RULES for the 2008 Season

The 2008 Southwest Challenge Series links up the premier Duathlons and Triathlons in New Mexico and West Texas. Point standings are kept for each race based on finish by category with champions being crowned at the end of the season.

Anyone can participate. There is no extra cost for inclusion in the series. Entrance into any of the Southwest Challenge Series events will automatically make one eligible, and everyone is invited to enter all of these outstanding races. Points will be accumulated from your best eight finishes. However, there is no minimum of races required to be considered for year end awards. This is a change from past years. In other words, if you can outscore someone doing eight races by only completing seven or less, then total points prevail. This rule change will have the effect of having three award winners in each category at year’s end. Every race completed past eight will score an additional .25 points. In addition, the Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 Triathlon will award bonus points at a 1.125 multiplier, i.e. 10 points  x 1.125= 11.25 points.

Your age for ALL series events is your December 31, 2008 age. Please assist our points keeper by entering the proper age group in each event. Points will be tabulated by computer and awards given to the top three finishers in each category.

At the end of the year there will be an awards banquet to recognize our champions. This year’s host of the awards ceremony will be the Jingle Bell Triathlon in Rio Rancho on December 7.

**Cydesdale requires a weight of OVER 200lbs.

Athena weight is OVER 150 lbs.

Each category will have two divisions (39-Under & 40 Over).

There are 31 racing opportunites (counting last December's Polar Bear) with the possibility of doing 29 races (The Lubbock races have two races on the same day: (Buffman & Squeaky and the Dog House Sprint; AND BSLT 70.3 and Tri Raider Sprint). This is an SWCS record! As an added note, I am also one of your regional board members for USAT (along with Mark Mico, Matt Perini, and Mike Greer). One of our priorities this year at USAT is Youth Development. With so many race opportunities in our relatively small territory, it provides us with a great opportunity to introduce prospective young athletes into our sport. I encourage everyone this year to race often and bring a young friend!

Official rules for 2008 are posted on rules web page. Of note, are that there is no longer a minimum number of races required to be eligible for year end awards. Your best eight scores will still be tabulated with a quarter point awarded for every race after that. However, if some stud can tabulate top points in their respective category with less than eight races, then so be it. The intent of this rule change was to make sure every age group had a full podium of first, second, and third winners.

The bonus points for Buffalo Springs have been reduced from a 1.250 multiplier to a 1.125. Unlike other years, Buffalo Springs is the ONLY bonus race, so the intent here is not to give one race a clout that would be almost impossible to overcome with there being no other bonus opportunities. Bonus races are usually determined if a certain event is a designated USAT regional or national championship, such as Milkman and Las Vegas have been in year's past. This year only Buffalo Springs qualifies as it is THE qualifier in our region for Kona and the 70.3 World Championships.

The dual Clydesdale/Athena categories have been the subject of much controversy and complaints. SWCS will adhere to the USAT rules of two divisions (39-Under, and 40-Over). Weight standards are 200lbs. for men and 150 for women. (USAT rule 3.2b). SWCS strongly supports all efforts by race directors to strictly monitor the weight limits. Furthermore, it will be the athlete's responsibility to be sure he or she is entered into the proper category BEFORE the race begins. No athlete can run any single race as BOTH age grouper and Clydesdale/Athena. If, entered as a Cydesdale/Athena, and then disqualified AFTER a race due to weight violations, that race may NOT then be transferred to the age group categories.

In an effort to make the series more all inclusive, the year end Awards Presentations will be rotated amongst the three regional population centers, i.e., El Paso, Albuquerque, and Lubbock. For 2008, the awards ceremony will be after the Jingle Bell triathlon in Rio Rancho, New Mexico on December 7th.

Before wishing everyone their best year yet, there's a bit of area news to report. Art Gardenschwartz won the Xterra world championship in his age group. Our own ageless "Keeper of the Points", John Le Roy, was named Inside Triathlon All American, as was Frankie Benevidez (20-24). An interesting footnote is that John LeRoy did his first triathlon the year Frankie was born. Must have been something in the water that year!

Congratulations, Guys!

SEE EVERYONE AT THE RACES!!!