Acting as a service center for NATA’s data management is Timberline Timing Systems, the Fort Collins, Colorado, firm that has provided this service for much of USA Triathlon’s organizational life prior to this year.

The chase pack also included many of the world's top runners, including Portugal's Venessa Fernandes, who moved swiftly through the pack until she was less than a minute behind Bennett.

Snowsill used a 34:58 split to run away from the field, besting teammate Luxford 1:58:03 to 1:59:43. Bennett was third in with a time of 1:59:55.

"I knew she would make a move," Bennett said of Fernandes. "That's why we wanted a lead of at least two minutes on the bike. I really had to dig deep down to stay in third." It was the third straight world medal for Bennett, who took silver in 2003 and bronze in 2004.

Taormina, the defending world champion, went on to finish 12th and Zeiger was 14th. Lindquist, racing in her final world championship before retiring at the end of the year, finished 26th.

In the men's race, Australia's Peter Robertson won his third world title, matching victories in 2001 and 2003. Robbo came off the bike with 30 or so other competitors, surged to a slim lead early on and held off the field in the final miles. Switzerland's Reto Hug was second and Australia's Brad Kahlefeldt was third.

Andy Potts was the top U.S. finisher in 20th followed by Joe Umphenour in 21st. Hunter Kemper, ranked No. 1 in the world going into the race, rode with the large lead pack on the bike but faded on the run and finished 41st. However, he has maintained his world No. 1 ranking.

(RESULTS)

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U.S. Junior, U23 men sweep top honors in Gamagori
September 13, 2005
Gamagori, Japan (Slowtwitch News Service™)

Jarrod Shoemaker of Sudbury, Mass., outran the competition to take the men’s under-23 title at the ITU World Triathlon Championship last Saturday in Gamagori, Japan.

Shoemaker, until last year a Dartmouth College distance running standout, relied on a 32:19 seconds to win in 1:52:42, outlegging Kazakhstan’s Daniil Sapunov.

“Sapunov made it fun,” Shoemaker said. “I knew he was going to make his move on the third lap. I just had to run my race and hold him off." Sapunov finished second in 1:53:06 and France’s Bertrand Boulch was third in 1:53:24.

Shoemaker brought to his race standout credentials as a runner, with track times of 30:48 in the 10,000 meters and more impressively a 14:09 over the 5k.

Like Shoemaker, Georgetown Prep senior Stephen Duplinsky leveraged a running background to take gold in the Junior (under 20) race. This event is contested over half the Olympic distance (.75km swim, 20k bike and 5k run).

His finish time of 55:08, including a fine 5k run split of 15:10, gave Duplinsky a half-minute win over second-place Jonathan Zipf of Germany. Aurelien Raphael of France finished third.

As is the case with Shoemaker, Duplinsky had to overcome the early speed established by superior swimmers. The American bridged from the second to the first pack by himself, and then sat in and waited for the run.

Duplinsky is currently Maryland's fastest high school runner, entering his senior year with personal bests of 9:19 over 1600 meters (9:22 2-mile), and a slightly more impressive 8:38 for 3000 meters indoors (9:18 2-mile).

The younger U.S. women tend to come from a swim background, and did not fare as well in Gamagori's heat and humidity. In the women’s U23 race, McLarty had by far the fastest swim of the day, male or female, in 18:50 and held the lead on the bike before falling behind on the run and finishing in 9th place. Michelle Lindsay used a strong run to finish 16th.

New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt won the women’s U23 race in 2:03:08. Vendula Frintova of the Czech Republic was second (2:03:42) and Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig was third (2:05:39).

In the girls junior race, Jennifer Spieldenner (Findlay, Ohio) also led out of the swim 7500m swim (10:13 minutes) and had a strong bike leg, but fell behind on the run and finished 15th in 1:03:51.

Notwithstanding Olympic Gold Medalist Sheila Taormina, McClarty may bring the finest swim credentials ever to the sport of triathlon. Her sub 4:11.3 400 meter long course time ranks her in the top-25 all time among American women, the only elite American triathlete to be so-ranked in any swim event.

(RESULTS)

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USAT AG Nats canceled due to severe race-day weather
August 15, 2005
Colorado Springs, Colorado (Slowtwitch News Service™)

USA Triathlon’s troubled Age Group Nationals took the ultimate hit this past Saturday, failing to start due to severe thunderstorms over the race course.

Athletes lined up at the water’s edge at 7AM, only to have the swim postponed and then canceled because of severe weather at the Kansas City, Missouri, race site. Race officials announced a bike/run as a replacement, in the form of a time trial start, competitors leaving in every 5 seconds in the order in which their bikes were racked.

Just prior to the event’s rescheduled 9AM start, the organizers made the decision to call the race altogether, replacing it with a 10k fun run that would not count toward World Championship team selection.

The race has been difficult to stage from the outset. Initially to be held in Rochester, New York, this past June, that city pulled out of the bidding at the last moment. Several venues were mentioned as replacements, including Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and venues in Louisiana. Impeding the negotiations at every turn was USA Triathlon’s insistence in a $30,000 site fee, which few cities have been willing to pay.

With time fast approaching, and no host city for USAT’s annual jewel, then-interim executive Director Mike Greer found a home for Nationals in Kansas City.

This marks one of the rare times a championship race has been canceled on American soil. A USAT Sprint National Championship was nixed at the last minute due to a hurricane in the early 1990s. That race did not, however, qualify anyone for a World Championship. This Nationals did.

While USAT will not have a national champ in each age group, it still had the job of qualifying a Worlds Team. The top-10 in each age-group would’ve garnered a slot for the World Age Group Championships in Oahu next month. As a result of no qualifying event, USAT has granted a Worlds slot to all who picked up their race packets in Kansas City. This may mean as many as 80 or 100 competitors in the fatter age groups (men’s 40-44 and 45-49) would have a chance to go to Worlds.

The International Triathlon Union was notified of USAT’s dilemma on Saturday, when officials were frantically casting about for a solution. The ITU has given its blessing to USAT’s fix, according to a source at the ITU. This means that certain waves in Oahu could swell from 80 to as many as twice that size, half the field being Americans. It is not anticipated that this will happen, however, as many athletes decline their qualifying slots.

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USA Triathlon to WTC: You're on your own
June 13, 2005
Colorado Springs, Colorado (Slowtwitch News Service™)

Following WTC's decision to sanction its own Honu Half-Ironman last week, and its intention to sanction and provide rules enforcement for all its races worldwide, USA Triathlon has reciprocated with its own strongly worded statement.

"We believe our rules provide the safest races and the fairest competition," said Skip Gilbert, executive director of USA Triathlon. "The WTC's new rules would not meet USAT's strict requirements for safety. We cannot insure races that do not follow those parameters. That could jeopardize the 1,500 races we sanction and our 58,000 annual members as a whole."

USA Triathlon's statement, released today, may seem moot, as WTC has already essentially said, "You can't fire me, I quit." USAT's move does, however, set the wheels in motion for politics on the international stage. When one governing body makes such a declaration pressure is placed on the governing bodies of the other federations, especially if triathlon's world governing body, the ITU, gets involved. While this may seem of no practical importance to the WTC, the governing bodies in other countries can wield considerably more power when it comes to getting the appropriate permissions to stage a race.

USAT's press release stressed two points: the ability of the athlete to have due process afforded him, and race course safety.

"The WTC has asked that an exception be granted to this procedure to allow real-time stand-down (on-course) penalties for age group triathletes," according to USAT's statement. "This exception would remove all review, due process, and rights of appeal and put the final decision in the hands of one official. Stopping a motorcycle in traffic could also endanger both the athletes and the official."

"If they want to come back to the table and work with us,"
continued Skip Gilbert, USAT's executive director, "we would love to help them establish a global rulebook that would make everyone happy."

Gilbert's "global rules" suggestion leaves open the door for a rapproachment between his organization and WTC. "There is nothing we can do for this year, Gilbert told Slowtwitch.com, "we can't change the rules mid-season, and we're going to have to let them go their own way for the rest of the year. But we'd be open to exploring a global rules option with WTC over the Winter."

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Panel invalidates Proposition 2
May 3, 2005
Colorado Springs, Colorado (Slowtwitch News Service™)

A panel assembled by USA Triathlon has voided a bylaw proposal passed by the USA Triathlon membership in the 2005 elections.

On Tuesday the three-member panel, including David Backer and Perry Toles—two attorneys who've performed longtime service to the federation—held a telephone hearing on a Petition to Protest Proposal No. 2. Rounding out the panel was Judge Michael Jones. The protest was filed by USA Triathlon member Stephen Perkins on behalf of a number of petitioners.

Proposal No. 2 asked the membership to restore to the USAT Board of Directors its right to amend the bylaws by a two-thirds Board vote, subject to certain specified limitations. The results of the election were 3,611 to 614 in favor of the amendment.

The petitioners sought to set aside Proposal No. 2 because of errors alleged in the conduct of the election. The hearing panel issued a decision Friday (April 29), holding that the vote on Proposal No. 2 should be set aside as void. The hearing panel's decision does not explain the panel's reasoning in setting aside the vote of the membership. A written opinion from the Panel explaining its decision will follow in about 10 days.

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Short course specialists shine at weekend half-IM races
May 3, 2005
Colorado Springs, Colorado (Slowtwitch News Service™)

With the Athens Olympics in their rearview mirrors, former short coursers moving up to the half-Ironman distance proved their fitness and talent over the weekend.

Former world champion at the Olympic distance Simon Lessing, though no stranger to longer races, tackled the Wildflower course with an exclamation mark, eclipsing the 4-hour barrier for the first time in this event's two-decade history.

The Boulder-based Brit rode even with Torbjorn Sinballe, Hawaiian Ironman champ Normann Stadler and überbiker Björn Andersson until the hills at 42 miles, where Sinballe pulled Stadler to the finish. Lessing demolished everyone with a stellar 1:13: half-marathon over a hot, hilly, mostly off-road run, and won in 3:59:33, just under two minutes up on Sindalle. A terrific third-place by 20 year old Terenzo Bozzone meant another sprinter bumped the long coursers a spot lower on the podium.

It was more of the same in the women's event, with Samantha McGlone racking up another impressive victory. The former ITU racer from Canada won her Wildflower debut in 4:32:59, coming within a minute of Donna Peters' course record, considered by many one of the few untouchable course records in triathlon.

On the same weekend, on the other side of the continent, ITU veteran Leanda Cave established some long distance credentials with a wire-to-wire near win at St. Croix. After having led for the entire day, she was passed by all-'rounder Joanna Zeiger in the last 3km of the run.

In the men's race, it was yet again another short courser, Shane Reed of New Zealand. Reed spotted Faris Al-Sultan a huge lead on the bike, and whittled it down on the run.

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USAT reworks Amendment#2 language
March 28, 2005
Colorado Springs, Colorado (Slowtwitch News Service™)

USA Triathlon's Board of Directors convened for a teleconference board meeting on Friday, March 25, to reconsider language for the embattled Amendment #2, enacted by a vote of the membership two weeks ago.

Passage of the amendment putatively allows the Board to change bylaws without submitting such bylaws to the membership for a vote, with the exception of bylaws that govern elections, representation, notice and transparency. Changing those specific bylaws, said the ballot, would require a vote of the members.

Bylaw language posted on USAT's website exceeded what the ballot promised, however, and on Friday the Board backpedaled, instituting more restrictive language.

The ballot never contained bylaw language for Amendment #2, and when the Board originally settled on the final language it included a phrase that said even those "untouchable" aforementioned bylaws could be changed given a "... specific directive of the United States Olympic Committee." The USOC has been a vocal critic of a variety of members' rights embedded in the bylaws, and this phrase was seen by some as opening the door for the USOC to have its way with USAT's bylaws. Since the vote on the bylaw was held in executive session, the minutes do not need to reflect who voted for and against the controversial language.

Several directors on the Board, as well as angry members posting on triathlon's various forums, were not happy. Embarrassed and surprised by the strong reaction to the addition of this clause, the clause was dropped during the Friday telephonic meeting. "We made a mistake," acknowledged Board president Brad Davison, "and we corrected it."

The Board had hoped that this action would derail an election protest that appears ready to be lodged by Colorado attorney Steve Perkins. His 19-page protest must be filed with USAT this week. The protest complains that "The Board’s shoddy and underhanded election conduct resulted in confusion and ambiguity," and resulting bylaw language, "far exceed the scope of the proposal as provided to the members for the vote."

The Board considered alternative bylaw language from Perkins during its telephonic meeting, the passage of which would've caused Perkins to drop his protest. This language is substantially the same as what the board adopted on Friday, except Perkins' language would've considered any bylaw the board passed to become effective immediately, but only provisionally, pending permanent ratification by the members on the next annual election.

The Board rejected the idea of provisional bylaw adoption. Perkins has only this week to decide whether the Board's new Amendment #2 language is a satisfactory pullback, or whether his protest will go forward.

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USAT's board steps back from its Rubicon
March 21, 2005, Colorado Springs, CA
(slowtwitch news service™)

USA Triathlon's board meeting arrived with the promise of fireworks. It ended with the USOC admitting that a letter from the USOC's quad review board to the USAT was not written, "as well as it might have been," and with USAT's board resolving to continue its relationship with the USOC.

The meeting had its moments of high drama. Jim Scherr, the USOC's chief executive, addressed the board on Friday. He rebuked USAT treasurer Jack Weiss, who authored a resolution to secede from the USOC and who was vocal in the national press about USAT's responsibility to primarily serve its members, not the USOC. Scherr chastised Weiss, who was sitting across the table from him, for employing tactics that were "childlike, immature, and inappropriate."

Weiss, answered Scherr's remarks, and pointed out that the media attention "brought [Scherr] to the meeting." When Scherr interrupted to protest, Weiss cut him off, reminding Scherr that it was not his—Weiss'—turn to speak.

For all that, the meeting went smoothly. "No one came across the table," said board member Ray Plotecia. "We had a diplomatic dialogue."

On Saturday the time for board discussion of Weiss' call for secession, and after a brief discussion Weiss decided to pull his resolution. "I did so for two reasons," Weiss said. "First, the reason for bringing the resolution was to show the USOC that we had alternatives available to us. This was not about money, it was about power. It was about who controls this federation. Even now, not everyone at that meeting got it. But I know that the USOC understands this. The USOC doesn't agree with me, but at least they understand the issue now.

"I also pulled the resolution because it's still out there," Weiss continued. "Had it gone down to defeat in a vote, that would've been it. As it now stands, I can always bring this resolution back if the situation devolves and this is again something we need to consider. I have the promise of another board member that after I leave this board in June that this resolution will be sitting there at the ready, should it become necessary."

"The resolution was pulled," echoed Ray Plotecia, another board member who, like Weiss, rotates off the board this Summer. "but the document was not burned," he said, indicating, as Weiss did, that the idea which spawned the resolution still exists.

All parties agreed, however, that the two federations were better off together than apart. The USOC gives USAT the political cover to continue to represent triathlon—both in the U.S. And worldwide, at the elite and age-group level. USA Triathlon gives the USOC a powerful, financially strong, structure through which to carry out its mandate for Olympic medals.

That established, the USOC is not used to a federation sticking up for itself in such a way, and so publicly. Scherr as much as admitted in his comments that the USOC was embarrassed by the exposure in several newspapers with national audiences, including a front-sports-page spread in the Sunday L.A. Times, and an article in USA Today the day before Scherr addressed the board. This comes at a delicate time for the USOC, as it lobbies the world community for the 2012 Olympics in New York City, and as it readies for another round of scrutiny by the U.S. Congress.

The meeting ended with a unanimous vote of support for the USAT/USOC relationship: "We resolve to confirm the ongoing relationship between the age group and pro/elite components of USA Triathlon and our continuing association with the U.S. Olympic Committee."

Scherr and Partnership manager Chris Vadala also attended an open house that evening at USAT's office. Their attention to the USAT relationship spoke to the degree to which the USOC is eager to get along with USA Triathlon, notwithstanding the sometimes tough words Scherr spoke to the board.

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Federations at DEFCON 2, working through issues
March 11, 2005, Valyermo, CA
(slowtwitch news service™)

The USOC has sent a letter to USA Triathlon asking for answers to a list of questions. The document must be returned by the first of April, and in the absence of an executive director—Skip Gilbert will take up his duties on the day the document is due—the Board will take up the slack and answer the questions itself. Accordingly, USA Triathlon's directors have each gotten their assignments by president Brad Davison.

These questions are part of the "quad review" process, and most are boilerplate—questions every federation needs to answer—yet some are more penetrating, and openly critical of how USAT conducts its business. For example, the USOC is suspicious of a board that is elected via geography instead of by some other criterion. The document warns that "conflicts of interest may arise from the current structure," intimating that even those who volunteer at races are encumbered by a conflict.

Though answering the USOC's questions represents a step along the path of eventual resolution, none of this derails or averts the impending discussion and accompanying call to secede from the USOC, to be held at the Spring board meeting one week from today. These quad review questions are putting into focus, according to Treasurer Jack Weiss, the nature of the USOC's view of triathlon's national federation and it's posture toward it.

"I'm open to listening to all views on the issue of whether we stay or leave the USOC," said Weiss, who is the author of the resolution to secede from the USOC. "It must be noted, though, that as these questions have been circulating around the Board, several members have reiterated their resolve to keep this federation independent from outside control, which is a requirement of our bylaws. Further, there are a few who are asking me, 'Why is it the USOC feels to know [various elements] about our federation that are none of their business?'"

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Skip Gilbert to head USA Triathlon

March 4, 2005, Colorado Springs, Colorado
(slowtwitch news service™)

After a 9-month stretch without a permanent executive director, Skip Gilbert will take his seat at USA Triathlon's helm on the first day of April.

Gilbert's job may feel to him like an April Fool's joke, as he enters a federation strained by abject disfunction for at least a year. He further arrives just as USA Triathlon is embroiled in a very public tussle with the USOC, an organization with which he is familiar.

Gilbert served as Managing Director and head of business development at USA Swimming from 1998 to 2001, and therefore knows the lie of the land in Colorado Springs. More recently he's been the Eastern Advertising Director at Outside Magazine. He leaves this job, a home in Connecticut, and a commute to New York City to take up his new job.

The 44-year-old Gilbert will move West with wife Jenifer (one "n"), and children Fritz, Austin and Greta, 10, 7 and 3 respectively. His move back to Colorado Springs is both a matter of family lifestyle and a return to a professional passion. "I think it's safe to say," said Gilbert, "that of all the career changes I've made, leaving USA Swimming is the one I regret."

Gilbert is not a triathlete—yet—but was a professional soccer player for the Tampa Rowdies during the NASL era. His professional background has almost entirely consisted of sports marketing and positions within the sports-related publishing business.

Gilbert replaces Mike Greer, a former USAT board president who stepped in this past November to serve as interim E.D. pending Gilbert's arrival. Greer's last day is today, and though Gilbert will not officially start until April 1 he'll be in Colorado Springs for the board meeting scheduled for the third week in March.

Gilbert survived a rigorous and, for the applicants, sometimes brutal search process. The hunt for a new executive director commenced shortly after the new board of directors took office on the 12th of July, 2004. Following a nationwide call for applicants a 3-person search committee (consisting of then-board members Dan Empfield and Susie Gallucci, along with Greer) pored over applications and resumes of 180 who pursued the job.

Better than 60 man-hours were spent in oral interviews of 25 among these 180. A further cut pared the field to 8, and more interviews commenced, along with background checks. Gilbert was one of two finalists who journeyed to Colorado Springs to make presentations to the board of directors, and to meet USAT's office staff.

Though Gilbert is not yet officially at the helm, he is reportedly already plowing the field for his arrival, having traded phone messages with the USOC's top exec Jim Scherr.

Though USA Triathlon is enmeshed in difficult issues, Gilbert also enters an organization that has put to rest board fights, legal charges, bylaw tussles, and deep enmities. If he can aid in patching up relations with the USOC he'll have earned his first month's paycheck.

He does not appear dismayed. "There are two sides to the story," said Gilbert about this current fracas, "and I think it's going to be easy to navigate through."

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It's the dog days of the quad review

March 1, 2005, Valyermo, CA (Slowtwitch News Service™)

It's months before the Front Range will have to endure the heat of Summer, but the mood around Colorado Springs is edgy and the sweat is beading up on the backs of necks. The USOC and USAT personnel sit in their various offices. Waiting. Just about everyone hopes things will simmer down and everyone can get back to the business of sports governance. But nothing much seems to be happening. It's starting to feel like the NHL.

The ball is in USA Triathlon's court. The USOC has given to the USAT the document telling America's triathlon federation what it considers problem areas. The document says this process wants to consider, "USAT's governance structure and how it may be affecting USAT's elite athletes," and to "conduct a complete inquiry into USAT's compliance with the requirements for membership as an Olympic Sport Organization and for recognition as a National Governing Body."

This document lists 4 areas of specific concern: "USAT's Board structure"; its "CEO search"; "Commitment to the Elite Athlete Program"; and "Other Bylaw Concerns" (the "other concerns" revolve around the ability of the membership to place an amendment on the ballot). Then the document reverts from text to mostly simple boilerplate questions asked of most federations. The document is signed by Virginia Witte, presumably the chair of the committee undertaking USAT's quad review. Ms. Witte asks that all answers and documentation be submitted by April 1, 2005.

Contemporaneously the USOC has made curious remarks regarding USAT through the mainstream press. The L.A. Times published an article that appeared on Page 1 of its sport section this past Sunday. The author, Alan Abrahamson, quotes USOC chief executive Jim Scherr as saying, "If their governing body doesn't want to meet the obligations of the Amateur Sports Act and doesn't wish to support elite athletes in their sport and doesn't wish to build their sport at the grass-roots level in this country, then they should secede. And that's their choice."

The quad review attempts to determine whether a governing body meets the qualifications to be a national governing body in good standing. This appears on its face, however, to be a moving target. USAT went through a bylaw rewrite in the early 1990s to come into conformity with the Amateur Sports Act, which was written and passed by Congress in 1978. Ironically, one of the key elements needing change back then was to reign in the power the elite athletes held over their own destinies.

As USAT has not materially changed its structure since it became triathlon's Olympic NGB the question arises, if USAT was in compliance with the Amateur Sports Act when first vetted for NGB membership, how can it no longer be in compliance, as Scherr intimates? No one from USAT seems to be asking that question, and Scherr doesn't feel compelled to explain his words.

Meanwhile, the USOC's headaches stretch past its problems with USA Triathlon. Many close to USA Swimming are in open revolt with the USOC over one of the issues USAT has with the USOC: the determination of what is "pipeline."

"They for some ungodly reason think they have some idea how to produce medals," John Leonard, executive director of the American Swimming Coaches Assn., was quoted by the L.A. Times as saying. "They are clueless."

Today Leonard wrote, in a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, "NGB's vary wildly in effectiveness, and the USOC regularly attempts to tell the NGB's (all of them) what to do and how to do it. This is absurd in the case of swimming, the most successful sports team in the history of the planet... The fantasy that the USOC produces medals is hurtful. The people in that organization wind up listening to their own hype and begin to think that they know something. They don't."

Weightlifting is likewise in a war of words with the USOC. It's executive director, Wes Barnett, complains that the USOC is starving his organization for funds over a bureaucratic issue.

"It is inherently unfair, wrote Barnett to Scherr and USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth on the 25th of February, "to try and stop the train after it has already left the station which is what the current plan is doing. Had we been told this information last July/August, we would have been able to take the necessary steps to adjust, but to be informed the middle of February, just does not give us a chance to recover."

As if that was not enough, on Monday Modern Pentathlon announced it's leaving the USOC's umbrella of federations. (The point of this is is still unclear. There is trust fund money involved, and issues of proper legal corporate designation. This is a confusing story and might be emblematic of solution for the USOC rather than a problem for them. Either way, it doesn't appear a proud moment for the either organization).

All this is occurring as the USOC attempts to land for New York City the 2012 Olympics. This public relations push, which included a bash last weekend for IOC members in New York, comes amid another round of staff cuts in Colorado Springs, where the USOC's current payroll of 400 employees is roughly a third less than it had at its peak two years ago.

These are also good times for the USOC, however, as the difficult staff cuts and severe board restructuring are history (the USOC's employee roster is hovering at 400, about a third leaner than the number on the payroll two years ago; its 100-plus board of directors has been trimmed to 11, precisely USA Triathlon's total). All that remains to be seen is whether the USOC can get along with the federations under its charge. At least one of the questions the USOC is asking of USAT is solved. A new executive director will take his place at USAT's helm on the 18th of April. The other issues are a bit thornier.

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USAT's Board to vote on separation from USOC

Febuary 18, 2005, Valyermo, California (slowtwitch news service™)

A resolution calling for USAT to sever its relationship with the USOC has been submitted by USAT Treasurer Jack Weiss.

Weiss, a long time board member recently critical of the USOC's posture toward triathlon's national governing body, reports that the resolution is on the agenda of the next USAT board meeting, set for March 18-20.

According to Roberts Rules of Order and USAT's bylaws, this resolution requires a vote of the board of directors unless Weiss, its author, withdraws or tables the motion.

The resolution reads, in part:

Whereas USAT was initially conceived by and for Race Directors to promote and grow the sport of triathlon in the United States; and

Whereas the overwhelming membership consists of age group competitors (54,000); and

Whereas USAT has grown to over 1400 age group events and 54,000 members of which less then 300 are “Pro/Elite”; and

Whereas USAT age group funding has been subsidizing the “Olympic” program for at least 5 years at the tune of $330,000 annually with no tangible benefit and indirectly impacting negatively on many Age Group programs; and

Whereas USAT now has a budget in excess of 5 million dollars and receives less then $750,000 to maintain the elite program,

Now therefore be it resolved that USAT terminate its relationship with the USOC and the Olympic Program, that USAT will no longer be the NGB for the sport of Olympic Triathlon, that USAT will devote its full resources to its principle members, age group athletes and Race Directors, that USAT will henceforth conduct all of its business separate and distinct from USOC including all of its owned sponsorship both cash and VIK. That USAT will operate as a single independent entity, responsible only to its own self-interests and that of its membership.

Submitted by Jack Weiss, Treasurer USA Triathlon & Board Member

The entire resolution, including background, financial impact, and relevant bylaws, can be accessed here.