Just curious what happened in Venice FL.

I was there is 2013, 2014 and 2015. Maybe I missed something.

I have swum in that lake!
(We have friends w a lake house on it.)
And no, I’m not going to spell it.

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float , hammer , and jog

I did the race in 2014.

I noticed on the swim there were less kayakers, lifeguards, boats, etc. than I've been used to at IM/other local races. At one point I looked up and *no one* was around for a considerable distance from the water safety team, and therefore thought to myself "if I for some reason needed assistance I can't even see anyone I can swim to easily, etc." I've done dozens and dozens of tris before and never had that thought previously.

The thing that bothered me more was the lack of volunteers on the bike course, the lack of course markings/cones, and a lot of intersections of traffic that weren't manned (including exits from retail stores, etc.).

I acknowledge that everyone views their race experience differently and each market is unique. I know my expectations are pretty high for volunteers/police/EMS visibility based on other race experiences. I think the inclement weather that year was a factor perhaps, and Rev3 doesn't have the volunteer recruitment power of IM.

It's just one of those decisions for example, if I was to sign up for a 70.3 in SWFL and had a choice between Rev3 Venice and IM 70.3 Haines City, I'd pay the extra money to go to Haines City.

Thanks, always good to hear someone else's perspective. As I remember it rained that year, while that's no excuse, it could have been the reason for the lack of volunteers on the bike ride. I really had to look out while going through town near the end.

I do understand what you mean about the swim, I think I remember the same thing on that long leg from left to right.

This is a curiosity to me (and perhaps deserves its own thread), but I see people in Facebook groups often talking about closed courses and vast numbers of volunteers and a whole race experience that I just don't get, ever. I live in Maine and race mostly in New England, so perhaps it's a function of the races I have access to. I have never raced on a closed course. I've never felt wanting for swim support that wasn't there. I did Chatty 70.3 last year and didn't feel that the on-course support was any better than Rev3 or Sun Multisport races have provided me at that distance. Am I missing something?

We are both lucky and unlucky here in the northeast.

On the positive side, we have significant support for events -- volunteers almost always want to show up, strong emergency personnel presence on the water, etc. On the negative side, it is rare if you ever have a truly closed bike course. That's something that can more easily happen at other events (for instance, that's part of the reason why the full distance race Rev3 had was in Sandusky).

I also think it's a factor of brand -- Rev3, at its peak, was putting on a significant number of events nationwide and was attempting to be a true competitor to Ironman. But if you're going to play in that sandbox, you're going to have the expectations (course closures, volunteers, racers, etc.) that come along with it. But what was delivered was probably closer to a strong independent than a WTC event. That works if you have done a bunch of Mark Walter's, or Rachel Martin's, or DelMo's, or Fred Sommers' events and know what you're getting into. But if you go in expecting it to be exactly like a WTC race in terms of the course closure component, you're bound to be disappointed.

Disclosures: I worked for Rev3. I have done marketing for Sun Multisport. I currently do not have a business relationship with either.

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Im wondering if it was at the willowsford. I had signed up for both bike and run but did not race my bike that day. Hard to really complain about trashing trails that were pretty fresh, looked like they had just been cut. Puddles were mid calf for the run.

I'm not sure about Willowsford, but at Conway there was an event a year or two ago that absolutely destroyed all of the trails. It was just as he described, after a rainy bout and it was obviouslly too wet to ride.

I wondered if the organizers were going to come back and repair it but they never did. I may even have pictures of it.

ETA: It was in early 2017.