Good to hear positive feedback for Challenge races and hope the word gets out too!!!
But I am skeptical that they can grow and scale quickly, apart from Roth/Oz races, the rest seems to be doing "ok" or struggling, few people I know would consider a challenge race? Pity

Wasn't there but the race coverage for the pro race was non existent. No twitter updates and no live timing (until the finish). For a pro race that had a bigger prize purse than IMLP, I would have expected more coverage of the race.

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I was not so impressed to be honest. I have raced Rev3 and WTC and didn't find this to be that compelling. The check in process was very lax and the just handed out packets with zero discussion or instructions. They didn't even check my USAT card or ID. Race day was fine, except is was on the bus that got lost going to the start. How does that happen? Bus driver had one job that day....

Swim venue was fine, bike was fine, but lonely. Never saw a Marshall or much drafting. I was solo for 20 miles and a buddy took a wrong turn.

Run was great but no ice or flat Pepsi to mix up water and Gatorade standard.

While I am no longer into swag as much, I do like medals for my son. NEw Challange cheaper out on them and finisher shirts. Every one got the same one whether you did the sprint olympic or half. Kind of weak.

While I am all for race options, don't know if I'd spend $225 again on this race.

Yeah, was really surprised it didn't even make the weekend box here on ST. The tracker was eh, and the coverage was non-existent, however they were putting up "pictures" on twitter. They did a good job at CAC, but that was because they had Brian Shea, BrianPBN, doing the twitter coverage on course. To have the coverage you have to hire someone or have someone on staff take care of it. Probably wasn't a focus for a first year race. I will add this to my list of "recommendations" that I am going to send to them.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

IIRC to make the box on ST you as the RD need to submit the results to ST.
I think their live tracking was pretty bad. The twitter/fb feed basically stopped after Starky won. Boom done.

If there is one place where WTC consistently falls down it's in their live updates,blog,fb stuff. Even if they just nailed twitter, or FB, or the Live feed, not even all 3, just 1, it would be a HUGE step forward.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Brian FWIW Starky didn't win :) Eric Linkemann (sp) won, and Leon was 2nd. Didn't know the RD had to submit results, but that would make some what of sense. Yeah, you would think with technology these days the live tracking stuff and updates would be getting better, still seems to just be inconsistent across the board.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

I'm with you Chris. I have raced WTC, Rev3, ITU, local races, and now Challenge. If I were to base the Challenge experience on ChallengeNA, I would put them way behind WTC, Rev3, and ITU. It just seemed like a local race, with a great pro field, and a pretty cool finish line. I may be different than most triathletes, but I like it when you get a huge race with a lot of people talking about it before and after the event and you get a lot of people coming out locally to support it. That makes it fun for me.

I only did the Olympic this weekend and the bike course was very lonely (I imagine the backside of the half was worse). I was passing a bunch of people at first, but then there were times where I saw nobody in front of me and had nobody behind me. The run course was through a golf course and I was passing people out walking their dogs and had a few people out on morning runs coming in the opposite direction. I had the Oly run at a lot more than 6.25, more like 6.8 which was deflating when I did empty the tank at mile 6.4 and had to keep going up that hill to the finish (I guess I should have known the course or accounted for GPS bounce).

It was very cool to be on the course Andrew Starykowicz, Meredith Kessler, and the other pros (which I will miss at Rev3 events, but it won't stop me from running them). It was fun to watch and get passed by the male pros on the run), I was expecting a ton more hype and coverage of this race. Although I am an AG'er, I have to admit, I do enjoy the hype of the "big race".

Think if you are a sponsor for one of the pros there, did you get your money's worth sponsoring your athlete in New Albany, or would it have been better to be up in Calgary, or even spending a weekend training/blogging while prepping for a race with a better profile.

If you do not get details, we typically do not either. Timothy Carlson added it late once he got details.

Thanks Herbert. Glad to see it on there now. Pretty great course in my opinion.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

I thought the race itself was great, as a first year race I expected more hiccups but was pleasantly surprised. The biggest complaint I heard was about having the several races going on at once, all mixed together, but on the plus side also made it seem bigger. I think they will take your feedback seriously, as did the Challenge AC crew. If we all want a viable alternative group of races here in the USA, then I think it's important that we do all we can to help Challnge help us! New Albany is a beautiful little town, and right by Columbus.

Also in the future I think it will do much better attendance wise... it was announced relatively late in the year when many people already had other races booked. Also I had a ton of people ask me where New Albany was, they had no idea there was a new race in Ohio, so didn't look into racing it. Challenge in the past has always been outside of the USA, so when people hear "New Albany" they didn't assume central Ohio. I would suggest putting OH or Columbus in the name to make more obvious

Their twitter feed didn't even mention who won or mention Eric Limkemann at all. One of their last photo's was Eric shaking hands with the RD which could have had a better caption.

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I think for Challenge to be successful and compete with WTC and REV3 they need to offer the same experience at every race. I did Challenge AC and tried to follow NA on Facebook and Twitter. Challenge AC was awesome. But NA felt more like a local HFP race than a big Challenge race from what I saw online and heard. And the fact that I didn't see results until late Sunday was typical of HFP.

With Rev3 and WTC, you know what you are getting at each race from checking in, aid stations, race experience, live tracking (good/bad), etc.

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SmartBikeTrainers.com || YouTube || My Twitter

FWIW, the athlete guide did show the run course for the OLY at 6.55. I am not positive, but I believe the USAT "rule" for a course is it has to be within 10% of the actual distance of the "race distance", not sure if that is true or just hearsay or the truth.

They did just send out a good email with issues they know needs addressing. It is a little different for the race to have HFP still around quite a bit in my opinion. It needs to be one or the other, it just gets confusing when they are still using HFP email addresses and having the HFP logo around.

Will be interesting to hear what happens next year and if the "issues" are addressed. Only time will tell. Does anyone know how long the "contract" is with New Albany / HFP & Challenge ?

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

If you want cookie cutter.

I've had vastly different experiences between WTC races. Some good, some bad. Embrace local flavor...

Yes, it was advertised as 6.55 and that's what I expected and early in the run I figured out it was going to be a little longer than that.

I don't know if that 10% rule is true or not. I've heard it and always thought 10% is a lot. A marathon could be 2.6 miles long. Yikes. But myna Garmin had it at 6.82 and I imagine that was a little longer than total, but it is 110% of 6.2.

As for the rest of the race. I thought it was well run. I don't care about medals and shirts, but people were a bit upset by the genericness of them. No race location or date on either.

I didn't stick around for the banquet because I had family that would have wanted to attend the awards if it was free, but there wasn't much info on it at all so I couldn't even tell them what it might cost if it did cost something. I did think the timing printout at the end was a nice touch.

I was unfortunately unable to race because of an injury, but I will say that HFP worked extremely hard to promote the race after it was announced. I also think HFP did the best they could for being a fairly small, family owned company taking on a big name like Challenge in its first year entering the US. HFP is great at what they do, providing well-run, local races. I think if they get a bit more support from Challenge that they have he potential to provide a great racing experience for the Midwest and for Columbus. For those used to WTC branded races, this may have seemed like a let down, but know that behind the scenes a small company worked tirelessly to bring a great event to their local community. Knowing this RD, I know he will take the constructive criticism and build upon that to bring a quality event in the years to come. If we truly want to see a quality alternative to WTC races, we need to continue to support the little guys who are trying to make that happen.

By the way, I don't work for or am I in any way affiliated with HFP. I'm just a local Columbus guy who has done a ton of their races and know how hard they work to provide a good, athlete-focused experience.

I don't mind local and I do a lot of them but when I sign up for a big brand race like this, the expectations are higher. I don't want a Microsoft experience if I spent the money on an Apple product :)

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SmartBikeTrainers.com || YouTube || My Twitter

Completely agree with you on that point. Shannon and team do a phenomenal job with limited staff. This race also creates so many logistical challenges being point to point that I am impressed with the race-day execution and that everything ran on time. And living in Ohio, I was pumped to have a big-name race in town, I had a good time, enjoyed myself, but just left the race with a ho-hum feeling.

My thoughts are that the entry fee is on par with a WTC event, but the experience and the ancillary add-ons (medals, swag, athlete tracking) were not at the level of those organizations. I will race it again due to the convenience to where I live and also support HFP. Hopefully they take feedback and make it better next year.

The communication before the race was excellent, the event was on time, the bike course was nice, they nailed the logistics of a point to point race, and I could go on about other great things that are standard with the HFP experience. It also appears as if HFP does take the feedback. For example, last year, we had to wait until mid Monday to get results. Since they started using racepenguin, it has gotten a lot better. I guess I was expecting the "Challenge" experience and not the HFP experience.

Agree that the fee was too high for what you got. Finish medals were cheap, no coke on the run course (which was an awesome course, BTW), post race food was almost non existent (oranges, cookies and watermelon).

For the $$$ should have got a lot more. The positives were the run course, a decent bike course and the point to point race format is fun/unique.

I remember doing the WV Morgantown race in 2007 and it seemed like a much bigger production. It steadily seemed to go downhill from then and I was hoping the Challenge name would bring more extras to this race also. Not that all the extras are needed but when paying that much for an event it should be there. It could be a great event with just a little more added in.

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To be honest, I was pretty let down by this race. I did the Olympic aquabike, so didn't run, but I wasn't as impressed as I hoped to be.

I tried several times beforehand to get questions answered about the aquabike logistics, but nobody ever responded. All I wanted to know was how to turn in my chip, whether I just go into t2 like everyone else or if they had a separate finish line, and whether I needed to walk over to the run finish line to get my medal and shirt. A short statement in the athletes guide explaining the logistics would have been perfect, or a response when I asked would have worked too!

I was also on a bus that got lost (I know the area and alum creek is really easy to get to...that shouldn't have happened). The swim was fine, but I hated the bike course. Poorly marked and very lonely - as someone said up thread, there were times when i couldn't see anyone either ahead of or behind me...and I did pass a couple people at one point so I wasn't very last! The farmland and country roads meant nobody was out watching, and I got buzzed closely by cars a couple times. At a couple intersections I had to ask the police officer to verify which way to go.

I did walk over to the finish line after my bike and got my medal and shirt, and watched for awhile. It was cool to see the pros finish. The finish area didn't seem very organized though - I put my shirt on and then had a whole bunch of people ask me where to get theirs because they couldn't find it - I wouldn't have known either except I just happened to see them bringing in more shirts so I saw where they went.

I really missed the old giant eagle race (Challenge NA replaced that race) - it was a much better atmosphere. I'm honestly not sure if I'll do it again.

  I am not positive, but I believe the USAT "rule" for a course is it has to be within 10% of the actual distance of the "race distance", not sure if that is true or just hearsay or the truth.

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Yes there is a 10% allowance rule with usat races.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

so would all the people complaining of a lonely bike course rather be complaining about drafting?

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Fruit snacks are for winners

i was with a few other riders when i went off course into a cornfield because i over shot a corner. I then rode about 20 miles by myself before i hit the headwind and a couple of groups of guys in draft packs /pacelines caught me as i was struggling to maintain some speed. I only saw one lady on the bike course and not a single official.

It was just lonely because it was a smaller race, participant wise. I didn't mind it all, helped me focus on running my race, my way, instead of trying to keep up with guys.

Aid stations needed coke, and ice/sponges (thank god it was a cool day), and it needed more than 2 porta-johns

Overall it wasn't bad.

Make sure you take the time to email Shannon and voice your concerns and your thoughts, as well as give him your praises about the race. If we want an alternative to Ironman events, Challenge is our best bet, and helping them learn/grow is only going to help us in return.

WTC, for the USofA at least, has figured out that subcontracting (or licensing) races is not the way to go. Without running the races yourself, there is no way to maintain consistency. If Challenge continues the practice of licensing the name to other RDs, they will never succeed in this market (IMHO).

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Saw the same thing with Challenge St. Andrews - twitter feed for both the race and the overall Challenge Family account was basically silent all day, one or two tweets total. The new wave of races that want to be relevant need to assign someone to tweet out updates during the race to create interest and awareness of the race.

I did the Olympic race - I won a contest and therefore my entry was free. So I didn't have a lot of expectations.
Thought the swim was great.
Bike course was just fine for me, I had no issues figuring out where I was supposed to go. I was passing folks and I much preferred that it wasn't super crowded with tons of draft packs. It was easy this way to ride a clean race. The roads were nice and smooth with very few issues... some small cracks and bumps were nicely marked.
The run course was fairly scenic, though I'm glad it was overcast as there would have been very little shade otherwise.
It was my first point to point tri. I was nervous going into it but once racing starting everything worked just fine. I did not ride the bus but had a drop off on race morning.
The finish line was good - quite festive with the signs, banners, etc.
It was not clear about the finisher shirts... and frankly, I would have rather just had a race shirt than a finisher shirt for an Olympic distance tri. Medals I could skip in general, they just end up in a closet.
I figured for a first time race this wasn't too bad. I was glad to see the email the next day saying the run course was 6.75mi as it made me feel better about my pace. LOL.

It was indeed fun seeing some of the male pros out on the run course. :-)

I did not attend the post race celebration as I had a long drive to get back home. But I saw the spread and it looked nice. I was able to pick up my award early, which was also nice of them - it is a GIANT belt buckle though. Not sure where I should wear it... LOL... maybe with my hat and spurs?

I'd do challenge again. I'm sure if it's supported and with the right feedback things will be improved.

I raced CNA Half on Sunday and thought it was an excellent event. Numerous positives from the weekend. Most of these have already beed addressed. Only a few minor issues with CNA:

I believe I saw 2 draft busters on the entire 56 mile ride (or one draft buster twice). On the one hand, there really should have been more of a presence of bike officials. On the other hand, I viewed the race as surprisingly fair. Throughout my ride there was no blatant drafting. Of course you see one or two people slip a little too close, but they immediately dropped back. From where I was riding I saw no major problems with how anybody was riding.

Bike course could have been marked better. You had to pay a lot of attention to the road and look for tape/paint to make you aware of turns. Would have been easy to miss a turn if you were not paying attention. It also would have been nice to have a few volunteers at some of the +90 degree turns to make you aware of them (or more sign-age would have been fine I guess). I almost ate it twice as I did not see the extent of the turn until it was almost too late.

Better post race food. A minor issue, but it would have been great to have some options of things like a recovery drink, actual food and beer. Would have made me want to stick around and watch more people finish.

Finally... more port-a-loo's on the run course. Obviously this is one of those things that you only notice when you need them... Well I needed them and were difficult to find. This is one thing WTC seems to do consistently well at. CNA needs to have a few more options. I believe the first one I noticed was around mile 2 of the run. And there was only one available at the aid station. Renting a few more to have 3 at every aid station and maybe a few on the run course leaving T2 would have gone a long way.

Just after exiting T2, in the parking lot on the left, there were 5 or 6 portos. Maybe 5 yards to the left of the course. Bummer you missed them.

They didn't check my USAT or ID at IM Raleigh 70.3 either. I'm not saying they weren't checking anybody's, but they surely did not ask me for mine.

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Proud Member of Chris McDonald's 2018 Big Sexy Race Team "That which doesn't kill me, will only make me stronger"
Blog-Twitter-Instagram-Race Reports - 2018 Races: IM Florida 70.3, IM Raleigh 70.3, IM 70.3 World Championships - South Africa, IM North Carolina 70.3

WTC will not let you register for a race if your USAT membership is not active on the date of the race. Therefore, there is no need to check for your USAT card during packet pickup. They checked my ID but not my USAT card. I had it out but no one asked for it.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I was disappointed in the race based on what I have heard/read previously about Challenge events. I have done local events in the Indianapolis area, Set Up events in North Carolina, and WTC races (Muncie and Branson). I would definitely put this race organization/experience below WTC and Set Up events.
1. Waited on the bus for 30 minutes even though bus was full. Bus driver got lost on the way.
2. No maps or info on how to get to Alum Creek Park to drop off my bike. Minimal security where the bikes were kept.
3. I completed half duathlon. My section started late, they sent a starter who had no idea about the course. We only ran half the course.
4. Bike entrance into T2 was small and dangerous to navigate.
5. Even though event was sponsored by Pepsi no cola product on the run course. No ice at any aid stations. Fortunately it was not very hot. No post race beverages besides water and Lipton tea samples. Post race food was poor.
Not really what I expected from a race with the Challenge stamp on it.

To me this was OK. not great, not terrible but somewhere in the middle. To put it in perspective, i did Rev 3 Quassy the frst year of operation and thought their execution was near flawless and came back the next year and told my friends about how great it was. For me, i woud expect for the same price as a WTC event, that the execution and operation be damn near the same, otherwise i feel i am paying the same price for less (i mean the WTC/Rev 3 race day model is excellent and transparent enough to emulate). I like to support new races and race companies as I would like to have other options than WTC as more options is better for the consumer and i think they will take our feedback and make improvements. New albany was a great location and the run course was beautiful. Yes the bike course was a bit lonely but they can't control the number of riders and i dont like crowded bike courses anyway. The RD seems willing to make changes and admits some shortcomings as referemced by a quick email survey (less than 24 hours post race) noting things that would be different in 2015. There are typically 1st year snafus (from my experiance) and hopefully these will be addressed and corrected.

couple things stuck out for me:
1- website was not the easist to navigate for info
2- directions and info about the two transition zones was not 100% clear. i've been in this over 10 years and have done multi transition races before and kind of "get" the process, where i place everything and how i get it back but for the newbie this could be stressfull.
3- bike check in. about 45 minutes from the start i heard an announcement that several bikes in transition would not be allowed to race due to not having bar caps. this should have been checked and explained at check in the day before not just prior to the start. Not much you can do about this at a state park at 6Am sunday morning.
4-course directions - intersections were marshalled well but turn signlas were very small and most not posted till just a few hundred feet before the turn. start noting a turn ahead a few hundred yards so we can prepare our speed, check to to see if we need to pass or slow down based on where another cyclists is, etc. also the cops did a good job of holding traffic back but didnt seem to offer pointed directions and i went off course about a mile before realized at a non marshslled red light that i had gone straight instead of turnig and turned around. cops also didn't offer much direction when there was coned off lane for cars or cyclists . .i had to guess which one to ride in.
5- ice and pepsi/coke for the run
6- medals that offer some value . .again for the same price as a WTC race there should be something equal to what we get as a WTC participant. i dont much care for medals but when its the same size and style as the sprint medal it makes me think the experiance is somewhat cheap.
7- T -shirts and food . .Where was it? i guess it was actually behind and to the side of the finish line but i saw no sign directing me nor had any volunteer at the finish tell finishers where these could be found. i would assume that common sense, not to mention the positioning within every race that i have done, would dictate that it would be in a somewhat straight line past the finish line where participants would flow to in a linear fashion rather than be behind and to the side of the finish. myself and my friend figured these were at the high school but found out otherwise and didnt see the value in walking back to the finish to get a shirt.
8- Buses - fill them up one by one and send them off when full. no reason why some of us that get there by 5am have to wait till 5:15 or even 5:25 for all of the buses to leave that were 1/3 -1/2 full when we could use that time to set up and warm up. not to mention the bottel neck that occurs when hundreds of people show up at the same time to get into the same transition area and get body marked etc.
8a - secondly on buses, make sure they know where they are going! ours got lost on the way.
9 - was it me or did it seem rather cheap that at the swim start they positioned a lifegaurd 20 meters out as the turning point to head towards the first bouy? again for $250 entry it seems they might afford one more inflatable bouy
10-timing mats . .. .bunch of turnaround points but only saw timing mats at the finish and halfway mark. pretty easy for someome to cut the course
11- Security at bike check in the day before was a little unnerving. dont think this was 100% secure and im sure i could have walked away with a new P5 if i realy wanted to.
12- work out something with the host hotel to offer some bagels. muffins, juice, bananas etc. its not part of the race but for the experiance it really could make a big differerence and produce some goodwill.
13- tracking - got to have this. my father had no idea where i was and figured i had finished already and went home. try to make it more spectator friendly
14- T2 entrance was a bit tricky, tight corners made navigating a challenge
15- different colored swimcaps for differnt waves. personally, i like to know where i stand in the swim. if im a white cap and i start to pass all the white caps and get past the next wave i know im swimming well and on pace. also lets me know if there are few or a lot of competitors ahead of me.
16- AG body marked . .all we had was our race number. woud be nice to know i we get passed by a olympic racer, duathlon etc and if they are in our age group.


out of 10 i'd give this race a 6.5-7. but it think the issues mentioned above and by other posters could easily bring this to a 8-9. To get to a 10 there needs to be a more festive feel to this. Get more of the community involved for spectator support. . There seemed to be little excitement or awareness in the town, less so than other places i have raced. Pehaps a promotion by local establishments for a free post race beer, reduced lunch or dinner the night before at a local restaraunt, buy 1 get 1 free ice cream cone if you wear your medal etc. even at the very least some directions for local eateries and grocery store locations and directions to the state park rather than relying on google maps, yelp or urban spoon.

Why don't ALL, and I mean all, RDs not have beer at the finish? Totally different experience with just 1 simple addition...........

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Permitting often gets in the way. In some cases, there's a zero tolerance policy regarding alcohol on public property. Not saying that's the case here, but as a potential reason why it doesn't happen more frequently.

That said, I'm pro-beer at the finish line. Hell, I'm sponsored by a brewery!

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I am originally from Buffalo, NY and just about every Tom, Dick and Harry 5k has free post-race brew. Unlimited too. Seems they have figured out the permit thing.

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Swimmer
http://www.usprotri.com/LAMASTRA.html
http://www.bodyphyxinternational.com

Meanwhile, in Maine, many towns have strict no-tolerance policies that don't allow any kind of open container. In Portland, you have to set-up a specific beer garden tent, 21+ ID required, and can't leave the tent with your beer.

Results can and will vary based on location and law.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I got you and understand. It does get people to hang around a long time and mingle. Would be perfect from an atmosphere standpoint in triathlon. Maybe not so healthy after a hard 70.3 or 140.6 miles though.

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Swimmer
http://www.usprotri.com/LAMASTRA.html
http://www.bodyphyxinternational.com

I have to say that I was pretty darn pleased with my first Challenge event. Although there were a number of things that they need to tighten up for next year, I thought the course and the race organizers did a great job with the logistically difficult point-to-point set up. More than anything, I applaud these guys for putting up the 10-deep prize purse. As a first year pro, grabbing 4th place and taking home $1500 goes a hell of a long way. I really hope more North American challenge events catch on similar to this one. If you are interested in my race report, here is the link: http://justinmetzlertriathlete.blogspot.com/...enge-new-albany.html

I bet you were.... you were flying!

Ha! I don't know about flying. It sure didn't feel that way. I was just making sure I didn't get caught by any of the dozen US Pro guys charging HARD!

How does the aquabike finish at races that are not run by HFP? My company handled the timing for Challenge - hope people liked the live results kiosks w/ split at finish. We are a young company and haven't seen aquabike handled by any other race staff. Finishing in t2 makes it difficult from my prospective. Hoping for some helpful information.

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Cheers,
Matt
(Columbus, OH)

Actually I'm not sure how aquabike usually finishes - it was my first one which is why I was so unsure about how it worked! I have done a lot of sprint tris, but running is my weakness so that's why I decided to do aquabike for my first Olympic attempt. It actually was fine to just stop in T2 and walk over to the finish line, I just wanted to know ahead of time if I was supposed to do that or something else (from what I've heard some do a little finish line while others just have you stop in T2 and go to the regular finish).

I did really like the kiosks to print our times - thanks for that!

Mostly I think their race finishes at the T2 split but then some companies let them run across the finish line (Rev3 Williamsburg did this, I believe).

Here are some of my takeaways from this event:

1) The "pre-race" stuff (i.e. event details, emails, etc) was very good. The "professionalism" of this material was high.
2) Packet pickup - seems like the in charge people didn't really tell the VOLUNTEERS handling packet pickup all that much.
3) The pro meeting: having a staff member (non USAT official) there is great, but when all of the race specific questions are answered with a "Ask Shannon" that makes me feel like there is not enough information being shared among the production team.
4) Race start (at least for my wave): extremely haphazard. I felt sorry for the girl they made the first turn "buoy." That seemed silly.
5) Bike course marking: not good. I've only done one other HFP Racing event but my feelings on their course markings are the same now as they were then; not enough.
6) Most people said something about the bike course/pavement/whatever but the bike course is what it is. Some places don't have great pavement, that's not something an RD can change. That being said, I almost got run over by a car late in the race that a cop did not stop at an intersection. This was the cop's fault, not the race's fault. BUT, the intersection control was generally good with only one or two exceptions (there was one intersection that had nobody, not a volunteer, not a course marking, not a police officer).
7) Coming into T2. I have no idea what that was about. It was...weird.
8) Run course: really good, albeit lonely. Not a complaint, just the nature of a course like that (2 big loops).

I liked this race and would do it again, but I would like to see some changes made to get bigger participation numbers. Judging by the email they sent shortly after event with the rather large list of changes I would say they are moving in the right direction. To a degree, I think it's good that HFP is taking on this "bigger" event as it will help them move forward and grow as a race production company.

What live results? Not sure about the kiosks but the live results link on your website showed only one participant named Test. The results on your website weren't updated until late evening.
You obviously have live results at the kiosks and you were handing them out to finishers. Why is it so hard to push this to your website?

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SmartBikeTrainers.com || YouTube || My Twitter

You guys did a great job with 1 caveat. The overall stats for men and women need to be lumped together as well.

There's a long established walking 10k (one of the biggest walk races in the US), and there's usually a very good turnout for that. My guess is, this was a first time most folks had seen a tri, there were a lot of questions in local restaurants the night before, and a lot of folks who didn't know much about it. i would expect a larger turnout next year.

The live results link from racepenguin.com worked... we had it up and were testing it throughout the race. The official results could not be posted until after the last finisher (on the course until 4pm), and we conferred with the USAT official. I apologize if there was some difficulty with you reaching that page. It was up and functioning.

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Cheers,
Matt
(Columbus, OH)

ID yes, USAT no.

In that case it must have been hidden because I looked for it via the Challenge New Albany website, their facebook page, Racepenguin.com and couldn't find anything.

I understand Racepenguin may be a smaller or younger company, but the capability of live tracking and having the link sent to participants or easily available helps differentiate a big race from a smaller one. I sort of had the same problem with Triple T... I never knew where I was in the general classification until after the race weekend was done, because there was just no way of finding the results anywhere.

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Don't forget to attack!

Yes, general classification data isnt up. by gender and age group, but not the whole thing.

Further, I did like the text link, but unless i missed it, a way to share it for live updates via text wasnt there. Still overall a very good job.