I sent this email to the race directors of the LA Triathlon after the race today. These are just what I experienced and my opinions, maybe other people had a better experience, maybe some had worse. If anyone else had problems with the race feel free to post. Sorry the formatting is so bad, this is what happened when I copy and pasted the email from word. I already spent so much time typing the email, I didnt have time to format this post well or care about grammar or spelling.
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"I had the pleasure (or displeasure) of racing this year’s LA Triathlon (2014). I have been a triathlete for over 5 years now and have raced many Olympic distance races, relays, half ironman and ironman races. I have also raced tons of running events and open water swims. I can easily say this was the most poorly organized and thought out race I have ever done. I don’t want to be too critical and I want to give valuable feedback but its pretty safe to say that very little was done right. I will go into more detail below.
I would like to preface my comments with the points below
1. I understand this is a new course and there are challenges
2. The bike and run course was very challenging. I have no issues with the difficulty of the course, I enjoy a tough course, I do have many issues with the logistics and planning.
3. I wish the race organizers learned something about planning an event from the previous years but clearly the good points of previous years races were ignored.
4. I have raced several times on the previous LA Tri course and I have to say, that course was fairly well thought out and worked very well. (this years course was terrible)
5. I liked the previous years LA triathlon, there were some things I did not like, like the start and finish in complete different parts of town,and having to get through busy traffic back to your car but I was able to overlook that and I would have been happy doing that race yearly. If this race does not improve I would never race here again and would consider the Malibu tri instead which was the week before.
6. I really wanted to like this race because its very close to where I live and I like the past years races.
7. Just for your reference, depending on the race distance I am usually a front or mid-front of the pack racer.
8. FYI, there were so many things wrong with this race, this is going to be a long email. I don’t have time to proof read this so there may be a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes in this email.
Problems with this year’s race
Pre-race
1. Emails warning racers of the challenging conditions of the bike and run course and of the sand run came way too late. This did not give racers a chance to properly train in race conditions and im sure if the race course was published earlier, less of the racers that race yearly would of signed up.
2. At the expo the first volunteer I talked to did not know there was an Olympic and sprint distance race and did not know the difference.
3. The course talk was fine and really necessary given all the problems with the logistics of this race. Even having listened to the course talk, I was not prepared for the nightmare that this race was.
4. I got to the expo 3 hours after the expo started, there were still 4 hours left. I don’t care about the T-shirts, but less than half way into the expo and small and medium T-shirts were already all taken. Really? We pre-ordered our t-shirt size when we signed up. The race organizers knew how many t-shirts were needed and what sizes yet less then half way into the expo there were already no shirts left? That’s comical to me. Did the race organizers just order random sizes and quantities. I have even raced local 5k and 10k’s where you just sign up the day of the race and there were almost always shirts for everyone.
Race morning
1. Most races have you line up your bike by race number, or at least have the racks organized by a range of race numbers, I believe the previous LA Tri’s were like that. But nope, the racks were labeled sprint, supersprint and Olympic other then that there was absolutely no organization, just throw you bike up where ever you feel like. I didn’t have too many issues with this since I got there early but I can imagine people fighting over where to put their bike.
2. Only 10 Porto potties for how many thousand racers? Did the race organizers really think this was enough? Because it absolutely wasn’t, I have raced in 5 and 10k’s that had only a couple hundred racers which had more Porto potties.
3. Volunteers did not know where swim in and bike or run in and out was. I don’t think they even knew what this meant.
4. The race started a good 15-20 minutes late, that is another thing that is inexcusable to me. We got there on time, there were months to plan this race, there were no weather problems, conditions were good. Start the race on time. If there are no plans to start when your supposed to or according to schedule, please list that on the website that start time will be made up as you go.
The Swim
1. There will still age groupers warming up when the pro’s started the race even though this was 15 minutes after we were supposed to start. Why were they still in the water and so close to the course?
2. When the 3 female pro’s started the race, I almost laughed. Really? Only 3 pro’s I guess this race is not high on the pro’s list, why bother with a pro field at all? Im pretty sure the year I did the race I think two years ago there was an actual respectable pro field.
3. I actually have no issue with that swim stream start. I’m a front of the pack swimmer so I like starting near the front and not having to dodge slower swimmers.
4. Ok, this is another big issue I had. The Olympic course was supposed to start 35 min before the sprint. I finished the swim in about 25 min, the sprint racers should not have started yet. So as I exited the swim course and was walking up the hill why was there a race organizer walking up with me asking me if the sprint course swimmers coming in interfered with my swim? I kept thinking to myself, they should still be on the beach waiting to start. The person next to me said the sprint racers coming in totally confused him……… If I wasn’t so focused on sighting from the bouys but was sighting from other swimmers, I would have been completely confused too. That is poor planning and completely different from the planned start schedule.
The bike
1. This leg was the absolute worse and one day someone will be seriously injured if this races continues unchanged.
2. This bike course would work as a ITU pro only draft legal race. As a age group race it is absolutely the worst. The race directors need to decide if they want to stage a pro race or appeal to the real age groupers that actually bring in profits for the race.
3. Some people I heard complaining about the start which is on a steep incline and not having time to clip in. I didn’t have a problem with this because I knew about it, but I can imagine this being a problem for many racers.
4. On my first lap it started off ok because there weren’t that many racers yet. But near mile 2 or 3 there is a steep downhill and then almost a 90 degree right turn. The two racers infront of me were not directed properly and started making a u-turn instead. This confused me too and we all went into the lane with the oncoming bikers. Good thing it was still early and now one was coming back that why or else there would have been a big crash. On subsequent laps there was much more direction at that corner. I think on my first lap not that many people had come through yet so the volunteers didn’t know how big of an issue this was, but clearly it was a big problem.
5. The problem above also could have been solved by having enough signs directing people which there absolutely was not. Signs should have been bigger and clearer and well ahead of the turns which they were not.
6. That problem turn on point 4 on subsequent laps also became very wet, I have no idea from what. I’m sure you know what kind of problems there can be on a high speed turn that’s wet. The source of this water should have been controlled because it seemed to get worse as the race went on.
7. Dips and pot holes were not marked out. Usually race directors will mark with colorful chalk on the floor to warn racers of these dangers.
8. The turn around point after you had completed a lap was the most dangerous of all, good thing people weren’t traveling that fast. You have to make a sharp you turn on a narrow residential street which is not a problem for most people with decent bike handling but on top of that there are racers going straight right at you?????? That is terrible and extremely dangerous race route planning. Throw in the fact that many of the non-competitive age goupers cant control their bike on the u-turn or don’t know how to stay to the right when they see people coming into the u-turn. I’m surprised there wasn’t a giant pile up at that turn.
9. On my second lap was where the real danger started. Now you have fast age groupers, slow age groupers, supersprinters, sprint distance and Olympic distance racers, people walking with their bike, kids on their bikes all on one course. And the course is all on a small residential two lane road? I don’t even want to go into what a terrible idea this is. Needless to say, everyone was going at different speeds. Many of the recreational age groupers had obviously never done a triathlon before and did not know very basic things about a race like staying to the right, not passing on the right, not drafting………………… on the hills tons of people were walking their bike up the middle of the road, people were making S-shaped weaving patterns to get themselves up the hills taking up the whole lane, people who thought they were fast were taking up the far left part of the lane regardless of their surroundings. The entire race I was shouting “on your left” most of the time people moved but it also took a lot of concentration trying not to crash into riders not following the rules.
10. Another big part of the confusion was how many laps there were for each race. Everyone had different number of laps to race so there were racers at different stages of their respective race and this makes a difference with how you pace the race and how it affects your surrounding racers.
11. Once the average and slower age groupers were thrown into the mix, all the sharp turns and you turns got even more dangerous especially when it was the slower cyclists first lap and they did not know where they were going.
12. My biggest issue with the bike course is that im pretty sure it did not measure out to a full 40k. this confused me as I was on my 5th lap. I had to spend so much of my concentration trying not to crash into slower riders that I started to second guess how many laps I had done. I was pretty sure I was on my 5th and last lap but when I looked at the mileage on my garmin gps watch it was not going to add up to 40k. this really confused me and I second guessed myself and started my 6th lap. Half way on my 6th lap I finally asked someone what mileage they had and what lap they were on. Their mileage was going to add up short too and that’s when I realized I was on my 6th lap and I turned around to transition. With so many racers going at different speeds and with different amount of laps and all the other problems with the race this got very confusing.
13. As I was getting off my bike. Only about 4 or 5 bikers were around me and two of them shot way past the dismount line almost to where the runners were coming out and no one did anything about it. If it happened when there were only 5 bikers around I cant imagine how many times it happened during the race.
14. As I came into transition it was clear that there were better transition spot then others. If you picked a rack right near the bike in and out you were in luck because you had a much shorter transition then people in the back of the transition zone. To be fair to all racers, racers should have to run though the entire transition and have equal distances. To some racers those few seconds make a big difference. If your going to call this a fun non-competitive race with no age group or pro awards then fine, allow some people to have a minor advantage over others without letting people know ahead of time about this poorly planned transision. But if your trying to have a competitive course and give out age group awards, everyone should be required to travel the same distance. I’m sure if people knew ahead of time that same racks were better then others (especially with the lack of organization of the racks that I mentioned before) there would have been a lot more fights about where to rack your bike.
Run
1. As I came out of transition, know one could clearly tell me where to go. Again, no clear signs, people running in and out with and without their bikes, volunteers pointing all different directions, bikers overshooting the bike dismount, people going to the porta potties………… it was a complete mess.
2. Yes, the run course was challenging too but I had no issues with that. Please absolutely do not compare this race and then sand run to escape from Alcatraz. Escape from Alcatraz is a great race, one of the best I have ever done, great organization, great planning, great route. This race was absolutely terrible and should not even been mentioned together with Alcatraz. The run portion on the soft sand should not even be called a run. Again, if you want to call this race a fun race and not attract any competitive triathletes then fine. Competitive triathletes want to do well, they want to beat their previous race times, they do not want to slow trot on soft sand and be reduced to a fast walk or slow trot because of the course conditions. If your marketing this race as a adventure race or extera type race like extera or Alcatraz or trail run then that sand run is fine because it adds to the challenge and difficulty and adventure but this course has no elements of and adventure race it is a urban race and the soft sand run does not fit in with the atmosphere of a urban race.
3. FYI, the Alcatraz sand run was difficult too, but if I remember correctly the sand was not as softly packed as this and you can still run on the course. This course should not have been called a run, it should have been called a run and trot.
4. Again, racers running different race distances and different speeds and criss crossing bikers and runners leads to a horrible race route.
5. As I was running back to transition on my first lap on the road, all the volunteer’s were yelling “u-turn, u-turn, first lap u-turn” I was pretty sure that was not right. I saw a sign that said first lap sprint you turn second lap straight. I saw and heard absolutely nothing that told Olympic runners where to go. I had to slow down and ask a volunteer which way for Olympic and then she pointed straight.
6. That part where you run through transition is the worst, my first lap again, there were no signs and no one pointing where to go. I wasn’t the only one but I followed a group of runners that were about to run onto the bike course with bikers running their bike down. People were yelling stay on your left but to your left was the bike in course. We were actually supposed to stay on the left of the run course which was on the right of bike course which again was not clearly marked because it was all the same driveway………… terrible planning. There was a race organizer there directing traffic, but he seems so overwhelmed with standing in the middle of the road guiding people running their bike into transition that he was standing in the middle of the road with his back to oncoming runners and his arm completely stretched out over and blocking the one person lane of a run course that you had no choice to either run to the left of him which turned out you would be ending up onto the bike in path or you had to run to the right around his arm into transition and around onto the run course.
7. Needless to say with all this confusion I’m sure plenty of people ended up cutting the course either intentionally or unintentionally on the bike and run and probably the swim too.
8. Other big issue I had was the run course nutrition. For racers who are actually trying to race and go fast, many of us count on the on course nutrition for our race. This is a race, its not a nice slow walking buffet. Runners need to be handed gels and nutrition as they run by. The only thing the volunteers were passing out was water. I don’t even know if there was electrolyte drinks on the course. I saw tons of gels sitting on a table at two spots but that’s exactly what they were doing, just sitting on the table for you to take as many as you want. No one was passing out the gels. If your racing the course, you don’t have the time to stop, walk over to the table beyond the volunteers passing out water and pick out your gel, maybe pour yourself a electrolyte drink and go back to the race. Im pretty sure the bike course also only had water, which I was ok with because I had some gels with me on the bike but some people may need gels or electrolyte drinks while biking too.
9. When I finished the race and most of the Olympic racers were still on the course. I saw spectators walk up to the gel tables and grab handfuls of them, no-one stopped them, I’m not sure if anyone knew, I’m not even sure they knew what they were, but now they have a lot of gel’s for when they get home.
10. On my last lap just as I was coming into transition all hell broke loose. The 5k runners were set free………The flood gates were let loose…….. 5k runners who had their adrenaline going started sprinting down the same course that all the other triathletes were on. I saw tired triathletes get swallowed up by the mass of 5k runners looking very confused and scared. It was like a stampede and like some prankster you-tube videos in japan that I have seen when a giant crown runs up on unsuspecting bystanders, I could help thinking of those videos and laughing inside but then feeling sorry for the triathletes getting swallowed up. A lot of the 5k runners were also kids flailing wildly with no regard to their surroundings.
11. As I was running into the transition and the mass of 5k runners were getting larger the 5k runners started to invade both lanes of the entire road like it was a one way track as triathletes were going the opposite direction of them. I was afraid me and the other triathletes were going to run head-on into one of these 5k runners since it seemed they were running with absolutely no regard to what was in front of them. All the triathletes merged onto the very left side of the lane and some up onto the side walk. The whole time many of us were yelling at the top of our voices “wrong side of the road” ”watch out” “go to your right” “stay in your lane. Thankfully I was almost at transition.
12. As I got toward transition I saw the 5k runners were still getting funneled through their starting shute and starting their race. That’s when I realized how many 5k runners there were and how much worse the problem will be for triathletes behind me.
13. Looking at the 5k runners, I also then realized where all the green medium and small LA triathlon T-shirts went that us triathletes registered for months ahead and should have been there waiting for us at the expo. Half of the 5k runners were wearing their green LA Triathlon T-shirt with pride. I’m pretty sure it was the same t-shirt that said LA tri and nothing about finishing a 5k. im guessing a lot of these 5k runners signed-up for the race early at the expo. I’m actually really glad I got to the expo late and missed out on that cheap cotton t-shirt if I would have had to wait inline as all those 5kers registered.
14. Also looking at how many 5k runners there were, it sure looked like there were a lot more people running the 5k then there were racing the actual triathlon. Maybe the race should be renamed to include the 5k fun run. Instead of marketed as a serious urban triathlon.
Post race
1. Finish shute was fine, there was no one around me as a finished the Olympic race even though I biked a extra half lap, I ended up still finishing well ahead of most racers. So I had no troubles through the finish. But this speaks to the quality of racers if I am normally a fast mid pack racer to near the front racer and I can bike a extra half lap and still finish in the top 5 of my age group and around the top 30 or 40 overall………..I guess all the more competitive triathletes knew to avoid this nightmare of a race.
2. After the finish I was so exacerbated by all the problems of the race that I just wanted to get my food and get home. As I was passing through the finish, there was no indication where the post race food was. I saw the Herbalife booth, the California tri booth, the cliff bar booth…. Turns out the race food was way past everything else at a small table on the left with a small platter of bananas and some grapes
3. Post race I just wanted to get to my bike and get out. I looked up and saw bystanders walking up and down the hill which was part of the race course so I walked up it as well as the rest of the Olympic racers were still going up. Bystanders and people who finished the race should not be allowed up, volunteers and even race officials should not be walking on the course……………. No one stopped anyone, no one seemed to care, in fact the volunteers were even cheering on people who were obviously regular bystanders that were walking up the course, right into transition…….
4. While I was in transition, there were a couple other racers who had finished packing up and people still coming in on their bike. Almost all of the bikes and gear were still there (the racks were full). There were regular beach goers or spectators who had pushed aside the fence into and out of the back of transition and were walking through, down to the beach because they didn’t want to walk around transition. No one was watching them, no one was watching them. I’m pretty sure they could of taken off with some pretty nice and expensive equipment if they wanted to.
5. After the race, I packed up and left as quickly as I could.
6. The only good thing about this race was that there was lots of all day residential parking nearby which was good for the racers but I’m sure the neighborhood hated it. (parking around Venice was the thing I hated most about the old location of this race)
7. It’s a shame that there were so many problems with this race, its really close to where I live, I really wanted to like it. But, needless to say if changes are not made, I will not be doing this race again.
8. I’m sure there were other problems other people had, and I’m sure I’m forgetting things but I have spent long enough typing this email, I think it gets the major points across.
9. This course may work for ITU draft legal pro’s going the same distance and same speed but for age groupers it was a nightmare and accident waiting to happen.
I hope this email gets to who it needs to, please confirm receipt and proper handling of this email. I want to make sure this issues are made aware of for the sake of the future of this race and its racers. I am available to speak in person, over the phone or via email with any of the race organizers to try to help improve this race. It’s a shame that so much was done wrong I hope things will be better next year.
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"I had the pleasure (or displeasure) of racing this year’s LA Triathlon (2014). I have been a triathlete for over 5 years now and have raced many Olympic distance races, relays, half ironman and ironman races. I have also raced tons of running events and open water swims. I can easily say this was the most poorly organized and thought out race I have ever done. I don’t want to be too critical and I want to give valuable feedback but its pretty safe to say that very little was done right. I will go into more detail below.
I would like to preface my comments with the points below
1. I understand this is a new course and there are challenges
2. The bike and run course was very challenging. I have no issues with the difficulty of the course, I enjoy a tough course, I do have many issues with the logistics and planning.
3. I wish the race organizers learned something about planning an event from the previous years but clearly the good points of previous years races were ignored.
4. I have raced several times on the previous LA Tri course and I have to say, that course was fairly well thought out and worked very well. (this years course was terrible)
5. I liked the previous years LA triathlon, there were some things I did not like, like the start and finish in complete different parts of town,and having to get through busy traffic back to your car but I was able to overlook that and I would have been happy doing that race yearly. If this race does not improve I would never race here again and would consider the Malibu tri instead which was the week before.
6. I really wanted to like this race because its very close to where I live and I like the past years races.
7. Just for your reference, depending on the race distance I am usually a front or mid-front of the pack racer.
8. FYI, there were so many things wrong with this race, this is going to be a long email. I don’t have time to proof read this so there may be a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes in this email.
Problems with this year’s race
Pre-race
1. Emails warning racers of the challenging conditions of the bike and run course and of the sand run came way too late. This did not give racers a chance to properly train in race conditions and im sure if the race course was published earlier, less of the racers that race yearly would of signed up.
2. At the expo the first volunteer I talked to did not know there was an Olympic and sprint distance race and did not know the difference.
3. The course talk was fine and really necessary given all the problems with the logistics of this race. Even having listened to the course talk, I was not prepared for the nightmare that this race was.
4. I got to the expo 3 hours after the expo started, there were still 4 hours left. I don’t care about the T-shirts, but less than half way into the expo and small and medium T-shirts were already all taken. Really? We pre-ordered our t-shirt size when we signed up. The race organizers knew how many t-shirts were needed and what sizes yet less then half way into the expo there were already no shirts left? That’s comical to me. Did the race organizers just order random sizes and quantities. I have even raced local 5k and 10k’s where you just sign up the day of the race and there were almost always shirts for everyone.
Race morning
1. Most races have you line up your bike by race number, or at least have the racks organized by a range of race numbers, I believe the previous LA Tri’s were like that. But nope, the racks were labeled sprint, supersprint and Olympic other then that there was absolutely no organization, just throw you bike up where ever you feel like. I didn’t have too many issues with this since I got there early but I can imagine people fighting over where to put their bike.
2. Only 10 Porto potties for how many thousand racers? Did the race organizers really think this was enough? Because it absolutely wasn’t, I have raced in 5 and 10k’s that had only a couple hundred racers which had more Porto potties.
3. Volunteers did not know where swim in and bike or run in and out was. I don’t think they even knew what this meant.
4. The race started a good 15-20 minutes late, that is another thing that is inexcusable to me. We got there on time, there were months to plan this race, there were no weather problems, conditions were good. Start the race on time. If there are no plans to start when your supposed to or according to schedule, please list that on the website that start time will be made up as you go.
The Swim
1. There will still age groupers warming up when the pro’s started the race even though this was 15 minutes after we were supposed to start. Why were they still in the water and so close to the course?
2. When the 3 female pro’s started the race, I almost laughed. Really? Only 3 pro’s I guess this race is not high on the pro’s list, why bother with a pro field at all? Im pretty sure the year I did the race I think two years ago there was an actual respectable pro field.
3. I actually have no issue with that swim stream start. I’m a front of the pack swimmer so I like starting near the front and not having to dodge slower swimmers.
4. Ok, this is another big issue I had. The Olympic course was supposed to start 35 min before the sprint. I finished the swim in about 25 min, the sprint racers should not have started yet. So as I exited the swim course and was walking up the hill why was there a race organizer walking up with me asking me if the sprint course swimmers coming in interfered with my swim? I kept thinking to myself, they should still be on the beach waiting to start. The person next to me said the sprint racers coming in totally confused him……… If I wasn’t so focused on sighting from the bouys but was sighting from other swimmers, I would have been completely confused too. That is poor planning and completely different from the planned start schedule.
The bike
1. This leg was the absolute worse and one day someone will be seriously injured if this races continues unchanged.
2. This bike course would work as a ITU pro only draft legal race. As a age group race it is absolutely the worst. The race directors need to decide if they want to stage a pro race or appeal to the real age groupers that actually bring in profits for the race.
3. Some people I heard complaining about the start which is on a steep incline and not having time to clip in. I didn’t have a problem with this because I knew about it, but I can imagine this being a problem for many racers.
4. On my first lap it started off ok because there weren’t that many racers yet. But near mile 2 or 3 there is a steep downhill and then almost a 90 degree right turn. The two racers infront of me were not directed properly and started making a u-turn instead. This confused me too and we all went into the lane with the oncoming bikers. Good thing it was still early and now one was coming back that why or else there would have been a big crash. On subsequent laps there was much more direction at that corner. I think on my first lap not that many people had come through yet so the volunteers didn’t know how big of an issue this was, but clearly it was a big problem.
5. The problem above also could have been solved by having enough signs directing people which there absolutely was not. Signs should have been bigger and clearer and well ahead of the turns which they were not.
6. That problem turn on point 4 on subsequent laps also became very wet, I have no idea from what. I’m sure you know what kind of problems there can be on a high speed turn that’s wet. The source of this water should have been controlled because it seemed to get worse as the race went on.
7. Dips and pot holes were not marked out. Usually race directors will mark with colorful chalk on the floor to warn racers of these dangers.
8. The turn around point after you had completed a lap was the most dangerous of all, good thing people weren’t traveling that fast. You have to make a sharp you turn on a narrow residential street which is not a problem for most people with decent bike handling but on top of that there are racers going straight right at you?????? That is terrible and extremely dangerous race route planning. Throw in the fact that many of the non-competitive age goupers cant control their bike on the u-turn or don’t know how to stay to the right when they see people coming into the u-turn. I’m surprised there wasn’t a giant pile up at that turn.
9. On my second lap was where the real danger started. Now you have fast age groupers, slow age groupers, supersprinters, sprint distance and Olympic distance racers, people walking with their bike, kids on their bikes all on one course. And the course is all on a small residential two lane road? I don’t even want to go into what a terrible idea this is. Needless to say, everyone was going at different speeds. Many of the recreational age groupers had obviously never done a triathlon before and did not know very basic things about a race like staying to the right, not passing on the right, not drafting………………… on the hills tons of people were walking their bike up the middle of the road, people were making S-shaped weaving patterns to get themselves up the hills taking up the whole lane, people who thought they were fast were taking up the far left part of the lane regardless of their surroundings. The entire race I was shouting “on your left” most of the time people moved but it also took a lot of concentration trying not to crash into riders not following the rules.
10. Another big part of the confusion was how many laps there were for each race. Everyone had different number of laps to race so there were racers at different stages of their respective race and this makes a difference with how you pace the race and how it affects your surrounding racers.
11. Once the average and slower age groupers were thrown into the mix, all the sharp turns and you turns got even more dangerous especially when it was the slower cyclists first lap and they did not know where they were going.
12. My biggest issue with the bike course is that im pretty sure it did not measure out to a full 40k. this confused me as I was on my 5th lap. I had to spend so much of my concentration trying not to crash into slower riders that I started to second guess how many laps I had done. I was pretty sure I was on my 5th and last lap but when I looked at the mileage on my garmin gps watch it was not going to add up to 40k. this really confused me and I second guessed myself and started my 6th lap. Half way on my 6th lap I finally asked someone what mileage they had and what lap they were on. Their mileage was going to add up short too and that’s when I realized I was on my 6th lap and I turned around to transition. With so many racers going at different speeds and with different amount of laps and all the other problems with the race this got very confusing.
13. As I was getting off my bike. Only about 4 or 5 bikers were around me and two of them shot way past the dismount line almost to where the runners were coming out and no one did anything about it. If it happened when there were only 5 bikers around I cant imagine how many times it happened during the race.
14. As I came into transition it was clear that there were better transition spot then others. If you picked a rack right near the bike in and out you were in luck because you had a much shorter transition then people in the back of the transition zone. To be fair to all racers, racers should have to run though the entire transition and have equal distances. To some racers those few seconds make a big difference. If your going to call this a fun non-competitive race with no age group or pro awards then fine, allow some people to have a minor advantage over others without letting people know ahead of time about this poorly planned transision. But if your trying to have a competitive course and give out age group awards, everyone should be required to travel the same distance. I’m sure if people knew ahead of time that same racks were better then others (especially with the lack of organization of the racks that I mentioned before) there would have been a lot more fights about where to rack your bike.
Run
1. As I came out of transition, know one could clearly tell me where to go. Again, no clear signs, people running in and out with and without their bikes, volunteers pointing all different directions, bikers overshooting the bike dismount, people going to the porta potties………… it was a complete mess.
2. Yes, the run course was challenging too but I had no issues with that. Please absolutely do not compare this race and then sand run to escape from Alcatraz. Escape from Alcatraz is a great race, one of the best I have ever done, great organization, great planning, great route. This race was absolutely terrible and should not even been mentioned together with Alcatraz. The run portion on the soft sand should not even be called a run. Again, if you want to call this race a fun race and not attract any competitive triathletes then fine. Competitive triathletes want to do well, they want to beat their previous race times, they do not want to slow trot on soft sand and be reduced to a fast walk or slow trot because of the course conditions. If your marketing this race as a adventure race or extera type race like extera or Alcatraz or trail run then that sand run is fine because it adds to the challenge and difficulty and adventure but this course has no elements of and adventure race it is a urban race and the soft sand run does not fit in with the atmosphere of a urban race.
3. FYI, the Alcatraz sand run was difficult too, but if I remember correctly the sand was not as softly packed as this and you can still run on the course. This course should not have been called a run, it should have been called a run and trot.
4. Again, racers running different race distances and different speeds and criss crossing bikers and runners leads to a horrible race route.
5. As I was running back to transition on my first lap on the road, all the volunteer’s were yelling “u-turn, u-turn, first lap u-turn” I was pretty sure that was not right. I saw a sign that said first lap sprint you turn second lap straight. I saw and heard absolutely nothing that told Olympic runners where to go. I had to slow down and ask a volunteer which way for Olympic and then she pointed straight.
6. That part where you run through transition is the worst, my first lap again, there were no signs and no one pointing where to go. I wasn’t the only one but I followed a group of runners that were about to run onto the bike course with bikers running their bike down. People were yelling stay on your left but to your left was the bike in course. We were actually supposed to stay on the left of the run course which was on the right of bike course which again was not clearly marked because it was all the same driveway………… terrible planning. There was a race organizer there directing traffic, but he seems so overwhelmed with standing in the middle of the road guiding people running their bike into transition that he was standing in the middle of the road with his back to oncoming runners and his arm completely stretched out over and blocking the one person lane of a run course that you had no choice to either run to the left of him which turned out you would be ending up onto the bike in path or you had to run to the right around his arm into transition and around onto the run course.
7. Needless to say with all this confusion I’m sure plenty of people ended up cutting the course either intentionally or unintentionally on the bike and run and probably the swim too.
8. Other big issue I had was the run course nutrition. For racers who are actually trying to race and go fast, many of us count on the on course nutrition for our race. This is a race, its not a nice slow walking buffet. Runners need to be handed gels and nutrition as they run by. The only thing the volunteers were passing out was water. I don’t even know if there was electrolyte drinks on the course. I saw tons of gels sitting on a table at two spots but that’s exactly what they were doing, just sitting on the table for you to take as many as you want. No one was passing out the gels. If your racing the course, you don’t have the time to stop, walk over to the table beyond the volunteers passing out water and pick out your gel, maybe pour yourself a electrolyte drink and go back to the race. Im pretty sure the bike course also only had water, which I was ok with because I had some gels with me on the bike but some people may need gels or electrolyte drinks while biking too.
9. When I finished the race and most of the Olympic racers were still on the course. I saw spectators walk up to the gel tables and grab handfuls of them, no-one stopped them, I’m not sure if anyone knew, I’m not even sure they knew what they were, but now they have a lot of gel’s for when they get home.
10. On my last lap just as I was coming into transition all hell broke loose. The 5k runners were set free………The flood gates were let loose…….. 5k runners who had their adrenaline going started sprinting down the same course that all the other triathletes were on. I saw tired triathletes get swallowed up by the mass of 5k runners looking very confused and scared. It was like a stampede and like some prankster you-tube videos in japan that I have seen when a giant crown runs up on unsuspecting bystanders, I could help thinking of those videos and laughing inside but then feeling sorry for the triathletes getting swallowed up. A lot of the 5k runners were also kids flailing wildly with no regard to their surroundings.
11. As I was running into the transition and the mass of 5k runners were getting larger the 5k runners started to invade both lanes of the entire road like it was a one way track as triathletes were going the opposite direction of them. I was afraid me and the other triathletes were going to run head-on into one of these 5k runners since it seemed they were running with absolutely no regard to what was in front of them. All the triathletes merged onto the very left side of the lane and some up onto the side walk. The whole time many of us were yelling at the top of our voices “wrong side of the road” ”watch out” “go to your right” “stay in your lane. Thankfully I was almost at transition.
12. As I got toward transition I saw the 5k runners were still getting funneled through their starting shute and starting their race. That’s when I realized how many 5k runners there were and how much worse the problem will be for triathletes behind me.
13. Looking at the 5k runners, I also then realized where all the green medium and small LA triathlon T-shirts went that us triathletes registered for months ahead and should have been there waiting for us at the expo. Half of the 5k runners were wearing their green LA Triathlon T-shirt with pride. I’m pretty sure it was the same t-shirt that said LA tri and nothing about finishing a 5k. im guessing a lot of these 5k runners signed-up for the race early at the expo. I’m actually really glad I got to the expo late and missed out on that cheap cotton t-shirt if I would have had to wait inline as all those 5kers registered.
14. Also looking at how many 5k runners there were, it sure looked like there were a lot more people running the 5k then there were racing the actual triathlon. Maybe the race should be renamed to include the 5k fun run. Instead of marketed as a serious urban triathlon.
Post race
1. Finish shute was fine, there was no one around me as a finished the Olympic race even though I biked a extra half lap, I ended up still finishing well ahead of most racers. So I had no troubles through the finish. But this speaks to the quality of racers if I am normally a fast mid pack racer to near the front racer and I can bike a extra half lap and still finish in the top 5 of my age group and around the top 30 or 40 overall………..I guess all the more competitive triathletes knew to avoid this nightmare of a race.
2. After the finish I was so exacerbated by all the problems of the race that I just wanted to get my food and get home. As I was passing through the finish, there was no indication where the post race food was. I saw the Herbalife booth, the California tri booth, the cliff bar booth…. Turns out the race food was way past everything else at a small table on the left with a small platter of bananas and some grapes
3. Post race I just wanted to get to my bike and get out. I looked up and saw bystanders walking up and down the hill which was part of the race course so I walked up it as well as the rest of the Olympic racers were still going up. Bystanders and people who finished the race should not be allowed up, volunteers and even race officials should not be walking on the course……………. No one stopped anyone, no one seemed to care, in fact the volunteers were even cheering on people who were obviously regular bystanders that were walking up the course, right into transition…….
4. While I was in transition, there were a couple other racers who had finished packing up and people still coming in on their bike. Almost all of the bikes and gear were still there (the racks were full). There were regular beach goers or spectators who had pushed aside the fence into and out of the back of transition and were walking through, down to the beach because they didn’t want to walk around transition. No one was watching them, no one was watching them. I’m pretty sure they could of taken off with some pretty nice and expensive equipment if they wanted to.
5. After the race, I packed up and left as quickly as I could.
6. The only good thing about this race was that there was lots of all day residential parking nearby which was good for the racers but I’m sure the neighborhood hated it. (parking around Venice was the thing I hated most about the old location of this race)
7. It’s a shame that there were so many problems with this race, its really close to where I live, I really wanted to like it. But, needless to say if changes are not made, I will not be doing this race again.
8. I’m sure there were other problems other people had, and I’m sure I’m forgetting things but I have spent long enough typing this email, I think it gets the major points across.
9. This course may work for ITU draft legal pro’s going the same distance and same speed but for age groupers it was a nightmare and accident waiting to happen.
I hope this email gets to who it needs to, please confirm receipt and proper handling of this email. I want to make sure this issues are made aware of for the sake of the future of this race and its racers. I am available to speak in person, over the phone or via email with any of the race organizers to try to help improve this race. It’s a shame that so much was done wrong I hope things will be better next year.