What makes a "great" triathlon?

Triathlon Forum
1

I am interested in your thoughts as to why you would go back to the same race year after year.

What is it that you look for?

As an RD myself, I try to make as many personal connections as possible. People want to be recognized and walk away with more than just a t-shirt and a race time. At the Aggieman Race this year, we had a volunteer who was an older gentleman who loved to talk but he couldnt really get around too well. It came to me that he could be our “concierge”. As people came into the registration tent, he hand greeted everyone of them and welcomed them to the race. He then fielded questions. It went over so well that this year at Pumpkinman we have four concierge.

So what do you look for?

2

I like a female RD better:-)

Safe course
cool local
good post race “schwag”
fun “other” things for the fam to stay occupied
comp entry:-)

Kurt
.

3

What is it that you look for?

The M-Dot

4

A place I like to visit and go back to.
If my friends will be there.
RD who cares about the participants (you sound like one; IM Brasil and Vineman rate very, very high here).
Good course (this will be different for everyone).
Timing (within the year and within my own race schedule).

To try a new (to me) race–location, distance of race if traveling (not sure I’d travel a thousand miles for an Oly or shorter), word of mouth from friends (which is how I got to IM NZ and IMB).

clm

5

My favorite race I have done so far is the Muskoka Long course Chase

It is a good distance 2km-55km-15km
The pro chase is cool to watch as the pros run back past you when MOPers are starting the run
The course is really challenging, interesting scenery, good time of year-spring

A great finish line helps! You run into a chute with a good crowd of people cheering you on, that makes it worth it for me

Andrew

6

How about food…I personally am sick and tired of the banana, orange, bagel, powerbar and water spread. This year we went with Chili, Chowder, Tortellini Salad, Whoopie Pies, Individual Pumpkin Pies and Apples. The challenging part is keeping Cousin Joe, Uncle Jim and their five kids from eating the athletes food.

7

A few things:

For the athletes,
(1) A correctly-measured, well marked, non-gimmicky course layout, that is a fair test
(2) A secured, sensible transition, with enough room
(3) Safe, controlled intersections on the bike
(4) Adequate aid stations
(5) I agree with the other posts re: a good finish line area
(6) Quickly-posted times. I once left a race to get home, then found out I made the podium in my AG that afternoon

Otherwise,
(1) Reasonable travel and traffic
(2) An “event” feel to it
(3) Well thought out spectator areas where the athletes pass multiple times

A really great tri - you know it when you see it

8

I can’t believe “course” isn’t number one on people’s lists.

9

Food, I can barely eat after a race, usually something salty and if available I love watermelon.

Muskoka had a good meal, lasagna, salad along with the usual post race stuff

Most of the races I have done watch the food really well and require your race number bib for entry into the tent

I’d be more interested in a technical shirt, maybe a long sleeve over a cotton shirt instead of better food, I usually want to hit the road after a race and get home for a beer or two!

Andrew

10

Lots of good suggestions so far.

I’ll throw in significant other and family-friendly. Always nice to have a place for the spouses who brought small children to have some place for them to play or run safely away from competitors, even if it’s just a stretch of beach a little bit apart from the swim exit.

Access to drinking water for spectators while their SO is racing.

A good parking situation.

11
  1. Timing in season (So I can perform at my best. This is my first check when choosing an A race)
  2. Easy access (Ideally close to home)
  3. Attractive venue for family (this will make it worth traveling to)
  4. Good competition (a sizable field but not too large depending on distance and course)
  5. Well run = good pre. race info, no organizational hickups, last minute course changes, parking chaos etc.
  6. Nice course = scenic, safe, no traffic, no congestion
  7. Spectator friendly course (2 loops on bike and run?)
  8. Good weather
  9. Friends racing
  10. An elite/pro field
12

For a Great/“A” race triathlon as oppossed to a great/fun triathlon my crieria is as follows:

  1. “Epic” nature–if its an A race it’s gotta’ be special. for me these days that means an IM race.

  2. Course–Safe and resonable. Balanced and fair test. Fits my racing strengths (which for me is wetsuit legal, longish and flat bike/wind is welcomed, shortish and flat run). IMFL fits the bill well as does Eagleman. (This is just me but I know that I’m not nearly as competitive on courses that don’t fit this profile and I want to be competitive in an A race). cool weather is a real plus.

  3. No drafting. I win or lose on the bike–this is critical to me. Eagleman kinda sucked this year and clearwater was a joke last year. I’ll never go back to clearwater because of the drafting.

  4. Adequate on course support and volunteers. Controlled intersections. Enough and well stocked aid stations. Clear course directions, etc.

  5. Good split data post race

  6. Nice awards/swag

13

All I need to enjoy a race is a good, fair course, and prompt results. Oh, and a place to shower after the race. Most of the other stuff, I can take or leave. Medals for a sprint tri are a joke, T-Shirts aren’t even all that necessary. I don’t race for the free mini-bottle of wetsuit shampoo or chamois cream. Otherwise, I’d prefer a low-cost, competitive race. I used to race road-races in Germany that cost 3 Euros - it didn’t include much, but that didn’t matter. The one thing every race included: showers at the end!

14

I think that my spouse and I may have meet you @ Timberman as well as the Y-tri… Anywho, besides comparing times year to year race organization is what brings me back. Do the volunteers and staff know whats going on and if they don’t can they get me the correct answer? I think that I would race any race put on some RDs/groups (Tri-ME, VT sun, endorfun, Ironman) because you know what you’re going to get for the most part. Pre printed (or web) guides with FAQs, schedules etc makes things easier. Access to the RD pre-race (email) for questions really helps. Swag bags are nice, but a good t-shirt is fine (technical, but then again how many can you wear?) hats are cool; a bag of clif bloks and chamios butter won’t draw me to a race, plus that butter stuff tastes nasty anyway. Our kids like the medals. Volunteers at the bike corners and police help at stop signs and traffic lights is awesome. Post race food is cool but it’s tough to make everyone happy; some will be interested and others will not.

Having a race where there is other cool stuff to do is great, we love to get into town a day or so early and chill out if we have to travel to a race.

The best thing is to be able to toe the line and not have any surprises; but as racers we need to do our research and ask questions. The ability to get the answers quickly is very important.

Just my .02

15

A short run course ;).

-Brian

16

Mr. Pink,
We did meet. Jill is your wife correct? If you are a Pman with her come say hi,I will be the one hiding from my RD wife.

17

What I look for in a course: Please measure all of it accurately and advertise the distance accurately–ie don’t say 1.5k-40k-10k when it is really 1mile-23.34mile-6.3mile.

Swim: Calm body of water if possible, large # of buoys, minimal turns, small waves/adequatetime between waves so the swim &bike course don’t get bunched up, no buoy colored swim caps!

Bike: No drafting or blocking–enforce it! Make all participants pass a test demonstrating that they know the rules before they can register. Scenic course with smooth roads that have been swept before the race. I prefer racing on closed courses, but if that is not possible, I like to see police or traffic marshalls at every intersection.

Run: Shade is always good. Those little yellow sponges would be nice to see at shorter races, so far I have only seen them at long ones. Scenery is good too. Going on a trail/staying away from traffic is prefered.

What I look for Postrace:
Food: Watermelon, fruitsalad, icecream, italian ice, soft pretzels, yogart, smoothies, dunkin donuts or krispy cremes, lemonade, subs, barbeque, anything different from the norm
Results: Posted quickly(within 30-45 mins of finish) and accurately
Awards: Good awards for top overall and AG–cash, comped entries for other races, gift cards, gear, if you have to give a trophy at least make it original and relate it to the theme of your race.

What I look for in general:
Website: Gives me all the information I need about the race
Race director: Is quick to answer questions via email and gives race updates and doesn’t seem like a total ass.
Race fee: Reasonable price for the race(ie–first year Olympic distance race in the middle of nowhere that has the roads open to traffic, gives out plastic trophies and has nothing really special about it shouldn’t charge $125)

I generally chose races based on positive recommendations from others and what fits into my schedule and usually what is close enough for me to drive to and hopefully what fits into some of my criteria above.

18

I’m a little biased, but a short swim and Whoopie Pies at the finish does it for me…See you at Pumpkinman!

19

For me, it’s all about the course. Interesting and challenging bike and run courses are about the only races I look at. The swim just has to be fresh, relatively clean, water.

20

Character. Three of my favorite races are Pacific Crest in Sunriver, OR, Whisky Dick in Ellensburg, WA, and the Black Hills in Olympia, WA. Because of the courses: they have a lot of character.

The Pac Crest (1/2 iron) has the nicest bike course you will find, a single loop that goes through truly awesome alpine territory. The run course is a single loop also, on paved bike paths through the Sunriver Resort. I will go back year after year. The only quirk is that it is a point-to-point, which makes it a little more of a production, but they do a great job with organizing it.

The Whisky Dick is an odd distance, 1 mile swim in the Columbia River (the nice part, clean) followed by a 26 mile bike course which includes a 12 mile climb, and an 8.8 mile run. The course sets the distance, not vice versa.

The Black Hills is another quirky race: 3/4 mile swim (because that is how far it is around the lake); 30 mile bike (because that is how far the loop is) and a 5 mile trail run (yes, that is how far the trail is).

I would much prefer an odd distance course that has character than an “official” distance course that is just an out and back. For those of you who have raced at Blue Lake in OR, you have experienced this mind-numbing boredom at its worst.

Some of the “small” things that aren’t so small: visible buoys (some races have white ones that are too hard to see); wave starts (which seems to be the norm); a transition area that is big enough and is organized-I like races that have the bike racks numbered so that you don’t have to show up at 4AM just to get a decent spot. Traffic control is good, seems to be a given but I raced a sprint one time that had absolutely none. Same with course markings. I showed up for a race one time and a bunch of people had the directions of the bike course written on their arms. Evidently, the course wasn’t marked the year before. One thing about distance: I love oddball distances, but if a race bills itself as some standard distance, then it should be close. I usually swim 27 mins for an oly; if I race an oly distance and my swim is 20 mins, something is wrong. Some nice touches: good food and beer at the end, showers (seldom within the RD’s control, though).

Souvenirs: I don’t need a medal for an oly distance; nor do I need a white cotton T-shirt. Socks are cool, the Apple Capitol in WA gives them out and I’ve put a lot of miles on them. Tech shirts are also quite welcome.

Of course, if you haven’t already deduced this, I am a grass-roots kind of guy, I would much prefer the smaller races to the big productions. I raced Wildflower once, and while it did have character, there was too much hype and too much attitude. I won’t be doing any m-dots either. If I ever want to do another full iron distance, I will opt for the Grand Columbian or Vineman.