Racing Venue of the Future? (Page 2)

You  we shoulda pulled out in early July.....

I think it would be fun/new/different to do one time....then yeah, probably boring.

And this might actually be why the thing never gets off the ground.  Do people really want to go to the same venue multiple times?  Maybe for those that live in the same 'hood but if you're gonna have to fly across crountry, why not see different venues? 

We don't even know what state it's in yet, how would you know if it's boring?

The swim looks a little "sterile" I guess, but if it's put in the right spot, there's no reason the rest of the race couldn't be as scenic as any other course.

Besides, I'd sacrifice a little "exciting" scenery for the professionalism...look at that transition area!  And think about racing your bike on a road that was built specifically for bikes, not cars!

There's a bike race series that has been running strong since... before I started riding seriously. Sure, it's on a race track (Pacific Raceways), so it's got some character, and it's WIDE... But you'd think that, with races every Tuesday from May through August, they'd get bored with it. But it gathers hundreds of riders every week. All local racers, but put it on a weekend, and I think they'd have huge crowds (not that the track would give up that kind of money from the auto-racing market).

I don't think boredom would be the limiting factor.

Looks like a pretty neat idea to me.  Provide personal coaching during the week and run races on the weekends.

Did I hear the distances correctly,  1200yd swim, 14mi bike and 6.5mi run? 

I think it's got potential.  If it were strictly used for triathlon, yes, I see it as a tough sell.  But you could also hold single sport events here.  5k, 10k, half marathons...time trials or road races, OWS events, etc.

The cost of running such a facility may be high...but races that may use this venue would save on city permits, off duty police officers, and renting things like cones, bike racks, and all that other stuff that is needed to make a triathlon or other race happen.

If such a facility came to my town...I'd race it once a year as a bench mark race of my fitness if the price was reasonable.  But if they also did bike time trials I would be very interested as well.  The closed course and smooth roads are very appealing.  I don't know anyone that does time trials based on the beauty of the course.  You're usually punishing yourself into a black hole...so I could care less if the course is boring or repetative.  The fact that the course is a loop and doesn't have a U turn also means faster times!!!

I like the concept.

Not sure if there is racing every weekend that it would have a big appeal as a destination race that occurs once a year.

If it was close and driveable would be fun to test yourself and see how you can improve.

Would be interesting to do training camp there perhaps.

If it was a haul not sure if I'd go depends on location and what is around. Not that many rooms or cabin spots so must be close enough to other accommodations.

Too expensive for the owners of the facility.  If motor vehicle road racing facilities are an example, they will need multiple big races throughout the year that draw spectators paying entry fees, as well as continual use throughout the weekdays (kind of like "track days" for motorcyclists/auto enthusiasts) to gather income. 

I doubt people would pay a ton of money just to use the facility for training.  They would pay *some* but I don't see someone forking out $100, or even $20 per day on a regular basis to train there.  And due to the relatively low numbers of triathletes as opposed to football, soccer, baseball players etc, I don't think the local population would be enough to support it.

Which brings us back to races, and as many have said it might be tough to fill registration for a big race every single weekend.

It would be very very cool though!

I'd think that this would work best tied in to a larger overall venue. 

For example, building this course around ball fields (soccer / baseball / etc) with fences / bridges so that you never have to cross traffic or have someone wander in might make it economically feasible.

As others have said offering regular training and single event sports would work as well.

Out side the large events, if it was close enough to a large tri population, you could probably offer nightly races and a pick up race every hour durring the weekend for a "nominal fee".... Show up, jump in the next race, see how you do against whoever is there or bring your friends along.

A lot faster than your friends.... arrange for the venue to make you wait X minutes to start.

Could be fun.