example, the Olympic distance has been chosen as the official series race for Echo.
  • The intent of this is two-fold: 1) it builds prestige for the official series races, and 2) there's less "pressure," no results analysis, rankings implications, etc, for the non-series distance(s). This would be a good option for someone who just wants to come out and enjoy the day, someone coming back from injury, using the race as a training day, etc.
  • We hope that this format will continue to grow participation across the board, as people can self-select races according to their goals and what they want to get out of race day
  • The current breakdown of Championship Series races is 2 Sprints, 6 Olympics, and 3 Halfs
  • In collaboration with RaceTri and TriUtah, we worked super hard to get the Salem State Champs and the Brineman Half on different days... unfortunately it was to no avail due to local city conflicts, but both will be great races.
SALEM STATE CHAMPS!!

Based on 2018 participation, here are the races comprising the Championship Series for 2019:



1) March 30: ICEBREAKER - SPRINT

2) May 4: ST. GEORGE 70.3


3) May 18: SAND HOLLOW - OLYMPIC

4) June 1: DAYBREAK - OLYMPIC
5) June 8: EAST CANYON - OLYMPIC

6) June 22:  TOUGHMAN UTAH HALF 
  

7) July 13:  ECHO - OLYMPIC


8) Aug 10:  JORDANELLE - OLYMPIC
9) Sep 7: SALEM STATE CHAMPS - SPRINT


10) Sep 7: BRINEMAN - HALF


11) Sep 21: KOKOPELLI - OLYMPIC



Structure (same as last year)
  • Similar to European soccer (eg England's Premier League), the Championship Series will include a system of "promotion" and "relegation"
  • This means a max of 2 races NOT in the Championship Series one year can be "promoted" into it the following year if they out-draw races currently in the series
  • In that example, the races currently in the series would get "relegated" AKA bumped out for the following year
  • This way, the tri community as a whole decides what races make up the Championship Series any given year… it's up to RD's to promote their races and athletes to support the races they choose
Awards (ditto)
  • Utah Tri Buzz rankings, age group awards, Most Improved and other swag for the season will be based on the Championship Series (average of top 3 races like previous years)
  • We also want to continue driving a local culture of volunteering at races & supporting each other; it's expected that each participant will volunteer at least once (more if you can), and those who go above and beyond will be recognized for their efforts!
  • You don't have to race Salem State Champs to qualify for season awards. However, the rankings system will include a significant points bonus for those who do race the State Champs. This was enough to move the needle at Brineman 2018 in a few age groups!
  • There will also be awards from the host race company for the single day State Championship race

In summary, should be fun!

Below are links to all the races in the 2019 Championship Series:




We started a Patreon account (link below) with the hope of raising a few bucks towards awards & swag for athletes of all abilities in our tri community. We've given out a lot over the past 2 years, but would like to continue to expand our offerings & the volume we can do.

If you enjoy Utah Tri Buzz and would like to pitch in, any amount would be greatly appreciated... (there may be something in it for you as well!)


We're also always grateful for talented people who contribute in terms of time... let us know if you'd like to be part of the Utah Tri Buzz team.

Monday, November 12, 2018

Volunteers of the Year Winners - 2018


We asked around the tri community for nominations for our 2nd annual Volunteers of the Year awards. In no particular order, here were the names we heard the most.

Congrats, and thanks for all you do!




JOSH SROKA
Josh Sroka (right) was nominated by RaceTri & SLTC


ANNA NEMECKAY
Coach Anna Nemeckay is a repeat winner,
nominated by TriUtah

MARK THORUM

MAKINSIE BARTHOLOMEW


MIKE HUMPHRIES




GERALD BRADY

Other nominations, sorry no pics!

KARLA SOUTHERN
TIA DILLMAN
CASEY MERRILL
KAREN HODGES
LAURA HUMPHRIES




We started a Patreon account (link below) with the hope of raising a few bucks towards awards & swag for athletes of all abilities in our tri community. We've given out a lot over the past 2 years, but would like to continue to expand our offerings & the volume we can do.

If you enjoy Utah Tri Buzz and would like to pitch in, any amount would be greatly appreciated... (there may be something in it for you as well!)


We're also always grateful for talented people who contribute in terms of time... let us know if you'd like to be part of the Utah Tri Buzz team.

Friday, November 2, 2018

Top Local Racer Awards - 2018


As we showed in our last post, local race participation was up 17% this year vs. last year, which is something everyone in our tri community should be proud of.

Everyone who supported the local scene should pat themselves on the back, although we want to highlight those of you who truly went Beast Mode this season.

All in there were 63 individuals in our database who raced at least 5 of the 18 races we tracked (Utah Triathlon Championship Series & Challenger Races combined - scroll down to see the list), with 25 people racing 6+ times.

For those who raced 6+ times we have an award for you... shoot us a message and let's hook you up with some swag!

ps. in order to help us not miss any of your races, please register using the same name every time!  (Mike vs. Michael, etc, etc). We try to clean those up, but it's tough to monitor for everyone :)


Thomas Risse ain't afraid to throw down!!








In case you're not familiar with the Utah Triathlon Championship Series, these posts explain:

Utah Triathlon Championship Series - summary

Utah Triathlon Championship Series - how it works





We started a Patreon account (link below) with the hope of raising few bucks towards awards & swag for athletes of all abilities in our tri community. We've given out a lot over the past 2 years, but would like to continue to expand our offerings & the volume we can do.

If you enjoy Utah Tri Buzz and would like to pitch in, any amount would be greatly appreciated... (there may be something in it for you as well!)

We're also always grateful for talented people who contribute in terms of time... let us know if you'd like to be part of the Utah Tri Buzz team.