THIS. That intersection is the one spot where the half iron and international bike courses diverge (aside from the turn around point for the international), and only when the half iron racers are coming back to T2. I saw the sign just before the intersection that said "56 Mile" with a straight arrow pointing through onto Lake Arthur/Crother and knew it was going to cause trouble (I raced the international on Sunday). That sign should not have been there at all.

I've raced this several times (both distances), and trust me, even a lot of locals hate training on that course because it is SO HARD. It's like pulling teeth to get friends to join me up there, and we inevitably get turned around on our training rides. That said, while racers are responsible for knowing the course, there has always been a lack of volunteers and signs on that course, especially past the turn around point for the international. I've never had an issue on race day, but only because I try to ride the course a few times before race day.

I don't want to crap all over Colleen and Joe. They truly care, and do everything they can to make this race a truly unique experience, and are super responsive to questions and feedback. They offer a supported training day on the course every year in April. How awesome is that? You can tell they are trying to put on the kind of race they would like to participate in. The food alone was better than most races I've done in the past year (even with the long wait). There is room for improvement; the swim course is always confusing to crummy swimmers like me, and the bike course just needs some better signage. I felt like the international run course was more than adequately marked and manned, at least when my sorry arse rolled through. If someone wasn't at the intersection of the two loops for the run course directing runners, I could see how someone could make a mistake there, but the signs I thought were pretty clear (if you were paying attention to something other than your own suffering).

This is the only race I have ever DNF'd in. Twice. And I wear that as a badge of honor, and will keep coming back. I hope it sticks around, even with all of the competition next May on the calendar.

I glanced over some comments, so apologies if any of this is a repeat.

This was my 4th time doing the Auburn Half. I pop my head up every few years when I forget how painful the race can be. :) I wouldn't call myself a course expert... but I have ridden it enough to know the major turns involved.

I was one of the ones who went straight through the intersection instead of taking the right turn early on in the race. From past races, I knew it was a right turn at that intersection. Yet, when the volunteers and the CHP said to go straight... well... what was I going to do. I went straight. A few things that went through my head, in no particular order:

- I thought there was a last minute course change, hence the half distance racers had to go straight instead of turn right.
- I also thought possibly the race directors didn't want the half distance racers possibly crashing into the olympic people doing a u-turn on the same route... hence the need to split the course.
- I also thought "maybe" we would do the out and back FIRST, then left turn at the intersection to continue on the rest of the course. I would skip the out/back later on if this was the case. This wouldn't have made sense because it would have the opposite problem where the half people were turning left onto lacer Hills Road while the Olympic people were turning left onto Lake Arthur Road.
- Then I got to the end of the out and back (Crother Road)... and there was a volunteer AT that intersection telling folks to take a right turn. This made me think the course really was re-rerouted.

I continued on after I saw that volunteer. I knew eventually I would have to take a left turn. Trying to be clever, I took the wrong left turn (onto Burgen Road) and ended up on a dead end. I backtracked to Crother and continued before eventually taking a left onto Applegate Road, part of the course.

All in all, I still ended up with 55.5 miles: https://www.strava.com/activities/999689521

I think there was a miscommunication somewhere between the race director and the volunteers/chp at that intersection. Things happen, we're all human. I still got 55 miles, and hopefully so did everyone else who went straight through the intersection.

h2ofun/Dave: congrats on coming in 1st!

- Then I got to the end of the out and back (Crother Road)... and there was a volunteer AT that intersection telling folks to take a right turn. This made me think the course really was re-rerouted.

I continued on after I saw that volunteer. I knew eventually I would have to take a left turn. Trying to be clever, I took the wrong left turn (onto Burgen Road) and ended up on a dead end. I backtracked to Crother and continued before eventually taking a left onto Applegate Road, part of the course.

You rode on Crother twice. Thoughts and prayers :-) I'd rather climb out of Bear River Campground twice than ride Crother more than necessary.

No idea there was a volunteer at the end of Crother telling people to turn right. Yikes. Yeah, that is a major blunder.

Thanks on the congrats. This is only the second time in my career I have won overall. Was really bummed they did not give awards out at the race since I will never get this result ever again. I still do not understand why the run times from everyone were so slow. So far I am having a great running season but, still should have been a few of those bike studs that could run. But, when I looked at last years run results, I think I had like the 3rd fastest run time. I have no idea what is going to happen with rankings. If they are poor, I will really really be bummed!!!!!

Hope to see you back next year. I just hope the race is back next year.

Likewise! I hope it's back next year also. Was sad when I heard the race director making the plea during the athlete's meeting. Great race, organization is tough, but volunteers were great, albeit a few short this year. There was a volunteer at the second bike aid station filling my water bottle while smoking a cigarette who made my day.

Totally agree. Dave, you are clearly the odd man out here. No one agrees with you and no one cares about your USAT points. This was a race organization issue 100%.

I was thinking about this and I remember a time about 10 years ago when they had to divert the Flying Pig marathon course due to building fire. In that case, if athletes ignored volunteers because they "knew the course" they would have been put in harms way.

The email from the race director just about summed it up...they took responsibility, but then said the athletes were responsible!


"We do take responsibility for our volunteers and CHP directing you off course and we do apologize. You have to realize that we have over 200 volunteers to help put this race on. Ultimately though, it is your responsibility to know the course."

In case anyone was wondering if there was a current, I would say, yes there was.

The email from the race director just about summed it up...they took responsibility, but then said the athletes were responsible!


"We do take responsibility for our volunteers and CHP directing you off course and we do apologize. You have to realize that we have over 200 volunteers to help put this race on. Ultimately though, it is your responsibility to know the course."

That was the exact same intersection where CHP was saying go straight and the old guy at the corner said he didn't know. I stopped, asked both, and got two different stories, meanwhile, as I am talking to CHP, some are going left, some straight, some right. It was pretty hilarious. It is also pretty unrealistic to expect me to memorize so many turns and twists that in the heat of the race (literally and figuratively) I would remember the course the very first time I'm doing it. I looked at my watch, saw that it said 42.x miles, and figured it couldn't be a left turn because course would be too short, we never were going straight, so I went right. My garmin said 54.8 miles at the end so I guess all is good.

Then race sends that email saying they will "let the results stand as is" and I was thinking, what's that supposed to mean. Are they saying there is no confidence in the results?

...
Then race sends that email saying they will "let the results stand as is" and I was thinking, what's that supposed to mean. Are they saying there is no confidence in the results?