A little bit, but not too bad. If you got on someone’s wheel today, you were going to get a nice spray from the bike in front of you.

What struck me was how many people seemed like first timers. Someone asked me if they could mount their bike in transition (not on the rack—the actual bike to start riding)

no packs, but a few here or there that were abusing it badly. I didn't see one moto the entire bike, suspect the refs weren't out there at all.

Race director made a good call to shorten the swim to 750y, The swim started into tough seas and high winds.

It was a tough bike and run but doable with proper gear. I dressed fairly toasty, reduced my speed a minor amount, was only cold on the way back to the car. Lifeguard crew were awesome. Littering penalties would have been huge if enforced bc of all the dropped bottles.

Overall a great race. Having no swim vs a shortened swim, I will take the shortened swim any day. I should have brought clear goggles ... The swim course would be pretty cool, with the biggest sighting landmark you will ever have on the return (Jones Beach water tower).
The bike course was great, most;y perfect road surface, just some sections of concrete that were a bit rougher. And yes, lots of 'blocking', but really who cares on a 3-lane highway EACH WAY. I also noted no officials on the bike course (or all day for that matter), but also must say I didn't see any significant drafting. I wore arm warmers (pain to put on with wet arms) and a vest and was never cold. Probably could have done without the arm warmers.
The run course had a few too many tight turns and random small loops for a fast time, but it showcased Jones Beach and would be really fun on a nice sunny day.
Post race food was delicious and good quality. Volunteers were awesome.
Morning drive in was a bit messy with lots of traffic trying to squeeze into lot 5, certainly an area to be improved. Maybe have the Wantagh Parkway open until 6.30 one-way? Or a shuttle from the other lots?
The event was extremely well run, massive kudos to the race organizer Corey. Hats off.

I've read multiple comments about the traffic jam into parking. Can you imagine if there were an extr 1500 racers?

Definitely an area that can be improved upon for 2024 and beyond - lots of which will be addressed after the post race survey is sent out, received, and digested.

For a first time race and considering the weather, this was quite an accomplishment by race management, RD Corey Roberts, volunteers, lifeguards, and first responders.

Plan for me was to get into transition around 6am, but was closer to 6:30am with the traffic jam. Told my folks and fiancé to stay home with the conditions, which I am grateful that they did.

Glad there was a swim to be had, even though it was shortened. Bike was wicked fast on smooth parkway roads. Run was fast going out with the tailwind, and quite the challenge coming back into the sideways rain and headwind. AMAZING JOB by the volunteers and spectators for being out there with us in buckets of wet and sogginess. Earned P4 in M30-34 and 11th overall (12th if you count the wicked fast relay team).

If you are looking for a fast 70.3 course, this is it. With really ANY weather than what we had on Saturday, it's bound to be an amazing event! Bring the whole family, BBQ, and chill out on the south shore of Long Island. See you in 2024!

Also, shameless plug...check out Race Awesome events and support local RD Corey and his amazing team. They are the primary reason I raced in NYC/Long Island as long as I did before moving to San Diego (triathlon heaven, USA). Grass roots events + top notch event management. :-)

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This was a great race and many thanks to Corey and all the volunteers! It was a good call to shorten the swim, that was miserable! The bike was crowded but fast. Sounds like I’m the only one posting who saw an official on the bike course…he yelled at us to stay to the right. The older men didn’t show up, along with many others, so I was the oldest participant, at 78, in the race. My bike time was 3:11 which I was happy with. Lots of fun memories from this one.
Natalie

I'm sorry, you're a 78-year-old female, turned up, finished and threw down a 3:11 bike split?

Edit: I checked. It was the 1243rd bike split out of 2228 finishers. At 78. Female. Nuts!!!

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Haha, thanks!

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x2. That is badass

On the first loop saw the lead pack on their way back 10+ riders deep and a ref moto behind them; by the second loop I didn't see it. But also hard to distinguish to lead pack at that point. Might have been due to the number of riders at that point.

The parkway is 3 lanes wide for a good portion of the bike course and on the second loop you had instances where all three lanes were filled as people are staying in the middle of the right lane instead of by shoulder due to bike handing comfort lvl, then you had MOPers passing them into the middle lane, finally FOPers passed them to the left of the middle lane and left most lane.

The second loop definitely got crowded with the <2k number of starters, it would've been interesting to see how crazy it had been if all 3800 entrants had been on the bike course.