Sunday? ...Why Sunday?!

I've thought about this as well, the only answer I can come up with that makes logical sense is the comparative lack of traffic on Sunday as compared to Saturday...

ETA: Doesn't make me happy to miss church on Sunday, but at least my church (Methodist) has a Saturday evening option...

Well, there are only two days available, so there's a 50/50 chance of holding these on Sundays.  I'm sure if it were held on Saturdays plenty of people would have complaints for that too.  Can't please everybody...

These are just my guesses.

Most triathletes are in the 35-49 age range.  So many of them have kids...most youth activities such as organized sports, piano lessons, swimming classes, dance classes, etc are going to be held on Saturday versus Sunday.  If parents are occupied with their kids activities on Saturday...they can't race.

Traffic where I live is much lighter on Sunday compared to Saturday.  Therefore it's easier for a race to close roads.

If a business is going to be closed one day a week, it's going to be Sunday.  Again...more people are off work (most triathletes have jobs), and less traffic.

Keep in mind though, that some of the bigger events, like 70.3's and IMs are indeed held on Saturday.  Mainly because it takes so much time to tear down the race setup.  IM's go until midnight...so it's difficult to tear everything down and have the roads reopened for Monday morning traffic.  But it is understood when you sign up for a 70.3 or an IM that you are going to put everything aside for this race, and this race takes priority over your work schedule, your kids schedule, and locals understand if roads are closed down on Saturday because the event boosts the economy.

For smaller local races...they just have to do what they can to maximize turnout, and minimize the impact as far as closing roads.

If I had to guess, I'd say races are on the day easiest for the RD to arrange.   I bet parks are booked for events on Saturday, it's hard to get police officers, etc.   I haven't done a survey, but in an area like the Twin Cities we have a LOT of races and they are on both days.  I prefer Saturday simply so that I have the weekend ahead still without having to worry about a race.   Then again, a "far" races for me is 40 miles, so it's easier here generally speaking.

I too prefer Saturday races so that I can still use Sunday as a hard training day.

I have to go with lighter traffic and packet pick-up as the main reasons for a Sunday event.  Most marathon / half marathons are also held on a Sunday for the same reason.

If you had packet pick-up, bike check, body marking, bike/run/swim warm-ups all in the morning I'm thinking the normal organized chaos would become pretty much just chaos for everyone.

I'm paraphrasing an athlete's quote that I heard some time ago that really struck a chord in me when I was thinking about what would be more important, sitting in church or giving everthing I had in a competition.
"While I can't speak for the creator as to whether I should attend service or be out on the field, I feel him guiding me as I compete on the Sabbath, giving me strength to finish and show he loves me no matter if I am on the field of play or sitting in a pew." 

If others in my church can't accept the fact that I am not going to be there every Sunday I could care less. This is between the Creator and myself.

Good luck in your soul searching...