I was shocked to see that this is pretty common. Sometimes there just is no way to get the distance I guess.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

I agree, but it is not just HIM's. I have seen Oly distance races be off. Some are for good reasons like construction, etc.


Dave

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

I suppose they should call it a "long course" race, not a 1/2 IM, but why would that stop you from doing the race?

I agree that they should probably not call it half iron.

On the other hand, I would have a lot of respect for them if they measure the distances accurately, whatever they are. The majority of "half-irons" I've done I think have had short swims.

Stopped Clock

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Correct twice a day.

On the other hand, I would have a lot of respect for them if they measure the distances accurately, whatever they are. The majority of "half-irons" I've done I think have had short swims

I was thinking just that same thing---at least they're honestly measuring the course and advertising them. But agree, shouldn't be called a "Half Iron"...perhaps the "Almost Half Iron Because This Was All We Could Get Approval For" Triathlon and take the distinction of the longest race name in the world?

;-)

I agree. I respect them for being honest about the distance.

The reason I wont do it is because my goal this season is to pr a 1/2 IM. I was going to give myself 3 good chances to do so. I'm not racing hard if it's not going to count. Anyway, for the money, investment etc, I'm just not sure it's worth it.

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Fortitudine Vincimus

What happens if you somehow get into the Kona Lottery and have to validate your entry with at least a HIM race....even though its a "HIM race" but the precise distances are alittle less, does this not validate....Im sure there have been races that have validated Kona which have short swims, bikes, or runs in the past. Is the athlete penalized for a "short course"????? JUst wonderin"

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Michael in Kansas
"Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit"
"Its not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up" Lombardi

I was in that boat last year. I was told (by the folks who told me I won the lottery) that I had to do at least a half IM in their series in order to validate my slot. I found out later, that they would have probably allowed a 1/2 IM outside of their series. But they got what they intended, a "forced" entry fee into one of their races, and more $ in their pockets. Don't get me wrong, I would have paid twice that amount & flown anywhere to validate my slot.

Enough of that.

I am doing this Big O race. And yes, I will consider it a 1/2 IM.

I drove this course last week and I'm riding it today. Trust me, it will "feel" like the full distance. It's a tough course especially the last 5 miles of bike and the run....is really brutal. Also, I don't know a whole lot about about KLM (although they do sponsor my club...http://www.kcmultisport.com) but some folks claim their events aren't managed the best. My only real issue (apart from some of the roads and how freaking hard the run is going to be) is the transition area. It's tiny...I mean real tiny. No idea where people will park either. Far from ideal, but I'm glad there is a "nearly" 1/2 distance race near by...great fitness check for Pigman in Aug.

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ADW

Yeah, it's pretty stupid to call that a half-iron race. Would it be so bad for them to call it a triathlon? I did a "half-iron" once where the race director told us at the pre race meeting that the bike course was 53 miles. Then on race day it was actually 51.5. Like he didn't know that the day before?

-C

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

I have heard the course is a tough one...I am also doing this race. I did the Midwest Meltdown two years ago which was a half IM distance put on by the same race management co. They had a lot of issues last year with courses not being well marked which they have vowed to change this season...we'll see. I agree they should probably just call it "long course" though.

i agree with most of the points raised already.
they shouldn't call it a half-iron.
but at least they're honest.

in 2006 one of my resolutions was to finish a half iron. the one i signed up for was like the incredible shrinking triathlon

you can see my thread about it here if you want. adverstise it as a half and then when all the training was done (and the money spent) start telling people the distances. except for the run, where i finished thinking i'd really kicked but! (it was around 11.5).

If anyone cares: Here is the report on the bike course.

Hope they clean the road out of the transition because it's got loose gravel everywhere and there are a couple tight turns leaving the lake area. There is a long steady hill over the next two miles but nothing too painfull. After that the course is actually pretty decent for the next 40 miles. Lots of up and down (but no monsters) as well as flat areas. I flatted near the turnaround over Hillsdale lake. Lucky for me I was prepared. I stayed in the small ring until the turn. I intended on going easy but there was a steady 15-20 mph wind and really not much shelter from it. Took me about 1:10 to get to the turn. Prevailing wind will be out of the south and until the turn...you are going south almost the entire time. I went to the big gear on the way back and took advantage of the tailwind. technically, this is a long ride for me. I don't go over 40 miles very often and I was hoping to avg around 20 mph with an easy effort for 2:30 ride. I accidentally hammered on the way back (which is considerably longer), HR was way up but I was enjoying the speed too much. Last 5 miles are tough. Long stretch of crappy chip-seal pavement with dirt clogs from the tractors all over the place. There are 3 hills in the last 5 miles that are brutal. My legs were pretty tired but those last few hills were brutal....really a tough way to end the ride. I planned on running one lap of the run course but I was wrecked and the ride took much longer than I planned. Not counting the time I spent changing the tire, I did it in 2:43. I wasn't going race speed but I was danm tired. 2 laps of the run (including 2 insane hills) will hurt like hell....I promise. Here is my HR and elevation data in case your interested.

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ADW

if anyone cares, here is a report on the swim course - COLD!

Damn, it has been in the 20's & 30's at night, with daytime highs in the 40's the last week. We better hope for some 80's to 90's in the next few weeks to warm that water up.

I didn't think they could use the word Iron??????

               The word iron is not a trademark.The term "Ironman" in relation to a triathlon is.You can say iron dist,half iron dist,double iron dist etc just as long as it's not Ironman.

For those looking for a PR on the bike leg of this course, good luck. The race directors decided to have the bike course cross the busiest rail line in the State of Kansas approximately two miles into the course. On average a train passes through this area approximately every five minutes, and these aren't your run of the mill short trains, were talking several mile long freight trains. Its not uncommon to have to sit and wait for five to ten minutes for a passing train. Also, don't be surprised if one of those trains has to stop, blocking the crossing for an extended period of time. I should know, I live less than a mile from this particular crossing (As I type this out two trains are crossing by going into opposite directions). I was going to do this race until I saw their decision on the bike course. This might seem minor to some, but I sure don't feel comfortable spotting my competition 5-10 minutes on the bike leg, which would be a fast course if not for the trains. The race director for this race has a rep for not planning the most organized races, athletes beware. Also, I have lived in Olathe for 20+ years I there is no way in hell I would swim in that lake. Not to long ago it had been deemed unsafe for swimming by public health officials. For those in the area go across the state line and sign up for an Ultramax. I personally have not done one, but from what I here Mark Livesay puts on a well organized race.

PaddyO,
I won't be participating in the BigO mainly because I have watched KLM take over the local KS races and put on crap. I can't put my finger on what is exactly wrong with the races... but they always have a "bare minimum" feeling to them. Nobody seems like they want to be there....lots of hype and no soul...kind of like IM but without the delivery. It is really a shame...especially the Lawrence,KS race...that is an awesome course just waiting for it's return to one of the small great races. I don't know if you have done any of Mark Livesay's races but they are exceptional. I have raced Mark's races in the good and bad and I always leave his races with a smile...he is a credit to the sport.

UltraMax people first tried 1romMax and it would not fly. I think it is trademarked

             Many years ago the good gentlemen at WTC tried to stop the Australian Surf Life-Saving Association from using the term Ironman for the feature event on the SLS calendar.The surf Ironman consists of swim-ski-paddle and sometimes run.This event is considered the most prestigious event in the sport and many Aussie Ironmen are national icons.WTC was told in the most polite way to fuck-off and not mess with an event that began in the 1960's and if they were so upset by the use of the term in Surf Lifesaving then they could take their little triathlon in Forster and shove it!WTC backed off and now both sports co-exsist happily with no tradmark problems as they are different sports.Maybe we Aussies are just better at standing up to bullies than most countries.

I'll take the disenting view.

The course should showcase the terrain/course design and not be confined by the typical races distances.

You can call it whatever you want. I don't know of "this" course, but it always seems silly to have to do a tiny loop through a parking lot or take a shortcut off the trail just the satisfy the distance paradigm.

Look... we can cry about the distance and / or conditions all day. Do the race or don't. It's a long-ish distance race in or around KC and it's probably going to have cold water and wind on the bike. Use it as a hard workout if nothing less. I've seen the course and it is hard, it's early in the season, the roads are so-so and yes....there are train tracks so it's possible you could enjoy an unscheduled break.....but what else are you going to do that weekend.

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ADW

I think short swims should be the norm, that way we all start the race feeling great

Just rode the bike course today and drove the run course. This is going to be one tough course. The only other course I can think to compare it too is the Ultramax Innsbrook Course... but I believe that the Big O is a more difficult course.

If you are doing the race and haven't seen the course yet.. at the very least drive it... The end of the bike is murder and could ruin your entire race if you push too hard on the front half. The run is extremely hill also... so be prepared to be toast.

Thanks for the update! See you in a couple of weeks. The hills Northwest of the lake WILL hurt at the end of the bike, I usually avoided those when training through there. I assumed the run would be tough also, there is nowhere to go without hills. It'll be a good early season training day!


Mark

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http://www.mctriguy.blogspot.com

The KLM folks said today they have 86 for the TRI- and 17 for the DU-. I figured that lots of folks would be asking to switch since the water will be so fuckin cold, but they said no one has requested that yet. They also are reporting over 100 for the sprint tri.

Any of you chumps wanna go ride the course on Saturday? It doesn't look like there are many places to stop for a beer along the route though. :(

I am teetering on doing the dual. I have to say, if there are only 17 people in it, that's not encouraging me very much. Nothing like being by yourself for the entire race. That's smaller than some of our group rides.... On the other hand...shouldn't be too hard to crack the top 10.

BTW...There is a place in Edgerton to grab a beer

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ADW

If the du & the tri start at the same time, there might be some badasses from the tri who catch you. :)

(I am certainly NOT talking about myself)

I am one of the 86 doing the "half". Haven't been to the course, but have heard from some budidies at Master Swim that it is a tough course. I know of a couple more people that might sign up by this Sunday night. .so we may have around 90 altogether. .That should put me right around 88th place. It is just a training race for me. . not that I could really race it anway, but just a warm up/check for IMCDA.

There are about 5 or 6 of us meeting at that lake/park at 9am tomorrow. Everyone is welcome. Unless you are a fast rider, then you will miss all the beer stops with us.

Only thing of note from yesterday's ride - the bar in Edgerton was closed.

Man, did this thing suck some balls.

OH do tell!

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Fortitudine Vincimus

Well, I wasn't there but I live in the area. It probably has something to do with the ~2" of rain we received this morning along with the thunder and lightning. I think the winds were pretty strong as well. If the race even started I'm guessing the storm came through shortly after the swim began.

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Started pouring just after the bike leg began. Heavy freaking rain. Lots of thunder and lighting and is was CLOSE. They eventually pulled us off the course at about mi 25 or so. Had us huddled in a big barn with no walls for 30-45 minutes. Everyone was freaking freezing since we were soaked and the wind was blowing through. There were only a few people who were not shivering like crazy. So they eventually get us transportation back to the transition area. Many of us left our bikes at the barn due to space constraints.

The parking was a huge mess. I saw at least 8 vehicles had to get winched out by a wrecker, my 4wd crewcab included. So after my $75 winching, I drive back 25 miles to the barn & found my bike no longer there. Someone apparently thought they'd do us a favor by taking the bikes back to the lake. So I turn around and go back to the lake where me & another guy who was in my same situation, found our bikes lying on the side of the road.

From the time I got off my bike until I could leave to go home, it took nearly 3 hours.

I understand mother nature is unpredictable, but that $75 tow pissed me off. Then the wasted 30 minutes each way to retrieve my bike topped it off.

I am pretty sure I will not do any more KLM events.

What was bad was that KLM was more concerned about taking down their tents, picking up cones and tearing down their transition area than they were rescuing the 30+ people who were stranded in the barn. They pulled people off the course because the weather was getting too dangerous...KLM called the race… wouldn’t make sense for a race management company to use all the resources they have available to make sure the athletes returned safely???

I guess they already had our overpriced entry fees...

You can't fault them for the weather... only the way they responded to it.

I am not a bit surprised about KLM's mgmt of this race. They have difficulty putting on a sprint distance and when I saw they were doing a full and a half, there was no way I was signing up. Ultramax half iron later in the year is a very well run race.

They also canceled the sprint distance race before it began. Do those folks get any kind of refund?

It would also be nice of them to offer free entry into another of their races for those of us who were stranded in the barn. I'm not sure if I would take them up on it, but I'd like to see them offer it.

Wow....

I realized Monday morning last week I missed the deadline to register for the dual. I begged the RD and was rejected. It bothered me all week until Sunday morning. The weather was seriously horrible. Huge wind, lightning, very hard rain... I hate missing races that I am mentally and physically prepared for, but I was never so relieved when I saw what weather was coming. I feel bad for all the folks who were there. I don't want to pile on KLM too much 9especially since I wasn't there), but considering where it was and long the course was...I don't know how any management company would have dealt with that. I guess you know what the weather can be like here so you must have a contingency plan.

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ADW

I think when it comes to weather, it's just bad luck. It's not anyone's fault. Every time I sign up for a race I realize that I could be just throwing this money away if bad weather comes. That's the risk of triathlon I guess.

However, how an RD deals with bad weather conditions is important. I don't evny the responsibilty of the RD. It must be stressful.

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Fortitudine Vincimus

aggh, what a mess! I agree, I spent about 45 min in the command center listening to the chatter and when they called the race I immediately volunteered to take my truck down to pick up what I could. I was thanking God I didn't sign up due to injury. When I arrived at the barn---and we weren't even sure exactly where you were---we actually passed the spot initially, I wish I had asked my husband where you guys were when he called. He was pretty hypothermic with purple lips/shaking so once I picked him up and one other guy we weren't able to get back to pick any one else up because I wanted him to get back to the hotel asap to warm up. as far as I know noone was hurt. They called the sprint off before they even started the swim. It was really scary --I was doing a brick run when the clouds opened up and was running fast because of fear!

For what it's worth, I thought the bike course was fantastic! Very challenging, especially with the wind coming hard from all different directions. The rain was not only coming down in buckets, but it was also coming back up as it hit the pooled water and splashed. I personally had a blast. I made it to the 41 mile mark when a patrol car let me know the race had been cancelled. There wasn't anything to do but ride it in, so I did. The lightning was damn impressive, but I'd rather be on a moving carbon fiber bike with rubber tires than standing on the ground with my metal cleats stuck in the conductive ground. I never got cold until I stopped back in transition, then I turned blue in about 5 minutes picking up my stuff floating in transition.

I was the first cyclist to actually ride back in, and in all fairness to the race director he immediately asked me what I was driving and whether I would be willing to help out and go out to pick up cyclists. He was running around looking for any available car to pick people up. Yes, they were tearing down stuff, and loading them into the bigger trucks, but one of those was some sort of flatbed thing for fencing, and the other was a moving truck full of loose things - not the sort of thing you can put people and bikes into. I found the RD to be genuinely concerned for the people out on the course, and did not witness him doing anything other than scrambling around trying to find ways to get athletes back. FWIW, I drove almost 800 miles to do this race, and I think it could be a fun course next year. The last 5 miles of the bike is downright cruel however.

If anyone has pictures of that parking and transition area, please post them!! There was literally 2 feet of standing water in the parking area. when I got back. I've only seen rain come down like that one other time, and it was during a tropical storm in Hawaii.

VM- 800 miles! Drats! Welcome to KS. :)

Those that did the race already got this, but for those just interested:

Well, Mother Nature won! With our fingers crossed that the lighting, storms and wind were going to hold off Mother Nature unleashed the fury on the Big O. It was a tough day for everyone! Congratulations to all Half Distance Athletes for braving the conditions as long as they could. KLM felt that it was no longer safe to continue with the event due to Lighting, Wind, Hail and Rain. All Sprint Athletes! Wow, what a crazy day for you as well and then no race! The question has been asked if KLM will reschedule the Big O in the near future. The answer is no. Based on the logstics, permitting guidelines from the City of Olathe and Johnson County this is not an option. We will be holding the event in 2008 on the same weekend. The other burning question is will KLM offer a refund to those athletes who did not get the opportunity to compete? The conditions that determined the race to be canceled was not something KLM could control. Therefore refunds will not be offered. Our staff discussed this in great detail and felt we did what was best for the safety of all athletes. We truly apologize that the event was canceled. But, we want to ensure that each athlete makes it home safe! We would also like to thank all volunteers for making this event happen. Please take time to thank our volunteers as they make our events possible.
Timing Chips:
If you accidentally left with your timing chip, please mail them to the following address ASAP.
KLM Marketing Solutions
7400 Beverly
Overland Park, KS 66204
If you do not return your timing chip, you will be chared $30 for the chip by the timing company! Please send them back!
Half Distance Finisher Shirts:
Based on the weather conditions if you started the Half Distance Triathlon or Duathlon you finished it! Mother Nature was not kind to anyone this past Sunday. Each of you can pick-up your "Finisher Shirts" at Bike Source anytime after Monday, May 14th, 2007. If you live outside of the Kansas City Metro Area please contact KLM via e-mail and arrangements will be made.
Thank you for supporting our events and sponsors.

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http://triathletebride.blogspot.com

The drive north was interesting. I29 was closed in several places because it would simply disappear into an ocean of ponded water. I was diverted through one small town in Iowa that was completely under water. I saw a cool used car lot where I could only see the tops of the cars. The sad part were the farmers scrambling through knee-deep water with big equipment trying to unload their silos. What a mess. For some reason though, I thought it was a blast hammering along in that crap.

I think your carbon fiber bike provides a false sense of security. Every cycling safety publication that I have read indicates that neither frame material nor tires will protect you. The only way to be relatively safe is find a lower spot, as in off the bike. Glad you made it. Lightning kills cyclists now and then.

We were standing wet in that tin-roofed barn wondering which was more of a lightning magnet, the barn, or the individual on a bike. If the odds of being killed are the same - it was a lot warmer on the bike.

No doubt there is always a chance of getting hit no matter what you are riding. Guess I was less worried about a direct hit with all the silos and trees, and more concerned with it striking nearby and arcing. Either way, I don't think anyone felt too comfortable! Some of the strikes were nearby and very impressive. Even though the lightning was scary, it was one of those 1:1,000,000 sort of dangers, whereas hypothermia from stopping and waiting was a pretty much sure bet. I was really glad I kept riding.

There were more than just the flat bed trucks. Which it why it ticked me off, there were several pickups


I had a 15 passenger van and the race director was too interested in get me unstuck so I could go pick people up.