Racing Venue of the Future?

That looks frickin' sweet.

You'd never want to see all the little local races with all their unique intricacies go away, but to race somewhere like that would be really really cool.

Is someone actually building that place?

A venue like that looks a lot more enjoyable from a spectators point of view. 

The front of my shirt is drenched in drool. It has worked in other racing sports. Look at the Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.

This would be awesome. Pragmatically, I don't know that I see the revenue stream supporting it. People are already quite resistant to current race entry fee levels and current perceived "corporate" incursions into the sport.

Clearly, this doesn't replace road courses. There are environmental things about famous courses that are steeped in lore: The Tiger's Back in Thailand, The Beast in St. Croix, The Queen K in Kona, Ali'i Drive in Kona, The Col d' Vence in Nice, Cote d' Azur run course in Nice, the tunnel on the run in Monaco... Those are legends in our sport. Icons.

There is a place for a purpose built circuit venue, but I don't know if a functional business model could support it. To clarify, that is not to suggest it would not- it is to state that I do not know if it would.

Interesting. Thank you for posting.

I'd imagine it would have to be built somewhere with a huge triathlon demographic to pull people there for shorter distances, so no more than 2 hr drive.  Any longer than that and I'd possibly make the trip for a HIM or a Full 140.6 but that's about it.  It wouldn't be worth the hassle of driving too far for a sprint or Oly.

It would probably also have to be somewhere warm, so they could hold races there year round.

Haven't you heard, all triathletes are rich!

Much like the Esprit half in Montreal (I think...)?

Ill be happy if its in GA!

and um... why are only 7 miles of the bike illuminated? I heard it was a 14 mile course right?

and what does future mean 2020?

This could be great, could.

It sux ...no GU dispensers on the course!!

actually the concept is great but is this for real? or is it just from a triathlete with a computer graphics background and a dream?

if it is for real, since it would be the first of its kind it will be untouchable for the AGer

Very interesting, it's got some potential. But it won't be cheap. I wonder who'd be interested to fund the construction of this project?

So who was the email from? Who is planning to build this, and where?

Below is a copy and paste from the email I received:

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Looks cute, but I don't see it working as a race venue. For competitors, it's hard to beat the natural setting of some of the places where we already get to race, whether that be large participation events on tropical islands, or ITU world cup races in central London. And for spectators ... I just don't see large participation triathlon ever being that attractive for spectators. It takes too long, it's hard to know what's going on due to the wave starts, and let's face it even our families come to watch us only out of sympathy.

I think the Rev3 guys have the better idea - hold races in places where there's lots for the spectators to do other than watch us live out our mid-life crises.