Major Learning Experience
Two weeks ago in Glastonbury, CT, I had a conversation with veteran race director Tom Wilkas at the Slowtwitch Road Show hosted by Cycling Concepts. When I mentioned Major League Triathlon, he considered how hard it might be for a startup to put on races outside of its local jurisdiction. In particular, Tom presciently gave the permitting process as an example, which turned out to be an obstacle for the Major League Triathlon team at its first race here in Temple, TX.
For want of a permit, Major League Triathlon (MLT) had to move its event from the scenic Temple's Lake Park to the landlocked Mayborn Convention Center, which set off a cascade of changes. In an effort to salvage the swim, MLT rented a portable Olympic-size pool (inside the trailer pictured below), but to no avail because the parking lot here, deep in the heart of Texas, was not flat enough. In the end, MLT had to pare down its event from a three-day festival with multi-distance triathlons to a single Saturday afternoon with a super sprint duathlon.
There are two sides to every story, so it's hard to say with any certainty what led to this outcome. As well as I can tell, MLT had a healthy respect for the process and took the time to dot the i's and cross the t's. However, according to Lead Park Ranger Bradley Ellis of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the agency that oversees Temple's Lake Park, with a schedule change that moved the event up six months from October to April, there simply wasn't enough time for USACE and supporting agencies to process the permit.
I met with MLT CEO Daniel Cassidy and COO Daniel Imperato the morning after the race, in the lobby of their hotel as they were handing out prize money checks to the winning teams. Ironically, they said that after visiting sites in 30 cities, they chose Temple, TX because of Temple's Lake Park. “The entire pro race would have been contained in the park and the athletes would have been visible the whole time,” said Cassidy. When asked about the most important lesson learned from this experience, Imperato said, “Live in the details.”
Major League Triathlon is a pro supersprint-style race alongside age-group all-comers races. After the age-group morning event, Teams of two professional women and two professional men face off in a Super Sprint Mixed Relay in the afternoon. There are three remaining events on the 2016 calendar, and the next is in Sarasota, Florida June 17-19.
As to who won this race, there are no results available as of this writing. But in the end I suspect the sport of triathlon will win. These newly-minted race directors paid their dues this weekend and put on a well-organized, exciting, and spectator-friendly race in spite of all the obstacles they faced. I'll wager they will turn this stumbling block of a start into a stepping-stone to their upcoming race in Sarasota.
