I keep hearing this same theme...

From Scott Dunlap's blog:
"One thing I quickly noted about triathletes is that they seem to be more competitive than the ultra runners. If I came up on somebody from my age group (who were everywhere – when is that going to stop?), they would prefer to surge than chat. In fact, nearly all of my humble attempts at starting conversation with “isn’t this a great day?” were met with grimaces of disdain. The few who answered back were often ultrarunners! That’s okay – to each their own."

This is one of the reasons I've never done a triathlon. One of these days, I'd like to eventually, but triathletes are more like a bunch of competitive individuals and ultra-runners are family. To ultra-runners, going fast isn't the point. Even being competitive, we like each other - we're in it together to the end. When a triathlete sees someone falter, they see advantage. When an ultrarunner sees someone falter, they offer to help. "Need an e-cap?" "You okay?" "Need a gel?"
I know some great triathletes, but they're the ones who also run non-tri foot races - in addition to tri's.