Triathletes

Having attended both, Bill, I would say this is not an "invented fact." There is never, ever, enough seating at USS meets or even at small summer league dual meets. Age group swimming is huge, and just keeps growing. By comparison, very few age groupers are running before high school and even fewer are doing triathlons. Swimming is vastly more popular. I agree, I'm just yanking Geek's chain 'cause it so easy. But swimming is huge the way Gymnastics is. Kids love and then abandon it. When I swim, I usually have the pool (4 lanes) to myself. On rare occassion the pool will fill up and then empty out within minutes. The people who swim may swim for 200-600m and call it a workout. I have missed more TRIs for filling up than roadraces. I've been to triathlons with my teenager where there is barely a spectator or very few. However, I'm sure Lake Placid or Kona are better attended. The little sprints are that way and TRIs don't even lend itself to being spectator friendly. Yet I see people out lining the roads for the bike and run. They even cheer! Probably cause it free entertainment. Every TRI I did last year closed. Most Hald IM and IMs close in 24 hours. I did St Anthony's it closed in 5 hours! Here in Atlanta and back in Tampa there are virtually no swim events. I think Tampa had an Aquathon and a OW distance swim. I went on-line after (S)he male said there was a summer program. It was cancelled. Maybe swimming is just more localized than TRIs.

Having attended both, Bill, I would say this is not an "invented fact." There is never, ever, enough seating at USS meets or even at small summer league dual meets. Age group swimming is huge, and just keeps growing. By comparison, very few age groupers are running before high school and even fewer are doing triathlons. Swimming is vastly more popular. I agree, I'm just yanking Geek's chain 'cause it so easy. But swimming is huge the way Gymnastics is. Kids love and then abandon it. When I swim, I usually have the pool (4 lanes) to myself. On rare occassion the pool will fill up and then empty out within minutes. The people who swim may swim for 200-600m and call it a workout. I have missed more TRIs for filling up than roadraces. I've been to triathlons with my teenager where there is barely a spectator or very few. However, I'm sure Lake Placid or Kona are better attended. The little sprints are that way and TRIs don't even lend itself to being spectator friendly. Yet I see people out lining the roads for the bike and run. They even cheer! Probably cause it free entertainment. Every TRI I did last year closed. Most Hald IM and IMs close in 24 hours. I did St Anthony's it closed in 5 hours! Here in Atlanta and back in Tampa there are virtually no swim events. I think Tampa had an Aquathon and a OW distance swim. I went on-line after (S)he male said there was a summer program. It was cancelled. Maybe swimming is just more localized than TRIs.