Race Season

Yep, definitely pulled up sorer from that gym session last night. A bit tender this morning. Still I managed to get out for a nice threshold ride with the mob from Front Runner this morning.

Quite a few of the Front Runner crowd are now getting ready for one of the first Sprint Distance triathlons of the season which is on this weekend. This morning's session was a good chance focus in on that event, getting in some nice race practice, high intensity efforts. Good stuff.

We have had a few events already this season (besides Busso Ironman), but they have mostly been duathlons or unusual distances etc, this weekend will be one of our first Sprints. In previous seasons this race has been a major one on the calendar since it has been the Sprint Distance State Championships, however, that is not the case this year. At the end of last season there was a major upheaval with the local race organisers. For various reasons the main, long term, race organiser in Perth, TriEvents, closed their doors. This left a bit of a vacuum in the event organisation space and also sent a lot of people into a mild panic. After a bit of mad scrambling in the off season Triathlon WA pulled together a race calendar that looked pretty decent, with a bunch of smaller race organisers and clubs appearing on the schedule to fill the void left by TriEvents. I am not sure about the decision to remove the Sprint State Championship from this event like it usually is, but my guess is that Triathlon WA made the move so that the Championship was not risked on an unproven race organiser. Triathlon WA have instead moved the Championship to another long established event in January. Understandable decision I guess, but still, not necessarily a big vote of confidence for the race itself.

While the revised race calendar looks pretty convincing, most athletes I speak to are still pretty unsure about it, yet to be convinced that these new organisers will provide events up to the high standard provided by TriEvents. The race this weekend will be the latest test of this concern. Without the State Championship on the line, and with the uncertainty around the organisers, there is a chance that this event could be much smaller than in previous years. I really hope not as in my experience this event is a really good one in a great location, but I guess time will tell. I am hoping though that people will put their concerns aside and turn up as normal, that is certainly the case with the Front Runner group.

No matter what happens this weekend, the 2018/2019 season is sure to go down in memory as an unusual one. The rumor is that by next season there will be a renewed race organiser on the scene, ready to get back to business as usual, which sort of makes this current season a bit of a placeholder. Hopefully though this unusual event organisation structure doesn't end up with this season being pretty forgettable, but instead just makes it a bit more memorable. Hopefully that will start with the race this Sunday.