Great Buckeye Challenge - Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Terrible swim. Water in the goggles from the start and sun glare made sighting the first buoy very difficult, and it all went downhill from there

Time for new goggles. I tried to limp my socket-rockets along with a new nose-strap but I guess I'll be spending the $20 on a new pair.

After registering, the transition area was already a complete CF and there was no room left at the inn in any row, let alone the row I was assigned to. I ended up against the fence toward the exit gate, which, along with my new Performance Enhancing Bucket (tm) gave me plenty of room to get the bike shorts, socks, and shoes on. Best T1 yet, very happy.

Show up to the race earlier! Sheesh.

The course was changed just before the race due to some road construction, and by my cyclometer it was more than a mile longer than the 21k advertised. Easy rollers throughout, with an incline so gradual you didn't really notice until you were bombing downhill in a big gear on the way back. A relatively fast course.

Pretty satisfied with this. I've become gunshy about pushing the bike after a particularly ugly 5k in a sprint tri earlier this summer.

This is the first time I attempted to remove at least one foot while rolling towards transition with my shoes clipped into the pedals (I have regular cycling shoes with a ratcheting strap), and it worked out pretty well. The rest of the transition went smoothly, aided by my Performance Enhancing Bucket

Might try cycling sockless next time

Fastest 5k yet on a quick course without any serious hills. My overall goal in a sprint tri is a strong run, and this one felt very good. Started out with 7:30 splits but began to run out of gas toward the end.

Nothing. But I'd always like to run faster.

Nice cold bottle of water at the finish, but nothing available to drink after that except the water in my car. Had a couple of orange slices and did my stretches.


An ugly, ugly swim was the difference between 4th and 3rd in my AG. But I managed a good bike ride and an excellent run (for me) after fighting a week-long cold and I'm more than satisfied.


HFP generally runs a tight ship - it seemed as though there were way more athletes than they were prepared to handle. If this race is an indication of how it goes every year, I would not recommend as a first-time experience. For repeat offenders like me, it's a nice, fast, slightly longer-than-average course. Just be sure to show up early.