First time there, not my first Draft Legal triathlon
How was the swim? Does everyone go as hard as they can on the swim and let the race play out as it will? I put down 3:40 for my 250m swim time which is on the fast side for me but I’ve done it before.
How deep is the pool? Do you dive in or push from the side?
The bike and run are pretty self explanatory I suppose.
It didn’t look like many fast people did the second qualifier, is that because they figured they were already into the semi final?
I raced in the elite race last year that had a littl different format, but from what I recall:
People seemed all over the place on swims. You’re of course better off being faster and with faster people though. If you’re too fast, it’s short enough you can go for it on the bike, or you can sit up.
The pool is…maybe 5 feet deep? They forgot to out lane markers in it before they filled it, so that was tricky, but they fixed it sorta for Sunday by putting a cone where the T would be. I believe all AG prelims were push from the wall. We dove and it was sketchy as hell.
Bike isn’t as self explanatory as you think. A lot of people screwed up counting laps.
I believe you’re correct re: the second qualifier. Or in the case of my girlfriend, not even that she thought she was safe, but just didn’t want to race a second time that day.
If they can get a solid elite/junior field again, I will be very happy to come back, especially if they use the SBRSBR format for the finals for us again.
Thanks so much, I’m an AGer so pushing from the wall is no big deal. I’ve swam many masters meets and started from the blocks so I could go either way. 5 feet is on the shallow end for me but I actually learned to dive from the blocks in 3 ft of water back in high school PE.
I noticed a lot of the EDR swim times were slower than I expected to see and now am second guessing my swim seed time.
In the prelims do the AGer go with the ERD’s or were they seperate?
The pool is slow, there’s no question about that. Stick with what you would normally swim 250 SCM though.
No blocks, just the edge of the pool that’s less than perfectly solid, which is why it was sketchy for us.
And in prelims, EDR was still separate, kind of billed somewhat as the main event, with only us on the track, though they started the women as we finished the run I think. Last year they let some of the guys who didn’t advance in the EDR move to the second chance qualifiers on Saturday afternoon.
I was unable to find the seed times. I put mine down on the registration. I looked at last years pool times in the results and they seemed kind of slow for EDR athletes swimming a 250 SCM
The split mat is halfway down the ramp as you exit the pool, so about 10ft from the edge. The times were slow due to not having markings on the walls. The lack of contrast made it difficult to manage the turns. That has all been rectified this year.
There is an EDR race this year with SBRSBR Finals format. USAT would not give a prize purse however so no prize money but there is an EDR official from USAT.
The format for the weekend is different from last year with Prelims on Sat morning and Relays in the afternoon. There is a huge festival this year with beer and bands and a CrossFit competition to watch between rounds. Sun morning is second chance qualifying (Prelim B) which you can forego if you are satisfied you will qualify for Semis with your Prelim A time. Semis are at Noon. Finals at 4:30. CrossFit semis and finals in between.
The festival coming to the event had 10,000 spectators last year and they expect that again. The atmosphere will be electric. Just like the racing.
One swimmer, one biker, one runner.
Last year USAT was promoting the mixed team relay and gave Rev3 finial support for that option. They eliminated it this year.