What’s a triathlete to do when the temps are below freezing, snow is pounding the East Coast, and there’s pretty much little motivation to venture outdoors? You can hit the gym, run on the treadmill and ride on the trainer, but during the holidays who doesn’t want to hang up the spandex for a few days and surf the web? There’s Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, but what’s a triathlete to do when they want to connect with like minded people?
How about entering a virtual community of online trathletes at:
- Beginner Triathlete (BT)
- Slowtwitch (ST)
- I Am Tri (IAT)
- Tri Fuel (TF)
- Athlinks and Endurance Athlete Project (EAP).
Beginner Triathlete and Slowtwitch are probably the juggernauts of the triathlete online social media world. They have a very robust offering of interaction for athletes. You can get the latest amateur or pro input on gear and training routines or hear from the newbie age grouper’s take on the latest local triathlon. BT gained steam in 2003 as the creators put more time and effort into the programming to make the site more enriching for athletes. Also noted is that BT is one of the few sites offering real-time chat (EAP mentioned later has this feature as well). ST was founded in 1999 and holds the longest running span in existence of the sites listed. From first glance, ST looks to be a little bit more polished and is readily accessible for a few more options than BT.
The next level is IAmTri and TriFuel. IAmTri runs in conjunction with WTC’s Ironman website. The official social site of Ironman boasts 15,000+ members. IAmTri losses a little bit of ground to BT and ST. Without discernable articles from leaders in the industry and more official offerings such as coaching, mentoring or articles, the site takes a back seat in the overall triathlete offering. While TriFuel, created in 2001, offers an articles section, they do miss out on the coaching, mentoring and training offerings of ST and BT.
The next level consists of newer entries into the social media arena. Athlinks revolves around the idea of offering a site that athletes can consolidate all of their race results in once place. If one athlete connects the race results from on online source, any athlete in that race can then find and claim their results. Boasting 140,000+ members and created in 2001, Athlinks also provides athletes a way to cyber stalk competitors and compare your performances to others that run in the same events as you.
Content is mostly generated by members on their profiles. Endurance Athlete Project is a new endeavor created this year (2010). EAP is different than the other sites reviews as it takes a more Facebookian approach to the online triathlete experience. You have your profile you log on and you can post a status and see the feed of the entire membership group. It offers the basic other amenities such as forums, event calendars and has live chat. This level of social sites has yet to catch up with BT and ST as far as coaching and articles from experienced sources in the triathlete realm, but they hang their hat on the social aspect.
See the matrix above of options easily accessible for each site. As you can see the focus for each site do not always match the cookie cutter approach to online content.
There are more than the 6 sites mentioned above out there on the world-wide-web. Whether you are looking for equipment advice, online coaching or to connect with athletes like yourself, these 6 sites offer a similar yet unique insight into the online world of triathlon. Choose which one works best for you, or join them all. There are no rules when it comes to triathlon online and more information is always better.
Ryan Falkenrath writes the blog falkeetriathlon.blogspot.com, and is a married father of two, owner of three dogs and trying to balance life, work and multisport. Ryan has participated in multisport events since 2001. Ryan is also the Kansas Endurance Sports Examiner and you can read more of his triathlon thoughs HERE. Contact Ryan at: [email protected] or follow him on @TriJayhawkRyan
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