URBAN 2.80.20 Long Course Triathlon Geelong 2012

Australia has gone from having a small handful of long course triathlon in recent times to now having more than enough to fill the seasons calendar following the announcement today by USM Events of the URBAN 2.80.20 triathlon to be held in Geelong in February 2012. The organisers also announced a prize pool of $12,000 which will attract a solid field of local pros. Regional cities are benefiting from these new events and maybe one day we could hope for the sort of community support that triathlon events receive in European cities.

However there is a catch. In what could be considered a failure to communicate or at least a
failure on the part of Triathlon Victoria/Triathlon Australia to look after the triathletes in the South of Australia Victoria
now has two long course triathlons on the same weekend. Falls Creek run by SuperSprint is being staged on Saturday 11 February 2012. 24 hours later, if you are quick and don’t mind a drive, you will be able to race another triathlon with Geelong hosting the new URBAN 2.80.20 long course triathlon. A week later there is another long course triathlon in the south of New South Wales.

The $12,000 prize money up for grabs at Geelong will certainly sway the pros.

It will be interesting to see if any of the pros choose Geelong and Falls Creek over the Huskisson Long Course triathlon run by Elite Energy. These two long course triathlons are a week apart and should both be on the calendar for Australian pros around at the time. In fact this may even get a few more fired up with the possibility of peaking for two races instead of one. Let’s face it if Aaron Farlow can race the Alpe D’Huez triathlon and back up four days later to win Ironman UK then these two should be easy bookends for a relaxed week for our top pros.

The great thing about these new long distance triathlons, including the new Ultimate Triathlons being run in NSW by Elite Energy and Challenge Cairns full and half, is that they will go a long way towards promoting the sport in Australia which is good for the sport.

The URBAN 2.80.20 will cater to the needs of the VIC, SA, TAS markets for the general age group population while the Jervis Bay Multisport Festival is an institution on the NSW calendar.