I’ve just been looking through the qualification times for the 2014 ETU Sprint Duathlon in Horst. Perhaps not the event that has set the world on fire in recent years. I was just gauging how popular Sprint Duathlon had become since I predicted its rise a couple of years ago <here>.
Yet the numbers of those attempting to qualify has increased dramatically compared to previous years. Remember 3 years ago this event did not exist.
For the middle aged men categories then there are 40+ people per category.
H40-44 – you will need a <106% time to get the last rolldown place as it stands now.
I45-49 – <110%
J50-54 – <110%
Qualification translates to needing to do a sub40 10k and to crack out an FTP of 250w (guestimate).
So there is clearly more awareness and interest in these events. The standard is clearly higher perhaps reflecting increased participation in triathlon in general. Perhaps people are coming down a distance, perhaps some sprint triathletes are doing this sprint duathlon as well. Perhaps Horst is a good local (ish) venue attracting those who might not want the cost or inconvenience of having to fly somewhere else to compete and get a GB Tri-suit.
How this will ultimately affect medals in Horst for GB I don’t know. Can’t hurt I guess.
Of course many will drop out and so the effective qualification standard will probably drop to 110-115% in the categories above.
If the interest is coming from sprint triathletes moving across OR from standard distance duathletes moving down a distance then this might leave the standard distance ETU distance as the easier qualification route for duathletes looking to represent their country. I’d check last year’s figures but couldn’t find them on the BTF site.
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