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December 12, 2009
December 9, 2009
What's New for the NCC
Before I get to the New Stuff, have you seen the number of clubs signed up this year? 87! That's the most we've had in the four years the NCC has been around, and the miles are piling up to prove it. So that's pretty exciting all in itself.
Benchmarks
This year the prizes are being given out a little bit differently. The benchmarks are still in place but instead of rewarding the team who reaches the benchmark first, we've decided to reward the team who accumulates the most miles for the month. This prevents it from becoming a contest to see who can enter their miles the fastest. So that's an improvement.
Divisions
Also new for this year are separate divisions for clubs of different sizes. Large clubs will still have to break up into teams of 75 athletes (max), but now there are different divisions for clubs of different sizes, independent of how many athletes actually sign up for the NCC. Does your club have 1,000 members but only 25 have signed up? You'll still be in the large clubs division, so you need to encourage more of your club members to join. The divisions break out like so:
Division I (250+ members)
Division II (130-249 members)
Division III (80-129 members)
Division IV (30-79 members)
Division V (2-29 members)
A full roundup of which teams are in each division will be posted very soon, so to everyone who wrote in asking about that just hang on a bit longer. Club reps, please make sure USAT has your full roster - mail to clubs@usatriathlon.org asap if you haven't already done so.
Update - a partial list of clubs and divisions is now on the Teams page. We are still waiting for everyone to submit their rosters!
Update - a partial list of clubs and divisions is now on the Teams page. We are still waiting for everyone to submit their rosters!
Statistics
Returning athletes may have noticed some additional charts this year. There are some fun stats that track average and total miles for each age group, plus gender. Look on the right side of each standings page, and look for the link to the Statistics page where you can compare these in even more detail.
Twitter
Yes, we are now on Twitter. Check out the feed on the home page, and don't forget to follow USATNCC for regular updates. We promise not to tweet about what we had for lunch or that annoying guy in line at the ATM.
Forum
And finally, there is now a built-in discussion forum on the NCC site. So please drop in and ask any questions you might have, or engage your opponents in some good natured trash talk!
We've been on Facebook since last year, so technically that's not really new. Look for the link on the teams page and the home page, right under the survey.
Oh, and widgets. Can't forget widgets. Put any of the lovely dashboard or standings widgets right on your own website or blog, absolutely free of charge.
December 1, 2009
Welcome to 2009-2010
Hello! And welcome to the 4th annual USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition. As I write this blog entry we now have a record 80 teams competing in the competition this year, and athletes have already started to put in the miles on Day One.
First, yet another reminder of how this all works.
Each month in the competition is dedicated to one triathlon discipline: December is Swim month, January is Bike month, and February is Run month. Easy so far. That doesn't mean you should only swim in December, or only ride in January or only run in February! All miles count towards your club total at the end of the competition, so just do your regular workouts in all three disciplines each month.
Just remember - only count the miles you do for the month they were done. If you swam in November... sorry, those miles don't count. If you put in a heroic ride in January those miles can't be used towards February's totals. They have to go into January.
Some Official Announcements from USA Triathlon
Please remember to submit your full club roster to clubs@usatriathlon.org. This will indicate your club’s appropriate division for overall awards. Please note, this roster is not just the athletes participating in the NCC but your full team roster.
Club representatives must add participating athletes to the NCC site. We will not be able to add your athletes via the roster. Athletes participating in the NCC must be members of USA Triathlon. If participants are not valid members of USAT, they will be removed from the competition. A notification email will be sent to the athlete and/or the club representative to purchase the membership.
What's New for 2009-2010
Prizes, for those who are returning from previous years, are being awarded slightly differently this year. Instead of awarding the team who hits the benchmark distance first, awards will be given to the team with the highest swim, bike, or run mileage for the month. This prevents the competition from being about who can enter their miles fastest.
Club reps can still enter all miles as they come in, if that's what they want to do. All miles entered are shown immediately in the standings and on the various charts and widgets available throughout the site.
Also, as indicated above, there are prizes awarded according to club category. This means that the big clubs will not be competing directly against the smaller clubs. If you belong to a club with 1,000 members but only 20 sign up, you'll still be in with your Big Club rivals who signed up 75 (the max per team). So start recruiting now!
If you have more than 75 people from your club who want to compete, let us know and we'll create as many separate teams for you as you need (each with a maximum of 75 athletes).
Other new stuff includes some new charts showing average and total miles based on gender and age groups. Look for those on the various standings pages, and on the new Stats page. All you numbers geeks (which is about 99% of triathletes, right?) should appreciate the new charts and graphs.
Also new for this year is Team USAT. For all you triathletes who are not members of a club but who still want to compete (and are bona fide USAT members) we have created a special club just for you. All individual athletes are made honorary members of Team USAT, and the team will compete right alongside all the other official USAT clubs.
In 2007-2008 we swam, biked and ran over 1 million miles! Since we have a few more clubs this year there is no reason we can't do it again. So good luck to everyone and happy training.
Jeff McCartney
Race-Tracker.net
First, yet another reminder of how this all works.
Each month in the competition is dedicated to one triathlon discipline: December is Swim month, January is Bike month, and February is Run month. Easy so far. That doesn't mean you should only swim in December, or only ride in January or only run in February! All miles count towards your club total at the end of the competition, so just do your regular workouts in all three disciplines each month.
Just remember - only count the miles you do for the month they were done. If you swam in November... sorry, those miles don't count. If you put in a heroic ride in January those miles can't be used towards February's totals. They have to go into January.
Some Official Announcements from USA Triathlon
Please remember to submit your full club roster to clubs@usatriathlon.org. This will indicate your club’s appropriate division for overall awards. Please note, this roster is not just the athletes participating in the NCC but your full team roster.
Club representatives must add participating athletes to the NCC site. We will not be able to add your athletes via the roster. Athletes participating in the NCC must be members of USA Triathlon. If participants are not valid members of USAT, they will be removed from the competition. A notification email will be sent to the athlete and/or the club representative to purchase the membership.
What's New for 2009-2010
Prizes, for those who are returning from previous years, are being awarded slightly differently this year. Instead of awarding the team who hits the benchmark distance first, awards will be given to the team with the highest swim, bike, or run mileage for the month. This prevents the competition from being about who can enter their miles fastest.
Club reps can still enter all miles as they come in, if that's what they want to do. All miles entered are shown immediately in the standings and on the various charts and widgets available throughout the site.
Also, as indicated above, there are prizes awarded according to club category. This means that the big clubs will not be competing directly against the smaller clubs. If you belong to a club with 1,000 members but only 20 sign up, you'll still be in with your Big Club rivals who signed up 75 (the max per team). So start recruiting now!
If you have more than 75 people from your club who want to compete, let us know and we'll create as many separate teams for you as you need (each with a maximum of 75 athletes).
Other new stuff includes some new charts showing average and total miles based on gender and age groups. Look for those on the various standings pages, and on the new Stats page. All you numbers geeks (which is about 99% of triathletes, right?) should appreciate the new charts and graphs.
Also new for this year is Team USAT. For all you triathletes who are not members of a club but who still want to compete (and are bona fide USAT members) we have created a special club just for you. All individual athletes are made honorary members of Team USAT, and the team will compete right alongside all the other official USAT clubs.
In 2007-2008 we swam, biked and ran over 1 million miles! Since we have a few more clubs this year there is no reason we can't do it again. So good luck to everyone and happy training.
Jeff McCartney
Race-Tracker.net
November 3, 2009
Registration is Open
Registration for the 2009-2010 edition of the USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition is now open. There are already several teams signed up - check the Teams page for a map to see who's in this year!
July 23, 2009
Team No Team Debut
Up until now, some of the more advanced and cool features of Racetracker have been available only to members of official tri clubs or teams. Not any more.
The training calendar, team reports and race result comparisons are now all available to everyone.
Anyone joining as an individual is now automatically placed on Team No Team, while anyone who had previously joined as an individual has been put on Team No Team as well.
An email will go out shortly to alert members to this new feature.
May 18, 2009
World Domination Not Far Off for Racetracker
Well, ok maybe not total world domination. But we now have a definite international flavour to our membership.
Racetracker now includes members from (in no particular order):
- United States
- Canada
- Australia
- Spain
- Ireland
- the Netherlands
- Great Britain
- China
- Italy
- South Africa
Not bad for a little site with no advertising budget.
We depend on your recommendations for membership, people. If you like the site tell your friends and have them sign up.
March 6, 2009
Another NCC Comes to a Close
You know spring is around the corner when the National Challenge Competition wraps.
For some teams spring might be around the corner, down the street and straight out of town a few miles (Alaska, Buffalo) while for others spring never left (San Diego, Guam, Florida). But for calendar watchers, the end of the NCC means the end of winter can't be far off.
Some quick and unofficial numbers while USAT compiles the Big Report:
Total Miles for Everyone, All Events: 769,398
That's around 482 miles average for each athlete.
Swim: 27,745 miles = 11,560 Ironman swims
Bike: 555,289 miles = 3,084 Ironman bikes
Run: 186,365 = 7,113 Ironman runs
If you add it all up, that equals approximately 3,688 full Ironman distance triathlons by total distance.
Club and individual athlete awards will be announced officially by USAT soon.
Great job, everyone. See you next year.
February 26, 2009
Run Session Closing Date & Time
For all Club Reps entering mileage for their clubs, the cutoff date for getting the February mileage entered will be March 2 at midnight, your local time. This is to give these hard-working folks time to get all their miles entered without being under too much pressure.
This doesn't mean that miles run in March can be counted - all miles entered for the Run Session must have been actually run in February.
Now that business has been taken care of, how about a round of applause for all the Club Reps who so diligently entered everyone's miles throughout the competition? Without them, where would this competition be? So be nice to your rep. Maybe slip them a couple of Hammergels the next time you see them at a race, or buy them a set of Zipp 808s. I'm sure they would be happy with either one of those options.
February 15, 2009
Bunnies Thwarted by Hammerheads
The Three-peat has been thwarted! Odds-on favourites to win their third straight session, the Alaska Tri Club Red Biting Bunnies have been sent packing by their opponents from the exact opposite end of the country, the Hammerhead Tri Club!
Hailing from sunny Florida, the HH crew were the first to cross the 3,000 mile mark on sunday February 15. The Hammers finished ahead of second place Tri Club of San Diego, with the bunnies currently sitting in 3rd spot.
Congrats to the Hammerhead Tri Club!
February 7, 2009
Bike Numbers are In
The report for the Bike Session is now being compiled and will be released officially by USAT next week, but in the meantime you may be interested in a few stats.
Total Bike Mileage for the Bike Session: 235,774 miles.
Average Bike Mileage per Club: 4,065 miles
Average Bike Mileage per Athlete: 212 miles.
Highest average mileage: Tribe, San Jose CA: 330.78 miles per athlete
Very impressive.
The total mileage and average mileage per athlete includes both club and individual (no club affiliation) athletes.
Official standings and awards will be released next week.
Total Bike Mileage for the Bike Session: 235,774 miles.
Average Bike Mileage per Club: 4,065 miles
Average Bike Mileage per Athlete: 212 miles.
Highest average mileage: Tribe, San Jose CA: 330.78 miles per athlete
Very impressive.
The total mileage and average mileage per athlete includes both club and individual (no club affiliation) athletes.
Official standings and awards will be released next week.
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