I raced the sprint in 2018,19 and 21. It was a very well done event, first under the Challenge organization and then CLASH. Your question regarding the bike course getting crowded as the laps go on and more people come on course after the swim is a good one. The track did get progressively more crowded lap by lap and it was definitely a situation where passing became a little dicey. CLASH did address it this year by having two start times for the sprint, approximately 7:15 and 9:15 and limiting the number in each race. I would definitely suggest signing up for the earlier race as it gets pretty warm on the track during the run. The early race sold out quite some time ago while there were still spots left in the 9:15 race this week.

I loved the whole experience. Swim was well marked, transition good, awards given on the Victory Lane stand used for the Daytona 500. Definitely has a major race feel to it. Maybe a little more pizazz when Challenge did it originally, but I think Bill and the CLASH team do a fine job at a unique venue.

Thanks, good to hear it was a positive experience. On the bike is it pass on the outside track etiquette? Also how much space was allotted for the bike course and are the turns banked at all?

I quickly learned to stay off of the banks. The higher up you go the less control you have. There is flat space on the interior part of the track to ride. Passing was predominately on the right, but that was an issue as some faster riders chose to overtake on either side. There was actually a YouTube video someone posted a year ago of their ride using a GoPro that might give you a track perspective.
Despite this concern it was ok if you kept focused and aware. it was a fun event to be a part of.

I really like the race. Did it in 2019 as well as this year. I think all the bike riders did the best they could. No fault to them or the race organizers.

I think you will find it sketchy the very first lap and the entire 5 laps if you are faster than average. Unless you are in the forst swim group and are doing say 12 minutes or faster for the 800 meter swim

Definitely need to go up on the banks. No way to avoid this unless they reduced the number of racers. Or you are willing to put your brakes on and wait until you get past the turns to pass people

I was on the aero bars approx only 80% of the time because wanting to have hands on the brakes

According to race results Averaged 25.3 MPH. Reality is it is faster because you have to go so far from the inner loop to avoid running into the back of people.

After the first 2 laps I just road as far right as I felt it was safe to do so. Or else you are on the flat/apron and then up the bank then down and back up multiple times a minute.

Next year I will do the half distance to avoid so many laps in the track.

As I say great race, I’ll do it again next year, but if you’re on the faster side of riding just get used to having a ride up the banks.

Did the sprint duathlon on Saturday. Ive been racing since 1984 and pretty much all over the world and I have to say this was probably the best race experience ever. They put on a good show for sure.
It does get a little crowded on the track but I managed to average almost 27mph. Kinda like riding on a 2.5 mile velodrome.
I'll be there next year!

Wow impressive for sure!


You did the duathlon. Guessing there were less people on the track than siding the triathlon?

Based on what I can tell about the track from watching the pro race, is going to the right of the double yellow (or white) lines not allowed or at least not necessary? Looks like the bank increases a bit much above those lines and also looks like you could have be at least 3-4 cyclists wide and still not have to go beyond those double lines.

Were you able to pass on the outside the whole bike course? My concern as a fast cyclist (28+ mph avg) is that people will be parked pretty far right but going sub 27 mph, potentially requiring passing on the left.

the sprint tri and du were on the track at the same time. This year they did an A race and two hours later a B race to lessen the numbers on the track.

There are parts of the track where passing is easer (straights) but the banking is 33 degrees on the turns so its hard to get high up there without risk of slipping. I did more passing than getting passed and it wasnt too big of an issue to get through slower traffic.

I raced both the Sprint and Half this weekend. For the Sprint, each lap got progressively more crowded. On the straights, there was room but on the turns where it narrowed to only one "flat" lane it was hard it got congested. Clash tries hard to enhance the athlete experience and I was impressed.

We split the 2 sprints and it worked well. We have the track all day so Saturday was 7:05am / 9:15am sprint tri. 7-10yrs old kids tri at 12:15pm and 11-14yrs tri at 1pm. Then we had "hot laps" from 2-5pm where you could donate to NASCAR Foundation and get driven around the speedway at 125mph.

I think we kept all the pizazz: Televised pro race, fireworks to start age group races on Sat/Sun, live music post race Saturday, free beers post race, heck we even had The Grinch MC our Jingle Jog Friday night. Same guy who does it at Universal Studios...comes with a make-up artists and the whole bit.

Thanks for supporting us and see you at another Clash Endurance Event!

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-Dre
RD at Clash Endurance

Yes, ride left, pass right. The sprint run uses the inside 3-4ft of the track. It is only 1 lap of the zigzag into the road course and then the speedway. So one directional runners means we are spaced out. Cones the whole way around the speedway.

There is 25ft in the apron before the yellow line and the banking. 3-4ft interior for the run leaving 20ft for bike or the equivalent of 2 full vehicle lanes. Then once you hit the banking there is room for race cars to be "going 3 wide into turn 4"! Look how much space there is from the grass to the double yellow...

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-Dre
RD at Clash Endurance

Glad you enjoyed the race and happy to have you back next year! Interesting that you wanted less time on the track...most athletes wanted more!

The back stretch is a wide as a super highway! I think we can fit a few bike lanes here! It's close to Christmas so I am in a good mood and like the use !!!

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-Dre
RD at Clash Endurance

Heck, we might even add a 3rd for 2023...stay tuned for some cool stuff from us :-)

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-Dre
RD at Clash Endurance

If we are able to impress some of the ST crowd we must be doing something right! Thanks for supporting us and kudos to you for racing back to back days. The feedback we have gotten is that we'll have more people do that next year. We even had a few people race the 7am sprint AND the 9:15am sprint. Wondering if anyone will do all three next year? Maybe even the Friday night 5k to do all 4? I think I just invented a ST challenge ;-)

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-Dre
RD at Clash Endurance

Love this graphic from Daytona International Speedway. It puts in perspective just how massive this facility is. This is every major sports stadium in Florida fitting INSIDE the speedway!!!

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-Dre
RD at Clash Endurance

Adding a 3rd sprint race to ease congestion and create a better race experience for all would be great! I definitely have my eye on doing it next year.

Loved having two sprints this year. Riding on the speedway is awesome. I thought it was the perfect number of bikes out there compared to the last two years when I was kinda scared I was going to end up in a collision. The whole experience is great and there is a big group of us who have come over for the whole weekend and raced both days for the last couple of years. The only criticism/request I have is PLEASE can we have the swim warmup back. I just don’t understand why there can’t be 10 minutes before race start for people to warm up in the water especially since there was a swim warm up in 2020. I’m a confident open water swimmer (usually top 5 in AG) but the whole no warm up/wetsuit/cold water thing sucks (especially for Floridians who have been racing non-wetsuit in warm salt water all year) and there seemed to be a lot of people panicking in the first 100m.

More time on the track would be GREAT!!

Great to hear you are doing 3 sprint races

With less bikes. Not a big fan of going up on the banked turns with 5 wide so as not to crash into the back of other riders lol

No worries for me. Doing the half distance next year, so not much time on the track

I've heard many people ask for the swim warm up to return..., it seems logical to let athletes get a bit of a warm up to adjust to the water temp...risky not to have it...even if they can just wade in a bit...thx.

We have added a practice swim 1-3pm on Friday. You must go through packet pickup prior to get checked in and get your timing chip. No chip no dip!

We do not allow athletes in the water prior to race start for 2 main reasons. 1) we start right at sunrise and are not putting people in the water in the dark prior to race start. 2) the lake and swim start+exit areas are too small to accommodate a warmup while the race is starting.

It is a bummer, but each venue has it's particular limitations and a number of marque races do not have swim warm-up for a myriad of reasons: Alcatraz, NYC Tri, 70.3 Cartagena, etc.

We have a bunch of great additions this year though:
- Bike demo area and bikes from Trek, Pinarello, Ventum, Cippolini
- Bike Wash + Lube station in expo from Muc-Off
- Movie Night Saturday 6pm by the RV lot Will Ferrell double header The Elf followed by Talladega Nights

We're again on pace to break 3,000 athletes all in for the weekend and hope to see you there!

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-Dre
RD at Clash Endurance

Great race AND race director

Highly recommend this race

How is the water quality?