Doing Redman 70.3 this Saturday. First timer, coming in from the East Coast to stay with my in-laws near transition. I'll be in Nichols Hills - anyone up for a ride/run Thu/Fri to get set for the race. Believe there is also a practice swim in Lake Hefner on Friday per the athlete guide. Looking forward to this as I've heard nothing but good things. I have IMAZ in late November, so I figure this should be a good, if hotter, tune up.
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Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [globetrotterjon]
[ In reply to ]
Pre-race swim is actually both Thursday and Friday from 7-9 if one day fits better than the other. I am west of Nichols Hills at the south end of the lake. Not sure if I will be out or not for anything pre-race but if I do it would most likely be early morning and just out on the run course although I may try to squeeze in a swim on Friday morning.
If you are wanting to ride portions of the course my suggestions would be to only ride from the lake west across Britton Road over to Rockwell (where you head north going out) and back, Britton Road west over to Council Road (where you head back east coming back into the lake at the end of the ride) and back, or take a car up to the northern portion of the course north of Memorial Road. The 3 miles from Britton Road to Memorial Road carries a lot of traffic so I would advise staying off that portion until race day. If you want to ride you and want a partner you could either post on the Triathlon Club of Oklahoma City Facebook page or let me know and I can probably find someone to tag along with you.
If you have any questions feel free to let me know. I hope you enjoy the race.
If you are wanting to ride portions of the course my suggestions would be to only ride from the lake west across Britton Road over to Rockwell (where you head north going out) and back, Britton Road west over to Council Road (where you head back east coming back into the lake at the end of the ride) and back, or take a car up to the northern portion of the course north of Memorial Road. The 3 miles from Britton Road to Memorial Road carries a lot of traffic so I would advise staying off that portion until race day. If you want to ride you and want a partner you could either post on the Triathlon Club of Oklahoma City Facebook page or let me know and I can probably find someone to tag along with you.
If you have any questions feel free to let me know. I hope you enjoy the race.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [globetrotterjon]
[ In reply to ]
Did you head out to swim this morning? I will be out there first thing in the morning to get in a few yards. I heard/saw pictures that aquatic plants are really bad this year so could possibly make for an interesting swim.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [LSchmitt]
[ In reply to ]
I did the swim this morning and I’ll be out again tomorrow. The plants were indeed awful. Literally felt like fingers wrapping around your arms and legs. Lovely. Someone needs an underwater weed whacker
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [globetrotterjon]
[ In reply to ]
I will walk around yelling globetrotterjon until I find you. Not sure if the wind blowing would possibly blow it further north off the course or not but one can hope.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [LSchmitt]
[ In reply to ]
Lol. Name is Jon. I’ll try to get there nlt 7:30. You can pm me for my digits.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [globetrotterjon]
[ In reply to ]
How was the race? Swim cancelled? Was it because of the water plants or weather? Looking to do this as my first half next year as its close (KC) and cheaper than Ironmans.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [cmgodwin14]
[ In reply to ]
cmgodwin14 wrote:
How was the race? Swim cancelled? Was it because of the water plants or weather? Looking to do this as my first half next year as its close (KC) and cheaper than Ironmans.A friend of mine texted me swim was cancelled. Got another text saying that bike ride was delayed. Weather wasn't that good on that day.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [cmgodwin14]
[ In reply to ]
Yes the swim was cancelled...a combination of the two. I feel like the year of ITU Worlds had larger waves but the water appeared to be pushed a whole lot faster this year. I personally don't think it would have been safe to have kayaks out there for water support which in turn makes it unsafe for the swimmers. My guess is if they would have had the swim probably at least 30% of the swimmers would not have been able to make up ground once they turned at the end of the course and started coming into the wind.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [cmgodwin14]
[ In reply to ]
Very high winds caused dangerous conditions in in the lake. There were similar conditions a few years ago when they hosted worlds, and they had a hard time pulling troubled swimmers out of the water fast enough.
The direction of the wind would have pushed swimmers along on the way out, leading to a false sense of confidence, and many probably would not have been able to swim back in against the wind. The lake looked like it was flowing like a river. Crazy.
I know that some people were a little disappointed that the swim was cancelled, but it was the right decision. Having the swim would have been a high risk for both volunteers (on kayaks) and athletes.
The roads weren't going to be closed down by police until a certain time, so they couldn't just start the bike when the swim was originally supposed to start. As soon as the roads were closed down, basically all of the weather apps were showing possible lightning in the area soon, so they delayed the start to 9:00. Again, probably the right decision by the race director to try and keep everyone safe.
Other than some bad weather in the early part of the day, the rest of the event looked great.
The direction of the wind would have pushed swimmers along on the way out, leading to a false sense of confidence, and many probably would not have been able to swim back in against the wind. The lake looked like it was flowing like a river. Crazy.
I know that some people were a little disappointed that the swim was cancelled, but it was the right decision. Having the swim would have been a high risk for both volunteers (on kayaks) and athletes.
The roads weren't going to be closed down by police until a certain time, so they couldn't just start the bike when the swim was originally supposed to start. As soon as the roads were closed down, basically all of the weather apps were showing possible lightning in the area soon, so they delayed the start to 9:00. Again, probably the right decision by the race director to try and keep everyone safe.
Other than some bad weather in the early part of the day, the rest of the event looked great.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [globetrotterjon]
[ In reply to ]
I’ve heard nothing but good things about Redman but how long can this race survive with consistent numbers in the two hundreds? There is no way the organizers are making money.
Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One
Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [The GMAN]
[ In reply to ]
Not to bad mouth about this race. This is the message I got from a friend of mine after the race.
“His flat was a thumb tack puncture . We were warned that the locals weren’t excited about us riding. When we were passing riders cars were buzzing us really close. Someone got hit by a car. Lots of people went down on corners. Was a very mental ride.”
“His flat was a thumb tack puncture . We were warned that the locals weren’t excited about us riding. When we were passing riders cars were buzzing us really close. Someone got hit by a car. Lots of people went down on corners. Was a very mental ride.”
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [The GMAN]
[ In reply to ]
It looks like they had 536 overall finishers and 28 in the full. I think you can offset some of the costs of the full with good merchandise, sponsors, etc. but it’s tough as there are definitely more costs involved with keeping a course open that late into the night. Hopefully they are doing well as I think it’s important to have locally owned races around and I’ve heard nothing but good things about the people who put on the race.
Since we are on the subject of full-distance triathlon participation numbers, independent races in particular, I’m curious to know what everyone thinks about the current state of affairs. I have been moving into the leadership position of two local tris, one of which offers a full distance. I put some numbers together earlier this year and was surprised to find that we are one of, if not the largest independent full in the lower 48. Our big push this year and next is to try and increase our numbers in the full specifically, but we are realistic that it won’t happen overnight. We have rebranded the race a bit, tried to find a “hook”, and are starting to push FB ads. No idea if it’s going to work... is there really a market for independent fulls? I have to think there is, but the overall numbers would say no. In general the people who race with us, Redman, etc have overwhelmingly positive things to say, it’s just getting people to sign up and give us a shot. The big things we can’t replicate, at this point, are the crowd support late in the evening and a congested run course to keep the loneliness at bay. What we offer is an amazing experience with truly world class volunteers for much less than a branded race. Is that enough to offset the current set of drawbacks? No idea, but I’m hoping so! I’ll let you know in a year or two.
Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions on how to increase participation in independent fulls?
I didn’t mean to hijack the thread but I guess I went a little off tangent... but hopefully it’s a discussion worth having.
Since we are on the subject of full-distance triathlon participation numbers, independent races in particular, I’m curious to know what everyone thinks about the current state of affairs. I have been moving into the leadership position of two local tris, one of which offers a full distance. I put some numbers together earlier this year and was surprised to find that we are one of, if not the largest independent full in the lower 48. Our big push this year and next is to try and increase our numbers in the full specifically, but we are realistic that it won’t happen overnight. We have rebranded the race a bit, tried to find a “hook”, and are starting to push FB ads. No idea if it’s going to work... is there really a market for independent fulls? I have to think there is, but the overall numbers would say no. In general the people who race with us, Redman, etc have overwhelmingly positive things to say, it’s just getting people to sign up and give us a shot. The big things we can’t replicate, at this point, are the crowd support late in the evening and a congested run course to keep the loneliness at bay. What we offer is an amazing experience with truly world class volunteers for much less than a branded race. Is that enough to offset the current set of drawbacks? No idea, but I’m hoping so! I’ll let you know in a year or two.
Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions on how to increase participation in independent fulls?
I didn’t mean to hijack the thread but I guess I went a little off tangent... but hopefully it’s a discussion worth having.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [The GMAN]
[ In reply to ]
There were more than 500 that finished their respective race on Saturday and many many more that signed up but DNS. They have the full, half, full and half aquabike, duathlon and sprint distances. I traveled 5 hours each way for the race and all things considered it was still worth it.
Re: Redman this weekend - who's in? Who's up to do a little precourse ride Thu/Fri [JMosey]
[ In reply to ]
JMosey wrote:
It looks like they had 536 overall finishers and 28 in the full. I think you can offset some of the costs of the full with good merchandise, sponsors, etc. but it’s tough as there are definitely more costs involved with keeping a course open that late into the night. Hopefully they are doing well as I think it’s important to have locally owned races around and I’ve heard nothing but good things about the people who put on the race. Since we are on the subject of full-distance triathlon participation numbers, independent races in particular, I’m curious to know what everyone thinks about the current state of affairs. I have been moving into the leadership position of two local tris, one of which offers a full distance. I put some numbers together earlier this year and was surprised to find that we are one of, if not the largest independent full in the lower 48. Our big push this year and next is to try and increase our numbers in the full specifically, but we are realistic that it won’t happen overnight. We have rebranded the race a bit, tried to find a “hook”, and are starting to push FB ads. No idea if it’s going to work... is there really a market for independent fulls? I have to think there is, but the overall numbers would say no. In general the people who race with us, Redman, etc have overwhelmingly positive things to say, it’s just getting people to sign up and give us a shot. The big things we can’t replicate, at this point, are the crowd support late in the evening and a congested run course to keep the loneliness at bay. What we offer is an amazing experience with truly world class volunteers for much less than a branded race. Is that enough to offset the current set of drawbacks? No idea, but I’m hoping so! I’ll let you know in a year or two.
Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions on how to increase participation in independent fulls?
I didn’t mean to hijack the thread but I guess I went a little off tangent... but hopefully it’s a discussion worth having.
My numbers were for the full and half distance. I should have been more specific.
As to your question: Is there a market for independent fulls? The market over the last decade+ has resoundingly answered that as NO and it gets worse with each passing year. I think Ironman has more participants in the M40-44 age group at one race like Ironman Arizona than the total participants of every single independent full combined. You’re pissing into the wind bothering with a 140.6 indie race. I'm not trying to be a dickhead about this but it's an exercise in futility trying to put on an non-MDOT 140.6. Challenge, Rev3, HITS have all tried and they have all failed miserably at the 140.6 distance in North America. The stark reality is nobody cares. This mindset is also trickling down to the 70.3 distance races. Soon nobody will care about indie 70.3 races either.
Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One