Yesterday (9/18) was a triathlon called the Mighty Hamptons near Sag Harbor on the Eastern end of Long Island. Olympic Distance Triathlon
Here are a few of my comments:
Beautiful setting for the race.
Very poor race management: Very few lifguards were present in the water for the swim. There was no countdown for the swim start just a horn going off, no way to properly start your watch. The roads for the bike portion was under staffed ( one turn wasn’t even staffed by a person), pot holes weren’t marked with paint, no water on the bike.
East Hampton police not paying attention just BSng but being paid.
Ran out of bottled water at the end of the race for alot of the finishers.
Having paid big bucks for this race ($120) I thought it was a poor managed race. Just my observation.
I did Wilkes Berre this year and may have been spoiled.
Hopefully the race magement starts thinking how they can improve this race because I feel like I was ripped off.
I did the race a couple years back. Wasn’t really impressed. The race is put on by SwimPower Events. They put on Mighty Montauk, Mighty North Fork, and the Mighty Man 1/2IM in Montauk. The general consensus is that the races are WAY overpriced. MightyMan, for instance, is over $200.
The race venues are really nice, but I don’t think I’d recommend the races to anyone based on production.
One other thing I failed to mention. This race was a TriFed race. I didn’t see one marshall on the bike course. There was so much cheating going on during the bike portion. Pack riding & drafting was out of control from what I oberved. Athletes who think they did their personal best at this race and cheated should think twice. When you go to a real race like “Wilkes-Barre”, then you can say you had a personal best. WB was so closely watched from marshalls that I didn’t see any cheating going on.
I was out of the water fairly quick and got passed by alot of bikes @ The Mighty Hamptons and all I observed was pack riding & of course your drafting in a pack. Don’t give me the standard line that you got swallowed up by the pack. The race results should be used as toliet paper. PS: The results still aren’t posted.
I am originally from Long Island and have done several of the “Mighty” races multiple times. The venues are beautiful. However, they tend to be overpriced and understaffed. They often just feel like a party for the local team that is sponsored by the race director and outsiders tend to say they don’t always feel welcomed.
The head of Swimpower, the organization who puts on these races is a guy named Steve Tarpinian, he is a pretty well-known tri and swimming coach and sort of a big-wig in the triathlon community, but apparently not the best race director.
The drafting was out of control! At the 15-20 mile point on the bike, I finally gave up on breaking my ass to pull away from a pack just to have them pass me 5 minutes later. My BF was photographing the race and said the lead riders were in packs of 15-20 riders!
What made me angry was the parking situation. We got to the site at 5:20 and waited in line for :30 just to be told “sorry - lot is full. Go wait on that line…” Bullshit! We parked on the grass on the road.
Then the results…or lack thereof. The posted results listed only your overall place and time - no division information. So just to see if you may have placed, you had to wait around for over 3 hours after finishing. Thank god we had the cooler in the truck ;-).
This was once one of my favorite local races. I even missed the Giants home opener last year for it. I’m considering giving up on it next year and doing Westchester instead. Too bad - the race really could have potential.
One other thing I failed to mention. This race was a TriFed race. I didn’t see one marshall on the bike course. There was so much cheating going on during the bike portion. Pack riding & drafting was out of control from what I oberved. Athletes who think they did their personal best at this race and cheated should think twice. When you go to a real race like “Wilkes-Barre”, then you can say you had a personal best. WB was so closely watched from marshalls that I didn’t see any cheating going on.
I was out of the water fairly quick and got passed by alot of bikes @ The Mighty Hamptons and all I observed was pack riding & of course your drafting in a pack. Don’t give me the standard line that you got swallowed up by the pack. The race results should be used as toliet paper. PS: The results still aren’t posted.
I agree with you 100% about the race having a nice quality about it. The race management should spend more money on covering the race instead of lining their pockets with cash. People will get pissed off and not return. I’m one of them not a happy camper with what transpired with this race. I agree parking was a mess because the race was over booked because of greed. Race results like I said are of poor quality & should be used for TP.
I will return to Wilkes-Barre Triathlon in 2006…Mighty Hamptons in 2006 NOT.
Greedy oil companies and a greedy eventpower race management will be a down fall to their business.
I did the race last in 1983. My gripes were that you could not use areo bars, wetsuits, or clipless pedals. Oh ya, you had to ride a road bike with road geometry. Back then it was a 1 1/2 mile swim , 25 mile bike, and 10 mile run. It was 90 degrees, with 90% humidity. If I hadn’t have won it, I really would have been pissed off…(–:
Sorry to hear a once great race has fallen onto hard times. I suppose that if enough people write about it, and hit them where it really hurts, their wallets, maybe some changes could be made. This race has been going on since 1982, but has changed ownership several times since then. Just some history form the ST historian here…
The lack of division information is a first. I’m doing MightyMan 1/2 on Oct. 2nd, and I hope the results for that are less frustrating. Just running down the list, I recognized a few names from my a.g. and know how they placed relative to each other, but in the grand scheme of the a.g. ---- who knows?? There are almost certainly others from that a.g. in their midst who I don’t know by name, and had I done Mighty Hamptons I would be very aggravated by the posted results. Really, including divison information is a no-brainer for people with some experience competing in and/or running triathlons, and why it’s not there is a mystery. Steve Tarpinian did IMLP '04 and I think IMAZ this year, and he has personally benefitted from the marvelous timing of Sporstats. Maybe it’s time he contacted them to do the timing for his Long Island race series!
I suppose that if enough people write about it, and hit them where it really hurts, their wallets, maybe some changes could be made.
I agree totally with what you said but I believe there are so many new comers to the sport of triathlon that they are unaware how a real race should be managed. I doubt there will be many people voicing their opinion concerning this race. I sure “EventPower” is reading this thread though and hopefully they consider making some serious changes. I was considering doing the Montauk 1/2 on Oct 2nd, but forget it now.
The drafting was out of control! At the 15-20 mile point on the bike, I finally gave up on breaking my ass to pull away from a pack just to have them pass me 5 minutes later. My BF was photographing the race and said the lead riders were in packs of 15-20 riders!
What made me angry was the parking situation. We got to the site at 5:20 and waited in line for :30 just to be told “sorry - lot is full. Go wait on that line…” Bullshit! We parked on the grass on the road.
Then the results…or lack thereof. The posted results listed only your overall place and time - no division information. So just to see if you may have placed, you had to wait around for over 3 hours after finishing. Thank god we had the cooler in the truck ;-).
This was once one of my favorite local races. I even missed the Giants home opener last year for it. I’m considering giving up on it next year and doing Westchester instead. Too bad - the race really could have potential.
If you are thinking of doing the Mighty Man Half-IM I suggest having an extra bottle cage on your bike and wearing a fuel belt. Aid stations were few and far between last year and poorly stocked. The worst part about these races is that they could be so great, the venues are beautiful and they generally draw some big sponsors…not sure where the sponsor support is going.
I didn’t do MM last year, but have heard some not too kind things about it - much along the lines of the MH gripes. Another poster has suggested bringing an extra bottle cage & a fuel belt. From what I’ve heard, I second that.
I’m not sure who the timing company was for MH, but I suggest they give Dave Katz (Finish Line) a call if they want quality results! By the time the awards started there were - MAYBE - 200 people left.
Good luck at MM. I’ve heard it’s an awesome course - Similar to Mighty Montauk. I’d do the race if it weren’t so late, so $$$ and…well, you know the rest
K
My parents actually live in Sag Harbor, about 400 yards from the traffic circle on 114. Growing up in Sag Harbor, this race is know locally as the Mighty Ripoff. Like much of the east end its just another over priced, over packaged, glitzy and glamourous way to extort money from the “beautiful people” from Manhatten. I wasn’t a triathlete growing up, but as a part of the local running scene we used to make fun of the yuppy, shaved leg, prissy triathletes who would show up every September and pay big $$$ for fancy bikes and crummy overpriced races. Now that I’m a triathlete myself I see that much of that stereotyping was wrong - but not the part about the over priced crummy race.
Yes, I read some of those comments as well, but decided to give it a try and signed up – just a day or two before Katrina. So now there are also high gas prices to deal with, and I’m about 10 hours away from Montauk, so this is looking to be a very expensive exercise. Signing up was a great example of “penny rich, pound foolish” in that I pounced to get the $200 rate rather than the $225 after August 31. I hate eating the $200, but just to get there and back, with food and two motels in the process, will add close to $500 to the trip. This would be fine (enough) if the race delivers, but this thread, and other comments about MightyMan '04, have me questioning the value of all this. And it’s not as if I need another race – MightyMan would be my 11th of the season, with The Canadian iron distance the most recent, just two-and-a-half weeks ago. MM still has visceral appeal, but unfortunately not much else, it would seem…
Save your cash in your pockets. Don’t line Steve Tarpian’s (Event Power) pockets with it. The race I heard sucked last year. You also may be spent from doing Ironman Canada. One thing though Montauk is a beautiful place especially in September & October. Rooms go for approximately 150/night near the ocean.
That’s funny that the race is called locally as the Mighty Ripoff…maybe if more athletes from the area do read and agree with some of our complaints we can mabe get a better race. For sure once you do Wilkes-Barre Triathlon all races will seem a bit lower. But this race last Sunday was a JOKE. I’m really pissed about it. The cheating…poor management …the price well I was stupid enough to pay it so I really can’t complain about the cost.
I’ll tell you if any one did get in trouble on that swim I think they would have drowned. You would think would hire some NY State Jones Beach lifeguards to cover this swim. Not even a jet ski out there.
