I’m considering doing the Harvest Moon Half in CO in September. This will be my first half. Any opinions or experiences with the race? Also, we recently moved from MI to CO and with all the stress/activity associated with the move, I’m not in the best shape (fitter than most of the general population, but a somewhat pathetic triathlete). I’m guessing I could be ready by September, though. If anyone disagrees, I’d like to here from you and your reasons. (FWIW, I’m a MOP triathlete and would be expecting a MOP finish.) Thanks!
My in-laws live in CO so I thought it would be fun to do this event a few years ago. This was during one of Denver’s worst droughts so the Aurora Res was VERY low and it was HOT. I’m, um, a pretty big guy and don’t do too well in the heat so take all my observations with that in mind.
From an organization standpoint, this is a well run event with a mom and pop feel to it. The organization is very small and works very hard to produce a pretty good event with few resources.
With that said, there were several things I didn’t like about this event. Most were not under the RDs control.
- It was hot.
- It was windy
- It was pretty hot.
- The bike course does a 9 mile stretch on I70 and was a little scary
- It was very hot.
- No gels due to the clean up required
One of the things that killed it for me was the unbelievable wind that came up just before the swim start that, combined with the very low water level, resulting in quite large, very frequent waves on the swim. It was so bad that it was nearly impossible to sight the bouys and very hard to develop a rhythm.
Also, my impression of a bike ride in CO would be lots of trees and mountains. Much of the bike course goes through the farm lands east of Denver and they are straight and flat and more like riding in Kansas.
So, would I do this race again? Probably.
As I’m sure you’re aware by now, you cannot predict the weather in Colorado. If you do this event be prepared for anything from freezing cold to very hot. The year I did this it was 60 degrees with thunder showers the day before and 95 and very windy on race day.
Hope this helps.
- Ken
I have done the race twice and liked it a lot. It is well run, friendly, and low-key. As mentioned, the weather can be hot (or cold-it’s September in Colorado). However, your alternative is 5430 (also a good race), which is always on a scorcher. The bike course is not particularly beautiful, but is very fair-not too hard or too easy. I was not bothered by the stretch of 70, because it is slightly downhill and very fast. Also, there is not much traffic on a Sunday morning. I recommend it and will probably be doing it again this year.