OK, I saw the live coverage thing didn’t work out for Rev3 Knoxville, but can anyone comment on the race experience from an athlete’s point of view?
I’ve been doing Gulf Coast for the last 5 years, and I love the race, but Knoxville is so much closer to home. I’m trying to decide what to do next year.
Knoxville Oly-
I think I’ll definitely do the Oly again next year…loved it!
Knoxville Oly-
I think I’ll definitely do the Oly again next year…loved it!
Pretty spot on, there was petty limited pre-race info, not an issue for the Oly but not sure they ever posted how many aid stations there were for the HIM, or what they would have, even the pre-race meeting they kind of glossed over it.
They take your picture when you pick up your timing chip (not sure why) would be interesting to see how long that takes if they get a lot of people. Also took a picture of your bike when you brought it into transition. Assume that was for security so they could verify your bike if there were any issues after the fact, since they did the standard look at my number vs bike number when I left transition.
Bike had almost no flat spots, either going up or down, lots of blind corners, fun course.
If you bring your family it is a great spot. My wife and son did the Adventure race on Saturday and had a great time. They had some big inflatable obstacle courses/slides for the kids all weekend, the big TV had Finding Nemo playing on Friday while the kids were playing. The finish area was right next to a big water area/fountain that there were tons of kids playing in, also 2 playgrounds right next to the fountain, my 6 and 4 year olds had a great time.
Overall it was a pretty good race, a few rough edges but first time out the gate that is to be expected.
Overall I give it a 7.5 / 10
With some VERY minor changes… it would be a 9/10 easy.
The Good:
-The expo itself. It wasn’t any of this “in and out” in 5-10 minutes… this was a real deal expo. Lots to do keeping everyone (especially the kids) entertained.
Now… the Bad:
Overall, I suggest the race highly. I’ll be doing it again next year for sure.
I did the Half and have nothing but rave reviews for the whole Rev3 experience…and I had my absolute worse performance in a half ever (mostly injury related). The event is every bit of WTC if not more.
pluses:
minuses:
All in all…a very first class event and unbelievably managed. I’ve done Gulf Coast several times and, now, for the last time.
Thank you to everyone who put in their 2 cents! Sounds like they did a good job.
What did they do for awards? How deep did they go? Do you have any idea how many people were entered in the half?
Thank you to everyone who put in their 2 cents! Sounds like they did a good job.
What did they do for awards? How deep did they go? Do you have any idea how many people were entered in the half?
Looking at the results 184 total.
For the oly, awards were 3 deep and consisted of a plaque and a fuel belt.
We had the E3 crew up for the half and had an absolute blast. Sure some things need to be worked out but overall great experience.
I have been doing Gulf Coast for years and don’t think that I will be back soon. I saved a ton of money and got to race on a demanding course.
The fact that the Wife won her age group was the icing on the cake!
Rev3, ALL3Sports, volunteers and the Knoxville all did a great job this weekend giving us a tremendous race experience.
One for the girls…
http://www.samwarriner.co.nz/html/diary.html
Although she doesn’t talk alot about the race specifically, probably one she’d like to forget.
Was the bike course long? I heard from a couple people it was a mile long?
I will make a FEW comments/suggestions about Rev3 Knoxville. First in general I thought they bit off more than they can chew - I kind of figured this would be the case. In the first year of a triathlon, especially one that is so hi-profile and that you try to grow so fast why not just focus on getting one event right instead of 4 events??? I would have preferred to see an all olympic event and then next year add the half after they ironed out all the wrinkles in the olympic.
The Good
Bike course spread things out, made for mostly draft-free event.
Very nice venue that is easy to get around. Once you park you car at the hotel there is no reason to drive anywhere.
Great pro venue
Nice weather
Big race feel (although not that many participants)
MC - I think he give Mike Reilly a run for his money. He definitely has more spunk than Reilly, but Reilly has that nostalgia surrounding him.
Family Oriented Race. This is good if you have a family as IM races aren’t very family oriented, but for non-families it just seems like an increase to race fees.
Technology - I can see where this is going and I LIKE IT!! but it was executed poorly.
The Bad
Too many separate events - there was AQUABIKE Olympic, AQUABIKE Half, Olympic, and Half. You lose focus when you do this and in the first year of the race I think it was a little much
Transition setup - huge penalty for some based on layout. They had a side entrance (for the pro it didn’t matter all bikes were in same area) but for elite and ag it did. Some people would come into transition RUN AWAY from the bike out to get their bike and then run back the way they came to get to bike out, others positioned better could just RUN TO there bike which was on their way to the bike out… This is a complete no-no and easily cost me 30-40 seconds total for both T1 and T2. And yes when I came in from the swim I had to take a right (bad) and one of my competitors got to take a left (good towards bike out) - great feeling to start the bike that way by losing an easy 15-20 seconds in free speed. Can’t we make fair races, especially when the organizers are racers themselves?
Volunteers - very uninformed. You could see this especially in run-bike over lap sections. People running all over the street, bikers biking all over the street - nobody knew what lane they were supposed to be. Volunteers telling you to move left in the all of sudden there is a aid station if you would have stayed right. Volunteers giving half-iron medals to olympic finishers. Small examples but in general they were very uninformed.
Poor information - they had a lot of good information, but it was overshadowed by the bad. The hotel I stayed (Four Seasons) gave me an itinerary for the race, unfortunately it was very outdated and only by a stroke of luck did I figure this out - I would have missed my swim wave with the itinerary the hotel gave me. Lack of transition knowledge prior to the race, and other last minute changes to the schedule also were disappointing.
Bike course seemed like accident after accident waiting to happen. Not sure how many incidents there were but it was dangerous. In my opinion coming off Henley street bridge turning left on a downhill into traffic just seemed like a bad idea. I will admit that I almost went headfirst into a windshield, but it just seems like if you are going to turn into a downhill with speed you have to do it going with the direction of traffic. IMO you have to have outs for bikers when taking turns with speed on a downhill and when the out is right into oncoming traffic - yikes!! They had some very dangerous train tracks which they attempted to clean up by putting down a 5 foot wide wood board and carpet but as I was running towards the finish I heard a crash behind me and I turned and looked and a guy had bailed on it. The angle of this tracks was wicked - never seen such a dangerous angle in all my years of riding. On the way back in there was also a lot of confusion with riders going out on the course including a veering corner with no cones to separate incoming/outgoing bikers. Without the cones bikers going out on the course tried to cut the corner turning left, the problem is that the racers coming back in who are staying to the right of the road have oncoming bikers right in their path creating potential head-on collisions.
Post race food??? There was really no post race race food, they had this tent that gave away boxed lunches… It wasn’t even setup when I finished, and when I went back 30 mins later they only had ham with swiss?
Awards and results. Results SNAFU. MCs did a great job in adhoc mode but seriously we can’t get timing right in this day of age - had I known I would have gone to calhoun’s for some REAL lunch and would have come back.
Race splits - who shows splits with total time. I’m fine with more granular data but show simple swim-t1-bike-t2-run splits as well.
Cost - $165 + ~15 processing fee = $180 for an Olympic?
Flashy technology versus practical technology? Having 3 computers hooked up to plasma screen is nice for results, but it created huge lines to view results. I’m not a paper fan but sometimes just posting a set of paper results keeps people moving. People were spending inordinate amounts of times at the terminal creating large lines. In addition at registration walking over to terminals for picture and information review prior to getting the race chip is a nice idea but once again poor implementation overshadowed this with long lines.
In summary the race was a good race, but I wouldn’t do it again under the same circumstances. Anytime you do a race for the first time you have to know that you are the guinea pig, and I’m sure it will only get better in year two. I believe in competition and I look forward to another high-profile series to compete with Ironman but they have to iron (no pun intended) out the wrinkles.
On another topic, I can’t believe Natasha Badmann rode the bike course on that Cheetah with no handlebars, how the heck did she navigate the turns??? And what happened to Andrew Yoder out there?
Speaking of dangerous… I am expecting at least one seriously injury, would not be surprised by a death, on the Quassy Olympic bike course. I have road it twice and a couple of the descents do things like steep descent into a stop sign/turn with no where to go, or especially on Hard hill road, there is one descent that all of a sudden has a stop and major road traffic crossing.
I have rode the course twice, still shake my head when I come up to some sections, and just expect the worst when you have a bunch of riders flying down a 10+ grade hill and not knowing there are cyclist in front of them who have stopped because they know there is a stop, or a sharp turn and there is no where to go.
I did the half on a relay team. I did the bike and have to say, the course was AWESOME! It was very challenging, lots of rolling hills, and a number of ~.5+ mile climbs. On a TT bike, I would say it had a lot of technical sections. I got over 35 a bunch of times and over 40 a couple as well. There seemed to be enough aid stations. Some of the asphalt was a little rough, but over all, it was fine.
I stood around at transition for an hour or so waiting for my relay-mate, and I watched the pros come through, the elite amatuers, and then the age-groupers. Watching people at the mount line was pure comedy.
The run-in, bike-out traffic was a TOTAL cluster fuck. The volunteers weren’t sure which way to send the first 4 pros as they ran through. The spectators were constantly obliviously walking in front of athletes even while volunteers were yelling to clear the course. The problem? The course was very confusing… The swim-in/bike-out/bike-in/run-out pathways all converged into a ~300 sq ft area where spectators were freely allowed to walk across (no barricades).
Finally, I found out the hard way that there was no neutral support… whoops! Obviously, it’s my fault for not carrying a flat kit, but I can’t remember the last race I did that didn’t have SOME kind of neutral support with wheels/tires/pumps/etc. Oh well. No more “aero or bust” for me.
i agree. last year at quassy i saw two people post-race who had some road rash after crashing. i overheard one of them talking - they apparently had bailed on one of those steep descents. i think i also remember hearing that a male pro got into an accident with car.
as for that one decsent into a major intersection (on the backside of the course), i actually got penalized for drafting because i couldnt brake fast enough due to a group of cyclists in front of me who had slowed down because of a slowly moving mack truck across the intersection. kinda weak, but i guess i understand.
the point here is that viewing the quassy bike course is a must prior to race day. excellent race though overall.
damn that sucks but mad props for finishing
.
Finally, I found out the hard way that there was no neutral support… whoops! Obviously, it’s my fault for not carrying a flat kit, but I can’t remember the last race I did that didn’t have SOME kind of neutral support with wheels/tires/pumps/etc. Oh well. No more “aero or bust” for me.
They did have some at Knoxville this weekend. I only know that because they rolled up to me shortly after I was hit, and tried to fix the bike a bit.
At the same time a women rolled up with a flat, that they also assisted (mostly pumping/replacing tire). Two guys, one truck, pretty helpful. Though, I don’t know how many support vehicles they had out there.
Elite Bicycles was the tech support for the race and David Greenfield brought quite a crew from Philadelphia to the race.
I would give the race a solid A. All inaugural races have issues but after doing NOLA last year, I was impress at the ability for Rev3 to minimize the issues.
Plus:
Great course. Make sure to train your fingers, as you are shifting the entire time. Really technical and engaging. I did the half and never saw an accident so if there was one on the oly, they had it cleaned up by the time we came through. Volunteers galore. They were everywhere and in the most rural random places. Yes, they were slightly uninformed but that happens.
Signs, directions, etc. There was no getting lost or confused.
Events on time.
A respectable expoFamily oriented atmosphere. Rev3 is an event, not just a race. Bring the kids and the family dog. Something for everyone.
Computers to look up your results afterwardsTons of timing maps. It is interesting to see when/where you gained positions. There was no way to cut the course.
All around fun. Tons of swag/gear
Cons:
Transition needs to be overhauled. It was a bit of a cluster and lead to some confusion.
More information in the race packet. I didn’t understand the flow of transition until the race.
For the love of GOD, remove that hill from the end of the half. It was down right cruel.
Post race food. Bleh. I want pizza and beer, not a box lunch.I was disappointed by a small field (not rds fault)Overall I loved it. Hands down one of my favorite races. I love Gulf Coast and will miss it in the future. I think I found a home in Rev3.
First time on the hill we are talking about I rode my brakes hard because I had no idea where it went out of eye site, but did know if I went bat out of hell, I likely was looking at broken bones and broken frame.
I am prepared now for the course, though more worried about the riders around me that may not be.