HISTORY OF THE DESERT CLASSIC DUATHLON

ORIGINS
The Desert Classic Duathlon course was originally designed by pro duathlete Kristi Kidwell and Maricopa County Park educator Terry Gerber.  Kristi and Terry wanted to create an event that would be for and about the people racing it instead of an event that was sculpted for profit or promotion.  Kristi and Terry where both accomplished multi-sport athletes and wanted to design a race course that would be challenging, visually stimulating and stay close to the original Coors Light Biathlon series distance totals of a 5K run, a 30k bike, and a 5k run. 

Around this same time, funding was pulled from the Arizona Premier Duathlon Series and the newly formed Phoenix Triathlon Club was looking for an event to rally around as a club activity.  With the Arizona Premier Duathlon Series gone, there was no longer a duathlon specific race in Arizona.  That void was quickly filled with a number of duathlons, by various race companies and directors, but the “Desert Classic” was the race the athletes kept coming back to.

 
Kristi and Terry’s vision was to design a duathlon course outside of metro Phoenix that had a logical flow and that did not resort to repetitive out and back run and bike routes.  In the end, a course was chosen that would utilize the park’s desert trails for the two run legs and the main paved roads within the park and McDowell Mountain Road outside the park for the 21 mile bike course. 

GROWTH
Beyond the development of an exceptional course, Kristi and Terry wanted to raise money for the park’s youth programs, fund programs and activities for the newly formed Phoenix Triathlon Club as well as recognize more race participants by expanding the age group categories.    The race was one of the first events in the country to provide a quality technical race shirt as part of the race goody bag and featured a huge post-race raffle that was second to none.

 
From its inception the Desert Classic Duathlon received accolades, from pros and the media alike, as one of the most beautiful multi-sport venues in the country.  The Sonoran desert location had an almost serene and hypnotic effect on the athletes and the race became a favorite because of it’s natural beauty, positive energy and festive atmosphere.  Athletes from all over the world come to the Arizona desert every February to race in and enjoy this unique race venue.

TODAY AND BEYOND
Today the TriSports.com Desert Classic Duathlon is one of the premier duathlons in the southwest.  It has been ranked as one of the top 100 multi-sport events in the world by Triathlete Magazine and from 2005-2009 the race served as a USAT Duathlon world championship qualifier and regional duathlon championship.  

From the beginning Kristi Kidwell set a standard for listening to the athletes and their feedback is what has helped build one of the finest events in multi-sports.   It is with this same spirit that today’s race directors and the leadership and membership of the Phoenix Triathlon Club continue to produce the TriSports.com Desert Classic Duathlon.

Multi-sport is our passion and our objective is to build the Desert Classic Duathlon into the premier short course duathlon in the United States that features a unique athlete experience and a professionally executed event that exceeds the expectations of the sponsors as well as both age-group and professional athletes.