I did the Worst Triathlon in America Last Weekend

Triathlon Forum
1

I was feeling ambitious this past weekend so I decided to pull a doubleheader. I did the Flag City Triathlon on Saturday and then Wendy’s Triathlon. Let me begin by stating the difference between the two races were as different as the sun and the moon. The Wendy’s Triathlon in Columbus, Ohio is absolutely the worst race in the World. In the World. Let me tell you the number of ways things went wrong:

First, the race started 25 minutes late. Registration was disorganized and no one knew what was going on. The registration folks were definitely feeling stressed and were snappy with each other and everyone else. The registration line stretched no exaggeration about 1/4 mile. They ran out of timing chips so a number of us had to be hand timed. I pre-registered which made it suck even more.

The first swim wave went off with corporate teams. The next waves were age group waves. People were jumping waves and not in their age group. Some people had short swims because we didn’t cross a timing mat when we entered the water. The swim starts waist deep in water.

At no point during the swim is the water more than 4 feet deep. I scraped my hand several times on the bottom. But what pissed me off was that people were standing up, resting or running in the water in the middle of the swim. What the heck?

The 1st run of the duathlon was supposed to a 2 mile run. The course was not marked and some volunteers a kid on a bike led the runners. The kid didn’t know the course and since it wasn’t marked led the runners on a snipe hunt. Instead of a 2 mile run, the run ended up being 1.3 miles and 1/2 the runners were lost on the run course somewhere. A number of duathletes were screaming in confusion when they entered transition. The top finishers in the duathlon ran a shorter distance than a number of the other runners and their times weren’t adjusted. When I got into transition athletes were screaming and yelling at the race director.

Other gripes about the race

1 - $85 for a sprint triathlon out in BFE. I signed up because a number of people told me that everyone does it. I guess I learned my lesson. If everyone jumps off a cliff I wouldn’t follow so why do this?

2 - The race was a total draftfest and people riding side-by-side in packs, wearing headphones, and I saw 2 people with NO HELMETS.

3 - There were a number of crashes including one very bad one which cost me 2 minutes while I waited for the ambulance to clear the scene. I could care less about the lost time and I hope the guy is okay but the rider crashed while riding in a pack taking down his pack. I heard later that the lead cyclist in the pack hit a hole near a bridge seam on an overpass and literally flipped over his handlebars and nearly fell onto the highway below.

  1. Bike course wasn’t swept and I’m sure the loose gravel helped contribute to some of the crashes

  2. NO USAT officials or draft marshalls on the course

6 Transition was crowded and disroganized. I had 13 bikes on my age group rack while other age group racks had 1/2 that amount.

7 Post event food consisted of some bagels, cookies andfruit most of which was picked through and gone. I saw several athletes walking to the cars with handful of bars like a bunch of looters.

  1. The PA system was in such a poor state that is was crackling and kept shorting out.

  2. No pre-race instructions. No signs or markings on the course anywhere. I just followed the crowd hoping that I was on course.

  3. The website said that we were to get a technical shirt. My shirt was cotton. Bait and switch at its finest.

  4. I went to bike support to get my bike seat adjusted and the guy wanted $5. That has never happened in any race I’ve ever done.

Save your money and energy. This race is the worst in the world.

2

I did the Flag City Triathlon on Saturday and then Wendy’s Triathlon.
Aside from your disaster on Sunday, Flag City was a great race! I especially liked T1 up on top of the reservoir like that with the big bike drop down to street level. I never saw so many police and traffic control. In the 11 years I’ve been doing tri’s, this is the first time T1 and T2 were in different locations, but both were run smooth and efficiently. I had a great time!

3

I scraped my hand several times on the bottom.

You know that shouldn’t happen even in 2ft deep water ; ^ )

Sorry to hear about your race.

4

Sound like a Clusterf*ck at it finest! Where’s Chip, he’ll straighten them right out.

5

I always wondered if I should do that race. Thanks for the info. I guess I’ll stick with HFP and Tuxedo Brothers who both run fantastic races.

6

I am sorry for your bad experience but your post has got me rolling on the floor laughing!! It sounds like a total trainwreck and I can not even imagine being at a race like that. I guess you can look on the bright side, even though it was a total rip off and the experience sucked, you have an AWESOME story to tell people!!!

Hope your next event is better but I love this story!

7

This race used to be a classic back in the '80s. Maybe the current RD or the title sponsor will consider the legacy of the race and sell it for a reasonable price to one of the other race organizations in the area?

8

Dave must be rolling in is grave!

9

That’s just what I was thinking. I still have the 1987 results where Dave Scott finished third behind Nick Taylor and Scott Durkin. Rob Mackle was fifth. Julie Olsen was the female winner, Wendy Ingraham was eighth.

10

At no point during the swim is the water more than 4 feet deep. I scraped my hand several times on the bottom. But what pissed me off was that people were standing up, resting or running in the water in the middle of the swim. What the heck?

To ease some of your pain, there is no rule in triathlon about how you have to move through the water. You just have to get throught the marked course. Standing, running in the water, dolphin dives are all legal ways of motion.

I remember an adventure race that Tobin lost a few years back where the last stretch was to get acroos a lake in a boat. He was leading and, short of tipping the boat, would have won except for a more experianced crew picked the boat up over their heads and ran in a few inches of water to pass them and take the win. Gots to read the rules as much for what IS allowed as whats NOT allowed.

11

That reminds me of a tri I did several years ago where, due to construction near by, the lake was accidentaly drained just prior to the race. The water level was about waist high. During the RD’s pre-race instructions where he would usually tell folks that in the event of distress during the swim to wave for help, instead he said: “If you are having difficulty during the swim, stand up.” LOL. The swim was more like a crawl through muddy water

12

"11. I went to bike support to get my bike seat adjusted and the guy wanted $5. That has never happened in any race I’ve ever done. "

JBR2,

Please email me directly on this matter. I would have sent you a PM, but you are not able to receive those through this forum.

As the owner of Tri-Tech and one of three people who was manning our designated tech support tent, I can assure you that we HAVE NEVER asked athletes for payment for our support services.

If a customer requires a replacement part (tube, stem, tire, cable, etc.) AND if they ask “what do I owe you?” then we ask for payment for the PART ONLY - NEVER FOR THE SERVICE. Often times, we simply do not get paid for the part and that is no big deal either.

On Sunday, we changed ~ 6 flats, 1 cable, adjusted gears and brakes, and pumped up a bunch of tires, but none of us have any recollection of someone coming to the tent asking for help on a bike seat adjustment. I have spoken with my husband and our Service Manager, Ryan Adams, both of whom were there, and neither of them recalls a request for a saddle adjustment.

Please email directly at leannecharnas@yahoo.com so that I may address this issue personally with you and ensure that there is no occurrence of this sort in the future.

13

I had the QR with the floursecent yellow bar tape if that helps. I asked a man working how much to get my seat height adjusted for a quick fit. He said $5. I didn’t have it so I walked way. That incident by itself is nothing but added to everything else that wrong that day and it becomes a big deal.

14

Not that it’s a big deal, but did you show the bike course long…?? I mean it is what it is, everybody had to do the same distance right? Talking to several others they had the course anywhere between 23.2 and 23.7 and not the 22 they say it was. Even mapmyride.com has it at 23.3.

15

I’m not a big fan of the two transition areas at Flag City. It seemed confusing to many folks.

But it is a fun race and pretty well run.

16

Umm, you signed up for a race named “Wendy’s”. If you see any out there called “Jack In the Box” or “McDonalds” don’t sign up.

17

i cant say anything one way or another about the race, but i can say i have had nothing but amazing sevice from tri-tech and that does not sound anything like anyway i have met there. was the guy being serious?

i have heard a lot of bad things about that race, but the course over there is a nice one from the races i have done, and its not in the middle of no where. there are plently of races that are, but i would say that one is not.

how’d you like flag city?

18

While it sounds like you had a bad experience, a couple of your “facts” are off.

  1. For the swim, you can start anywhere, along the starting line, from the beach to the swim buoys, which are in water that is over 6 and a half feet deep.

  2. If you planned ahead and signed up by the end of April, the cost was $65. If you sign up for one of his package deals you could have paid as little as $45 per race. Not to mention the Mizuno deal he offered, free Mizuno shoes, tech shirt, sox and other swag if you did a 3 race package.

  3. Right after I crossed the finish line, there was a guy standing there with a tray of pizza slices. Not exactly what I wanted at that point but it was there. I later took a turkey sandwich from the same guy with a tray of sandwiches. I’m not sure when you finished but there was plenty of food around when I finished (and afterwards).

  4. I picked up my packet during the week and got a technical shirt. All of the people that I know, that raced, got technical shirts. If you check the fine print on most races, they have a provision that says they don’t guarantee shirts if you sign up/pick up towards the end of sign ups.

I would never defend Jeff as running an organized race but, as he admits, he caters to beginners. By the way, did you do the duathlon or the triathlon? You talk about the duathlon run and the triathlon swim as if you did both.

19

Was this the Shelbyville race just outside Indy? I did one of those, and it was like swimming through Chili. People were coming out of the water with black stuff in their teeth. It was funny to see people on the other side of the lake walking upright in the middle of a swim.

20

Umm, you signed up for a race named “Wendy’s”. If you see any out there called “Jack In the Box” or “McDonalds” don’t sign up.
So, should I pass on the chance to compete in The Olympics since McDonald’s has been a title sponsor for about 20 years? How about the Ford Ironman races?.. are they o.k.?