Hilton Head Island Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

The swim time includes the 400+ meter run up the beach to the transition area. I looked at my watch once back on the sand and my time was 7:24 for the 500m swim.

I would have slowed down at the start and maintain a steady swim stroke. At the start I powered around the buoy then slowed down considerably. The chop was pretty bad and I found it hard to navigate. I need to work on my open water swimming….

Once I completed the swimming I was so gassed I needed to walk up the beach and about 30+ people passed me running to the transition area. If I had slowed down in my initial start I believe I would have finished the swim/run better and been more equipped on the bike.

Went way too easy on the bike. After the swim I got the psychological gitters and started to worry about going to hard. Not thinking about the short distance and the name “Sprint” I decided to take it easy on the bike.

I did pass a few people but there were also a few people drafting. At one point I was doing 25.5mph and had a group of 10+ riders pass me on the straight.


In a sprint go all out on the bike....

Did the same as the bike. Took it way too easy. I should have run the course at an 8 minute pace.

Run faster

Watched the others come in with my family.


My mind.


This was my first triathlon and my goal was to break 1:20 so I am happy with the results.

overall great location, on the beach at Hilton Head Island. I live here but the Holiday Inn on the beach has a great room discount ($60) for the weekend for the racers. I would imagine that is a great way to spend a cheap weekend on Hilton Head Island.

The course has 20 sheriff deputies and 25 volunteers so there is someone every 100 meters. I found he course good but my friend crashed his bike pretty bad and needed emergency services but there were none on hand and they had to call 911.

After the race there is the awards ceremony and food/drinks provided everyone seemed to gather after and talk.

Out of the 170 racers I saw only about 3 people who looked like they were there to win it. Everyone else looked like the average Joe, one guy had a 1960’s road bike with one of those generator lights attached to the wheel. I thought that was pretty cool because he gave it a good try even on that old bike. There were also many mountain bikes so you could race on anything if you wanted to.

Overall this is a great race, the turn out for this event was about 25% of previous races. I would recommend this to a novice racer because the ease of the course and the venue.