.

This year we have some brand new ways of slicing and dicing all the data that comes into the site. Since triathletes can never have enough information about their performance(s), we've tried to satisfy at least part of that infolust with some new charts & graphs. 

On each standings page you'll see some cute new little graphs that break down some key metrics for the competition:

• Athletes by Gender: how many men, how many women in the competition
• Athletes by Age Group: how many athletes in each age group
• Session Mileage by Gender:  total current session mileage for men and women
• Session Mileage by Age Group: total current session mileage for each age group

Click the 'more stats' link to see, you guessed it, more stats. There are 24 (!) new charts on this page: 

• Average Mileage by Age Group: for men, women and combined - one for each event plus one for total miles
• Total Mileage by Age Group: again for men, women and combined with one for each event plus total miles

In what surely must have something to do with the holiday season, the "loafing" option in the December Athlete Survey is gaining some traction. Of course the "What off-season?" option is way out front, but in a surprise move it seems that more people now prefer loafing to some other sport. 

As of this writing, Loafing sits in 2nd place with 14% of the vote, while "a totally different sport" trails the pack with a mere 8%.

The Loafing Season is scheduled to continue for at least another week, so we'll see how the survey results play out.

As of today, these are the Teams and Divisions based on the club rosters submitted so far:

Division I (250+)
Alaska TC (294)
DC TC (1,046)
Golden Gate TC (368)
Silicon Valley TC (370)
SVTC (370)
Tri-OKC (395)
Tri-Fury (385)
Hammmerhead TC (521)
Tribe (409)
Team CWW (400)
Team Toledo (357)


Division II (130-249)
HEAT (149)
Pikes Peak TC (156)
Midwest Xtreme (173)
FAST (217)


Division III (80-129)
Desert Sharks (118)
Redline TC (99)
Element TC (90)
Bluegrass TC (106)
Boulder TC (124)

Division IV (30-79)
Fredericksburg TC (74)
Un. of Iowa Tri-Hawks (50)
Tir-ATX (71)
Capital City Multisport (36)
Purdue University TC (45)
Greater Decatur MC (75)
Jet City TC (42)
New Mexico Outlaws (64)
Team 3x Fast (34)
3-Fitness Tri Team (66)
Tri 2 Remember (34)
Tri-Lewis (65)
Northwest YMCA TC (46)


Division V (2-29)
Illinois Valley TC (9)
KBA Racing (14)
Blair Area Multisport (24)
Cycle University Tri Team (12)
Rice University (11)
Team Fraser (29)
Team NRGY (23)

If you haven't been on the forum yet, you will have missed a couple of recent questions asked by your fellow triathletes. There are replies on the forum but let's try to answer them here as well.

Q. What's the deal with the divisions? Are they based on the number of athletes competing, or the total  number of athletes in my club?

A. The second one. If your club has 1,000 members you'll be competing in Division 1 even if only 25 club members are smart enough, cool enough, and good-looking enough to sign up for the National Challenge Competition. If that's the case, get on the blower and convince those other slackers to sign up. It's a long winter, but it will go a lot quicker if they spend more time training and logging miles for your club and the NCC.

Q. How many yards in a mile? Seriously, I'm a swimmer and we sometimes count a mile as 1650 yards.

A. There are 1,760 yards in one mile. The NCC does not use 'pool miles' (something I had not heard of until today, so I guess I can't be much of a swimmer) so please make sure you count your miles correctly. 

Q. My club uses indoor trainers for winter cycling, but they don't have computers. Can we estimate our mileage based on time? 

A. Sorry, but that would not be a fair or accurate way to log bike miles since everyone rides at different power outputs and rates of speed. Also, there is no way to make sure that all stationary bikes and trainers are set up to provide the same resistance. Please ensure that if you are riding an indoor trainer your computer is accurately calibrated, and that you actually have a computer in the first place. 

Q. Shouldn't swim miles count for more than bike miles? They are harder to accumulate, after all, and warm weather clubs have an advantage since they can ride outdoors where it's easier to pile up the bike mileage.

A. In theory, the southern clubs have an edge. In practice, however... not so much. Take a look at the top 10 clubs right now (December 14) based on total mileage and you'll see two of three Alaska teams, one from Buffalo (where they get more snow than Alaska) one from Michigan and another from Boulder. That's not bad for clubs where the riding isn't so good in December.

Still have questions? Submit them here in the comments field, or better yet sign up for the forum and ask them there. Racetracker and USAT staff monitor both locations every day. 

Happy training, everyone.

Hi Racetracker-ers, and congratulations. You've found the new location of the Racetracker.ca / Race-Tracker.net blog! Formerly on Blogger.com but now hosted proudly on the Racetracker site, where we can keep a closer eye on things.

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The first two posts from the USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition for 2009-2010 are re-posted for your reading pleasure...