XTERRA Forums

I just found out that there will only be a no point sprint race for ammatuers this year at Pelham, unless one qualified for Spain ITU last year or gets selected for 2012 ITU World Championship team through the skill based process that looks at your best race time from 2011 to qualify. This causes problems for racers that are trying to qualify for Xterra Worlds and for points to get into the USA Xterra Championship race. There will only be two championship races to hit this year. West and East. Something needs to be done to correct this problem, as I don't think that this fair to the Ammatuer racers that are the life blood of the Xterra community.

I suggest that there be a second race wave at Pelham that is for Ammatuers that want to complete for Championship level race points on the Olympic course. A no points sprint race will not cut it!

Hey folks, Our intent is not to hold people out of the Alabama race. As the host nation we can have 30 or so people in every age group. What you need to do is send an email to USA Tri teamusa@usatriathlon.org and get a slot. If you qualified for the 2011 team you are automatically qualified for 2012.

As a couple examples; in 2011 the biggest age group of all in Pelham was 35-39 with 24 entrants. As for points? I am waiving the "foreign athlete can block points" rule and we will award XTERRA points only to USA citizens. I am doubling the Maui slots for this race to serve your peers from around the world and our own homegrown Xterrarists.

ITU had no cross triathlon scheduled for 2012. There is a rumor that ITU has first choice of a test or new event for the 2016 Olympics. Cross triathlon and relay were the two top choices. Because there was no cross world champ race for this year, ITU went ahead and sanctioned several relay road tris in anticipation. As the grandfather of XTERRA I was not pleased and went way out on a limb to start negotiations with the ITU and pulled off a last minute sanction that was well beyond all the rules from the ITU. ITU has been super cooperative and it is appreciated.

What you will see are roughly 400 and maybe more triathletes from all over the world coming to your home country. We'll bring the eyes of the triathlon world to Alabama and the USA and show the ITU what the hell a cross triathlon should be. I was the manager for Team USA at the cross champs last year and what they put forward in Spain was a not XTERRA.

So please don't hold this against us. I will go to bat for each one of you and every other loyal XTERRA person who wants in. My guess is that 90% of you will be accepted to Team USA and when you are, I want to see your smiling faces in the red white and blue ready to knock the socks off the rest of the world.

-------------------------
You better listen to what I say !!

Hi dnichols - Thanks for the info. I hope to do this event and have been in touch with my home nation Triathlon organization about qualifying as I am not a US citizen (although I am still yet to hear anything from them about it so this race is clearly not one of their priorities!). However I do live in the US and compete in the US points series races. You say that you would award XTERRA points only to US citizens in this race - does this mean I would not be eligible for points if racing for my home country even though I can collect points in all the other series races and championship races?

there's a slew of hotels on 119 (cahaba valley road. The best shop around is cahaba cycles. dont know if they rent or if they offer shipping. give them a shout:


Pelham/Oak Mountain
Store Hours: M-F 10-6, Sat 9-6, Sun 1-5

2271 Pelham Parkway
Pelham, AL 35124
Phone: 205-987-4043

-------------------------
http://www.SpeedyLizard.com

Thanks for the info, thats great news! Now I just need to find out how I can qualify for it

quote:

---

Originally posted by: dnicholas




My guess is that 90% of you will be accepted to Team USA and when you are, I want to see your smiling faces in the red white and blue ready to knock the socks off the rest of the world.

---

Just got my email from TeamUSA about not being selected for the M40-44 AG, which is very competitive. This is going to be and will still be my first season off-road, after 4 seasons on road so 0 experience in Xterra Tris (although a few Xterra trail races). Top10% with a couple AG wins and a couple #2 OA's in every road tri or offroad duathlon last year but I didn't quite make the cut. Bummer.

I am stoked to race the shorter SE region races this year. Already registered for Yargo (Ga) with Tsali (NC) and Clemson (SC) on my list too, possibly Ogden. So looking forward to a ton of fun this season, will just not end up being at Pelham. I look forward to building a better resume and chance for next year.

Good luck to those that get in for the long course. It will be cool ! Oak Mountain is an awesome venue and this should be a sweet experience.

Sorry to hear that you didn't make the cut as well. Based on Dave's message, it looks like they may have given priority to those with Xterra experience. The 40-44 Age Group is very competative for sure! Regardless, welcome to XTERRA! It's much more fun playing in the dirt than on the road! I am looking forward to competing against you in the 40-44 Age Group at Yargo for sure and maybe in Clemson.

Just got my email that I didn't get in. No South Central Champs or South East Champs. Guess I'm in the 10%

Edited: 03/21/2012 at 10:48 PM by Igotem