LONESTAR TRIATHLON
The Lonestar Triathlon in Amarillo has had a change in their sponsor. The race will still be held on June 20th, but it is now the "Chick-Fil-A" Sprint Triathlon.
The website is still the same http://www.triatx.com The Entry Form can be found online. The distances remain the same. Please check website for details.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The economic woes gripping our country have spread their tentacles locally to one of our races, specifically the Aquaposse F-1 Triathlon, scheduled for May 24 in El Paso. I've included a letter from the race director, Bobby Gonzales. The September Sun City Triathlon will remain on the series schedule until I get a definite word from Bobby.
Dear Athletes, Volunteers, and Triathlon Supporters,
It is with sincere regret that I inform you that the Aqua Posse Paso Del Norte Triathlon scheduled for May 24, 2009 in El Paso has been cancelled for this year.
Unfortunately, the County, who operates the Ascarate Park Facility, surprised the Aqua Posse organization with some unexpected costs to have the event at the park. The County's costs are in addition to other costs that the Aqua Posse had not budgeted for this event. It appears that our second of the two triathlons, the Aqua Posse Sun City Triathlon, scheduled for September 6, 2009, could also be in jeopardy if we cannot find sponsors.
Again, I apologize in advance for any inconveniences this may have caused. I'm hoping this advanced notice will give those looking for series points to find another race. I know some of you were looking forward to this race as first-timers and others for the points in the series.
I especially want to send out my apologies to all of you young triathletes, who have been training hard for the past couple of months in preparation for this event. We started this event five (5) years ago as a children's race to improve health and encourage fitness for our youth. Every year the number of participants has increased tremendously. So I can honestly tell you, that there is no one more saddened by this cancellation than yours truly.
I promise I will do what I can to salvage the race in September.
Once again, on behalf of myself and the El Paso Aqua Posse, please accept our apologies for the Paso Del Norte Triathlon cancellation and I'll keep you posted on the Sun City Triathlon.
Until then . . . happy racing!
Bobby Gonzales
Race Director
This is a call for everyone's prayers in response to some very sad news regarding one of our band. Dianne Proud is one of the original athletes from the days of the inception of the Southwest Challenge Series. At that time, she was an El Paso native. One of the finest athletes to ever come out of our area, she was a perenial Series age group winner, and went on to become a familiar face on many TEAM USA groups in countless world championships. She is a repeat All-American over the years, and one of this area's most beloved personalities, especially amongst those early athletes.
This week Dianne received her tragic diagnosis of ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. She is the second of our number in recent years to come down with this horrible and debilitating condition. We all remember John Stermer, who after a two year battle left us in 2006.
Dianne moved from El Paso several years ago, but has always kept her El Paso connections current and vibrant most recently celebrating her 30th wedding anniversary where she was married in Soccorro, TX. . She has communicated an optimism and fighting spirit that we, in the realm of triathlon, are all too familiar with, and hence,she is becoming an inspiration to us all. Dianne currently works at the Cooper Aerobics fitness center in Dallas, TX. Read more about Dianne on the Copper Clinic Website.
This disease seems to prey on the athletic. Indeed, it bears the name of one of the most famous baseball players to ever step up to the plate. It has been featured in recent Kona Ironman races as afflicted athletes have had friends competing in their name and on their behalf.
We, here at the Southwest Challenge Series, rally around Dianne in this time when she is searching for sources of strength from all quarters, and on her and her family's behalf, we ask the prayers and support of you all.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We're Baack! Excuse our long absence but, Sean, our webmaster extraordinaire, was a victim of a break-in that seemed to have his computer equipment as a primary target.
The rest of the blame for the information blackout falls squarely on yours truly. Preoccupation with my North Pole adventure monopolized my attention (editor's note - read article about Mark's accomplishement in the El Paso Times and see the photo gallery online). Now I'm back, and thawing out nicely. So let's see, I owe race reviews for the Raptor, Alpine and White Sands races. Until I get the long versions up the short recap is that in order, the races were windy, windier, and windiest!. The points race is on full bore now and John LeRoy is once again doing a masterful job in keeping the scores up to date.
Starting on April 26 with the Los Alamos Duathlons we have races on five consecutive weekends. May sees the Buffalo Springs Dynamic Duo of Mike & Marti Greer kick into action with Ransom Canyon on Sunday, May 3, and two weeks later Buffman & Squeaky or Dog House Sprint. The ever popular Jay benson in Albuquerque falls in between the Lubbock contests on May 10. The first of two El Paso F-1 format races takes place on the 24th.
A couple of notes:
The schedule has the Ransom Canyon date correct (May 3rd), but the day is incorrect. It's Sunday, not Saturday.
There have been some inquires regarding the Spring Fling held April 11 in Albuquerque. This race is NOT part of the series. While Mark Mico's events are held in high regard by everyone here on the Series board, we could not work out conflicts with other races and other fine points. We hope to get these issues resolved for 2010.
We must compliment the Spring Fling organizers for donating some of their proceeds to the family of Don & Genia Shepan, race organizers for the MVTC which had to be cancelled this year due to Don's heart bypass surgery. A classy move, and I'm sure deeply appreciated by the Shepan's.
For all the races coming up, if you haven't already received an entry form, you can probalby get them off their respective websites or at least use the contact information as posted on our schedule here on this website.
I will not be up at Los Alamos or at Jay Benson, but I will be at Ransom, Buffman, and Aquaposse. Which means I will also have with me the unclaimed SWCS awards from 2008 at those events.
Enjoy the Spring and see you at the races!
Mark Balsiger
Congratulations to Mark Balisger - Finisher of April 2009 North Pole Marathon
He had all his fingers and toes and even tip of his nose when I saw him afterwards this week
For more information log on to event website
http://npmarathon.com/ then read his bio
http://www.npmarathon.com/html/200324/
Early details are sketchy but he finished in 8 hrs and change - be sure to email Mark your congratulations and I'm sure if enough requests for details are sent to Mark he will grace us with one of his famous tales (I mean race reports)
The results can be accessed by clicking on "schedule" on this website
Scroll down to the WSMR race, click on their website, click again on "Bell Gym" and the results are there.
There are a couple of minor errors I know of which have been reported to the staff.
Most noticeably 1st place in the women's 40-44 is incorrect. Also, 2nd place in men's 35-39 is Sal "Hernandez", not Sal "Arce".
Report any other errors directly to the White Sands e-mail (Brent Jones) as listed in the schedule. You might also keep me advised so I have a record for the Series points.
Keep in mind, that while the times reported may not be exactly what you thought they should be, what the actual concern here is that the ORDER of finish is correct. It's that order of finish that figures your series points.
A copy of the results and medals to the podium finishers will be mailed out this week by the White Sands staff.
Next up is the RAPTOR Duathlon. You'll find the information on that race below, and you can check out the PREVIEW of that race in our "Previews" section.
That link will be shortly updated to include the White Sands RECAP, and a couple more PREVIEWS.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding the note concernig the open heart surgery of Don Shepan, our MVTC race director, the news is that he had a successful triple bypass. At last report he was giving the nurses some problems, because he insisted on doing laps around the ward. Was supposed to be back home this weekend, in time for the Super Bowl. All your prayers and concerns have been greatly appreciated by both Don & Genia.
Read all about the first 5 SWCS races on Previews & Recaps page 
I've received many e-mails from those athletes who did not pick up their awards. Since the awards are champagne bottles, I will not send them through the mail. I will tote all unclaimed awards to all the races until they are gone. If you can't be at the duathlon, but know someone who will be there and can claim your award on your behalf, be sure and have them seek me out.
Cheers, Mark
See if you are on this list of shame for having not yet picked up your SWCS 2008 Award here 
The Southwest Challenge Series is pleased to release the 2009 schedule of races.
This year there are thirty-five racing opportunities of which it is possible to compete in thirty-one as four dates offer two races. This is six races more than any other year. Three new USAT sprint races have been added. El Paso now has two races and we lost none from last year. The Series covers a large area including all of New Mexico, El Paso, and West Texas. It has long been a goal of the SWCS board to offer at least eight quality racing opportunities in the general regions of El Paso and Southern New Mexico, Albuquerque and Northern New Mexico, Lubbock and West Texas so as to give all athletes a more or less equal shot at year-end awards. We have come very close to that ideal now.
Printable 2009 Southwest Challenge Series Race Schedule
In addition to more USAT Sanctioned races than ever before we can boast having the Milkman as a USAT Special Qulifier tfor the National Championship which means it will be a bonus race for the Series at a 1.125 multiplier. Buffalo Springs 70.3 as a Kona qulifier wil also be a bonus race at a 1.25 multiplier.
Lubbock this year is also host to the National Collegiate Championships on April 18 (olympic distance). This is of course, a team event and not open to age groupers. However, this year there will also be a sprint distance (non-championship) race open to age groupers. The Sprint will be part of the series and should be a great opportunity to observe the rising stars of the future.
Last year in order to fill out the podiums in every age group we dropped the minimum number of races to qualify for awards. This experiment turned out to be nightmarish for the pointskeepers, (John & Becky LeRoy), and some age brackets had champions with only one race to their credit. So this year, a four race minimum will be required to be eligible for year-end awards. With 31 racing opportunities this seems reasonable. Scoring will still be calculated with your best race scores up to eight races, and every race above and beyond your best eight will be awarded a quarter point bonus--same as all previous years.
It was no simple task to schedule all these races. We do have two overlaps, but each overlapping race is far, far removed geographically from the other. Again, allowances were made to give all athletes throughout the region equal opportunities. There were a couple of races that could not be sanctioned as the overlapping problem could not be resolved and the venues were just too close to each other. Preference was given to those races that had been with the series longest. In future years, we will continue to work on calendar compromises.
My thanks to all race directors who for the most part were extremely cooperative and helpful in juggling dates and other minor details. I must particularly acknowledge the race directors of Socorro, Midland, Santa Fe and the Lone Star in Amarillo for going way out of their way to reallly helping to make the final pieces fall into place. I know it is not easy to change dates, and your efforts were greatly appreciated. There are fifty-two weeks in a year, and we somehow managed to get thirty-one races all on separate weekends. It didn't start out that way, and my thanks to all.
There is in the works another race in December, but that will count for 2010, if it comes about and will not affect the 2009 schedule.
I urge all athletes to support as many of these events as possible. Let's make all these events successful endeavors for the directors and their communities, and make our little corner of the world the envy of all triathletes the world over.
Now get out there and start training! There's a busy year ahead!!
On behalf of Flip Lyle and the board of the Southwest Challenge Series, we'll see you at the races!!!
Cheers, Mark Balsiger
Postscript: Next week I may have an addendum to the schedule containing more contact info for the El Paso races, and perhaps a minor update to the Jay Benson contact information. However, dates and distances of these and ALL races are correct and firm. Please note that the registration deadline for the White Sands Du is January 24. Applications should be mailed out shortly. Apllications for the Alpine Sul Ross sprint are already available on their website (click on "recreation"). Look for some revisions to our website. "Mark's Musings" will soon be changing to a page offering "Previews and Recaps" to each race.
2008 Race Season Results
Attached is the list of award winners for each age group for 2008 Season. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Race ReCap added 24 Feb 09 
And Don't forget the wildly popular Race Previews
