From Brad Davison:

Dear SMW Race Directors,

It has come time to submitt your bids for the SMW Championship races for 2003. We will need you bid by July 30th. Your Bid should consist of a brief discription of your event and how many years it has been around.

We will contact you with the decision by September or October. We then be arranging some announcements around all of the championship races.

This year we will be changing the Club Championship to three races series. I encourage you to put in for this designation. It can be sprint or olympic distance.

If you are interested the region is considering a college circuit made of three races. Please let me know.

Listed below is the criteria for Championship

) Criteria of Race to be a Championship:

A. Must be a USAT sanctioned event.

B. Must have been under the same management at least two (2) years for a Regional Championship race; one (1) year for all other races.

C. Must be single event-no multiple races.

D. Race selections should match the Championships;

E. Event must have an excellent safety record for the previous two (2) years.

F. Races having hosted a regional/state championship for two (2) consecutive years will not be eligible for consideration of same championship designation, unless there are no other comparable races to compete for the same type of championship. Ironman qualifiers are exempt from this limitation.

G. While not always possible, maximum consideration should be given to geographic location, ensuring that championships are placed all over the region and not limited to a specific area or state.

H. When conflicts arise between USAT criteria for regional championships and SMW Regional criteria, USAT criteria will take precedence and apply.

(iii) Championship titles shall be designated as follows:

Texas State Triathlon Championship, Louisiana State Triathlon Championships Arkansas State Triathlon Championship, Oklahoma State Triathlon Championship, South MidWest Regional Triathlon Championships, South MidWest Regional Triathlon Club Championship, South MidWest Regional Sprint Triathlon Championship, South Mid West Regional Collegiate Triathlon Championship, South MidWest Regional Collegiate Duathlon Championship, Texas State Duathlon Championship, Louisiana State Duathlon Championship, Arkansas State Duathlon Championship, Oklahoma State Duathlon Championship, and South MidWest Regional Duathlon Championship, Sprint Distance Championships for each State. Long Course and Sprint Distance Championships may be designated by a majority vote of the Board.

We have also made is a requirement to have a USAT Officials at Championship races.

Bradley R Davison
SMW President