Cincinnati Triathlon - Olympic Course - TriathlonOlympic

Swimming in the river downtown is interesting. One - you'll notice my time is excellent (for me) but that's mostly due to the current carrying you downstream. Two - It's easy to go in a straight line if you breath on your right side because that's what side faces the bank. Three - there is other stuff floating downstream with you.

Overall swim went well. I got passed by a lot of the guys in my wave but that's ok - spoiler - I caught most of them in the other legs anyway!

Also, an Olympic Swim is supposed to be 1500 meters. This swim is only 1350 and is with the current. I realize there are only a few spots to get into and out of the river but I think they need to do something to make this 1500 meters.

Not hit the log!

I don't quite have the jump-on-the-bike-barefoot skills down yet. Maybe by my next tri :)

I pushed it pretty/really hard on the bike. Sure my run suffered because of it but I think my time was better overall. I ended up finishing 3rd in my age group with a total time of 2:17!

So I tried to take my feet out of the shoes (for the first time) while still riding. I was only able to get one out successfully, the other one I pulled off after getting off the bike. This was still much better than running in cleats. I was still able to run barefoot and I slid my other shoe onto my aero bar.

Get both feet out of the shoes. I will have to practice this :)

Run course was a bit crowded due to all the people running on it at the same time. The Friendship Park trail is weaving figure 8’s, so every hundred feet or so you had a choice of which path to go. It would have been nice to have signs at each intersection to know everyone took the same course.

I ran a little slower than I expected to but that was mainly due to how hard I pushed the bike. One thing I don't like about tris like this is all the people on the course who are at different stages of the race and started earlier or later than me. This doesn't give you the ability to really "chase down" your competitors.

I think I could have pushed a little harder. Although I did start to feel my quads on the verge of cramping.

Walked around a little then did a slow 3 mile jog around downtown.


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This is a unique race, which I'm glad I have now completed. Even though it’s a newer race, it does a good job of getting the sport into the mainstream vocabulary in Cincinnati. I'm not sure if I will do it again though. Swimming in the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati is an adventure but always seems to be questionable about the safety of it. The “Great Ohio River Swim” which was scheduled for the day before was cancelled due to high bacteria. They said the bacterial was fine by Sunday which I’m sure it was, but the risk of cancelling the swim is always there – which would be very disappointing.

Also, this race is expensive! $110 for an Olympic Triathlon? That is by far the most expensive Olympic Triathlon price in the area (unless you count the Giant Eagle Tri in Columbus, which is in a completely different class of professionalism). I realize it does take a lot of people to put it on because of the dangers of the River and closing downtown streets and Columbia parkway. I guess that’s why it costs so much.

I’m not usually one to bitch about race shirts/ swag, but… This company (Tuscon Racing) is in bad need of a graphics designer! I did their Cincinnati Half Marathon (also a very expensive race) last fall and the shirt was an absolute joke it looked like it was probably designed in MS Word or PowerPoint – the worst designed shirt I have ever received from a race (even small 5K races). The Cincinnati Triathlon shirt was not as bad, but for a company that is taking such “official-sounding names” like The Cincinnati Triathlon and The Cincinnati Half Marathon they have an obligation to put out a good shirt (IMO). The Flying Pig has set a high precedence for cool shirts and the people of Cincinnati expect more. OK, that’s my rant about race shirts.

Overall I like this event, and I would like to see it grow. There are some hurdles it needs to overcome to join the ranks of legendary downtown races such as the Flying Pig and the Heart Mini Marathon.