I am relatively new to this sport, live in the area and can recall when we had the WC here. My question is simply, why not have a 70.3 there? With WTC HQ there I would think it makes sense. I can understand moving the title of WC around to different locations but pull the race completely? Please excuse my ignorance if this horse has been beaten to death…
It had a very bad rep as a draft fest.
I did the WC race there twice, and I thought it was a fantastic location, for the race and for a vacation. As GMAN said, it does have a bad rep as a draft-fest, but that is pretty much every race these days with 3K people on course.
Some races you go to and say " this is a great spot for a race." Clearwater was not one of those places. I dont think the local community liked the race and the chaos it created much either.
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Some races you go to and say " this is a great spot for a race." Clearwater was not one of those places. I dont think the local community liked the race and the chaos it created much either.
I live in Tampa and think you’ve hit on it. I did the Clearwater race in 2009 and stayed out on the beach two nights. The hotels were happy, but the local vendors were not. My wife heard a number of vendors bitching about the race. Triathletes were not buying board short swim suits, eating tons of ice cream, and they would rather swim themselves than pay for rides on the tour boats. Since the area is fairly built up, it had a major impact on traffic on McMullen Booth Rd and Clearwater Blvd.