Not me!!! but I am still a first timer at heart. At gym today because of the lovely weather was able to get a 5 mile run in . Also a 1100 meter swim. Talked to a guy who was doing the race for the first time. He said he was never in a OW swim. A Guy died there last year. I believe the official cause was Heart Attack. A heart attack caused by drowning or drowning caused by a heart attack ? Who knows!!! Any way, Should not USAT have a mandatory OW swim for all “first timers”? It would hopefully weed out safely most that cant swim. Also the RD’s and USAT would reap benefits as there is usually a charge associated with a organized OW swim. It would be a safe way for the first timers to expierence a OW swim. Hell if it saved one life would it not be worth it? As I write this another benefit might be that some newbie ( Which we were all once.) might not slow you down or grab on to you thinking your a life jacket and bringing you down with them.
The organizers of the New Jersey Triathlon host open water swims all summer: http://www.cgiracing.com/njst/openwaterswims.html
But as has been pointed out, no organization will put themselves at risk of being sued by someone “certified” who then dies in a race.
The guy who died was in the sprint race; those of us in the international distance race apparently swam over him at the bottom of the lake. Bleah.
Are you doing the race? I’ll be there for the international race, wave #19 (19!). Look for the yin-yang disk (there’ll only be one) or race #2595 and say hello. Or punch me in the nose, your call. In any case, have fun if you are racing on Sunday.
Ken,
The guy went after in a wave after me last year. But I did have the pleasure of being in both races last year that people drowned. I was also in the NYC tri. I Already looked your times up. Were a weird bunch on ST!!! I would not want to punch you in the face anyway. I have seen your times , your fast. I am doing the NYC tri this year. Only because they are having a First responders wave. Kind of sucks cause I live only 2 1/2 miles away from the Edinburg Rd. entrance at mercer park. Nice fast course for the sprint. I did 1:09 last year. For some reason I dont want to do the oly there till I break a hour on the sprint. Which will be next year. I have biked and ran the oly course hundreds of times like that course too. Only other races I will be doing is “War at the Shore” and the Hightstown tri. this year. If you ever want to ride the mercer, montgomery or monmouth area give me a PM. We will both be riding some nice rear wheel graphics. I have the spiral.
Good luck to you on sunday. God speed my friend
Ken,
The guy went after in a wave after me last year. But I did have the pleasure of being in both races last year that people drowned. I was also in the NYC tri. I Already looked your times up. Were a weird bunch on ST!!! I would not want to punch you in the face anyway. I have seen your times , your fast. I am doing the NYC tri this year. Only because they are having a First responders wave. Kind of sucks cause I live only 2 1/2 miles away from the Edinburg Rd. entrance at mercer park. Nice fast course for the sprint. I did 1:09 last year. For some reason I dont want to do the oly there till I break a hour on the sprint. Which will be next year. I have biked and ran the oly course hundreds of times like that course too. Only other races I will be doing is “War at the Shore” and the Hightstown tri. this year. If you ever want to ride the mercer, montgomery or monmouth area give me a PM. We will both be riding some nice rear wheel graphics. I have the spiral.
Good luck to you on sunday. God speed my friend
My brother lives on Cranbrook Drive in Hamilton Square, pretty close to the park. Has he come out to see me the past three years I’ve done the race? Noooo…
I’m getting sick of the same Monmouth County roads between Holmdel and Millstone. Sometimes I take a road I don’t know just to do something different.
Have fun at the NYC float/bike/run race.
The organizers of the New Jersey Triathlon host open water swims all summer: http://www.cgiracing.com/.../openwaterswims.html
But as has been pointed out, no organization will put themselves at risk of being sued by someone “certified” who then dies in a race.
The guy who died was in the sprint race; those of us in the international distance race apparently swam over him at the bottom of the lake. Bleah.
Are you doing the race? I’ll be there for the international race, wave #19 (19!). Look for the yin-yang disk (there’ll only be one) or race #2595 and say hello. Or punch me in the nose, your call. In any case, have fun if you are racing on Sunday.
That was my first tri ever! My biggest fear about open water swims? Bodies in the water. What a creepy feeling realizing that we were actually swimming with one. (Of course, I feel sorrier for the guy than I do for myself in this case…)
Of course, I’ll still be back racing this Sunday, and hopefully there won’t be a repeat.