Racing Local: Why It Matters (plus NC multisport racing companies) Ep 102

Join Coach Chris (and Race Director) as she discusses why racing local matters! 

She discusses how:

• Local race fees support small race directors, vendors, volunteers, and sometimes charitable causes like Girls on the Run
• Racing locally eliminates the logistical complexities of travel, shipping bikes, and hotel stays
• Local events help you build community by connecting with potential training partners
• Use local races to test nutrition, pacing strategies, and transition skills for bigger events
• The relaxed atmosphere of community races means less pressure and more fun
• North Carolina offers diverse racing companies including Setup Events, Jones Racing Company, She Tris, FS Series, Brick Endurance, Trivium Racing, OBX Triathlon, and Whitewater Center
• Our Humans of Steel Triathlon (August 3rd, 2025) features a unique reverse format (run-bike-swim) and supports Girls on the Run of the Triangle. 

Join us at humansofsteelracing.com for our next event, or check out one of the many other fantastic local racing companies in North Carolina!

Experience the breakthrough when everything finally clicks! Train with expert coaches, fuel with incredible chef-prepared meals, and connect with athletes who love triathlon as much as you do. Join us April 22–26 at beautiful Lake Jocassee for four unforgettable days of swim, bike, run, learning, and community. Spots are almost full: Reserve yours here.

Transcript

Welcome & Racing Local Benefits

Speaker 1 1:31

Hey y'all and welcome back to the Find your Edge podcast. I am excited that you are here and listening because we are gonna be talking about one of my favorite topics. I mean, what topic is not my favorite, honestly? But why racing local matters and where to do it, especially if you are in the North Carolina area. So I wanted to highlight some of the other racing organizations, including ours, as we have a race coming up on August 3rd 2025. It is called the Humans of Steel Racing Company. It is owned by our organization, the Endurance Edge.

Speaker 1 2:03

I wanted to talk a little bit about not only that event, but some of the other local race production events, and why racing local matters. Why don't we start there? So this is all about supporting your community. So racing local keeps your dollars in the local endurance and business community, supporting small race directors, vendors and volunteers. So, for example, our organization, the Humans of Steel Racing Company, we support the Endurance Edge and the staff members there. We have amazing volunteers and vendors with whom we support in this area. We have amazing volunteers and vendors with whom we support in this area, and the money that we raise goes directly to Girls on the Run of the Triangle area. Because if I were not involved in sports as a young child then I certainly wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now. I wanted to support Girls on the Run of the Triangle, because what better way to have our women-owned company support other women in activity as they're growing up and they learn to run?

Speaker 1 3:04

So another key thing that's wonderful about racing local is easier logistics no flights, no shipping your bike, no taking things apart or packing it or whatever. Generally no hotel stays, although you know, certainly if you go somewhere you might want to have a hotel, something like the Outer Banks Tri. That's a really great one if you don't live near there, but generally speaking it's pretty easy to just pack your stuff up. Maybe you leave race morning. That was my very first race. I remember my alarm going off at like four o'clock in the morning. Very first race. I remember my alarm going off at like four o'clock in the morning and my husband poking me, being like please stop hitting snooze and just go. So anyway, at least I didn't have a flight in that particular instance.

Practice Makes Progress

Speaker 1 3:47

Another cool part about racing local is building your people right. You'll start to see familiar faces, and that's what we love about the Endurance Edge community and our club is that you'll start to see people in the same racing kit or maybe they're not even part of your club, but you start to see them more often and get introduced to them, meet other athletes in your area, connect with potential training partners or even encourage people to join the club that you're in. So that's really part of our overall company mission is to bring together the community in a healthy and fun environment, and this is the way to do it that y'all I mean. It keeps you in the sport, it keeps you active, keeps you having fun, and that's what really matters, especially from a longevity perspective, because that's what I've got my eye on. So another thing that makes racing local fun is that practice makes progress. So local races are such a great opportunity for getting experience, for testing out nutrition, for testing out your pacing strategies, for maybe some bigger, more national races, for getting experience with transitions, for building confidence, for some of those bigger events that you may have planned for, like a challenge event or an Ironman event Doesn't mean that you have to do those, but these local races are great opportunities for preparing you for some of the bigger events. And, of course, one of my favorite things is that racing local is all about less pressure and more fun. So local races often have a more relaxed vibe, making it easier to not only enjoy the process and to park and to get into and out of transition and go through packet pickup and all that kind of stuff. So way less pressure, way easier to navigate, way more fun and sometimes there's some good food, good people, good energy. So definitely encourage you to race local wherever you happen to be located.

Spotlight on NC Racing Companies

Speaker 1 5:55

But I'd like to highlight some of the racing companies in the North Carolina area. Some of the racing companies in the North Carolina area. So first up is Setup Events. They have been one of the longest standing triathlon companies in the Southeast. They're very well organized, they are beginner friendly and they are consistent. In fact, my very first race was a Setup Event. It was the White Lake Triathlon and I just remember having such an amazing time Again, super well organized. They know what they're doing. They've been doing this forever, so definitely check them out. Another company that you may want to check out is Jones Racing Company. I find that they mostly are kind of in the western part of the state, but really all over, so they're definitely known for their attention to detail some fun post-race vibes.

Speaker 1 6:44

Venues typically are always scenic and athlete friendly. Some friends of mine own the she Tries event, so this one is female focused and empowering. Was volunteering at their event that was in Chapel Hill last year and so freaking fun y'all. I tell you what it is a great entry point for women who are new to triathlon or just wanting to race in a super supportive environment. I mean, it is so fun, so chill. If you are a female looking to get into triathlon, this is the way to go. Plus, they're all pool tries, so there's no intimidation factor of being in open water or in a lake or an ocean, and it's you know. You jump in. You go one at a time as you start off.

Speaker 1 7:30

Generally the bike courses are pretty short, same with the runs, so definitely get in touch with those guys, and they've got some races in South Carolina too. And then we have FS Series. I remember when these guys started it's probably been a while, but they came into our metabolic testing facility back when I was working at Meredith College at their exercise phys lab, and they were all excited about getting started and they do a fantastic job. So they have tons of options. Not only do they have triathlon but they also do, like some, running events and things like that, from sprints to longer distance, great community energy, super fun. They are well known for their Rex series where they have this like blow up dinosaur that you can take a picture with. Super fun, all right, next up, brick Endurance. So this is run by Chad Duffy, a solid race production team, well-marked courses, great growing presence, and they're actually on a weekday. How cool is that? You can have a super fun time racing on Wednesdays in the North Raleigh area. So super fun, one, pretty affordable. Get out there, have some fun. That's a great one.

Speaker 1 8:40

Some that I've done whitewater center triathlons. Generally, these are going to be a unique mix of trail or multi-sport events, like they've got one that's called the dry try. So if you're like heck, no, am I going to swim in open water or lake or whatever, they've got one that does paddling or kayaking and then off-road bike and trail running. So this is one of my favorite races that they do is the Whitewater Off-Road Triathlon Super fun, oh my gosh, the trails out there are amazing at the Whitewater Center just outside of Charlotte. And they've got other events like cycling only and running only. So really fun stuff. Super affordable too. Really affordable since all of their stuff is all in-house, all right. Another one to mention is OBX triathlon. I mean, come on, race at the beach, you know. So this is in the fall every year. It's a great excuse to head out to the beach and skip the like insane crowds, that you're going to jump in the water and have an ocean swim and have a whole slew of different distances that you can choose from. So, from short course to long course.

Humans of Steel Racing Introduction

Speaker 1 9:54

Another great racing company that's local to North Carolina is Trivium Racing and they are located out of Greensboro, kind of like the mid part of the state. They have high quality races across the state, super cool, swag, well thought out courses. I've done their off-road race called Dak Green's Off-Road Drafton, and they do it as a combination race. They do the on-road course in the morning and the off-road course in the afternoon, so you can actually race both if you are so inclined, or you can just do one. And that is always such an interesting experience to race in the middle of the afternoon. Usually I'm so used to, you know, as I'm sure all of you are used to getting up at the crack of dawn and stressing out about what you're going to eat for breakfast and whether you're going to hit the Port-au-Jones at the right time. This is like sleep in a little bit. Take your time. I drove out there, listened to my music and, you know, was on the course and headed back in time for dinner. So super, super fun events that they have there. Plus, they have some really great like club events where you can compete against other clubs.

Speaker 1 11:04

Now, if you want to race with us, we would love to have you, not only for racing but also maybe for volunteering. So our race, our racing company, actually is called Humans of Steel Racing for the Humans of Steel Triathlon. That's on August 3rd of 2025. So we try to hit that sort of early August timeframe, which a lot of racing is not necessarily going on at this time of the year in North Carolina, because it's freaking hot, I mean in all honesty. But this is a fun one where you can actually do a reverse race. So we intentionally designed it that way, so you would get the run out of the way first because it's hot, and then get off the bike and then jump into the water. It's hot and then get off the bike and then jump into the water. So it's either a sprint or an Olympic distance race in a reverse format.

Closing Thoughts & Call to Action

Speaker 1 11:53

And another reason why we did this is because, for those of you out there who don't want to run, or can't run for whatever reason, and can still participate in multi-sport, which is specifically called aqua bike, so you swim and then bike. Generally speaking, I always found that to be so disappointing that you, like, finish by just entering transition area. That is so anticlimactic and just terrible. So I wanted to have a race that finished with the swim, so everyone actually gets a real finish line. So you finish getting out of the water, which is super fun. So, whether it's your first race because we do have a big sign that you get to take a picture with and it's so incredible to see how stoked these people were and, to be quite honest, I would have never done this as my first race. So kudos for all the people who come out and do this as their first race. It is so empowering and so exciting and I'm so proud of y'all. So, whether it's your first race or your 50th, this one is sure to be exciting, especially in that reverse format.

Speaker 1 12:59

So you can join us at humansofsteelracingcom. That's again humansofsteelracingcom. That's again humansofsteelracingcom. Come out, support Girls on the Run. Come see the Kids Fun Run. Oh my gosh, they are so stinking cute y'all, so I hope you can get there. Plus, there's a playground. So if you have kids, it's a nice one where you can still have some entertainment for them. They're not super bored. It's outside. So I would love for you to celebrate community whether you're racing with us or whether you're racing with another one of the companies that I've mentioned and really celebrating community, celebrating your fitness and celebrating the power of local racing. So again, if you want to check out our race, it's humansofsteelracingcom. And all of the other companies that I mentioned. I'm going to have those linked below in the show notes. They are fantastic. Please go check them out as well, and thank you again for listening to Find your Edge podcast and I will catch you next time.