The Austin Duathletes started in 2004 as an outlet for people who love duathlon simply for the sake of duathlon, and for people in Austin, Texas who wanted a fun athletic club with a hip personality.
Our first year, we had barely more than 20 members and $200 in the bank, offering weekly runs and bike rides for our members.
Times changed when, in our second year, we started the “Pub Run,” a monthly run from bar-to-bar that is now an Austin running institution.
Currently in its third year, the pub run is infamous in Austin running circles, and there are few runners in our town who haven’t been on one or heard of it.
We have continued to offer our unique monthly bike rides, however, choosing low-traffic and lightly travelled roads that are, miraculously, just minutes from downtown Austin. The “Manville Anvil,” “Joya de Moya,” and the “Nutty Brown Throwdown” are just a few of our unique brand of rides, always offering shorter options for those less inclined to ride for 3+ hours on a Sunday morning.
Now, in spring 2008, the Austin Duathletes boasts well over 200 members, our distinctive club riding jersey, our t-shirts with our memorable slogan, “Give Me Tapers,” our unique races, the Protest Duathlon and the Bizarro Duathlon, and a growing exposure in Austin participatory sports.
Our annual Christmas club run, the “Red Dress Run,” is quickly becoming one of Austin’s best-known running events, and 2008 promises to be the best year yet.
Very high-profile sponsors, such as Brooks Running, Jack and Adam’s Bicycles, Rogue Equipment, Side Bar Lounge, Aussie’s Bar and Grill, New Belgium Brewery, and many others, highlight what they know that the rest of Austin’s running and cycling community has been figuring out for 4 years: that the Austin Duathletes are the coolest, hippest sports club in town.