First post in a decade on ST, might as well be a roll call. Who’s racing the Patriot half tomorrow? I last did this race in 2010, looking forward to it!
Glad to hear that this race is still around.
I thought it dropped the half and was focusing on Olympic distance; but that could have been Pumpkinman.
There was a different race in VA (IIRC) called Patriot that used to have a half but dropped it. The one in MA is still alive and kicking.
Your second guess was correct. Pumpkinman dropped the half a few years ago.
I’m in. 5th time for me.
Did they find another 2 miles in the bike to make it 56 this year?
No, still same course as the last few years.
I was there. Went in trying to nurse some injuries. The race was only my 3rd swim of the entire year, and I ran a total of 12 miles in the six weeks leading into the race. No shock, but triathlon needs training in all three sports 🤦â€â™‚ï¸.
Was probably 10-12 min slower than I had been hoping for a couple months ago, but injures seem to have abated. Bike was solid due to 13-15 hours of riding per week for 5 weeks leading into the race.
I do wish they could add an out and back to get the distance correct on the bike.
I live driving distance on race morning to this race (and IM Mass) and would rather do this than the IM one. I have heard such great things about this race from friends but I just can never pull the trigger to do it bc of those stupid two miles. No idea why…but I just can’t do it. It’s got all my preferences of a lake swim and a flattish bike. Ugh
Maybe unpopular but I like the unique bike distance. My experience with triathlon from the jump has been that race distances are very non-exact. Appreciate a race saying up front that their bike leg is 54 miles when other races claim you ride 56 but it’s actually less. I like that PBs don’t have to matter. Race hard & see where you stack up in your AG or compared to your past results. Patriot Half is a good local race that’s had the 54 mile bike going for a while. They get a lot of repeat racers. Let those people be able to compare year to year on the same bike course.
Agreed.
I looked back at all the times I did Tremblant, half (7) and full (3), with the last in 2018, none were the full 56/112. Most were 55/110. That race was always published 56/112, maybe it is now but the first 7 years it wasn’t. I appreciate when races publish their actual distances.
I think its tough to add an out and back. Its a problem for traffic when you can’t close the road and adds to the positions needed for volunteers ( a big problem already), need for additional police and local resident frustration. Lake Placid took out one of their out and backs for this very reason. Sometimes there is a convenient spot like the short out and back at Mt. Van Hoevenberg but those are rare.