You're braver than I. I live here and have given up signing up for this day-of coin toss tri/du race.

That said, I hope it's awesome. Good luck, have fun and all that.

---

To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

We go because we love the city, the venue, and when Johnson and Johnson was involved, the sponsors. The river has always been a different story.

---

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

FYI, spoke with the RD earlier today during packet pick up and he confirmed there will be a swim tomorrow.

dont know much about this race, and maybe a silly question by why wouldn't there be a swim??

Phillyrivercast is still showing green, so I guess the rain was down here and not up river. Heavy rain north of us is what stops the swim.

---

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

Yep, I cannot wait for the swim tomorrow. I was driving along the course and couldn't believe how long it appears to be...even though its really not that bad.

Ah, the Shorekill. Who doesn't love that swim? When I raced the original version back in '88 or '89, PECO must have opened up the reactor gates upstream, because it was warm and it was fast!

A handful of reasons... Sometimes storms cause nasty stuff to wash into the river, making it not clean enough to swim in. One time a few years ago someone died in the water of the Saturday sprint race, causing them to be cautious and cancel the swim for the Sunday Oly.

I forget why it was cancelled last year though. Perhaps water quality issues again?

Oh and just for the record, although I wasn't racing today I was hanging out at the race (and did my long run along Kelly Drive). Today's race seemed to go off without a hitch and yes there was a swim...

Race was awesome. Swim was clean, bike had 1100 feet of climb (not sure why they call this flat and fast), and the run was for sure flat and fast. You run towards the city through the park two times and the view was perfect.

It seems like registration was way down for the Olympic distance race. 570 entrants vs 700 something the two previous years.

Not sure how registration was for the sprint. There seemed to be quite a few bikes in transition.

I am thrilled with my 2:17:54.

Anyone do the sprint know if the run was accurate?

2017 was the year they about 10 inches of rain upstream overnight. PECO opened the overflow gates and on Sunday there were whole trees flowing past transition at 20 mph.

I think 2014 was the year it poured all day Friday and Saturday. By Sunday transition was under an inch of water and bike out required you to run through a knee deep puddle.

---

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

Ahh that's right. I remember the crazy water flow now. I think it was 2011 that the Oly swim was canx due to the guy dying in the Saturday sprint race. And I do remember the ridiculous flooding in 2014

Didn't do the sprint, but my garmin was only .04 miles off at the end of the olympic. I would guess the sprint was just as close.

---

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

The course was honest.

2010. Derek Valintino. I did the sprint and oly that year.

Aside from the hit or miss nature of the swim, the event used to seem crowded due to the number of new cyclists bouncing all around. This and the road quality made the event seem a bit unsafe to me, and I don't see how that could be improved by putting both races on the same day. But if enrollment is down then perhaps safety isn't an issue.

How did it look out there today? I hear 2 h wait from transition close to one participant getting to start her swim. (Ugh).

---

To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

This year they completely changed the format (again) and put both races on Sunday morning. To do that they changed the pro start to 6 am and the age group Olympic to 6:30. That put the sprint at 7 am. Since it is a 25 minute walk to swim in for the Olympic they chased everyone out of transition at 5:30, including the sprint participants.

So it is possible that the last in the water for the sprint had a 2 hour wait.

I'm not real happy with the way this race is going. It has gone from a well organized weekend party to never knowing exactly what will be there when we show up. This year athlete check in was down the hill and there was no expo. Not a big deal, but my wife and I just assumed we would be able to pick up NUUNS and energy gels on site. We had to find a running store after check in.

---

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

I did the Sprint and the run was pretty accurate. My garmin usually list 3.14 for most 5ks I do and yesterday it was 3.17.

Bike did seem a little long, Swim seemed long for me because I was all over the place.

Note for future racing, don't have the swim caps the same color as the buoys

I heard they'd done away with the buses to the Oly swim start. Guess that's still the case? I also thought they'd moved the start off the boat docs. Where was it now that it takes 25m in to walk to?

New this year, they apparently disallowed spectators from showing up by bicycle, not allowing them to advance by foot with a bicycle at all. That's a shame - it's how I'd have gotten there if I were free to go.

---

To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

LOL! That would be a pretty big head to mistake for a swim buoy. :)

---

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

I don't know about the spectators and bikes, but the swim format was changed several years ago. We used to go in at the boat docks on the other side of the river. For several years now they have you walk up stream on the bike path to the swim in on the same side of the river. You jump off a little dock 3 at a time and swim straight out 100 meters, then turn down stream. Its an easy walk, but it takes a little time in flip flops. They made that change about the same time they changed the run course from 1 loop to 2 loops. You used to run about 3 miles in the shade. Now it is all in the sun.

---

"...the street finds its own uses for things"

I thought the longer walk was a nice way to shake out the body and do a little walking meditation. The swim was a breeze and the run course was perfect. The heat, sun, and humidity was basically non-existent when I compare it to Raleigh 70.3 three weeks ago.

The bike though...that was not flat and fast...but I think I still suck on the bike...

as for the bike course and being crowded because of the sprint and oly going off about the same time, I didn't have many issues. When I told someone I was coming around them they got out of the way. I maybe had to wait in a couple of turns instead of going through them at full speed.

The roads...yes they basically suck.

  
This year they completely changed the format (again) and put both races on Sunday morning. To do that they changed the pro start to 6 am and the age group Olympic to 6:30. That put the sprint at 7 am. Since it is a 25 minute walk to swim in for the Olympic they chased everyone out of transition at 5:30, including the sprint participants.

So it is possible that the last in the water for the sprint had a 2 hour wait.

I'm not real happy with the way this race is going. It has gone from a well organized weekend party to never knowing exactly what will be there when we show up. This year athlete check in was down the hill and there was no expo. Not a big deal, but my wife and I just assumed we would be able to pick up NUUNS and energy gels on site. We had to find a running store after check in.[/quote]
It was more than two hours wait. Transition closed at 5:30 and the sprint swimmers didn't start going until around 7:30. It went quick once they started but it was a long wait! Plus, some people were wearing their wetsuits up to their waists for a while just sitting around.

I think the organization was OK but I would have liked it better with the Sprint on Saturday. I thought the run was more crowded than the bike

Swim start was about 1200m walk from transition. With 2nd or of running shoes, it was a good opportunity for a warmup before pros went. The water was cooler than I expected. I was happy the swim actually happened.

Bike: the city did some paving where needed, on the west side—up on Greenland, Chamonix, and Ford—but still did a shorty job of filling potholes on the far north end of MLK, and on the Points Course/east reservoir. Did anyone else notice the white cat at the youth hostel, watching us roll by?

Run should be two loops, going north, in the shade, not south, where it can get hot AF. Being done by 8:40 mitigated some of the sun/heat, which came on later in the am. I have no idea why thy changed the run course. Anyone else know?0

BIGGEST FAIL: *without publicizing it ahead of time*, not giving AG winners the free entry into the EfA, as was done in prev years. This was literally the ONLY reason I did this race (not because transition is 1.5mi from home).

I chuckled—and then walked away—when they told me I earned the privilege of buying a guaranteed EfA entry, for 2x the fee(!) from when I did it last, in 2012.

---

no sponsors | no races | nothing to see here

The FIRST sprint racers in the water had nearly a 2 hour wait. While it was supposed to be a 7am start, it didn't actually start till closer till 7:30. I put my wetsuit on at 6:50 not wanting to overheat. I then stood around for nearly 40 mins sweating, and I was one of the first to enter the water. I wouldn't be surprised if some sprint folks were waiting more than 2.5 hours.The good thing is that they really didn't enforce the 5:30am transition exit. I arrived at 5:25, stayed in till about 5:45 and a few people were still entering transition at that time. The pros wouldn't be entering till after 6;15 so there really was no good reason to kick everyone out at 5:30 anyhow.

-leh