Grand Haven (MI) Festival of Races today featured some notable Lake Michigan waves:
here i am going in to check them out
venturing in a bit farther
one of the men’s OLY waves
pretty sure this is women’s 1/2 wave
all swim courses were shortened significantly due to the wave action and i couldn’t agree more with that decision. we might have lost someone with standard distances. otherwise beautiful day for racing and a huge turnout.
You beat me to it!!! I’ll have my pictures (very similar, strange coincidence) ready to upload later this week.
What a blast! I think the swim may have been the best part. I’d have done the whole 1.2 if we had the option.
What a good race. I heard there were a lot of people complaining about having to run through the sand on the Mulligan’s Hollow trail. Wwwaaaaahhhh!!!
Oh, BTW, I finished 2nd in my AG for the half. 8)
Looks like the swim was quite an adventure, to say the least.
Did you do the 1/2 or Olympic distance?
I live about 2 miles from the 1/2IM turnaround point in Holland. I rode down there and was amazed at the total negligence as it relates to athlete’s safety.
On the N/S ride on 160th, to and from the turnaround, there were far too many 2 way stops and not enough Sheriff’s controlling traffic. East/West roads on the North side of Holland are notorious for accidents. People blow through stop signs all the time, yet 3D felt placing young teenagers with red flags at the corners for traffic control.
At 9:30, the church on the corner of 160th and Lakewood was filling up for the 9:45 service. Traffic was backed up in all directions with one Sheriff on the corner and one teenager w/a flag. The Deputy told me that if he had received a call, he would actually be obligated to leave. That would have meant ONLY a teenager with a flag at that corner to control traffic flow. On top of that, he had no idea it was and out-and-back. How is it he didn’t know that?
3D obviously did NOT do their homework prior plotting out the bike course.
i did the OLY…managed an AG 4th
as for the rest…i talked with a number of athletes who did the 1/2 and none raised the issues you seem to have gone out of your way to attempt discovery.
most law enforcement officers are obligated to abandon an event checkpoint in the case of a nearby critical emergency. old news my friend. open courses are just that and it is up to us to mind our own safety first. i appreciate course monitors and badges out there…but i remain my own first line of defense.
Congrats on the 4th place finish!
My basic point, which I can see now I didn’t articulate very well, is there are MUCH BETTER course options available on the North side of Holland that could have minimized or eliminated all the two-way stop intersections. On that stretch, riders alternated between 2 and 4 way intersections. I know watching out for number one is paramount, but one small lapse in concentration could have been fatal on that layout.
Anyone on this forum do the 1/2IM? Am I over-reacting?
LaceDog
I was there! So nice to break 2 hours for the olympic (even though the swim was 1400 meters short!). Wow, those waves were awesome - would have been fun to just play in all day, but pretty tough for swimming. I spoke with a local who said she swims the course every day. She said that they regularly swim on “yellow flag” days, but that Sunday was a “double red”. An absolutely beautiful area and a great place for spending a weekend with the family. Jim, thanks for the pictures.
Great shots Jim!
Personally, I know I could have done the entire 1.2, and I think the “Elite” wave (all 5 of us) should have gone farther than we did, but those are the breaks. I thought the sand and hills during the last mile of trail were harder than the swim.
I thought the race went really well. There were a ton of volunteers on both the bike and run. Heck, there were even enough life guards to do the whole swim. 
I was fortunate to have the lead motorcycle cop leading me through the bike. He did an excellent job of checking the intersections. He would also drop back behind me, to wave though cars that came up from behind. There was very little traffic for the most part, and there was a healthy shoulder on Lakeshore.
I know Trianthes and some other locals helped scout out the bike and run courses. If you have ideas for either, get in touch with 3D or Trianthes, and let them know.
just talked with Glen Kellam who was 6th overall in the regular division. he had the exact same comment about that final mile or so on the run.
If those were ocean waves i’d say no big deal, but lake waves can be very irregular and punishing. Lake Champlain in VT still ranks among some of the worst waves I’ve raced in.
I did the Olympic too. I loved the swim. I’m glad that they decided to let us jump in the waves for a few minutes. I thought the race was really well organized, and they had a TON of volunteers. The run course could have been a bit confusing, but with all the volunteers, you couldn’t go wrong. Plus, the water at the aid stations and the finish was ice cold. At the finish they had towels soaked in ice water, and drinks with ice in them. It seems like every other race I’ve done it’s always warm. That was terrific. I’m definately coming back next year. Maybe I’ll even attempt the 1/2 IM…
BTW, Nice pictures. Thanks for posting them.
they didn’t seem like that big a deal from shore…but i’m here to tell ya i got moved around pretty good. we got hit by a couple right when we hit the first buoy that i swear lifted me higher than the stationary white buoy and those are supposedly 6 feet higher than the normal surface. i took in a cup or two at that point. and yes they did seem to come from different angles at times. we had some like this at the old Shu’s race down the lake near St. Joe about 10-11 years ago.
when the rythym is predictable it can be quite a lot of fun going over 5-6 footers… i’ve never been in lake MI but would imagine they can be darn rough and random.
With the Police escort, you were definitely in good hands. I noticed him stopping at each intersection and I thought that was very cool.
I ride those roads every week and usually don’t start heading North or South until I’m on Lakeshore. Just too many intersections to deal with otherwise. Drivers in this area have a very low tolerance and sight line for cyclists. We have a ton of pedestrian paths we often get yelled at for not using.
There was one fender-bender at Riley and 160th and I witnessed one near-miss at Lakewood because of a misinterpreted hand gesture. Fortunately, the rider was paying attention.
It’s tough to beat that ride on Lakeshore…Lots of shoulder and very smooth.
I competed in the OLY. It was the right call for the swim, even though I was looking forward to the challenge of Lake Mi, just not THAT big of a challenge!
The closer I got to the second bouy I was getting the waves coming in as well as off of the pier which was making it VERY difficult to get any type of swim rythem out there. There were many who never went around the second bouy which thought was quite unfair, but not my call I guess.
Over all 8th in my division, so not too bad, but could of been helped by not drinking too much before hand and having to use the facilities at T1 :o) Probably would of been able to knock off 2 places if it weren’t for that.
All in all a good event. They did start taking everything down a bit early though. The HIM’s really got the shaft as far as that is concerned. They weren’t even done and they had most of T1 down and the food was gone when I went for my bike!! I guess funding for the security of the transition zone ran out at 12:30 PM as well as the funding for the food! They brought in some Little Ceasars but that went QUICK!
Nice shots Jim. We have to meet one of these times.
You might consider renaming this post to include the name of the race. There might be some more feedback about the race which I am always interested to hear.
I am sorry you did not like the HIM bike course. I was helpful in getting 3D to use the venue. However, the bike course has always been developed by 3D. And, although I live in GH and bike Lakeshore all the time, I do not go south that often as Holland is too congested. However, I will work on an alternative route myself for next year and present it to 3D. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Or if you would like to help for next year’s race please let me know.
Also, did we speak in transition before the race? I was the ignorant one you were talking to about where Lakeshore splits off . . .
It’s tough to cram 13.1 into basically downtown GH. And I have some ideas for next year, but all of them involve a much tougher run course. Have you ever been to the top of 5 mile Hill, the back way?
Trianthes,
I was not a participant this year, only a spectator. I live on Holland’s North side, so I rode down to the bike course after my morning cup of coffee to offer cheer on my fellow Triathletes.
I would like very much to come up with an alternative for next year’s event. Shoot me an email at thetridog@yahoo.com to set something up.
Waves? Those are called ankle snappers, those aren’t no stinkin’ waves