Kure Beach Double Sprint

I'd love to but the timing doesn't work for me this year. It sounds like a lot of fun. Ending on a swim sounds interesting. I have a tough time swimming immediately after a run so that would be interesting.

I love the swim at the end. I had people pass me on the run back from the bike and when I ran to the swim ,down the beach there where alot of people getting in slowly. I passed about 30 on the swim and  some I just saw take off there chip strap and  walk back to the finish. Its  was hot  so  pace yourself so u can finish the swim

I love this race, but be smart. The bike ride is flat and fast. It is probably the only race I've ever done where the bike and run are flat but the swim is hilly.

Not to scare folks, but one year I did it the surf was so strong that the turn buoys were ripped from their mooring. They ended up sending lifeguards out to hold their orange floaties as turn buoys. Mrs. Fatmouse took several photos of the second swim where a dozen guys were just standing there staring at the waves. We all made it fine and I'm glad I did the race.

Get some friends together and practice swimming past the breakers. I grew up in Kansas so I didn't have much practice. My first ocean swim was this race and I was nervous.

Have fun!

Yes, that was the year I attempted this race. 2006. My only DNF. knock knock. Those waves were terrifying. That was an unusual year, because a tropical storm had gone thru the day before and was still churning up the ocean with 8 foot swells. Washington DC was getting hit hard and flooding the day of the race.

I remember fighting to get past the breakers for six full minutes. I was thinking of diving real deep to take advantage of the undertow. Then I thought, what if I couldn't get out of it? I also remember thinking that even if I get thru this swim, I'd have to do another at the end of the race when I was really tired. That didn't seem like a good idea.

At one point, I looked around and had no idea which way was toward shore, and I could not even see the pier over the waves. And I had made zero progress in six minutes! That's when I decided to call it quits, so as soon as I got a glimpse of the shore, I headed back in. Mr. Fatmouse, my hat is off to you for successfully doing THAT race!

I keep saying one day I will go back and conquer Kure beach.


Edited by keyone 2010-06-01 7:27 PM

Y'all make it sound so exciting! Maybe next year we'll do a little beach vacation around this race. I'm a painfully slow swimmer, but I enjoy a good beating in the surf. I body surf down there when it is really just catching a wave and getting slammed into the beach.

Oh wow... love the experiences ya'll shared!  My BF has a fear of being pulled out to sea by rip tides; I'm sure those conditions would have done him in too.  I'll go back and check the 2006 race results; sounds interesting.

Seems I need to have really good mental effort/preparation for this one.  I let myself get psyched out a few days before the White Lake II Half that had record breaking heat.  But after three days of worry, I finally gave in and embraced mother nature on race day.   I actually handled the heat incredibly well while others were dropping out left and right.

I'm not a strong or fast swimmer, but I'm good at remaining calm.  I'm pretty sure I should not go into that second swim winded, so I'm going to have to accept slowing down before that segment.

This sounds like it is going to be a very interesting experience!

I'll get back out there one more time before the race to practice dolphin dives and do a farther swim than I did last time.

Thanks for the tips/warnings!

Edited by maria40nc 2010-06-02 7:45 AM

This is a really fun race.  Any race I can walk/jog/bike to from my house, is a good race.  Don't get intimidated by the swim.  Yes we have had some rough surf in past races, but it's usually not that bad.  To put it in perspective, last year the overall race winner was a 15 year kid.  So it can't be that tough...right?  

It really is a great race because the entire bike course is closed to traffic and the run takes place through a residential neighborhood with essentially zero traffic.  The people who live in the neighborhood usually set up sprinklers on the road to help cool you down too.  This is my home so I'm going to be biased, but it really is one of the nicest sprint distance races I have ever done.  The town is completly supportive of the race and it shows.  I look forward to the race this year.  It's the only sprint race I'm doing this year.  I can't wait to see how easy it feels since all my off season training was geared towards Charleston HIM and B2B IM this year.  I'm throwing in a few international distance races just for fun too.        

I did Kure last year and the waves weren't bad at all.  In fact for the 1st swim it was very calm and the 2nd swim wasn't bad...maybe 3 foot waves....but after 1 swim, 2 run legs, the bike leg, and then running through 100 yards of thick beach sand, by the time you reach the 2nd swim you are exhausted so even 3 foot waves seem challenging.

It's a really fun race and gets lots of local support.  It seems like a lot of racers turn it into a long beach weekend or even a whole week's vacation.

I'm in for Kure 2010.  First race of the season, started back running a week ago.  6 months post knee surgery.  Don't think my run will be too speedy at Kure!

I'm in too, Ginger My swim won't be speedy since I have hardly done any swim training yet this season. Still, I'm looking forward to facing my fear of sharks and the ocean once again.

Where's everyone staying?

Seems the hotels around the race site all require a 2 or 3 night stay.

Why not stay in Wilmington downtown or where and just drive down. I did a practice ride and swim with a buddy  sunday so he could get use to the course and it only took me 25 min from house on off college rd to get there. There is Plenty of parking.

Hey Maria, have you looked at Ft. Fisher? A friend of mine is camping out there for $10. They also have cottages that are pretty reasonably priced.
I'm staying at Atlantic Towers with another bunch of friends. It is a two night minimum but they're going down friday while I work another saturday

I'm staying here...got a double non smoking room for $79 plus all those fees makes it $89

For further information about Ameri-Stay Inn & Suites Wilmington, be sure to visit our web site at http://www.ameristay.net.
Property Address:
Ameri-Stay Inn & Suites Wilmington
5600 Carolina Beach Rd.
Wilmington, NC
United States 28412
Tel: 910-796-0770 Fax: 910-796-0750

Jason - Atlantic Towers is nice; I've stayed there once before.

I actually booked the same place a Carol yesterday, so we'll be neighbors!

I haven't trained very well for my last couple of races.  It's just hard to switch from distance to sprint.  I tried running short and hard this morning and was pretty out of breath.  All I could think about was having to run back out through those breakers and swim a second time in the ocean while out of breath from a sprint run.  I think I'm going to have to make sure my breathing is normal before I go out that second time.

Also, Pete and I went to Carolina Beach over the weekend to practice dolphin dives and ocean swimming.  Afterwards I was floating around on my body board pretty far out from shore (kickboard training) when I saw a GIGANTIC Jellyfish!  It tried to chase after me and sting me but unfortunely for it, it could only go where the current took it and I was able to make a getaway (speed drill).

But had I been swimming rather than floating on a body board, I could have swam right into it.  Made me wonder how big of an issue jellyfish may be in a race, esp. since I'm also doing the Pier to Pier 2 miles swim out there this fall.

So.... I plan to have a squirt bottle of vinegar in my transition area just in case.  If you get stung by a jellyfish, vinegar is supposed to neutralize it.

Anyone ever have a run in with a jellyfish?

HEy should we have a BT dinner or something. I am not doing the event( did the event last year) but I will be there to suport a friend.

Thanks for freaking me out, Maria!

The jellys are turtle food.  The locals here tell me that when you start to see jellys on the beach expect the turtles to follow to nest!

Could someone who has done this race give more detail on the swim to run transition and the run to swim transition?  Are we required to put our running shoes back before the 2nd swim?

I want to do this race, but one reason I haven't is because I took an ocean kayak out past the breakers at Kure and we found a sea of jellyfish. Everytime I took a paddle stroke I hit at least 3. It was like that scene in Finding Nemo where they were all around and stacked throughout. We were seriously stressed out and wanted to head into shore, but our experience with riding breakers in on the north end of Carolina Beach had involved a lot of falling earlier and falling was not a good option. We eventually did turn in and made it to shore. I'm not sure why they were clustered just past the breakers and not being washed in. I assume they are not there all the time. Certainly if they ever held that race in conditions like I saw, we would have heard about it.

I have been stung by jelly fish a few times, but they were the small ones. It stung for a while, not quite as bad as a horsefly bite, but longer lasting. If I was in a race and got a little sting I would keep going unless I saw more in front of me. I can handle getting stung, but I couldn't just swim into more stings.

Phase 1 : Swim then  run to the beach to a tight T1-A and grab shoes and run to the road (kiddy pool to wash feet) put shoes on run to T1-B for bike.

Phase 2: Bike  2 loops and return to T1-B and put on running shoes and run to T1-A on the beach. Drop shoes and grab swim cap and googles and run down the beach to Swim Start again and GO Go Go. Make left turn at Bouy  and head straight to the beach to finish.

Hope this helps

The swim to run transition areas are just small numbered 2 feet by 2 feet areas in the sand. You leave your goggles there and I suggest you grab your shoes and run up to the pavement where there will be little pools of water set out to rinse your feet off before putting on your shoes.

When you come back from the second run, run back to your designated area, take your shoes off, grab your goggles, run about 100 yards down the beach and do the swim course over again.

I did this race last year and over the past 10 years have spent several weeks at Kure and have never been stung by a jelly so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

That's interesting.  We sure did see a Sea Turtle not long before seeing the Jellyfish.  I actually thought the object was another turtle until I got a better look!!!

Here is a brief Kure Beach Sprint YouTube video.  It gives a little idea of what to expect and shows the transition area.

Thank you all for the feedback on the transitions!!  See you on race day!!

Ginger