no set up invitational

Sadly, it was poorly attended.  Only about 150 participants in each of it's two years (if I remember correctly).  It's too bad because it is a BEAUTIFUL course!  I would definitely race there again.

Yes, I raced in the invitational last year and it was very poorly attended.  They had 800+ slots open and of those I believe less than 200 raced last year.  I believe last year was the second year that Setup had provided and invitational.  Two years ago it was only NCTS and last year it was open to all 4 series, but obviously the bulk of participants were from ETS and NCTS.

It's a good concept, and personally it gave me a goal to strive for to be near the top of my age group so that I could get invited, but in the end I think Setup wanted to concentrate on the Beach2Battleship HIM/IM as their marqee event this year.

I participated the first time in 07 in this race and loved the course.  There were 37 athletes who qualified in my division but only 6 showed up.  I had this as one of my goals for this year.  I liked the idea of having to qualify for a race and then going up against the best from all 4 series.  It seems like we don't have anyone to blame but ourselves, and the other invited athletes who chose not to attend.

I also think the championship went away because of the time conflicts.  The end of the season was already packed with Wilmington and Pinehurst and now the addition of B2B.