Has it been posted somewhere?
The athletes seem to have it, but I have not seen it anywhere.
The athletes seem to have it, but I have not seen it anywhere.Roughly this: “T1 at Marina Green, 6 out-and-back laps, heading west past Crissy Field via Marina Boulevard. Climb to Lincoln Blvd, under the bridge approach, through Presidio to Camino del Mar / Sea Cliff.”
It’s six laps of the regular Alcatraz course but with a turnaround in Sea Cliff (where the road splits) instead of riding to Legion of Honor.
Mostly good pavement but a couple of hills.
Run is 3 laps from Marina Green to the Warming Hut and back, using the packed dirt trail on Crissy Field.
Course maps are now live: https://t100triathlon.com/san-francisco/pro/
.
Completely neutered a legendary run course that would actually fulfill their goal of looking good on TV. Typical.
Completely neutered a legendary run course that would actually fulfill their goal of looking good on TV. Typical.
Do you think instead of paying athletes really well they should pay for more road closures? No position on that from me. I can see both ways.
If they get the sponsors, they can always buy a better closure route next year or later. But it could be said, with the right visuals or race dynamics they can promote the sport to sponsors better.
Still, I’d have to rank quality of talent over course in terms of generating excitement to showcase to sponsors.
Ultimately, I’m not familiar with this course. Is it varied enough to create an interesting race or are we basically going to be watching people bike and run in a circle and wonder why the race was not that interesting?
If memory serves from doing the race, the climb up is on a path and then a section is on a beach, so minimal road closures
.
Yeah, there are some iconic sections they’ve cut out. And the run is almost all on trails, beach (no SAND LADDER!!!). I imagine getting coverage of the original course is difficult as most of the roads are fairly narrow and running motos and pros would be a nightmare.
It certainly isn’t EFA course, other than the swim…
Completely neutered a legendary run course that would actually fulfill their goal of looking good on TV. Typical.
Truth.
If memory serves from doing the race, the climb up is on a path and then a section is on a beach, so minimal road closures
There would be one road crossing to go up the first hill, but that’s it, unless they would have to close some of the road coming out of the sand ladder.
Ultimately, I’m not familiar with this course. Is it varied enough to create an interesting race
The run is totally flat. There may be wind. If there are windsurfers out, it will make for a nice background with the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin and Alcatraz (or looking back into SF if they shoot from the far end of the run turnaround). But flat as a pancake.
If memory serves from doing the race, the climb up is on a path and then a section is on a beach, so minimal road closures
No road closures anywhere on the run course except for the short piece of road just before the first set of stairs. That section of road gets little or no traffic anyway. You would, however, have to block off the trail to tourists…that might be the issue. That three mile loop around Chrissy Field and Marina Green is pretty dull.
That run course is so iconic…I would have hoped they would have done at least one loop of the Escape course and maybe added an extra Chrissy Field loop.
Completely neutered a legendary run course that would actually fulfill their goal of looking good on TV. Typical., I’m not familiar with this course. Is it varied enough to create an interesting race or are we basically going to be watching people bike and run in a circle and wonder why the race was not that interesting?Commenting generally.
If the PTO feel they have to stick to 2/80/18, which they do, then the run just cannot reach that far out to include Baker Beach and the sand ladder, really.
I sketched some possibilities on another thread two months ago for that: it’d need to be one longer lap (?12km standard EfA) and then a short lap along to under the bridge and back.That would’ve allowed some iconic sections and backdrops to feature on the coverage but make the run more difficult to cover.
The women will be starting their run at exactly the same time as the men finish (3 laps of 6km): I hope we don’t miss the action in (W) T2 because the producers rightly spend time on the fight for the win (M).
The bike loop will be a tester but also reasonable to achieve good coverage from. Remember the women are starting 40 minutes after the men so there’s going to be an hour’s overlap where coverage is needed from the bike course from both races. The 40 minute gap allows all the men, even the back markers who take Longer, to stumble up the beach and out on their bikes before the screens flick to the woman making a (ferry) leap of faith.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/46488900 If they don’t use the excursion I show, the loop is only 12.5km and 6 laps will be 75km.
Getting road closures on a Saturdy morning will have been an issue and keeping it to a 6+km stretch has been doable. More: too much of a challenge. And that far end of the EFA course is picturesque rather than iconic: the run is the bigger loss.
The climbing and descent on the bike will be televisually excellent, featuring loads of those lovely flashing red lights! This swim/bike promises to be the best pairing of any T100 race this year, imho. And the swim will be harder and effectively longer than any other: advantage fish (but LCB not there).
6am men start
6:27-6:31 Chrissy Beach
6:31-6:36 M exit T1
6:40 Women start
6:48 M complete Lap 1
7:06 M complete Lap 2
7:09-7:15 W Chrissy Beach
7:13-7:20 W exit T1
About 7:45 lead man overtakes last woman
8:18 First man into T2
9:13 First woman into T2
9:18 First man finish
10:20 First woman finish
I’m sure the last minute nature of adding the T100 limited their planning/route options somewhat. That being said, PTO has always been about focusing on the athletes, with the course being the third priority (carbon paper is #2 ). At EFA the course has always been the feature, but not for T100; so including iconic parts like the sand ladder was probably never a significant consideration.
At EFA the course has always been the feature, but not for T100; so including iconic parts like the sand ladder was probably never a significant consideration.
.
Agreed. I am surprised that anyone thought the original Escape course was going to be used.
The course is iconic enough, more so than 90% of what we are usually apt to see. You know what makes it really iconic, and actual race between peers that are on the same level. Watching someone go up the sand ladder all alone with no one in sight is not interesting. Watching 3 or 4 guys all running within 30 seconds of each other anywhere, well that is exciting stuff. It will be fun to see how the swim shakes out in this race, usually several different line taken by some of the lead swimmers, and then who the hell to follow when you are a back marker…
Course maps are now live: https://t100triathlon.com/san-francisco/pro/
Any idea what the total climbing will be for the bike?
Recalling what that area looks like, I believe flat as a pancake for the first half and then some climbing on the back half.
It should be a great race with the addition of the professional superstars.
A bit off topic but when I raced Alcatraz in the 90s the swim was the a piece of cake compared to the run. The run was what made that race.
Dave Horning who started Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon didn’t like biking thus the bike course was very short. He must have had a high ranking relative because he could put on his cheap Envirosports trail races where no one else could.
I think I have it at around 600ft per lap so 3,600ft overall. I may do a lap today to remind myself.
It’s about 1.5 miles of flat along Crissy Field, then 0.8 mile climb then slightly technical descent to Baker Beach. Flat for half a mile and then a short climb to the turnaround.
The run is completely flat, unless you count a step up to the curb. It’s a shame there’s no sand ladder but the run will be incredibly scenic with views along the water of Alcatraz and GGB.
I think I have it at around 600ft per lap so 3,600ft overall. I may do a lap today to remind myself.
It’s about 1.5 miles of flat along Crissy Field, then 0.8 mile climb then slightly technical descent to Baker Beach. Flat for half a mile and then a short climb to the turnaround.
The run is completely flat, unless you count a step up to the curb. It’s a shame there’s no sand ladder but the run will be incredibly scenic with views along the water of Alcatraz and GGB.
Thanks! That’s enough to make things interesting!