Texas Peeps - give me your race recs

River Cities Tri in Shreveport in August is the best sprint distance race around. Great course, well organized, and the swag is legendary!

You said you wanted to keep it in Texas so I did not suggest River Cities (which is closer than a lot of Texas cities from DFW anyway), but I'll second that as a great Sprint. 1st weekend in August every year so the lake can be a little warm, but the bike and run are fantastic, as well as the organization of the whole event, and as was pointed out, great swag.

You don't like Texasman because of the time of year, so how about the Disco tri by DAR. Same course/distances as Texasman, but in September every year. Playtri usually puts on a sprint and Olympic in McKinney every spring (which may be too early for you if Texasman is out) and also in September, and the Playtri Festival in Las Colinas sprint and Olympic distances. That one used to be in May, but I think was July this year. And the US Open in Rockwall, super sprint, sprint and Olympic, in October. Most other races in DFW are sprints with pool swims if that is of interest.

There is a sprint, quarter and half distance in Kerrville in late September. I have never done it, but know people that have and they seemed to enjoy it, but I cannot give specifics.

Yes, River Cities has a great reputation.

There's another one in Shreveport that was a 3 or 4 race series spread over the late Spring and through summer - It was called Sunrise

Longview has one usually in April/May called Institute Triathlon - I've been the race director for it the past 2 years. You can find it on Facebook. Date for 2018 hasn't been set yet. Longview is about 2 hours from the East side of Dallas.

I forgot about Wiki Wiki man out by wills point. Olympic distance in June I think

I just did the US Open Rockwall Olympic in Dallas. Unfortunately, a storm came in right before start, making conditions poor. Many problems with the organizers, some aggravated by conditions, others independent of the weather.

Great race if:
1. You like the support staff to be uninformed about the course or starting instructions
2. You think rescue boats are unnecessary in 20 mph winds and 18" swells
3. You dislike intermediate sighting bouys
4. You prefer a volunteer crew of disinterested children
5. You like a half mile uphill run to T1
6. You prefer a 2-loop bike course with a 180 degree u-turn at the turnaround
7. You like a 4-loop run
8. You like running in the grass on an uneven slope with areas so narrow that runners had to slow down to single file to pass
9. You like to finish your run with 2 series of steps
10. You don't mind finishing after post-race presentation has already begun (2:45 after Olympic start)

In summary, this was a poorly run event, made worse by the bad weather. As there are many other event organizers, hard to understand why anyone would choose this series.