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Original Wildflower Back On the Schedule

A select few in-person social endeavors become cultural institutions.  Woodstock was more than a music concert.  Bay to Breakers was (and remains) more than a footrace.  Very few triathlons clear that bar and offhand I would list Kona, Roth, maybe Escape from Alcatraz and certainly the Wildflower Triathlon.  Begun in 1983 it was in some years the world’s largest.

The original Wildflower is back and “original” in this case refers to the ownership structure and the mechanics of the production.   The daughter – Colleen Bousman – of the founder – Terry Davis – of the Wildflower Triathlon was the main organizing force during this event’s halcyon years.  She reacquired the race from Motiv Sports, who had it for most of the past decade.  The most important news to Wildflower devotees is that after years of drought and atypical water management the swim venue – Lake San Antonio – is nearly full and the water release schedule for the next couple of years is minimal.   Race dates are May 2nd  through 4th of 2025 and registration is open.

At its peak the race hosted 7,500 starters and 30,000 total attendees

Why is the reconstitution of any particular race worthy of a front page article?  This race is a phenomenon unreplicated in triathlon. Peak numbers were 9,000 registering with 7,500 participating and while some races have been bigger – London and Hamburg, maybe Chicago Triathlon – Wildflower was unique in that you almost had to camp and for most it was a feature, not a bug.  The organizers had a special relationship with this very large county park, as Terry Davis was a longtime Monterey County (just below San Francisco) Parks & Rec director.  Back then, and again for the race upcoming, the organizers rent out the entire Lake San Antonio park and triathlon clubs are given their own discrete locations to camp.  Typically clubs would bring their members out and in years past you’d see about 70 clubs with banners flying about their camping area.  So far more than 50 clubs have signed up to get their spots for the upcoming May race and Ms. Bousman says that this pace projects to perhaps 80 clubs by race weekend.

This race is doubly important because it’s a bellwether of the strength of triathlon in the U.S. and in particular non-IRONMAN-affiliated triathlon.  For a long time Wildflower was a Kona qualifier but when Kona slots were reallocated away from Wildflower in 2001 the race didn’t skip a beat.  Its value was intrinsic.  It wasn’t a means to another race.  It was its own reward for those who participated and the annual return rate was routinely 70 percent year-over-year.  Even plopping popular IRONMAN St. George proximate to the Wildflower weekend didn’t dent the numbers.  Only a lack of water caused Wildflower’s numbers to drop and – fingers crossed – that appears to be no longer an issue for the upcoming event.

Water levels and release schedule are back to normal

The other important relationship that returns for 2025 is the participation of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the students a critical part of Wildflower’s volunteer army, with event work a part of Cal Poly SLO’s curriculum. 

Also back is the expo and drawing from my own days as a manufacturer/vendor Wildflower annually hosted the best revenue and brand-building expo of any triathlon in the U.S.  (Others may disagree but this was my brand’s experience.) This was no-doubt due to the captive audience that was typically there for 3 or 4 days rather than 3 or 4 hours.  Folks would hang out at the lawn in front of the main stage.  The bluegrass (and country and classic rock) bands will be back along with the many food vendors.

The bands will be back.

One thing old timers will find somewhat different is attention on events for those not racing triathlons.  It’s not Wildflower Triathlon anymore, but Wildflower Experience.  The spectator-to-participant ratio at Wildflower was a very high 3:1, which meant 75 percent of those camping in the park had no events for them and in peak years the park hosted 30,000 total attendees.  Accordingly, in recent years a 5k, 10k, trail run and open water swim race was added mostly for these folks who were so-inclined and Wildflower pros who’ve gone on to excellence in other single-sport endeavors – like Angela  Naeth and Heather Jackson – may participate in bringing gravel and/or ultra trail runs to this weekend (in future years).

A lot changed at that park over the last 6 years.  What kind of shape is the park in?  Are the facilities still there?  The answer is yes and no.   Over the last 3 years Monterey County has been  refurbishing the park, focusing on water, sewer and the trail system.  But race management will have to augment with extra facilities and anticipates spending $40,000 to do that beyond what’s normally in the race budget.  The County pulled out half the cabins but did replace those with pull-in RV hook ups and there are additional lakeview RV spots.  For those who just don’t camp there are vacation (e.g., Airbnb) rentals  at nearby Oak Shores and Lake Nacimiento and it’s off season so the rates are attractive.

Camping is a bug or a feature of this race.

Let’s talk about reg fees because this race is an example of the changes so many of us have asked for for decades.  In part this is due to very recent changes in California consumer law, mostly a response to the practices of Ticketmaster. The price you see is the price you get.  No “convenience fee” at the end.  The long course (identical to the 70.3 distances) is $384.75. Olympic-distance course is $238.50.  The Offroad Sprint (where you will find me) is $176.10.  Another feature worth noting:  If you enter and find you can’t use your registration, you can transfer yours to another for a $25 fee.

Because there is no annual in-person industry trade show for triathlon, and other annual meet-ups have ceased, Ms. Bousman noted that “people have missed a place to gather.”  She’s right.  I used to see my friends and contemporaries a half-dozen times a year and now I don’t see them at all.  Ms. Bousman’s event was one of those times and in her vision it will be again.

Of course, Wildflower’s events were never easy.  “When you come to WF you have to check your ego at the door, because of the nature of the course,” Ms. Bousman said.  “It’s a hard race to do.  But it’s also not just about you.  You cheer on your teammates.  It’s good for peoples’ souls.  You feel good on Monday morning, not hungover.”

Notable Replies

  1. Really, really excited for this! Already registered and flights are booked. Will there be a Slowtwitch meet up / event / anything?
    FWIW the only year I participated was the last year it truly existed (2019) but I loved every second of being there. Tent camping and triathlon :slight_smile:

  2. I did it in 1996 (missed a Kona slot by 8 seconds and was next person on results sheet after Paula Newby Fraser who just won IMOz a few weeks earlier), 2007, 2010, 2015. 1996 was Peter Reid’s first major pro win and it was one of the last pro triathlons for Finnish Legends Pauli Kiuru (I hung out with him race week because we had the winter sport part in common and became friends to this day). The whole plan that year was to Kona qualify at Wildflower, my son was going to be born in August, and do Kona and retire from triathlon and become a proper parent, but instead, I missed it by 8 seconds, but more importantly I I realized while camping at Wildflower that I needed to keep doing the sport.

    Fast forward to 2006, finally got to Kona and immediately next spring (2007) needed to go back to Wildflower. From 2006 to 2015 I was either going to St. Croix or Wildflower on the first weekend in May all the way from Eastern Canada because both events were so awesome.

    Next year is my first year racing 60-64 and I am already booked for St. George 70.3 the next weekend. Realistically my running is so bad, these days, I don’t think it could handle the hills and trails of WF without me completely screwing up my back but I won’t say “never again” yet, but I think that realistically its off ability list.

    But I think everyone should go and enjoy the race at least once in their triathlon “career” (if you want to call it that). For those of us around as @Slowman’s article refers to, it WAS the place to be. I first met Dan at the QR booth at WF 1996. They had a massive fleet of QR Kilo’s (with flite titanium saddles and neoprene covers).

    Funny story from 1996, I was descending Nasty grade at 80kph and on a hot bright day I got hit by a rain shower…I had my head down in a tuck with nose hanging over the front wheel to gain speed (because I was 31 and risk of dying was not on my radar) and then I picked my head up and realized the guy I was fast encroaching on had his ass off the saddle and was peeing into my face at 80kph relative wind!!!

  3. things turning out as they did, were you an improper parent? :wink:

  4. Wildflower once was the Sea Otter and Woodstock of triathlon. It was a moment in time that can’t be replicated, but I’m happy they are going to give it a shot.

    Hopefully the Cal Poly topless aid station on the run won’t be replaced by students screaming about the proper use of gendered pronouns.

  5. Monty, I missed this article because i was in St. Croix on WF weekeind in 2012 (first race after a major life altering crash at IM Switzerland the previous year), so did not know the entire back story of you going off course!! Thanks for sharing that! It took me till 2015 to get back to a very dry Lake San Antonio where the swim was run 2 miles away from the traditional transition and it was swim-run-bike-run and the first run was along the dry lake bed to the traditional T1…so you emerged out of the dry lake that you were running on to T1.

    I tried to look up results to see how long Run1 was vs Run2, but it is all combined into one giant run split:

    https://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/20150502_Wildflower_Triathlons.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Class=Long+Course+Individual~M50-54

    I got my butt kicked by Keith Hansen and then we went head to head at IM Tahoe later that year. It was a good year of racing in California for this east coast guy!!!

    @Slowman the jury is still out if I am “proper” at anything. In an imperfect world balancing many things we do what is on our plate the “least improperly possible”. We only find out how good we were at anything when we die and people say all the nice things about us that were never said when alive, but at that point, we actually don’t get to hear it (but I suppose everyone else does). You’d have to ask the recipient of the parenting part of my life, but I want to think I balanced things OK.

  6. I hope Jesse Thomas returns for a shot at AG champion.
    Or…
    Puts his kids in the kiddie race!
    “Superadvanced” as he would put it.

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