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HITS Hudson Valley Review
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I've now waited over a week for a response from the race organization, with nothing.

I have nothing but bad things to say about this race. This was a Fifth Iron Distance race for me, the second HITS race at that distance. Below is the letter I sent about my experience. I have nothing but bad things to say. I wrote the first part of this letter this letter after a miserable rip/off camp expereince. Then the second after the race.

Hello,

My intentions to do this race were based on a desire to race in a calmer more relaxed environment from Lake Placid. HITS was that for me in 2013 in Hauge. I am a member of a large club triathlon team, and despite EVERYONE on my team telling me otherwise, I defended HITS and my choice to race at HUDSONValley this year. Now I have 9 months of race prep engaged in this. I even signed up for the training camp, the weekend of June 10th.

The Camp -

Was this a HITS camp or was it a Patriot Multi-Sport camp that we were allowed to be in the background?

That's how it felt. To the point that the two very nice ladies who were there because they were doing their first triathlon became good friends with myself and the other attendee because they got nothing from the guy running the camp, who seemed more concerned with his own athletes and his own training.

I have a lot coaching experience and was BLOWN away by how badly this was put together.

Course:

I have called and asked about the discrepancy in the bike course distance several times to be blown off. The course distance is 112 miles as advertised. However, having ridden the course about 10 times now, I get 53+ miles. Finally today I got an answer after I was just drawn into a debate about USAT rules not specifying exactly 112 miles for a full distance race.

It's not a big deal, I think I'll survive if the bike course is short by 5 miles. Just that I didn't need the snarky lecture. Frustrated, as I'm looking to break some personal records next week and a short Bike course gets in the way of that.

Can you tell me - is the swim 2.4? Is the run 26.2 or should I expect something different?

Ok fine I get that the logistics of a bike course 56 miles long, make it difficult to make a 56-mile course exact. However. This is a race, that distance won't make much difference in the grand scheme, but - TAKE A LOOK AT THE DISTANCE AS ADVERTISED on the website ( not the strava map as suggested by the rude operator)

All of this reflects the reason why so many experienced triathletes in New Jersey don't like Hits races.

When I raced the full in 2013 and the half in 2014 at Hague, The race director was like family. Maybe the best race director I have had contact with. He made the athletes feel awesome, I'm sorry he's gone.

I'm going to leave this email in my Drafts box and send it to you the week after the race. I honestly don't want any negativity to get in the way of my race. Quite frankly I'm concerned at this point about course support and organization based on my other experiences. I will assume no support, and take care of myself.

One of the other members suggested that we should all get our money back for the camp. I would agree, as I think it was worthless, and will pass around to my teammates those feelings and HITS' unwillingness to make good on dissatisfied customers.

If you at any time plan of rebuilding the triathlon side of your organization, let me know I'll gladly submit a resume as I know I can at least run your camps better.


RACE EXPERIENCE

SO With the previous as my experience going into all this, I'll be honest to say that when I showed up on Friday I was on guard, full of race nerves and generally jumpy. I about jumped down a nice ladies throat when I asked her about the distance and she began to repeat the exact line about USAT rules on distance. I later apologized to her and she asked if I needed a hug. So that was really nice.

I set up my gear, went home, and sorted myself out for the morning.

The Swim went off great. The lake was crystal clear and nice to swim in. My time was exactly how I had planned.

I got out on the bike, things went smooth till I hit the 2nd lap. I started to have a real bad time with the heat. The simple need for more than two aid stations on the course became extremely apparent. I went through the 65-mile aid station and grabbed a bottle of water and head, both extremely hot, but drinkable, not at all cooling. My own drinks were keeping me going fine but I could feel my body get way overheated. When I finally reached the 80-mile aid station and grabbed a water to pour on myself I was horrified to find it BURNED like hot coffee. Needless to say, this did nothing for me and the heat issues I was experiencing. Same story on the last aid station at 95 miles ABsolutly nothing in terms of support. This more or less ruined my race and many months of training..... as I said in my comment in the beginning of this email I should have realized I was completely ON my own.


When I passed the farm stand 4 miles out from the start finish I was near dropping out of the race. I thought, If I could go in here and convince them to give me some cold water or juice I can get myself back together. Then I thought, "NO, I'll make it to the StartFinish and the will have plenty there for me.

I arrived DESPERATE for something anything COLD. When I asked, I was informed by a heavy set gentleman (race director) "Cold water is at the finish line, you need to cross that like everyone else" and "You don't want cold water it causes cramps"

I have finished 30 Marathons 5 Ultra marathons, 4 Ironmans and countless half Iron races and hundreds of endurance events. I can promise you on a hot day when racing gets hard....drinking cold water does NOT cause cramps. To be quite frank, I was ready to take a swing at this guy if I had had the strength. I believe I yelled something demanding a water that included an expletive

A very nice lady volunteer sat down with me and suggested I write a complaint as she couldn't believe what she had seen in terms of support during the race

Then the heavy set gentleman came back and said ... "you want some cold water follow me to the finish line" . I had my run shoes on and was ready to go so I did. When I got near the run-out He proceeded to shove a bottle in my face and said something to the effect "next you can ask NICELY"

My response was to threaten him with a lawsuit (of course not much I can do here) and to thrown the bottle at him. ( I'm sorry and was out of line) .

I'm sorry I needed something other than overheated water that clearly HITSwas unable to provide for support, but It's July in New York State, Did you not plan for hot weather. I would have gladly donated big Rubbermaid tubs and money for bags of Ice if it meant I could have had some cold water before the finish line. .

I've been doing this stuff for a long time. I've been through some tough endurance race situations before, but I have never had anything as nearly offensive as the way I was treated as an athlete Yes I was angry, but clearly safety and support was not planned for the athletes competing in the full distance event. In fact it seemd that the full was an after-thought to the rest of the day. Fair enough, your clearly making your profit from the shorter events on the day, but the Iron distance is the most dangerous to the athlete and clearly was not treated that way by you.

Despite the fact that my planned race was over due to my status off the bike I pushed through the run and finished and am very satisfied The VERY nice people at the run aid stations made the whole event a little more enjoyable. I'm glad I did this race, but I would think again before investing 9 months of hard training for another HITS event. I am floored by how poorly this was run.

You folks are in Kingston this should be the premiere event on your calendar. If we had worse heat, someone could have been seriously injured not to mention the level of support that made the bike a horrific experience on one of the nicest courses in the north east.

My overall experience with this race has me disgusted in a way I cannot explain. I am happy with my success but my plans were killed by poor execution by HITS and my own fault assuming race support would be organized.

To say that I am dissatisfied and will share this with my local triathlon community is an understatement.

Thank you
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Re: HITS Hudson Valley Review [coacharnold] [ In reply to ]
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Hey Coach, you need to go back to the beginning of Hits here a check out some of the other race reports. Going back something like 7 or 8 years you will see this is the normal for them. You may have missed them, but they are there each and every year, same problems no matter who is in charge. It is just a total lack of knowledge about race production and a general pompous attitude that they know it all and don't need to learn anything from their mistakes, so they continue to make the same ones over and over and over and, and well you know.....

Hopefully someone will be able to use your report and not make the totally avoidable mistake you made//
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Re: HITS Hudson Valley Review [monty] [ In reply to ]
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Last year I raced the HITS sprint in Kingston. I was in the lead on the bike, got to a spot and clearly asked "Is the sprint turnaround?" And I was told "no. Up the road"

You can probably guess where this is going. It WAS the turn around and I rode an extra 2-3 miles. Race done and overall victory out of reach.

They put a bad? Stupid? Unknowing? Volunteer in a key spot and it ruined my experience.

Race director didn't care at all.

HITS? Never again for me
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Re: HITS Hudson Valley Review [monty] [ In reply to ]
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agreed ...... !!!!
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Re: HITS Hudson Valley Review [coacharnold] [ In reply to ]
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I had also entered the full, as a long training day for Double Anvil. However, after reading the reports on ST I decided to forego doing it. After reading yours, I know I made the right decision. With many having experiences like yours, its amazing HITS is still in business and is a USAT sanctioned event.
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Re: HITS Hudson Valley Review [Tri-Bum] [ In reply to ]
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All I can add is that I only trust this group for a sprint distance.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! đŸ˜‚ '' Murphy's Law
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Re: HITS Hudson Valley Review [coacharnold] [ In reply to ]
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Sorry this happened but I am shocked that you are shocked. HITS is a perfect example of 'you get what you pay for.' They have largely collapsed as a viable race production company with only a few venues left. People should only register if they have very low expectations and with the understanding that they might declare bankruptcy without a bailout from the rich equestrian parent company.
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Re: HITS Hudson Valley Review [coacharnold] [ In reply to ]
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Someone needs to write a blog about how awful HITS races are. I raced HITS Palm Springs and I DQd myself after the run which had such poor markings that I got lost. I came in 5th female off the bike and was top three in my AG off the run. However my Garmin said my distance was short and since I was so obviously lost on the run I felt that I had to DQ myself. So many other racers were lost but they failed to DQ themselves. I digress. I kept asking if I was on the right course and none of the volunteers knew and the heavyset man just yelled at me to keep running. It was hot and the horse flies were out of control. The funny thing was that they could have marked the course better or taken the run course out of the horse park and done an out and back. It seems so easy and non-issue but I swear HITS just likes to make everything difficult and miserable for the racers. Since there are no timing mats cheating is very prevalent with the HITS races. Sorry you had a miserable race but take it as a learning experience. Never do a HITS race again!
Last edited by: Schwcl2: Jul 23, 17 18:51
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