I am considering doing LA Tri in September. So,
I live in San Diego, so travelling isn’t an issue.
no triathlon is worth $160 IMHO
not even ironman
.
I am wondering the same thing since it is a point to point race I either have to pay to take a shuttle back to the beach or have a friend take me back after the race. But i figure it will be cool to bike through Hollywood and downtown LA and not really have to worry about the traffic.
the price is not cheap that is for sure.
It’s pricey, but they get several thousand people to come.
In their defense the county requires a huge number of life guards, even if they were doing a mass start it’s a lot.
They have a several major thoroughfares closed and have hundreds of police on the bike route.
But, it’s just about doubled in price in the last few years, even though the participants have gone way up. I don’t think they are hurting.
I’ve always wanted to do LA Tri, but the costs for me aren’t worth it for an Oly. As you pointed out, you have the entry fee, plus the shuttle fee back to where you leave your car in Venice, plus you have to drive downtown on a Friday to pick up your packet, etc. For me, I’d end up dropping probably $250 by the time it was all over for gas, food, etc. Superfrog is a week later, and it’s less than $100 for a 1/2 IM with free parking, same day registration available, and one transition area and the entire course is either along the beach or within 200 yards of it. Not bad.
its sold out…you get to save your 160 bucks.
Good.
Actually I didn’t do it the last few years due to the rising prices.
packet pickup and expo moved to marina del rey (near the start) last year
.
where do you get that it’s sold out from. Nothing on the website and the active link still works…
A buddy of mine said it was…the sprint is still open though…just what I heard…
I have done it 2x and only because a friend and I did it together with a 2 car shuttle. Between the packet pick up downtown and the shuttle hassle, it is a pain in the ass. And just because you get to ride on roads through LA it does not mean they are not full of cracks/potholes/etc. not to mention that the scenery is nothing special. A lot of the course is through some neighborhoods that are a little on the shaky side, not places you would hang out post race.
The run is rather tough - basically 3 miles up hill and 3 miles sort of down hill. I liked the run course much better than the bike since much of it is through a park by Dodger Stadium.
The surf can be nasty or non-existant just like Malibu. I have experienced both. The water quality is just OK, but much better than the Newport Beach and Bonelli Park races.
For the money being charged, a shuttle should be provided gratis just like EVERY other point-to-point race I have ever done.
A much better race - albeit much smaller - is the Carpenteria Oly - cheaper, great shirt, very challenging bike and a great run course on bluffs above the ocean.
Dean Wilson
www.anaerobiczone.com
again, the packet pickup has moved and they stopped using that run course 3 or 4 years ago, it doesn’t go anywhere dodger stadium anymore
.
I dunno if its worth it but i’m doing it.
Grant
** Last year’s surf aside, what is the swim like? Is it ‘nasty’ swimming in Venice?*
Water quality depends largely on recent weather, if it has rained recently, ocean water in LA is not nice. The swim course is fairly well marked and Venice beach generally does not have big surf or poor seabed conditions.
What are the bike and run courses like? (Hills, turns, etc) I’m assuming Urban Jungle as far as scenery, but the cool factor is being able to race through the streets of LA.
The bike has a decent amount of elevation change going from the beach to downtown but no big hills. Highland is a gradual incline. Sunset is rolling. The road surface is largely crap. Bjorn broke his disc last year but that may not be related. Not many turns but the one fiddly bit was not marshalled properly last year and half the pros missed it and a couple of miles of the course as a result. One steep but short descent near the end on grand ave. The run is easier than the original course, you start off with a run up the hill on grand you just rode down at 40mph then it mainly heads downhill for the first half through little tokyo to the river and then you come back uphill back to staples center to finish. Not many turns, all city streets.
Is it a well run event?
See the above regarding the turn that the pros missed. Some people complained about not getting tech tees last year (I got one). Neither I nor my wife have had a problem with the packet pickup on friday or saturday (used to be downtown, moved to marina last year) or the point to point course. Hving a sherpa is obviously preferable to using shuttles. The racks do get very full as it is a big race with lots of people, I could hardly find my bike in T2 after the race last year, it was empty when I racked it then when I came back later there were 2000+ bikes in there with what seemed like about 500 of them on my rack. Also,the nature of T2 last year meant that some AGs had a shorter course than others (entry and exit at the same end of a long, 2 or 3 block, T2) but they are trying to fix that long-term by moving T2 to the staples center I believe, I don’t know if that will have happened by this year’s race.
** etc! *
This will be my 3rd year in a row. My wife did it prior to that. A lot of the grumbles above seem to be based on the old course and packet pickup. It’s point to point so that creates issues and the RD is not perfect but I like the race so I come back. I do like having the odd big race on my schedule.
I just paid $20 to race a crit for an hour, bumping bars at 30MPH with 80 other guys on the rivet, likely 10 times more dangerous than a triathlon.
Where does the other $140 go?
A crit? How many blocks did they have to close? If you consider may sprints are $100, then the LA Tri is a bargain.
no.
peggy
Did anybody almost drown?
Did you block Venice Blvd for 4 miles, Sunset Blvd, Wilshire, Grand, etc etc etc
LA is a great race my favorite Urban race (Wildflower is the best period!).
$160 is some dough for a 2 hour activity, but like someone said above it is the experience and either you like this race or you do not!
I like it, I paid 160, and I am going to race my A$$ off.