Why I joined the USA Triathlon

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In each and every triathlon race that I run, each competitor must have insurance coverage. There may be a few races that use a different insurer, but the vast majority use only one provider. This coverage comes from the USA Triathlon governing body (USAT). Each race charges $ 12 per person for this coverage in 2015 and goes to $ 15 for 2016. You can understand why these coverage are necessary as this is a very intense sport in which anything can happen. I have heard of people who died while swimming or had a heart attack on the way. I even heard that one person suffered a stroke after the race. These races can also involve bicycle accidents or injuries while running. The career must be covered in all these situations for fear of being sued. Especially for races that are longer, the chances of something going wrong can be high.

The other option a person has to avoid the $ 15 per race fee is to join the USAT as an annual member and therefore simply show your membership card and enter your member number when registering to avoid paying this fee. The annual cost is $ 50 dollars, so if you compete 4 times during the year, you can easily pay for this membership. If that was all you received from membership, I would certainly say evaluate your career planning and pay only for the races you are going to compete in if you are competing in less than 4 races a year. But USAT membership provides many other benefits in addition to the insurance exemption.

Magazine:

Each quarter you receive a very well done magazine that includes athlete bios, training tips and product reviews. This magazine has been useful to me in my own training. I also find the bios of the athletes very helpful for inspiration. They not only include professional athletes, but also many age group athletes appear in the magazine. Recently, they participated in the travels of several national champions as they prepare to compete in some of the toughest competitions in the sport. They talked about their nutrition and their training regimens. Since these individuals are not professionals, he included his own ways of managing a normal life and the life of the triathlete. The magazine alone is worth $ 50 a year, but this seems to be an added bonus.

$ 20 for TriSports:

Trisports.com is one of the leading retailers of triathlon items. Every time you renew your membership you get $ 20 to spend in the trisports store. I have used this more than once to pick up some much needed items. This is a great savings.

Other coupons:

You will receive an online goodie bag with discounts for various providers, in addition to information about trisports. You get discounts for Rudy Project, FuelBelt, Cycle Pro, and other providers. Again, this benefit brings great value to members and it really pays for itself.

National classifications:

While he is an amateur triathlete, there are not many occasions when he can be compared to the best age group triathletes in the country. You can certainly attend one of the national championship events, but also at the end of each year, the USAT draws up a list of the rankings for each age group. In this way you can measure yourself with the best triathletes in the country. The way these rankings are determined is through the USAT scoring system.

** This is an easy way to determine your approximate score. The USAT formula is much more complex and is determined by a few other factors. ** This scoring system is based on a formula that gives each triathlete a score after each race. This score is based on the relationship to the total estimated time of completion of each race. For example, if a race has an estimated finish time of 2 hours based on the average finish time of the previous years of the race, the person who finished with 2 hours would get a score of 100. These “even” times are based on on a formula of the average top finishers in the race along with some estimates of the time for the race along with some exceptional performances. If a finalist finishes faster than 2 hours than he would get more than 100, if he finishes slower than less than 100. The formula is an inverse of the estimated numbers of the “even” time divided by the athlete’s time or time Pair / Athlete hour. So for our example, you would take the total minutes of the even time which is 120 and divide it by the total minutes of the athlete’s time which is 135. You would get a score of 88.89. This score would then be included in your annual national ranking. You have to run 3 races a year to be eligible for a national ranking. At the end of the year, you can enter the USAT site and find out your national rankings in your given age group. This is also a way to discover your improvement over the years. I didn’t start to get into the rankings until 2014 when I discovered this system. My 2014 ranking was in the 35-39 age group and it was 2801 out of 3724 with an overall average score of 68,036. My 2015 ranking was 1244 out of 3777 in the 40-44 age group with an average annual score of 78,818. You can see that I had an improvement in the general classification, but also in the annual score. I see this as I get closer to the “by” time of my runs.

National championships:

My main focus has been on finishing an ironman and then qualifying for Kona, but there are plenty of other ways to compete in triathlon. One of these ways is to participate in some of the USAT sponsored national championships. These races involve traveling to designated sites and competing against some of the best triathletes in the country. Ultimately, runners have a chance to represent the USA on the world stage at some of the world championships.

Email blasts:

From time to time, members receive a bulk email containing nutrition information, training tips, and other information. I consider these emails to have some value to add to my training and overall fitness. I especially like the nutrition updates that these e-newsletters provide. Sometimes I don’t get the emails read right away, but they are in my email box for later reference.

Help improve the sport:

As part of USAT, you can get to serve on committees and commissions to help improve the sport in general.

Overall, I think buying the $ 50 membership fee for USAT is within reason and provides quality information and discounts. Ultimately, you never have to worry about having insurance coverage for any career.

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