My positive comments are that the race was overall well organized, and people were nice/helpful. It's
really good to have professional timers working a race like this. And the swim went off well even though that's tricky
to get just right. I like starting in the shallow end of the pool vs. the deep end like we had before.
The bike course
in general was fine with a good mix of challenging sections. However, I think there were several intersections that were too
unsafe. I literally had to lock up my rear wheel 3 times braking on the course coming into intersections, and saw a female
rider go off the side of the road to miss an oncoming/crossing rider at an intersection. One of biggest complaints is that
some volunteers did a poor job of directing us. I almost crashed coming into 15th at St Mary's because a volunteer first
tried to wave me the wrong way, then another jumped up to get me to turn left. Dave Decoteau was there at that point, and
I spoke to him after the race about the incident and he said they were having real trouble directing the bikers/runners at
that intersection. I don't think most volunteers appreciate how much lead time the faster bikers need in order to set
up for a turn and quickly make it thru, and some of them seemed to assume that we knew which way to turn. (please don't
get the impression that I'm beating up on the volunteers; I know they give up their time, and I've volunteered at
races and know you can't make everyone happy, and overall they were very helpful) In sum, I don't think you should
have the race on the same bike course next year unless it's absolutely your only choice.
I also spoke with several
racers who said they were not directed very well when running thru the gravel parking lot approaching the bridge to the little
pond. I also had a minor misdirection problem there.
Again, the volunteers should be told to assume that we can't
see the arrows on the ground, and need more help getting where we need to go there.
Another minor point; I think as
the race gets bigger you should give awards for the top 3 overall finishers, but not duplicate awards with the age groups
(most races would not do this). The guys who get in the top 3 don't need another age group award, but there are lots of
people who do one race a year and would really feel good about getting a third place trophy, but they miss out if one of the
top 3 took first in their age group.
thanks, and hope to see you next year.
Response:
Sorry to hear about having to lock your brakes...we really struggled with the bike course and all the intersections.
We knew of the cross traffic and tried to get the word out and publish the course, mention it in the meeting ect., but I understand
it is different when you are actually racing. The hard part is that there are only so many roads we feel are safe to use for
our event. We came up with at least 4 different versions of the course before we finally settled on this one. Most responders
like the course, so I think we will keep it. We will just have to get more volunteers at those critical locations. Thanks
for the input...I think I said it before, but it is always good to get an idea of the event from the racers perspective. As
far as awards....good suggestion, can't guarantee we can do it based on money, but I hear where you are coming from. See
you in '09.
