State of the Club

A letter from the President

Welcome to the Austin Duathletes!
When I first started the Austin Duathletes in 2004, it was the fulfillment of an idea that I had first had several years earlier. That idea—that dream—was to start promoting the sport of duathlon in central Texas and to promote the idea that duathlon could be its own sport, for which you could train to the exclusion of other sports. I even had a dream that people would, one day call themselves “duathletes.” At the time, duathlon was merely a sad step-sibling to triathlon, and there were no duathlons around this area. There were a few in Houston and a few in Dallas, but, essentially, duathlon was just something that triathletes did in the off-season.

Since then, our club has grown to over 250 members, it has gained a local notoriety and presence that is on par with the more mainstream athletic clubs, like the local running clubs and cycling organizations. The Darnd’st Du made its debut in San Marcos, Texas, not far from Austin, and, in its second year, it was the largest duathlon in Texas, with around 350 participants. Another big event, the Frost Yer Fanny, is the USA Triathlon South MidWest region’s annual race that accompanies its annual awards banquet. Last year, it was held in Austin, and it was the regional championship. That was such a popular race that Austin got the race again this year, produced by our very own Raul Najera, owner of Run-Far and last year's vice president of the Austin Duathletes. Raul has, this summer, produced a series of 3 duathlons right here in central Texas, a series that will, hopefully, rival the races in Dallas and Houston for top duathlons in the state. More people are calling themselves "duathletes," and our club members are doing extremely well:

• Glenda Adams, our director of membership, is the current Regional Masters Women's Champion and Texas State Overall champion for duathlon.
• Krissy Morgan, our secretary, competed in the world duathlon long course championship last year.
• Shellon McCallie, our previous vice president and director of events, is a local duathlon icon and has competed in many nationals and worlds championships.
• Kerry "Honolulu" Montgomery, the original Webgirl, was 3rd in her age group in the region last year and placed in several state championships.
• I won a few things, too.

Clearly, duathlon is getting bigger in central Texas, and so is our little club, but what we do best is have a good time. Our famous "pub runs" are an Austin running institution. The Red Dress Run is known all over town, and our monthly bike rides are some of the best routes in this area.

So, thanks for helping us do all of this! We hope to take the Austin Duathletes to the next level this year, with our new website, our awesome new board, and a lot of new events, like the Protest Duathlon, now a fully-sanctioned event, the Bizarro Duathlon, the Buddy Du, and our infamous parties.

See you out on the road!

--Panther