Danskin/SheROX Philadelphia Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Super long transition time. The chip mat for the end of the run/start of transition, however, was probably a good 2/10ths of a mile from the mat for the start of the bike, which was definitely a factor. Also, I drank my pre-race water too close to my start and ended up having to stop to pee in transition.

Need to finish drinking my bottle of water sooner than 40 minutes before the start!

No rankings given, as the course was closed early due to weather. I felt strong on the bike, but my pace was slower than my last race. Rain started soon after I started the bike course and race organizers were slowing bikers down on certain parts of the course. There were two hairpin turns, two downhills, and two major bike crashes that we were slowing down for in addition to the wet road conditions. Also, the rain had caused lots of small debris in the road. I must have seen more than 10 women fixing flat tires on the side of the road, and I'm sure there were many more flats that I did not see. During my second loop, I could hear rumblings of thunder in the distance. On the final straight away back toward transition, there were a few loud/close thunderclaps that startled me. As I finished my second of two loops, they were pulling everyone off of the bike course, even those who had only completed one loop.

I had no real 2nd transition time, as they made an official announcement while I was in transition that the course was closed and that everyone should leave the area. (Actually, I think they said, "stay at your own risk".

The course was closed due to the weather before I started the second run.

Overall, I think this would have been a really great race if not for the severe thunderstorm that rolled through in the middle of it. The course is really nice, the run is a flat out and back, but the bike is interesting with some challenging hills. I can't comment on the swim course, as the swim was cancelled due to river conditions.

The only negative was that the organizers postponed the start of the race by almost an hour because they kept waiting for the river to improve enough to allow the swim. If the race had started on time, I think most of the women would have finished before the storm, and it wouldn't have been so chaotic with everyone basically evacuating the race site. Also, I've heard that there was hail in some areas of the bike course while some women were still on the course trying to get back to transition in the middle of the storm.