Anyone out there know anything about Kinetic half at Lake Anna in VA.Considering doing this race,looking for feedback on quality of race,bike and run course difficulty,hills,road surface,bridges,support etc.
Anyone out there know anything about Kinetic half at Lake Anna in VA.Considering doing this race,looking for feedback on quality of race,bike and run course difficulty,hills,road surface,bridges,support etc.
Its a nice race. I thought the hills weren’t anything bad on the bike, road surfaces pretty good. There were a couple water stops on the bike, it was enough. The run is a little hilly and its usually hot. Overall a good race and an excellent value.
Polly
Really good half. The bike might have a couple rollers but it’s still a pretty fast course. Swim is usually pretty cold. The run isn’t really hilly but more of a false flat on one section. It is tough. Setupevents does a really good job. Greg Hawkins is one of the best RD’s out there. I’d recommend it if you want an early season half. Lake Anna is pretty nice. They actually changed the date…it’s a few weeks later now. So the water should be warmer, but I wouldn’t think too much warmer.
Setup does good races - you will find them well organised and staffed.
Big difference for Kinetic this year is they are moving the date back about three weeks from what has been the norm. This should make a huge difference in water temp for the swim. If you read older race reports, it is always a cold swim - mid 50’s to low 60’s. This should put the water temp solidly in the 60’s - brisk but very doable.
By local standards the bike is pretty gentle, though flatlanders will find some of the roll get to be a bit much on the second loop. Roads are mostly nice - a few rough patches here and there, but nothing major.
New run is a three loop - basically 1 miloe up, 1 mile rolling, 1 mile down.
When they ran it in April, the biggest issue would be weather - it has been downpours, cold and foggy, or high 80s - sometimes on the same day. May should be a bit more predictable.
Thanks for the feedback,web site describes run as lightly rolling,somewhat different from responses.Glad date moved back,water temp in 50’s would nix race for me.
Great race. Great bike course, and tough run course. I seem to alternate between this and White lake each year just to mix it up. Kinetic is much harder, but more fun IMHO!!
I agree with most of the other posters. I thought that the run was quite challenging and a bit lax on the water stops for the heat. I got so dry last year that I didn’t pee for over 24 hours post race. Other than that a very enjoyable race. I would definitely return but would stash a Gatorade bottle in t2 to bring with me on the run. The water was perfect for me last year. Great temp and like glass. Bike is ideal amount of rollers for an early season race.
Jodi
I also did it last year. The swim and bike were fine. Bike was nice with some rollers and smaller climbs. The run was a bit challenging for. I hate doing multiple loops and this had three if I remember correctly. Its a no frills type of race, but it was directed very well. Dont do race day sign up as they were not staffed to handle the number of people signing up.
Any reco’s for where to stay? I know camping in the park would be quite convenient. From the bit of research I have done though, it seems that the camping pads are gravel in the park campground, and there’s a lot of trees that have been cleared(?). I’d prefer to avoid that and have some shade.
Not sure what you mean lax on the water stops - there were 4 per loop - top of the hill,start of the loop around, down the major descent, and coming out around transition - that is pretty much one per mile. Admittedly the heat last year caught everyone, but I didn’t find any difficulty with hydration on the run, and in fact ditched the fuel belt on the second loop.
Depends. Since the race is local to me I wouldn’t consider camping and don’t know much about the site layout there.
If you don’t mind driving to the race, both Charlottesville and Fredricksburg offer lots of nice accomodations, decent food, and a bit of something else to do other than hang around a bunch of OCD types for a weekend. Drives are roughly 50 minutes from either city.