1ST Annual Patanella's Buckman Olympic & Sprint Tri's-2007 - TriathlonSprint

Started great - fast, clear water, good navigation. Got a bit confused at the end because the boat ramp was deep and I kept trying to stand up way too early - lost at least :30 there.

Keep swimming until the end buoy.

Nothing. Bike more, run more.

First race with clipless pedals. Got out of 'em ok, but I left one shoe on and had to run into T2 w/ one shoe on and one shoe off.

Get racing flats.

I left alot on the bike, so my run was pretty poor. Still about middle of the pack, but I was dissapointed in my run. My sock slid down and my trainer gave me a pretty good blister on my heel.

Bike more to save my legs for the run. Build a bigger base so I can run faster.

Stretching and a short run barefoot in the grass.


Poor training over the past 2-3wk.


This was a fantastic race. Very well organized (except see below). Beautiful course, lots of volunteers. I would DEFINITELY do this race again, if they run it.

I think it all started with the State Park Police trying to lead all of the marine support units out of the swimming area to leave. The road from the boat ramp also happened to be the finishing chute, so there really wasn't anywhere to go.

About 2hr into the race, a procession of SUV's, led by the park ranger started driving out through the finishing cute. Mind you, there was an Oly at the same time, and this was a long sprint, so 2-hr was very heavy with finishers.

Well, as the park officer was driving up, she started admonishing runners over her PA "runners STAY INSIDE THE CONES". Everyone (there were hundreds of spectators and racers around) was incredulous. SHE was IN THE FINSH CHUTE.

Finally, the park officer and a few followers got through between finishers and they were able to stop about half of the procession for a while in an inactive spot next to transition, leaving about 5-ft for runners to go by until they bent around back into the finishing chute. If this all sounds congested, it really wasn't, except for the police and EMT vehcles who couldn't wait an hour to leave.

The following is a second-hand account from my wife and others: Just uphill from the split into transition and the finsh chute was the turn for the Oly runners to do the second 5k loop.

A woman was coming in for the turn at about 2 hours. As she was coming in, the lead SUV, towing two jet skis, still waiting decided to try and leave. A few people including the runner started shouting for the SUV to stop. As the runner made the turn, the SUV tried to make it through and RAN OVER THE RUNNERS FOOT! This was unbelievable. I hope she's OK.

I don't know who's responsible, other than obviously the town rescuer driving the SUV with the jet skis. It really marred what I thought was a very well-run race.

I know the RD is in charge of the race, but the state park police is in charge of the whole park.Who tells the state police to stop when they decide to go? Who tells them that they can't lead a bunch of trailers through the race course in the middle of a race? Would/did they listen?