Xterra Budget Bonks--Regional Champs Must Pay for Prizes

In all the news about triathlon's growth--even during the recession!--it's hard to believe that maybe, just maybe, some of the race production companies, even the big ones, are actually hurting.

Earlier this year, Xterra announced it was moving the USA Championship, which was held in Incline Village, NV the past 8 years, to Ogden, UT. It was a slap in the face to SoCal Xterra lovers who also lost every race within a 5 hour radius of Los Angeles, including Xterra Temecula, a Worlds and Nationals qualifier.

The reason for the move: The Nevada Commission on Tourism cut their budget, and couldn't help out with Xterra. They previously helped fund the event, the marketing, and the 1-hour tv show of the event.

Recently, Regional Champions have become aware of Xterra's financial woes. If you were a regional champ this year, you might have gotten an email that looks like this:

Aloha Regional Champ! Congratulations on spending all of your money on racing the Xterra circuit this year, pouring your all into training, and kicking ass. (I'm paraphrasing...or something like that...) You've joined an exclusive club, and earned the right to wear an Xterra Regional Champ jersey. You want it? 60 bucks and its yours.

OK, so it wasn't written exactly like that, but that's the gist of it. Xterra couldn't secure sponsorship for the prize this year.

Before getting ticked at Xterra for doing this, we must remember that many other races do the same thing. You must earn the jersey, of course, but if you want it, you must pay. A lot of ultracycling events are like this (like Planet Ultra's Triple Crown jersey).

Xterra, however, raised the bar on itself, providing world-class events all over the place over the past several years, with excellent (free!) prizes. So we expect more from them.

What do you think. Should Xterra have found a way to give Region Champs their jersey's free of charge, or is charging totally OK?

Economy Hits Triathlon--Xterra's Exodus from Southern California

Coachubby is an Xterra lover.

So am I.

But he's good at it, and I'm good at getting injured at Xterra events, so he usually plans the Xterra schedule for the year, while I follow along, hoping to catch a glimpse of the bike course before each race so I don't mangle myself on race day. (Then I usually mangle myself on the run, instead!)

Therefore, you can imagine type-A, I-like-to-plan-in-advance coachubby's shock when he looked at the '09 Xterra schedule. There is not a single race within 5 hours of Los Angeles. Even farther for super SoCalers in places like San Diego.

Xterra's Andrew Marsh responded to the email from frantic Xterra fanatic coachubby, explaining a few race decisions for next year. As far as Southern California Xterra racing goes:

• Castaic was not on the Xterra schedule in 2008 and will not be in 2009.


• The Race Directors for Xterra Snow Valley are facing sponsorship/financial issues and will make a decision about the race by January 15th (according to their website.)


• Economically Temecula (formerly a National and Worlds qualifier) was too expensive to produce, and will not return in 2009.

Xterra events are produced by independent companies in the US, many of whom are feeling the effects of the poor economy. Trail access and excessive venue fees, notes Marsh, make it extremely difficult to put on events in Southern California.

So what's a Californian Xterra fanatic to do? Unfortunately, a search on Xterra's website for 2009 point series races in California turns up completely blank, but there's still a little hope.

For those willing to travel far north for a non-championship race (Northern Californians are in luck!), Xterra REAL will be held at Folsom lake on March 29th. East of San Francisco near Livermore, Xterra Del Valle will be held May 10th. It also looks like there will be a few races in the Tahoe area, though the National Championships will be held in Ogden this year.

That leaves a trip to AZ (or far, far beyond) the weekend of May 30th as your only chance to take a bite out of that craving for Xterra racing. Should you make the trek to Show Low for the widely venerated Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival, word from coachubby and several other racers is you won't be disappointed.

So there you have it. Economy be damned, Xterra will still forge ahead. Just not in Southern California for right now. (And believe me, they are just as unhappy about it as you are. If you have any suggestions for Xterra as to how they can keep Xterra from flat lining in CA, contact the Xterra guys. Seriously. They welcome your help!)

Maybe 2009 should be a practice year for SoCalers--a time to prepare to massacre the field of competitors, hopefully coming to a town near you, in 2010. Or you can make a road trip out of a non-championship Xterra event, sign up now for one of the above races, and pray gas prices stay as low as they are right now.

Good luck, and in the words of the Xterra gods, LIVE MORE!

Is the Recession Making People Evil? Thank Goodness for the Ridgecrest 50K

People in LA are getting meaner.

Either that, or I'm getting more sensitive. But three years in a big city is supposed to toughen a person up, not make her a big ball of emotions, so Theory 1 overrules Theory 2: people in LA are getting meaner.

In an admittedly Pollyanna-ish view of the current recession, I believed people would be nicer to each other, more willing to help one another out, and more respectful of each other. It would be a grand ol' group effort of positivity that would keep everyone afloat, since "we're all in this together", as many a song has said.

LA is notorious for crushing dreams, and accordingly, it swallowed that one whole.

It seems that several people have taken an "every man for himself" outlook on things. It's like Los Angelenos are all actors just rejected from their billionth audition. Dejected, they wallow in their own little bubble, not aware of the people around them--people that could help them thrive.

What better way to leave this festering bag of depression (and evil, cyclist-hating drivers) than by driving three hours north to the high desert of Ridgecrest to run (or in my case, be a roaming cheer squad at) a 50K?

For those of you who don't want to do math, that's 31 miles.

On the roster: Robyn (Silverwoman extraordinaire), Eric (RockHardRunners ultra fanatic), coachubby, a frenchman, and a 30K-er. And me--a lone runner determined to run as far as the hambutt would let me, while cheering for everyone else.

I started running the 50K backwards at 9AM, figuring I'd see coachubby an hour out, then turn around and come back.

Not so. In fact, I never saw any of my friends.

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But all of the participants I passed while I was running the wrong way wore huge smiles when I cheered.

An incredibly fit Santa whistled people along at the Gracie's Mansion pit stop, 5 miles out from the 50K finish. He was excited to see me running, even if it was the wrong way, and let me huddle by his portable stove while waiting for coachubby.

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When coachubby didn't come, and it started to rain, I ran for it. I stopped at the final aid station to cheer again. This one was wo-manned by three cherubic, enthusiastic ladies. They were so excited every time someone came by, it was impossible for racers not to smile at the women through their pain.

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I ran the last mile, coming upon a 50K finisher.

"You're doing great!" I said.

"So are you!"

"I haven't run half as far as you have!"

"No matter, you're a runner, too!" says the older man with a rapid-fire turnover I could never hope to match.

And so I remembered why I race. Or why I go to events even if I'm not racing to cheer on friends.

Races like the Ridgecrest 50 and 30K create that perfect world where, if only for a day, everyone around you is positive, encouraging, motivated, and working toward a goal--one that is immediately rewarded upon completion.

Races can be a mini utopia.

The longer and tougher they get, it seems, the more cordial everyone is to one another.

And so the trick is to take this positivity phenomenon and somehow spread it to where I live...Sunday beach long runs, anyone?

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(And yes, I finally saw coachubby and my friends. Coachubby walked the last 15 miles swinging his arms like an angry grandpa so he'd finish, in spite of an IT flare up.)