Yeah, IMAC 70.3 was always right around this time in September and I’m pretty sure it was wetsuit every year…
Every year I did it, for sure, which was like 4 or 5 times if you count the Challenge Atlantic City
Does anybody have recommendations for post race activities? What can we see/do along the boardwalk and beach area?
Besides the casinos 🤣?
My hometown is not a culture-rich environment. The very short list is Lucy the Elephant, a 5 story tall Victorian structure in Margate, Marven Gardens like in Monopoly near Fredericksburg and Ventnor Aves in Margate, world class birdwatching at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Absecon, and Batsto Village in Wharton State Park, where the cannonballs for the revolutionary war were made. Ocean City Boardwalk is nicer for families than the AC Boardwalk but lots of stuff may be closed since the season is over.
Or do what we did for most of my youth, drive the hour to Philadelphia.
Besides the casinos 🤣?
My hometown is not a culture-rich environment. The very short list is Lucy the Elephant, a 5 story tall Victorian structure in Margate, Marven Gardens like in Monopoly near Fredericksburg and Ventnor Aves in Margate, world class birdwatching at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Absecon, and Batsto Village in Wharton State Park, where the cannonballs for the revolutionary war were made. Ocean City Boardwalk is nicer for families than the AC Boardwalk but lots of stuff may be closed since the season is over.
Or do what we did for most of my youth, drive the hour to Philadelphia.
Any recommendations for a good pre race shake out ride/run? I’m staying in Ocean City but looking for somewhere to get a ride/run in Thursday/Friday. Figured the boardwalk would be a simple place to do the run but anywhere to do a 45-60 minute ride?
Head across the 9th St bridge (rt 52) and then take the Somers Point Mays Landing Road towards Mays Landing. Mays Landing is about 17 miles. Or drive to Mays Landing and park at the shopping center next to the McDonalds and ride my TT loop: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35700192 Super quiet route.
I noticed while walking the boards in Ocean City back in the Spring - when there was no traffic to speak of - and I realized that if you read all the plaques & dedications on the benches, it’s kinda like strolling through a cemetery - which is fine with me 
My first time doing USAT Nats–
Wondering what everyone does to kill time before their wave goes off? It seems I have 2 hours --do many just hang out…go back to their car…go back to the hotel if it’s close by?
What do you guys have planned?
Yeh, unfortunately you will just need to hang out. Probably the car will be best as this venue is an old airstrip with no trees for shade and no decent places to sit and hang out. Previous venues in Milwaukee, Cleveland, Omaha, were held in large parks with much better accomodations for participants and spectators. But parking is convenient and no long walks required. Except for spectators to get to the finish line on the boardwalk about a 20-25 minute walk from transition.
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What is the bike course like?
Fast, flat and smooth. Held on the AC Expressway.
Here are a few videos of Tri AC, lots of drone shots showing the race course. (sorry for the music)
The swim course is in a tidal section of the back bay that flushes out with the tides. High is at 4:40 a Sat / 5:36 a Sun so the tide will be a bit of a factor for the Oly, less so Sprint. It’s been cool this week and the ocean hasn’t really been that warm this year. I anticipate it being wetsuit legal.
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As of 9/5 its under the cutoff for wetsuit legal
WATER TEMPERATURE AS OF 9/5/2024 : 73 F
Congrats to everyone that raced today!
For those of us that ended up in the 19 to 30 range in the Team USA ranking in our age group, do we just wait for an email about the rolldown? Anyone have experience with how long that usually takes? Looking at worlds results from the past few years it seems like there are never more than about a dozen US competitors in any age group, so is it safe to assume they’ll all eventually roll down to 30th place?
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Screaming Tortise Athletic Club Race Report guidelines state “One days Grace for each mile Raced”
So y’all have about a week to submit
Please give us a little more flavor than just your splits, OK?
Where did you come from to find yourself in AC? How did you spend your pre- and post-race time? How did you find the course? Any mishaps, or general oddness?
Shit like that 
Bonus points for best sketchy Atlantic City story!
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Yes it’s a safe bet but when is a tough one to forecast as it’s whatever timeline USAT decides to give people a chance to claim their slot and then start the rolldowns.
So if you plan to accept… know that I think you’ll have to update to the higher USAT membership for TeamUSA, buy a kit, pay the team admin fee, register for the race and a few other things I’m probably missing out on. Point there is bugdet around $1.5K to get the honor to race for TeamUSA on top of the normal travel related costs.
I checked my TeamUSA box off several times so I’m somewhat out of that loop right now to be honest. But yes, I’ve never seen the slots fill, ever… closest was Chicago but even that didn’t fill.
I came to find myself in AC five and a half months before the race started, haha. I moved to South Jersey at the beginning of April for a work opportunity with USAT while maintaining my own team of athletes. AC is trying, in their own tiny little way, to put themselves back on the map for endurance events. IMAC 70.3 has been taken off the table, but the same company that ran that race also shadow-directed USAT nationals here this past weekend. My takeaway on all of that is this: They tried to pull off an IMAC-caliber event with the local AC Tri budget.
I spent my pre-race time hosting and welcoming athletes from my own team as well as Team Zoot (I’m a state rep for the Mid-Atlantic region), and also giving lots of hugs. When you’ve been in the sport for long enough and have been coaching long enough and want to be involved enough, the National Championship turns into a bit of a homecoming. I knew the person who handed me my packet. I knew the person who handed me my coaching credentials for the weekend. I had coffee with the Team Zoot manager, and the Rudy Project rep. I did a shakeout with my team with Mike from Rudy, where he asked me “you’re from here? WHY? it’s so shitty here!” and that pretty much set the tone for the racing.
Saturday was my race day. I had an awful swim after the fog delay. I got dunked a couple of times and pretty much forgot how to swim after that, haha. It doesn’t help matters that in this area, there are almost zero opportunities to swim. My pool has been closed for months for repairs. I couldn’t get a private pool pass in my neighborhood because I’m not yet a “resident in good standing” (seriously though, HOAs can kindly fuck allll the way off). I digress. Swim, survived.
Once I went through the Crocodile Mile sprayers into T1, it was off and hauling on the bike. They had recently repaved the ACE and surrounding roads for the race, which were lovely. The wind back into AC was not. I felt like a discarded Rita’s cup blowing in the breeze on the beach heading back into T2, but I managed to stay upright- unlike my friend at the sprint on Sunday.
The run was by far the most surreal thing I’ve ever experienced. I have your typical race dreams, like running through a parking lot for the course, randos cheering me on while doing odd things around me, and having the course just never cease to turn in front of me. Well, EVERY ONE OF THOSE HAPPENED on Saturday. I ran across the airfield near parked cars, I dodged errant wanderers and gawkers on the Boardwalk as I got a contact high, and I shed a few tears of rage in the broiling sun as the headwind held me in place for what seemed like an eternity towards the literal end of the Boardwalk before the U-turn. I have attended a half dozen national championships and I have never ever seen so many people WALKING the run. Not even in Omaha when the heat index was 105.
The silver lining of the day was being called home on the blue carpet by some USAT legends. I know the finish line announcer well, and Olympic Medalist Katie Zaferes gave out medals. That was pretty damn awesome.
From the insider/outside perspective, AC could have done a WAY better job advertising and supporting the race and racers. I took my team to a fantastic local Italian place for dinner on Saturday and we were welcomed like heroes (the owner had prepped for us to be there for a week). But no one aside from the staff knew that the event was taking place. Maybe they could have also slapped half a coat of paint on the decrepit casinos of yore. Maybe they could have told the locals to take it down a few notches. Every one who stayed in AC proper whose data I got my hands on showed high levels of stress through the whole weekend, something I hadn’t seen at this level at prior championships. And I think this experience left a bad taste in too many people’s mouths (even after rinsing it out well with the bay water).
I think people that raced Sunday had a much better experience than in the Oly on Saturday. But maybe that’s because it was half the distance, haha. Better weather on the run, better energy overall, and definitely better post-race views at a restaurant up near me with the team
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I might know where that is, but can’t confirm - Jersey marshes all kinda look the same, although SOUTH Jersey’s are prettier
Excellent report @Dr_Cupcake
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I think you have a very good chance to get a roll down spot. I came in 25th last year and got a roll down spot. It took a little less than 3 months to get the email with the roll down slot.