For everyone that’s ever finished the swim portion of a race and thought that the course felt a little long…here is the finisher’s medal from the 2010 Patriots Half in Williamsburg, VA. You gotta love the person responsible for proofreading this stuff.
That is a heck of swim.
Just curious, what did they give as awards this year. I did not run the 1/2 last year but the awards for the Oly & Sprint were a bottle of wine & glass.
I didn’t stick around long enough to see what the awards were this year, sorry.
Bragging rights for life. (Same if you actually run 200 km at Abu Dhabi though I don’t think it’s on the medals.)
The awards were Williamsburg wine and a glass again. Despite the “long” swim and some drafting it was a well run race on a nice day.
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=2941107;search_string=boulder%2070%203%20medal;#2941107
Boulder 70.3 must have had the same proof reader
1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile swim
.
Actually… 13.1 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 1.2 mile run… I would be all for that… But to be honest, by mile 5 I would be bored out of my mind.
I was out there racing yesterday and couldn’t agree more. I talked to lots of folks out there after the race and it was pretty much the consensus that the buoys marking the course were… well not really marking the course. I am an awful swimmer to begin with, but I might have swam 2 or 2.5 miles for all I know. I haven’t seen the splits yet, but about 15 minutes into the swim I thought I was going the right way and found myself with about 30 other discombobulated AG’ers in no-man’s land. I swam back to where I saw a whole lot of people thrashing around I followed them. I eventually made it back to the shore just thankful to be back on land. Great race besides the confusing swim and about 7 miles of the bike course that was like riding on rumble strips, the old Profile Aerodrink gave me a quite an electrolyte bath on that stretch of road.
I was out there racing yesterday and couldn’t agree more. I talked to lots of folks out there after the race and it was pretty much the consensus that the buoys marking the course were… well not really marking the course. I am an awful swimmer to begin with, but I might have swam 2 or 2.5 miles for all I know. I haven’t seen the splits yet, but about 15 minutes into the swim I thought I was going the right way and found myself with about 30 other discombobulated AG’ers in no-man’s land. I swam back to where I saw a whole lot of people thrashing around I followed them. I eventually made it back to the shore just thankful to be back on land. Great race besides the confusing swim and about 7 miles of the bike course that was like riding on rumble strips, the old Profile Aerodrink gave me a quite an electrolyte bath on that stretch of road.
You are not as bad a swimmer as I. I did the sprint yesterday and ended up too far downstream of the 2nd buoy. Poor sighting on my part.
Question about the race yesterday. I looked at last years times (sprint). It was my first time at this race and I thought I would get an idea what kind times people were finishing in.
I thought I might fair well after looking at last years times, but not so.
The times were much faster this year. Any ideas? I had a 1:13… That would have had me in the top tenish range, last year. I placed 57th. It was a fun race, except for the dark start and pouring rain.
Maybe the bus from kick ass Unv was there.
Patriots is in my backyard, practically, and I miss it every year.
The innaugural year, I waited too long (dumbass). Year two, I signed up and then it promtly hurricaned that weekend (beautiful weather for the sprint and oly, of course). This year before I could sign up, I got myself deployed to Iraq.
Maybe someday I’ll actually race this thing. Hopefully, they will shorten the swim to a reasonable 12 miles by then.
Did think the swim felt long but not that long! Did anyone else have the bike long I had it on my gamin at 56.9 miles?
I did the sprint as well and thought it was FAST- but the shallow start/finish was redunkulous. First bouy madness that thinned out nicely (10min finishers)
that is funny, I actually didn’t notice the typo, but I swear the swim was long. I had issues with the first yellow bouy, it kept moving right on me…seriously. I got to it, and it was being bobbed around.
I loved the race, I wasn’t trying to set any new records, but man was the bike fast. I got a flat at mile 15ish, and was shocked to see I was holding about 21mph-not bad when I was trying to PACE it around 19.5 to help me mentally prepare for my first IM. after the flat got fixed (thank you mechanic!) I was off again. I was shocked how flat my legs felt after waiting 10-15 minutes, but got rolling again.
I loved the course, looking forward to really going hard sometime in the near future on this course. It was my cup of tea!
Passed up the chance for an IM LP shirt in the finisher’s tent that I regret - 112 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 112 mile run.
I was out there racing yesterday and couldn’t agree more. I talked to lots of folks out there after the race and it was pretty much the consensus that the buoys marking the course were… well not really marking the course. I am an awful swimmer to begin with, but I might have swam 2 or 2.5 miles for all I know. I haven’t seen the splits yet, but about 15 minutes into the swim I thought I was going the right way and found myself with about 30 other discombobulated AG’ers in no-man’s land. I swam back to where I saw a whole lot of people thrashing around I followed them. I eventually made it back to the shore just thankful to be back on land. Great race besides the confusing swim and about 7 miles of the bike course that was like riding on rumble strips, the old Profile Aerodrink gave me a quite an electrolyte bath on that stretch of road.
Yeah my wife did the HIM this weekend and had the exact same issue.
I knew there was another race with the same 13.1 mile swim on the medal but couldn’t remember which one it was. Pretty funny.
If it makes anyone feel better (or maybe worse) they had issues during the sprint race with the buoys as well. The transition area closed 20 min before the start and when we all got down to the swim start they were still placing the buoys. I was in the second wave and as I approached the first buoy, I started feeling really bad about myself. It was taking forever to pass this thing.
Turns out it wasn’t properly anchored and was drifting away. I couldn’t pass it because it was moving with me.
I’m told by friends racing relay that they were told just to turn at the orange buoy instead and ignore the yellow one. So, if you’re wondering why the relays and novices had such great swim times, now you know.
Had my best time ever there, despite the rain. Beat last year’s time by 6 minutes.
The 1st leg of the swim-- upriver diagonal was the longest 1st segment I have ever swum. And siting on the return into rising sun was tough.
AG 1-2-3 got a bottle of Williamsburg wine and wine glass. Not sure what the under 21 crowd got.
2nd year here- a great PR course!
Mark R
Charlottesville
Swim was long for sure . . .
BUT WHAT AN AWESOME VENUE!
I will be back.
The bike was 56.8 miles on my Garmin.
I think everyone got caught on the left ( down river) side of 1st turn buoy.
The current is nil near the shore but is strong mid river. So a site that works for 200 yards will not work as you get further in the river.
I had 56.8 something too for the bike. Funny about the medal, the swim felt long, but not THAT long.
In all seriousness the swim was mostly my fault with poor sighting and inability to clear slower swimmers, but it certainly could have been marked a little better. Not sure how I could have prepped better for the current, but next year if I do it hopefully the current is moving about the same. That first leg was miserable for me.