Osprey Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

Last year I ranked 89th in the swim, with a 3 minute faster swim. This year, 67th. We fought a current, a bit of rough water, and the exit was on the other side of the dock from years past. Plus the run to transition was a lot longer than in the past. The swim went fairly well, I sucked up some water a few times due to the rough water, and I did get into a fight with one guy who would not move. In the end I took his legs and swooshed them over as I wanted to go to the buoy and not go his direction. Not too much drafting going on, but did it a bit to gather some energy back. I fought for a great swim but the time did not improve from year to year because of the changes. Ranking feels good though. I swam past a couple of waves, and ended up with not many of my wave around.

I have to wonder if I should do this race without a wetsuit. It's right on the cusp, and would make transition a lot easier.

Hah, same exact time in T1 as last year. But ranked 43rd compared to 59th, probably due to the long run from the swim exit. I had issues with getting the wetsuit off my feet. Sat down to do it but I would've been better off standing.

Wow, last year I had 45:12, this year 45:14, with one bike ride in 2 months. Pretty decent bike ride, I wanted to put all my efforts into the bike and let the run play itself out the way it plays out, especially since I have been running poorly lately. My bike split was more important than the overall time to me. Ranked 61st, compared to 58th last year. Pretty strong wind but not crazily so. This race tends to have strong wind. I though I rode pretty well in the wind, as others would be struggling in windy areas while I was blowing past them. This was the first test of my aero helmet. Hard to ever say how much these things help but it sure felt like it helped. Pretty happy with the bike. When I got back to the transition area, the area was pretty empty of bikes, meaning that there sure weren't many people out there on the run ahead of me, and I started in the 4th wave.

If I were taking this race seriously I would've probably put in my race tubes and taken the tools off the back.

8 seconds slower than last year. Jumped off the bike well, ran with the bike well, don't know how much I could've changed.

If I were to take the race seriously, I would've racked my bike in a better spot.

The clear difference in last year and this year is the run, did 25:48 (81th) this year and 24:28 (77th) last year. But that's still a better run than I could expect with the way I've been running for the last month. The legs felt fine, but the first mile was like a 8:45. The 2nd mile was about 8:20 with the turnaround away from the headwind, and the last mile was 7:26. On the surface that looks like the wind slowed me up but really, I haven't been running well, and I felt like my norm lately.

I have no complaints

Light stretching, hanging out with family, and watching friends come in.


After Lake Placid I was burnt out and not willing to continue with the triathlon season. I kept Osprey because I love this race and its attitude, in addition to seeing all the newbies doing their very first triathlon. Thus, I only swam once a week, and biking was once in 2 months. More focused on the marathon season and the JFK 50 right now. I am very happy with the way this race worked out considering where I had myself training for it. In the end I ranked 45th this year compared to 49th last year, which is really nice.


The appeal of this race is the high percentage of newbies due to the "easy course." It is not intimidating to the beginner. You see people from all walks and lives, showing up, and it seems like everyone you talk to is doing their first ever triathlon. The race organization itself is very laid back, which has its pluses and minuses. A few years ago they were flexible enough to change the race date to Sunday at the last minute due to a big storm roughing up the waters too much for a swim. This year, we didn't even have helmet and bike stickers. You might see a 60 year old guy/woman doing his/her first ever triathlon, as well as guy pulling up next to the start with his boat, planning on keeping his bike on his boat for the transition (and probably some beer ;-)). I wonder what the race people would have done if I didn't tell him to rack his bike last year. :-)

The course itself is kind of boring but if you like the Eastern Shore of Maryland, you will like the course. The swim is in the Chincoteague Bay, and very nice and pretty. And being near Ocean City, is a big plus. Hang out in OC before and after your race, on a weekend where the weather can still be nice, but the crowds are gone. The post race scene is usually soda, gatorade, water, and turkey/roast beef/veggie wraps. I will be back next year, hopefully with another couple of newbie friends. :-)