It's rare for races to be cancelled. Most people on this forum have, at one time or another, raced in pouring rain, extreme heat, high winds, etc... Sometimes a tri gets reduced to a duathlon at the last minute because the RD has to cancel the swim for safety reason. I've had that happen before. You still do the race. Races only get cancelled for very extreme weather. If you are signing up for a race in your area that has happened year after year, chance are it's going to happen this year too.

As for you showing up, why wouldn't you? If you are training for a triathlon, it should be a big priority on your calendar. Lot's of people race when sick or injured. Now if you break your leg or something, you can always contact the RD and explain your situation and hope for a refund, but it's not a sure bet that you'll get any money back. Some of the larger races will refund a portion of your money if you notify them within a certain time frame. It's in the small print when you sign up.

Find a race you can get excited about. Register. Put it on your calendar with a big, red circle around and then get training! Good luck and welcome to Trifuel.

Think of the extra cost of race-day registration as your insurance... you pay a little extra to guarantee you'll race what you're paying for.

Earlier is a bit of a gamble, but I tend to take advantage of the lower prices. The one race I did bail on, I sold my entry to someone else... some races allow this, others don't (but people do it anyway, shh!). Ultimately, I figure if I lose out once in awhile it'll balance out with all the discounted races I've been able to run.

jono

I have only had one race that was completely cancelled due to weather and they rolled over the registration fees for everyone to the following year. There are others (mostly smaller local races) that I know will roll over the fees to the next year in case you are injured, but you have to prove it. Other than that Race Directors do not like to cancel races. They will do anything in their power. I am doing a race in a few weeks and it states that worst case they will turn it into just a run. That would be crappy and I would be upset but at some point you cannot control it.

[quote=ebjeeby]Does anyone have any advice in terms of saving money or protecting yourself from "Acts of God"? [/quote]

Sure, don't sign up. 100% chance you won't lose money. As is the case with any outdoor event, you take what the weather gives you. Races are rarely completely cancelled. It does happen in cases of the course being washed-out because of floods (not just rain). Tris do go on in the rain, but if lightning is in the area, they usually either postpone the race a few hours or turn it into a Du. A strategy to consider is waiting until the very last minute to register. (I won't sign up for a marathon, for example, until I see the 10-day forecast.) But if the tri tends to fill up much sooner than that, your only option is to register when you are able to and hope the weather is nice.

Others here have said it, but it's worth repeating: there's nothing like having registered and paid for an event (about which you will tell your family, friends, co-workers, and relatively unknows like us online) to motivate you to train. If you really want to do it, sign up. Then, even if it's cancelled, you can find another event after to do. But if you're wishy-washy on it, sort of train, sign up race day - or back out because of less than ideal conditions - you're not going to have the fun leading up to it. It IS fun training for and planning for a race.

So, train when its cr@ppy out and you won't have a problem :)
Races are rarely cancled.

My first race was amazing. Stood around with about 1500 other people in our skivvies for about an hour in crappy looking clouds. The swim felt great after that. Got on the bike feeling good, about half way through it finally started raining. And did it rain! The hardest rain ever. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. By the time I finished I was exhausted and soaked, very happy though. As long as you can ensure you'll be there, more than likely the race will be too.

Triathlon is an expensive sport just to train for....Club fees, swim fees, running shoes, bike buy or rental, bike maintenance etc. If you are worried about the race fee, I think you may have gotten in to the wrong hobby.