I’m often asked what my goals are for the 2012 triathlon season. This year my goal is to qualify for the Hy-Vee 5150 Championship race which inevitably requires a long winded explanation of the qualification process. Today I’ll break it down and offer my sense of what’s actually required to get in.
My next race, on March 20th, is the Miami International Triathlon. That race kicks off a procession of 12 races that offer points towards getting into Hy-Vee. Hy-Vee is a premier race with big prize money and will likely be broadcast on NBC. Previously the race was a draft legal ITU sanctioned race and now it’s a non-drafting race. The race offers $151,500 to the winner, $3,000 to last place in 30th, and $36,050 in bonuses to someone who leads through the swim, bike, and into the 1st lap of the run.
Here’s where it gets complicated in terms of strategy. It’s not really a 12 race series. It’s more like 10 races due to 2 races (Provo and New Orleans) only offering 33%-50% of the points that the other races have. There’s three tiers of races broken down by the winner receiving 750, 500, or 250 points. An athlete’s three highest points finishes are what count towards their score. Even winning a 250-point race is only equal to 10th place at a 750-point race like St. Anthony’s. So I’ll call these 10 750-point races the “real races.”
Further complicating matters is that the series is essentially two series split over two continents. Of the real races, 4 are in Europe while the remaining 6 are in the United States. 25 men/25 women can qualify for the championship race, Hy-Vee, and a few remaining starting spots are reserved for specially invited athletes. I see it playing out so that 17 spots will go to athletes competing in the US series. 8 European athletes will qualify and want to make the trip to Des Moines, Iowa.
Further complicating matters is that the ITU World Championship in Beijing is the week after Hy-Vee. This likely means that Olympic hopefuls will shy away from the laborious 2 races in 8 days on different sides of the world. So in all likelihood, the Brownlees, Gomez, Frodeno, Whitfield, etc will not compete at Hy-Vee. Perhaps a slew of the top ITU guys will want to take on the challenge though, who knows.
I believe that in the end it will play out like this: to get into Hy-Vee I’ll have to average around 8th place at 3 of the 750-point races. Could it be averaging 10th? Yes. Could it be averaging 5th? Yes. That’ll depend on whether it’s the same guys up front at the big races or a bunch of guys in the mix. What I want to do is average a top 8 finish at Miami International Triathlon and St. Anthony’s Triathlon. Then I’ll have breathing room to do some races outside the series and leave my last points finish for Washington DC, Boulder Peak, or NYC.
I’ve been training hard and well for Miami. Two days after the race, Amy and I fly to Australia for a work-delayed two week honeymoon where I’ll rest up. Once back States-side, I’ll have a bit over three weeks to ramp it up again for St. Anthony’s.