I was looking forward doing this event after finally getting well enough to train begin regular training on March 18 from my serious rib injury after being
rammed from by another cyclist 2 wks out from IMF last Oct. I was looking for a pick up and challenge to get me going. The WTT had appealed to me last
year and I figured it would especially be a challenge. Living in the NW the road course looked similar to a typical day of climbing on Mt St Helens or the
Columbia Gorge. To me the course descriptions looked more like what I’d consider a real triathlon to be. I was thrilled to be able to do it just kept smiling on
the run thinking I’m on the Western States run trail completely surrounded by some really beautiful scenery all a day. My goal was to give my self
permission to just finish by not looking at my Polar 710 during the race but rather feet pleased by by effort rather than really race and work on staying
seated during all the bike climbs (I did) and my cadence over 70 (not quite). I though I might be under 7 hours since do something like Pacific Crest Half in ~
5:30 or so. But I am competitive by nature having done triathlons for nearly 20 yrs with pretty consistant top age group finishes. I loved the course and would
love to do it again racing.
Coming down from the high I experienced race day there were some definite race deficiencies very noticable us women competitors over 45 I realized during
my 9+ hr drive home which my husband a non-triathlete questioned for the $200 entry. The entry information made the race amenties a cut above which
made it seem worth the travel cost and effort.
Cool Cat moisture management DriRelease long-sleeve performance T-shirt - the world’s best race T-shirt! (retail $35)
Big-mouth 24-ounce event Water Bottle
$10 Gift Certificate to Sports Basement.com
1.5lb container of Cytomax Energy Drink (retail $21.50)
Commemorative Finishers Award
Lavish 5-deep Age Group Awards
HUGE Raffle for watches, shoes, clothes, nutrition - 1/2 field guaranteed to win something!Cool Cat DriRelease high performance logoed garments, Sports
Basement.com gift certificates
Registration bag with great sponsor Goodies
Delicious Pasta Meal and Cytomax Recovery smoothies at finish line!
Everyone involved with this event will do whatever it takes to ensure a fantastic experience for you on April 17th
The participant schwag is perhaps unmatched by any other triathlon in the world - over $90 retail of goodies just for signing up!
"Awards for top finishers will be lavish as will the post-event raffle of a sponsor goodies like triathlon accessories and training gear, Cool Cat DriRelease
performance apparel, watches, shoes, healthy nutrition products and snacks, gift certificates and more. Over half the field (excluding age group top-5
finishers) is guaranteed to win a prize at the post-event raffle!" Checking in it after 6pm was “we only have size large or x-large shirts” and a few cans of
Cytomax left in grape or pink Lemonaide. That gets really old for women. Most of us take medium or small shirts. Who cares how expensive it is if its just
another night shirt if that. I was looking forward to it thinking it I’d wear it since it was the World’s Toughest Triathlon. Surely they could have kept aside the
shirts we indicated on the entry. The only other item besides printed race material in the race bag I received was the water bottle. No gift certificate or
goodies.
"the road will be closed to car traffic beginning one hour before the event, or when all spots are filled. " No so! I had a car cutting a corner coming up the hill
going was too fast at 8am and nearly knock me off the wet road and over the edge when I was already all the way to the right outside of the road. I also has
a car come up just behind and stay there for the entire climb out of the lake after the swim while I passing others.
"Bike Tech Support: We will also have two roving mechanics to assist you with technical support on the bike. That’s right, if your bike breaks you can get
some help and complete the race and still be eligible for awards and food." I had a flat on the downhill about 3 miles from the turn around and just happened
to be leading my age group. Watching the others come up from the turnaround it was clear I wasn’t too far off the midpack of riders. I knew from the final e-
mail received that there would be support. Nothing every came by. I had to walk a bit just to get to a place off the road wide enough to change it & then had
some problems getting it to full pressure. I managed to get to the turn around where they had a regular pump. But according to my bike computer vs my
Polar split I lost about 20 minutes.
Heading out on the run after the bike flat I didn’t have that many racers around me to know where to go. A couple of guys passed me and I saw a few others
coming back from the 3 mile point as I was heading out. Coming back I missed the trail & headed UP a side trail by mistake for a least a quarter mile before
turning around to trace the whole way back. Another 8 minutes or so lost. After I started on the 2nd loop I saw NOONE for about 30 minutes. There was a
long stretch where I wasn’t sure which way to go and another place where the orange tape on the trees suggested 2 different ways to go. I came to one
place where they had orage tape next to a seep drop wondering if that was part of the course after all we had already done done steep descents. Finally I
came to mile 9 aid station where I finally saw other several racers and even passed a few on the steep down and up. But coming back by the same aid
station all the volunteers had left so I just kept going up. Then just before mile 11 passed an older man who had taken a wrong way. So I’d have to say some
of the marking were lacking.
The real dissappoinmtent though waited at the finish. The awards were underway and I learned later most of the raffles over with. I had clearly finished under
the cuttoff. The women starting 10 minutes behind the others didn’t help. Turns out I was ~ 20 min back from my age group winner and passed by the 2nd
place finisher at mile 10. So I grabbed what scraps were left of the “pasta meal” and no smoothies to wait for the rest of the awards with no time to catch
the shuttle to my car. Though I never did see one. They stopped handing out women’s awards with the 40-44. Then came the Clydedales and all the relays
and then the said it was over, see you next year. The weather was detoreating rapidly. Several of us women started looking at each other and asking are
you over 45? So we had to go to the timing tent ourselves and ask for the results and then try to get our lavish awards. After standing around trying to get
the announcer and direrctor’s attention we we told to look through the box of wadded up mixture of different color shirts over there to see if we couldn’t find a
shirt that might fit. Again it was mostly large and x-large. I think we found 2 mediums. Hardly lavish. We were given can of GU drink mix try to soften things
but it was a dissappointment. It was tough day with the early morning rain, cold weather (47 degrees), 56 degree swim, 5900 climbing on the bike and 1000
gain on the run. I felt I worked hard and was proud of myself and one of the few times I would have really liked to be recognized for the effort.
“Shuttles will take you from Overlook finish line to the top of Clementine Rd. after the event until 6pm” I waited a very long time after the awards ended and
the issue of getting mine for the shuttle. A couple of us women kept asking about it. The wind was blowing, the rain down and we are still in a minimal race
clothing with the bikes and T2 gear getting soaked. It never came. I finally managed to find a nice volunteer willing to take me the 6 miles back to my car. I
would have really gotten hypothermic if I hadn’t. It was the only one still there. When I got back to pick up my bike at 5:15pm it was pouring and they were
taking the bikes & laying them on the grass to take down the racks. I grabbed all my stuff and through it in the car and immediately started driving to
Mountainview, CA 150 miles away to meet my husband in my race clothes with warmup on over it. I read later a tornado had touched down somewhere in
the area.
Doing it again I would be totally prepared for no support realizing the race is geared to the 30 and under crowd. I’ve never had that thought before which
disturbs me and never felt “old and disregarded” before. I’m still working on getting faster than I have been and finishing at least under the 50% of overall.
