This was my first Rev3 race but not my first half and I’ve done the Setup Events Patriot’s Half in the past which is in the same general area as well as the Patriot’s Sprint and Jamestown International. Here are some of my thoughts and comments on how the race went and ideas on how it could be improved in the future:
(1) Packet Pickup: I expected to see a great expo with a ton of vendors but there wasn't much there, also the packet pickup wasn't very well setup IMO. The race numbers could have been sent out to athletes ahead of time and/or should have been prominently displayed near the packet pickup location vice a small sign with arrows saying to look on the backside of the tent. This should have been set out front and center for people to see (it was a very nice printed sign with the numbers on it). Also the chip pick up was a little disjointed as well – with the signage it looked like it was a weigh in station for Clydesdales and Athenas but the large sign said chip pickup so it was a bit confusing (I’ve heard multiple people at the site make this comment as well) . Then the goody bag (empty other than a generic Rev3 visor and a Powerbar) was in the next tent over. A head’s up that we wouldn't be getting our shirts until the finish line would have been nice as well – many of us were standing around confused as to if there was yet another area where we could get our shirts. Better signage and arrows directing the flow of Packet Pickup traffic would have made it run smoother.
(2) Bike Check-in: I had no issues with the bike check in but one of my friends discovered on race morning that there was a huge gouge on the top tube of her bike cutting all the way through the paint that was not there previously. No cool if people were jacking around with peoples bikes overnight. The bike racks however were pretty cool – I’d never used those before but it solved the normal spacing issues encountered in transition with space hogs and no fighting over the space closest to the exit.
(3) T2 Setup & Bus to T1: This was my first time with two transition locations and I am not a fan. I got to T2 fairly early around 4:50 so really no issues finding parking, setting up T2, or getting to the site but sounds like there were some issues later when the mass majority of people showed up. I prefer one transition location and it can be done in Williamsburg.
(4) Swim: The swim course was a triangle not a rectangle as advertised on the Rev3 site. If they’d stuck with the original swim course and made a race morning call on the direction of the swim based on current (like they do at Patriot’s) then many of the issues with the current would have been solved (rainfall can have a significant effect on river flow). Also there are some jagged rocks in the water near the start – previous races at this location start swimmers in the water just past the rocks to prevent the mad frenzy of people running over these rocks – one of my friends cut up his foot pretty bad which severely impacted his run and resulted in a trip to the medical tent immediately after the finish. With all of that said, my swim was 1:30 faster than when I did Patriot’s Half, the swim is my worst leg so I’ve put a lot of time into improving my swim. No, I did not cut the course although I saw plenty of pink caps cutting the last red buoy and making the Olympic turn instead. Also the red buoy was very dark and difficult to see (to me it looked much smaller than the others as well) – perhaps using something brighter like a lime green or pink buoy would make it more prominent.
(5) T1: The decision to change the swim entrance/bike exit out of transition at the last moment created a whole host of problems – also I never heard the announcement that it was being changed, luckily my husband did so he told me about it. The narrow driveway that we had to run over to get to transition needs to have carpet down as there were ton of small gravel fragments – one of which got imbedded in my foot and I had to dig out with some tweezers when I got home. From what my husband has told me the traffic was a nightmare with people trying to get to the ferry to head to work and bikes leaving transition. It’s hard to tell from the race map what the original plan was but taking the narrow road leading from T1 though the fields directly to Greensprings Road would eliminate issues with vehicle versus bike traffic for the ferry on Jamestown Road.
(6) Bike: I wasn’t a huge fan of the course with all of the turn arounds and one mile of really rough road with a ton of potholes, however we were well warned about the rough road so I knew to slow down. I did see a lot of blatant drafting from the age groupers – in fact I had one guy pass me and then hop directly on the wheel of the bike in front of me, I’m talking less than one bike length behind the bike and he even turned around to look at me twice to see if I was going to say anything. I didn’t catch his number but he was 36 years old in the half wearing a Rev3 kit.
(7) T2: T2 didn’t go well for me but had nothing to do with the race – I dropped and busted my liquid shot flask halfway through T2 so I had to run back and grab my spare one from the bike
(8) Run: The run course changed within a week or two of the race as well from a 3-loop circular course to an out and back course twice with hills on both ends. I saw a lot of traffic issues and some close calls by cars trying to jet between runners. For the most part the water stops went well but where too close together. I think it would have been better to have a water stop in both ends and one in the middle instead of all being about a mile apart in the middle. I would have been better to have two people on the sponges because twice I wanted a sponge but the one guy manning the tub was handing them out to the racers heading the other direction. Once I had to grab my own water because they didn’t have any ready to hand me – not sure what the deal was there but that only happened once. Also it’s helpful to have Gatorade and water in separate cups (green Gatorade cups and white cups) to make it clearer to athletes what they are grabbing instead of asking every time.
(9) Post-Race: I know that Rev3 is advertised as a family friendly race it sucks when a family with multiple small children crossing the finish line in front of you blocks the finish line so you have to slow down and they huddle directly in front of the photographer so I don’t even get a finisher’s photo. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have two finisher shutes directly next to each other – one for people finishing with their families and one for those sans family that are pushing for a PR – I told my husband he could finish with me if he could keep up because I’m not slowing down :-). The large Gatorade towels soaked in ice water were great at the end.
(10) Swag: I was very very very disappointed in the swag which seems to be one of the huge selling points for Rev3. We got a generic Rev3 visor vice a race specific one – however if you wanted a race specific visor it was available for purchase in the Rev3 store (it was brown – ugh so not very appealing but still at least it’s race specific). Finally the race t-shirt the one thing that you get to wear around town or when working out to discreetly brag about your triathlon experience and it’s a black, long sleeve, cotton t-shirt… I guess that goes in my drawer of running shirts from the 90’s and early 2000’s that I wear for working in the yard, around the house, or layers when going sledding in Ohio. The local running races in Hampton Road have better swag. The medals were cool and about the size of my face.
(11) Timing: There are still issues with the times posted online – it has my T2 listed as 25:43 and my run listed as a 10min half-marathon PR which I know is not correct based on my Garmin data.
(12) Staff & Volunteers: I thought that the announcer was a bit annoying and seemed to talk for the sake of talking. He also said some inappropriate stuff that would not have put Rev3 in a good light if something bad happened on the swim course. He said something to the effect that he thought losing one person on the swim course is an acceptable loss but that the safety people disagree – considering the issues and press lately with people dying on the swim portion of triathlons it was said in poor taste and would have been very bad in the media if someone were to get badly injured or die on the course. I would have preferred more music and less of his talking unless it’s for important race updates such as transition entrance/exit location changes and delays. The Rev3 Staff and volunteers were very positive and enthusiastic.
If Rev3 plans to continue putting on this race in the future, I’d recommend sending a few reps to participate in the Setup Events Patriot’s race in September to see how they eliminate many of the course issues that were encountered at Rev3 Williamsburg. I’m undecided if I’ll do it again next year but I’m sure that Rev3 will be making lots of changes based on the feedback received on race day as well as constructive criticism and feedback posted here on ST.
"Triathlon doesn't create character - it reveals it."
(1) Packet Pickup: I expected to see a great expo with a ton of vendors but there wasn't much there, also the packet pickup wasn't very well setup IMO. The race numbers could have been sent out to athletes ahead of time and/or should have been prominently displayed near the packet pickup location vice a small sign with arrows saying to look on the backside of the tent. This should have been set out front and center for people to see (it was a very nice printed sign with the numbers on it). Also the chip pick up was a little disjointed as well – with the signage it looked like it was a weigh in station for Clydesdales and Athenas but the large sign said chip pickup so it was a bit confusing (I’ve heard multiple people at the site make this comment as well) . Then the goody bag (empty other than a generic Rev3 visor and a Powerbar) was in the next tent over. A head’s up that we wouldn't be getting our shirts until the finish line would have been nice as well – many of us were standing around confused as to if there was yet another area where we could get our shirts. Better signage and arrows directing the flow of Packet Pickup traffic would have made it run smoother.
(2) Bike Check-in: I had no issues with the bike check in but one of my friends discovered on race morning that there was a huge gouge on the top tube of her bike cutting all the way through the paint that was not there previously. No cool if people were jacking around with peoples bikes overnight. The bike racks however were pretty cool – I’d never used those before but it solved the normal spacing issues encountered in transition with space hogs and no fighting over the space closest to the exit.
(3) T2 Setup & Bus to T1: This was my first time with two transition locations and I am not a fan. I got to T2 fairly early around 4:50 so really no issues finding parking, setting up T2, or getting to the site but sounds like there were some issues later when the mass majority of people showed up. I prefer one transition location and it can be done in Williamsburg.
(4) Swim: The swim course was a triangle not a rectangle as advertised on the Rev3 site. If they’d stuck with the original swim course and made a race morning call on the direction of the swim based on current (like they do at Patriot’s) then many of the issues with the current would have been solved (rainfall can have a significant effect on river flow). Also there are some jagged rocks in the water near the start – previous races at this location start swimmers in the water just past the rocks to prevent the mad frenzy of people running over these rocks – one of my friends cut up his foot pretty bad which severely impacted his run and resulted in a trip to the medical tent immediately after the finish. With all of that said, my swim was 1:30 faster than when I did Patriot’s Half, the swim is my worst leg so I’ve put a lot of time into improving my swim. No, I did not cut the course although I saw plenty of pink caps cutting the last red buoy and making the Olympic turn instead. Also the red buoy was very dark and difficult to see (to me it looked much smaller than the others as well) – perhaps using something brighter like a lime green or pink buoy would make it more prominent.
(5) T1: The decision to change the swim entrance/bike exit out of transition at the last moment created a whole host of problems – also I never heard the announcement that it was being changed, luckily my husband did so he told me about it. The narrow driveway that we had to run over to get to transition needs to have carpet down as there were ton of small gravel fragments – one of which got imbedded in my foot and I had to dig out with some tweezers when I got home. From what my husband has told me the traffic was a nightmare with people trying to get to the ferry to head to work and bikes leaving transition. It’s hard to tell from the race map what the original plan was but taking the narrow road leading from T1 though the fields directly to Greensprings Road would eliminate issues with vehicle versus bike traffic for the ferry on Jamestown Road.
(6) Bike: I wasn’t a huge fan of the course with all of the turn arounds and one mile of really rough road with a ton of potholes, however we were well warned about the rough road so I knew to slow down. I did see a lot of blatant drafting from the age groupers – in fact I had one guy pass me and then hop directly on the wheel of the bike in front of me, I’m talking less than one bike length behind the bike and he even turned around to look at me twice to see if I was going to say anything. I didn’t catch his number but he was 36 years old in the half wearing a Rev3 kit.
(7) T2: T2 didn’t go well for me but had nothing to do with the race – I dropped and busted my liquid shot flask halfway through T2 so I had to run back and grab my spare one from the bike
(8) Run: The run course changed within a week or two of the race as well from a 3-loop circular course to an out and back course twice with hills on both ends. I saw a lot of traffic issues and some close calls by cars trying to jet between runners. For the most part the water stops went well but where too close together. I think it would have been better to have a water stop in both ends and one in the middle instead of all being about a mile apart in the middle. I would have been better to have two people on the sponges because twice I wanted a sponge but the one guy manning the tub was handing them out to the racers heading the other direction. Once I had to grab my own water because they didn’t have any ready to hand me – not sure what the deal was there but that only happened once. Also it’s helpful to have Gatorade and water in separate cups (green Gatorade cups and white cups) to make it clearer to athletes what they are grabbing instead of asking every time.
(9) Post-Race: I know that Rev3 is advertised as a family friendly race it sucks when a family with multiple small children crossing the finish line in front of you blocks the finish line so you have to slow down and they huddle directly in front of the photographer so I don’t even get a finisher’s photo. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have two finisher shutes directly next to each other – one for people finishing with their families and one for those sans family that are pushing for a PR – I told my husband he could finish with me if he could keep up because I’m not slowing down :-). The large Gatorade towels soaked in ice water were great at the end.
(10) Swag: I was very very very disappointed in the swag which seems to be one of the huge selling points for Rev3. We got a generic Rev3 visor vice a race specific one – however if you wanted a race specific visor it was available for purchase in the Rev3 store (it was brown – ugh so not very appealing but still at least it’s race specific). Finally the race t-shirt the one thing that you get to wear around town or when working out to discreetly brag about your triathlon experience and it’s a black, long sleeve, cotton t-shirt… I guess that goes in my drawer of running shirts from the 90’s and early 2000’s that I wear for working in the yard, around the house, or layers when going sledding in Ohio. The local running races in Hampton Road have better swag. The medals were cool and about the size of my face.
(11) Timing: There are still issues with the times posted online – it has my T2 listed as 25:43 and my run listed as a 10min half-marathon PR which I know is not correct based on my Garmin data.
(12) Staff & Volunteers: I thought that the announcer was a bit annoying and seemed to talk for the sake of talking. He also said some inappropriate stuff that would not have put Rev3 in a good light if something bad happened on the swim course. He said something to the effect that he thought losing one person on the swim course is an acceptable loss but that the safety people disagree – considering the issues and press lately with people dying on the swim portion of triathlons it was said in poor taste and would have been very bad in the media if someone were to get badly injured or die on the course. I would have preferred more music and less of his talking unless it’s for important race updates such as transition entrance/exit location changes and delays. The Rev3 Staff and volunteers were very positive and enthusiastic.
If Rev3 plans to continue putting on this race in the future, I’d recommend sending a few reps to participate in the Setup Events Patriot’s race in September to see how they eliminate many of the course issues that were encountered at Rev3 Williamsburg. I’m undecided if I’ll do it again next year but I’m sure that Rev3 will be making lots of changes based on the feedback received on race day as well as constructive criticism and feedback posted here on ST.
"Triathlon doesn't create character - it reveals it."