Sunday was my 7th IM start. 5 WTC events, HFP’s Pineman in 2003, and this one at Cedar Point. The WTC events have always been fun for me, Pineman I cannot say enough bad things about, and Rev 3 was right up there with the WTC races.
I never had anything against WTC races. I like the big crowds, the crowded swims, the price wasn’t free but I knew that going in, they put on solid races, and you knew you were getting a show. I never begrudged them making a buck, who wants to put in that much time for free? But then WTC started buying up every 1/2 IM they could find. The IM races started to feel generic. And now they are clearly in it for the money alone and not because they like triathlon and it would be a cool way to make a living. I knew I wanted to do another IM distance since I am turning 45 and Rev3 had one less than 2 hours from my house.
I have one, and only one, complaint about the race so I will knock that out of the way. (well 2 but if I bitch about them harping on the 9/11 attacks on the anniversary of 9/11 I’ll look like more of a tool than usual) Post-race. Handed a bottle of water, a medal, and a shirt and sent on my way. Apparently there had been post-race food earlier but by the time I stumbled across at the 13:55 mark there were baked lay and cookies. I had no idea where those were but my wife had done the half earlier and knew where she had found a yummy chicken sandwich. That’s it. The only issue was I could not find post-race Gatorade or food.
Pre-race - packet pickup was as smooth as smooth could be. My wife switched from the full to the half the week before the race and there was no hiccup at all. The race expo was not huge but what do you need from an expo? All 3 Sports had a big tent with anything you could need.
Bike drop off and racks were done perfectly. Your name and number on your bike slot so no worries.
The swim was well bouyed and lots of support. There were boats with lights at both corners (whether this was intentional or happy accident I do not know). Pre-race swims the beach was clear and the water was rough. Apparently between Friday morning and Sunday morning Lake Erie dumped unbelievable amounts of lake bottom goo on the shore. The hauled out some sort of dozer to at least clear the start area once you got to the water it was nasty for about 100 yards but hard to blame the RD when the lake upchucks on the shore overnight. They pulled the turnaround buoy out into the water so you didn’t go through it twice.
Transition area was what an IM transition should be. Bags well organized, changing tent, plenty of volunteers.
As we picked up packets we were told the bike course had to be rerouted due to unfinished road construction. While they were a little late in getting this resolved they handled it wonderfully. There is a big set of railroad tracks that run near Lake Erie. There are limited overpasses. One was inaccessible because of the construction. They got permission to run us down a small stretch of one of the main roads to use that overpass which meant one of two lanes was blocked all day. The course was very well marked and had traffic control at virtually every corner (the intersection where the old dude tried to kill me had TWO cops. Both of whom were screaming at the guy to stop as we almost collided. Aid stations were very well manned. The course had a ton of turns but was a fun course. Not much you can do when they decide to chip seal every road in the county the month before the race.
When you look at the run map it looks pretty dismal. Lots of out and backs. But the actual execution of it wasn’t bad. All those out and backs were right around downtown so to me at least that wasn’t an issue at all. The locals weren’t pissy about people being in their town. Aid stations had more people than you could hope for. Chicken broth made it to the course. Ran low on ice at a couple aid stations but they restocked.
One last thing about this race in particular. Parking. Anyone who has done IMCDA will really appreciate the fact that Cedar Point comes with one of the biggest parking lots you can find. Every time to the venue we parked withn 200 yards of the site.
I would not hesitate for a second to do Rev3 events after this. They worked hard to make this go well and it did.
Two suggestions for Rev3. 1 - make sure the aid station people know how to mix the gatorade. Two aid stations got it wrong on the run and it was super strong. and 2 - I like a pre-race banquet. The food isn’t always great but it brings everyone together. If you want to build a brand and a tradition this is where you do it.
