TriHive caught up with Dave Nicholas, senior VP of TEAM Unlimited (aka - XTERRA Triathlon). Dave tells us about the new Winter Worlds race that will break ground on March 8-9 at Snow Basin Ski Resort. Check out www.XterraPlanet.com for more details about the event. See below for our interview with Dave.
Explain Team Unlimited’s ownership of XTERRA.
XTERRA is wholey owned by TEAM Unlimited.
Who is TEAM Unlimited?
TEAM LImited came from two companies; Event Marketing and the Kiely Company. Event marketing was our original event production company that started in 1990. Kiely Company was Tom Kiely’s marketing company. We split Event Marketing into TV production and event production but it became to cumbersome and now everything falls under TEAM Unlimited. Much better.
How/why did TEAM Unlimited started XTERRA?
We had become a fairly major player in mountain bike racing. We were also at the head of the ocean sports field with about half a dozen top competitions. We saw the blend of mountain biking and swimming and running into this newer sport called triathlon. So it made perfect sense to combine what we did into one multi discipline event.
Why winter triathlon?
It was a natural extension of XTERRA. And XTERRA is not winter triathlon. XTERRA is 4 disciplines rather than 3 and only two of our disciplines are the same as winter tri.
How does it differ from the USAT winter series?
At this point it is not a series, it is one race. As stated we do snow running and biking (the same) but we do back country skiing rather than cross country and we have snow show included.
How did you come up with the events in the race?
Winter tri is a heavy on equipment sport. We did not think that running and biking were true winter sports. How many times have you been cycling on packed snow? We thought that snow shoe running was more valid than just running on packed snow for a winter event. We also felt that back country skiing was more valid for multi-sport than was cross country of skate skiing. So If you are bringing all this equipment to do a winter tri- it isn’t that much more difficult to bring snow shoes.
Why winter worlds at
We have worked with Snowbasin on our Mountain Champs in the summer. They are very professional and skilled folks. There is a good relationship with them and the State of
Will Winter Worlds be like the summer event (points series events leading to regionals. Regionals to worlds?) If so, what other events are there?
Too early to tell. We do have interest from several other resorts in the
Who are the athletes that will be racing? Are you aiming for the triathlon crowd, or the Nordic skiing crowd, or the snowshoeing crowd?
All of the above. We surveyed our athletes and found that almost 70% are avid skiers. We also know that many of our top pro’s compete in winter triathlon and/or snow shoe racing. I’m not sure the nordic crowd will compete, but we welcome them to try something a bit more on the edge. Hah, no pun intended, but they will need hard edges on their ski’s to be safe on some of the downhills.
Anything else we should know?
We really do not see ourselves as rebels or counter triathlon. So we are not saying winter tri or nordic or cross country aren’t terrific sports. XTERRA created its own sport by being more fun, less pressure and a bit more testy than on-the-road triathlon. Our athletes don’t mind getting dirty or the occasional crash and burn. We felt that the winter crowd - being essentially the same as our summer folks - would like something similar. So we did some research, asked questions, learned a lot and came up with this format. Time will tell if we did it right or not.
Thanks for your time, Dave!
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