Eleven - Lake Oconee

Do you remember what the swim conditions were like and what the distance from buoy to buoy was?  The swim is setup as a 750 m swim so Olympic does it 2x.  

Thanks.  

What? Other than the comedy of errors involving the bike racks and what I'm convinced is the hilliest run course? No issues....

The bike rack issues were near disastrous.  I didn't hear of any bike getting severely damaged but wouldn't be surprised if it did happen.  

I'm not a bike rack expert but just looking at them you could tell they were flimsy.  

The run course was so friggin hilly and it was brutally hot and humid.  

Other than those two issues I thought things went well but I don't have much to compare it to.  

The bike racks were very flimsy.  I don't know if any bikes were damaged but i had to help a girl get out from underneath the bikes that fell on top of her.  She was ok just got greasy.

I thought it was poor planning to have the awards after the kids race.  Most people left after they finished.  I understand the computers crashed so they couldn't post any results.  No one knew how they finished and we couldn't find anyone to tell us what was going on.  Usually results are posted soon after you finish and if there are any problems/penalties you can ask before you leave.  But they never posted any results except for a few of the sprint.

We waited 5 hours for awards because my friend was the overall female winner in the Olympic.  The overall winners received a medal just like the finisher medals but gold in color and a different ribbon.  You would think for how much we had to pay to enter that the overall winners would get something special.

they couldn't complete the awards because the computers crashed and couldn't verify what awards they were giving out in the sprint.  They only did the overall, relays, athena and clydedales.  When we asked about the age group awards the announcer thought they were giving them out but he didn't know.  They didn't have any results for the kids races.  They said they would mail all the awards but that stinks that the kids didn't get to enjoy standing on the podium to get their awards.  

Probably won't do this one again unless they make some changes.

and that was the hilly run course I have ever done.

For someone that wants our community to grow, this is hard to write, but I DEFINITELY WON'T EVER DO THIS, nor would I recommend this race to any youth.

I will be glad to send you a list of complaints and safety was also an issue for the kids. Just plain unacceptable, and I have heard literally no less than 10 people seriously complain in email and in person. I hate it because the location is good but the ball was dropped in many respects by the RD and when confronted he got defensive and didn't apologize publicly, telling one complainant that she should share his apologies for him.

Phat,

You should make the list and send to the RD and post it here, along with his response. 

Steph

I'll be crossing this one off the list next year if they even bother trying to bring it back.  There are plenty of others that are well run.

Judging by the screen name, there is a good chance it was the overall winner and he probably second guessed publicly berating the race and the RD.  I think it was probably a good call not to let those comments float for too long on the internet if you are in his position.

Personally, I bailed soon after the race so I didn't stick around to observe the computer/awards drama.  I kind of feel bad for the RD.  They had a day that went from bad to worse and it can be hard to maintain a good professional demeanor when you're having the day from hell.  I've got to say that it seems like it is taking them a long time to get their stuff together.  This is the third year they've run the race.  

The price point corresponds to the type of event they are trying to run (prize purse, goody bags, and post-race food) but when you pay that amount there is very little tolerance for errors.  

And....God help you if you screw up a kid's race because confusion, chaos, disappointed children, and pissed off parents is a whole different realm of having a bad day.  And if my son had participated, I probably wouldn't be very forgiving.

Honestly, I may participate next year.  The race has potential and they should certainly learn from this experience, right?  But it doesn't rank high on my list.