USAT Awards 2013 And 2014 Collegiate Nationals To Tempe

USA Triathlon announced today that the 2013 and 2014 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships will be held in Tempe, Ariz., the home of Arizona State University. The events will take place the two days before the inaugural 2012 LeadmanTri Tempe event.

See the complete announcement from USA Triathlon below:

The 2013 event is slated for April 12-13, 2013, at Tempe Beach Park and Tempe Town Lake, adjacent to the ASU campus. Saturday, April 13 will consist of the Olympic-Distance (1,500m swim, 40k bike, 10k run) USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championship, as well as the draft-legal, mixed-team relay, which debuted at 2012 Collegiate Nationals in Tuscaloosa, Ala., to rave reviews.

New for 2013 will be the inaugural USA Triathlon Draft-Legal Collegiate Championship. This exciting sprint-distance (750m swim, 20k bike, 5k run) event is slated for the morning of Friday, April 12. Only the best 75 collegiate athletes in the United States will qualify to participate in the draft-legal race, and each of USA Triathlon’s 10 collegiate conferences will be allocated slots in the field. Qualified athletes will be able to compete in both the draft-legal and Olympic-distance Collegiate National Championship events, and both races will count toward the Collegiate Nationals team scoring.

“USA Triathlon is excited to bring Collegiate Nationals to Tempe for the next two years. The city has a history of hosting major sporting events, and we look forward to adding to that legacy with the country’s top collegiate triathlon,” USA Triathlon CEO Rob Urbach said. “The venue and surrounding area will provide a challenging, scenic and fun environment for race weekend.”

Collegiate Nationals has grown into one of USA Triathlon’s signature events in recent years. In 2012, nearly 1,300 athletes from more than 120 schools participated in Collegiate Nationals in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The University of Colorado won its third consecutive overall title this year.

“We are thrilled that Tempe has been selected as the host city for the USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships in 2013 and 2014. Tempe is a recognized sports destination. Not only will this new competition be a great opportunity for us to showcase Tempe and Arizona State University, it is also projected to have a positive economic impact of approximately $1 million for the City of Tempe,” Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell said.

“As the home of Arizona State University, it will be an honor for Tempe to host 120 U.S. collegiate teams, representing nearly 2,000 athletes,” said Stephanie Nowack, President/CEO of the Tempe Tourism Office. “This event will be a perfect addition to the roster of major sporting events already successfully hosted in Tempe, such as Ironman Arizona and the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon and 1/2 Marathon.”

The USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships have been a springboard to success for some of the nation’s top up-and-coming triathletes in recent years, including current elite athletes Marissa Ferrante, Dustin McLarty, Kaitlin Shiver, Caitlin Snow, Barrett Brandon, Kevin Collington, Amanda Felder, Ben Hoffman, Nicole Kelleher and Steve Sexton, who all captured individual collegiate titles.

RELATED – Photos: 2012 USAT Collegiate National Championship