Announcements at NCTS Awards Banquet

I went to the North Carolina Triathlon Series (NCTS) banquet this evening.

Bill Scott made a bunch of announcements about upcoming changes for next year. Here’s what I remember (keep in mind that I am over 40 – if you were at the banquet, please help me fill in the details by commenting on this blog!):

There are going to be two identical White Lake weekends. Both will be like the current weekend, with a half on saturday and a sprint on sunday. I think he said these were going to be on the first and second weekends of May. The race cap will be lowered to prevent congestion on the course. Having two weekends will allow more folks to do these popular races, and also allow people to do both distances without having to do them on consecutive days. In the past, there are always a handful of athletes who do the HIM and then the Sprint the very next day! Crazy!

The run course for the White lake half will be changed to one loop around the lake, rather than a two loop course.

Duke half is moving two weeks forward, so it will occur at the end of September. I think he said this is to avoid heat like we had this year (UGH!).

Pinehurst will also be moved forward, so that there will be two weeks between Duke and PH. Pinehurst is also having the bike course changed to help prevent congestion on the course, and the run for pinehurst is going to be reversed (can’t remember why).

Triangle is moving to a new location, TBD.

They are getting rid of JF Hurley.

Lake Norman will be split into two days, the way Latta is. Open and AG on one day, and Novice and Relays on another. He might have said race caps will be lowered also.

OLY and HIM will be weighted more heavily than sprints for series points.

They are going to add a Sprint race at Lake Wiley, near Charlotte. That lake has a water slide, and Bill Scott took a poll on who would like to see the race as a time trial start, where athletes go down the slide one by one. People overwhelmingly voted for the slide. Sounds fun.

They are going to start recycling at race sites.

The banquet was fun, free food, and of course triathletes are always a fun crowd. I didn’t win the Kestrel bike, tho, or any of the other zillion prizes they handed out. Man, I would have liked that box of 100 Hammer gels! I guess I used up my lottery karma by winning that Valdora bike from BT 🙂

I won 2nd place in the series for my age group, 45-49. That was pretty exciting! Here I am trying on the jacket that was given as the award. They will embroider my name on it, and mail it to me…

I sat with Arthur (25-29M), his fiance Beth (25-29F), and their friend Brendan (25-29M). I met Arthur at several races this year. Beth won 3rd for her AG. Arthur took this photo: