Multisport National Championship Festival, Irving TX, April 28 - May 1

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This year, USA Triathlon collected several multisport national championships into a multi-day event. Great for efficiency, no need to travel all over the USA to different venues, but it also makes for a tight and exhausting competition schedule.

April 28 opened with Nationals in Super Sprint Triathlon and a non-championship open water swim competition.

April 29 had Nationals in Draft Legal Sprint Triathlon and Aquathlon.

April 30 Nationals in Duathlon and Age Group Mixed Relay (a first!).

May 1 Nationals in Standard Aquabike and Draft Legal Duathlon and a non-championship (but qualifier for the World Championship 2023) in Olympic Distance Triathlon.

Wow, a lot! If you signed up for 5 races or more, you received a special award, and many people did. A few signed up for the maximum possible: 8 events (2 a day). I restricted myself to the Draft Legal Sprint Triathlon, the Relay and the world qualifier in Olympic Triathlon. There was so much going on, I will make several posts of this festival.

Number one: FUN is the word that comes to my mind thinking about the multisport festival, it was fun. All four days had the same event center at the Levy Plaza in Irving. Friday and Saturday evening awards were moved to the nearby Toyota Music Factory where we could celebrate outdoors in a square surrounded by restaurants.

US Championship Draft Legal Sprint Triathlon

This was the focus for me, and it was my first race. The first eight places would also qualify for Team USA 2023 World Championship. My training this year has gone well, so I had ambitions to make Team USA in this race. 

Swim was in a lake; I think everyone used wetsuits and I had a time of 16.59 over 750m. It was windy and a little choppy but not too bad, I can do choppy. Transition was smooth, I had my wetsuit at my waist by the time I reached the bicycle, and I ran fast in the transition area. Bike course was in two loops and fairly flat and fast, but with a few tight turns. I managed to swallow an energy gel about 2/3 through the bike leg. Outwards, we had tail wind and the return was with headwind. Fortunately, I was able to draft part of both headwind stretches, so all was going well. On the second return, I decided to not pass the person in front of me, which I could have done, but I wanted to rest my legs before the run. Bike time was 39.34 over 12.5 miles.

My run ended up being my best performance of the day and I passed several people, including the two ladies in front of me on the bike. My time was 26.43 for 5km. Total time, including transitions was 1.27.36 and my place was 7th. 

2023 World Championship qualification got in the bag!


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