{"id":86575,"date":"2025-12-13T07:06:36","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T07:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/86575\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T07:06:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T07:06:36","slug":"top-tri-towns-of-2020-austin-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/86575\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Tri Towns of 2020: Austin, Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we’re highlighting the awesomely weird Austin, Texas. <\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/p>\n

Athletes out for a nighttime ride. (Photo: Nicolas McComber\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Published September 17, 2020 07:17AM<\/p>\n

What makes a good triathlon town? It\u2019s a little bit the training, a little bit the community, and a whole lot of je ne sais quoi.<\/p>\n

We started our search for the best tri towns by asking you\u2014and you delivered. We received nearly 200 nominations, with a couple of tri clubs running coordinated campaigns. And then we narrowed it down based on a few criteria: the local triathlon community, training and facilities, climate, events and access to races, and the other fun things\u2014bike shops, coffee, good restaurants.<\/p>\n

Then we had our panel of expert judges (meet them below) make their picks. The battle was fierce and worthy towns were eliminated, until we finalized our list here of the top five tri towns and five honorable mentions<\/a>. Over the next few days we\u2019ll be revealing the winners. We\u2019ve already announced\u00a0Madison,<\/a>\u00a0Clermont<\/a>, and San Diego<\/a>. Today we\u2019re highlighting the awesomely weird Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

Related: The Complete List of Tri Town Winners<\/a><\/p>\n

Triathlon Town: Austin, Texas<\/p>\n

Year-round training is another huge advantage for tri town Austin\u2014though the summers may heat up a bit, temperatures through the winter stay plenty mild. In a city with a super active population, tri teams and clubs are constantly popping up with group workouts at all the local training spots.<\/p>\n

The famous Barton Springs swimming hole is 200m wide with water always at a crisp 68 degrees F; in North Austin, check out Quarry Lake at Pure Austin\u2014swimmers can do a 750-meter loop around the lake with a nearby dirt trail for bricks. For a bigger body of water, try the four-mile section of Lake Austin from Walsh Landing to the Pennybacker Bridge, but be wary of boat traffic. When it comes to riding, the Veloway is a popular choice closeby, plus there are lots of bike lanes and hilly routes in Hill Country just outside of Austin proper.\u00a0For a decidedly \u201cAustin weird\u201d experience, there\u2019s also Tuesday night bike rides around the Circuit of the Americas 3.4-mile, 20-turn Formula 1 track. An active population also means that you can find a great 10-mile loop\u2014even downtown\u2014at the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, or the well-shaded Shoal Creek trail nearby.<\/p>\n

Since no tri town is complete without fantastic food and drink options, it\u2019s a good thing Austin\u2019s eatery scene is well known throughout Texas for its BBQ at places like Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew or Black\u2019s Barbecue. More than anything, though, Austin\u2019s tri scene is about the people: \u201cWhen I first moved to Austin, I had been trying to get into triathlons and wasn\u2019t sure if I\u2019d be able to find a tri group,\u201d said local Molly Lewen. \u201cYou can\u2019t go on any highway, road, side road, or trail without seeing a triathlete you know. The city is so triathlete-friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AustinSwimmer\u2019s at Austin\u2019s famous Barton Springs. Photo: Penny Backer\/Aaron McCoy\/Getty Images
\nWhy Austin Is One Of The Top Triathlon Towns<\/p>\n

That friendly Texas vibe makes triathletes feel welcome here, and the active outdoor options make training not only accessible but varied.<\/p>\n

Population<\/p>\n

978,000<\/p>\n

Median Household Income<\/p>\n

$67,462<\/p>\n

Average Temperature<\/p>\n

67 degrees F from November to March; 89 degrees F from April to October<\/p>\n

Local Tri Clubs<\/p>\n

Austin Triathlon Club, Austin T3, University of Texas Austin Tri Club, Austin Y-Tri<\/p>\n

Notable Local Races<\/p>\n

Life Time Tri CapTex (May), Jack\u2019s Generic Triathlon (August)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Today we’re highlighting the awesomely weird Austin, Texas. Athletes out for a nighttime ride. (Photo: Nicolas McComber\/Getty Images)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,41420,41423,41421,41425,41424,41422,27,37012],"class_list":["post-86575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-parent_category-culture","tag-tag-austin","tag-tag-culture","tag-tag-human-activities","tag-tag-tri-towns","tag-tag-triathlon","tag-texas","tag-type-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}