Hidden Paradise : Official Thread

When and where is this race? I have never heard of it.

Is it typically wetsuit legal?  I'm doing the xterra the day before as part of a relay team and then doing the Hidden Paradise the next day.

Yea I figure I'll wear the suit for the relay, since I don't have to worry with getting it off.  Will prolly skip it for the tri the next day.

I would preregister for the event.  You will have so many things going on that morning that the last thing you need to do is worry about registering.  When you preregister you should have an option of signing up for either the 1 day license or a season. 

As far as what to wear, I would either do tri shorts and a tri top or a full tri suit.  Either way, you won't have to change at all.  Of course some will say since its your first, just to wear anything that you will be comfortable in and just focus on having a good time. 

thanks for the info. I had preregistered already and must have missed that option. Ill have to get one the day of.

Well rain sucks.  The first tri try rained out. Anybody know of any good ones within a couple of hours from Natchitoches in the near future. I really want to race my first now!

Yea, I was not very happy about the rain.  I stuck around for a couple hours then headed home...didnt wait for the 5k.  Not sure of any others near you in the next couple weeks.  Good luck to you.

Shreveport May 24th is the Sunrise Tri club series

If the race director had paid any attention to the weather forecast he would have clearly saw that the weather was going to break around 11:30 and we would have had a lunch time start to the triathlon. Instead at 8:30 (yes thirty min. after the original start) he had the bike racks packed up and ready. At 9 he had everything except the buoys, and the timing system packed up. At 10 he said lets do a 5k, even after myself and many other racers protested telling him the weather would break in an hour. Guess what! when the 5k ended the sun came out and we could have had a great tri. This guy is clearly not very concerned about the racers nor their money, he was too worried about getting back home to Arkansas. You would think he would have at least given a discount to a future race or something for his incompetence!

As a direct reply to the previous post from blountds.  I was at race site and was watching the weather myself on my I phone while he was watching it on his.  The Race Director made the right call to hold off the start of the race.  Lighting was in the area up untill 10AM.   As an educational piece, I've been racing Tri's since 1986 and have been invovled in putting on races.  It is impossible to keep all the volunteers and law enforcement on site in a complete holding pattern for more then a couple of hours. They have lifes too and most likely had only scheduled themselves for a 2-3 hour commitment.  Most experienced athletes understand this.  The normal wait period is 1 hour max before the plug is pulled.  This director went well beyond the call of duty and kept resources availabe up till nearly 10:20am when he was able to safely start a 5K run with chip timing, hot dogs and hamburges for post race chow, draw prizes and awards cerimony.  As for tear down.  I was there the transistion area was still up at 10:15am.  I've raced in DLT events since they started in 1997.  Fred Phillips the Director, always puts on a first class event, the safety of the athletes is his first priority.  I have been and will contiue to be a supporter of DLT Races.  They do a great job.  Thanks Fred for all you do for the sport.

If you are implying that I'm not an experienced racer your horribly mistaken. Also you will be even more mistaken if you think I haven't directed races. You are right about Police and Volunteers wanting to leave. Especially police on a day like that (rainy, wrecks, drivers). But to pull the plug and not even offer any sort of discount to racers who may have driven miles and spent well over $300 after entry fees to go to Ruston is not doing a great job. If you have any experience in Directing a race you will know the financials and you will know that if Fred is getting proper sponsorship and is managing his money properly he profited about $12,000 after expenses for the entire weekend. Sounds like $20 off a future DLT race would be a doable thing for a supposed "Non-Profit" organization. And while I'm sure Fred's Races are great, how hard exactly is it to put on a quality race? Good management is stepping up to the plate in adversity. I suppose I'm more bitter about paying $55 for a 5k and not being offered anything to supplement other than some cheezy jokes, bad awards and nasty hamburgers. I was also there on Saturday's Xterra and there where not problems with weather. Still not a very good job. Horrible shirts, bad goody bag, food sucked, and the volunteers acted as though they had never been told what to do or what to say. They just didn't want to be there. Great concept of a race weekend but NOT A GOOD RACE WEEKEND, HANDS DOWN!