Introducing Athlinks

Thanks to Super Mario, I now have another avenue to suck up my free time. Athlinks is a free-of-charge social networking website which primarily presents race results for Running, Swimming, Cycling, Mountain Biking, Triathlon, and Adventure Racing. Athlinks claims to have the "most comprehensive database of endurance race results and events anywhere in the world". Users can mark their own race results, and build a thorough list of their race history.

The website also has a "rivals" feature, where a user can compare themselves to athletes with similar results. Like other social network websites, a user maintains a group of "friends". In addition, users may keep a training log, list their gear items, upload photos, and present a schedule of future events.

As of October 2009, the website claims to have results for over 133,000 races.

I have loaded my profile and also begun to look for races which I can claim my own results. It's the results feature that I like the most, hoping that someday they will allow a import of past results into blogging services such as Blogger. I've spent the last free nights also entering information on races for which results could not be found. It takes about 24-hours and ....Voilà!....the race and results are there for you to claim and add to your results page.

The rivals section is also neat in that it compares common race results amongst other athletes in your neck of the woods.

If it is cold and rainy in your part of the Tundra as it is here, you might want to waste some time this weekend and check it out. If you do, feel free to add me as a friend. If you are already a Athlinks member, let me know so I can add/confirm you as a buddy or buddy-ette as well.

As for me, this weekend is chalk full as the Boy® competes in three swim meets at the University of Minnesota Aquacenter. It is long course season, and this will be his first long course meet. We're excited.