Young Life Tri in Detroit Lakes

Posted my race report.

I was first out of the water for the second race in a row.  Was only beat by a woman in the other heat.  That was my only real goal for this race, considering how training has gone this summer.  So having achieved that makes me pretty happy.

For the record, though, I wouldn't recommend this race.  There were far to few buoys for the swim.  ~600 meters between one turn and the next buoy with no intermediate buoys isn't cool.  Then no buoys from the last turn back to the shore (~800 meters) makes sighting pretty difficult.  Though there weren't anywhere near as many people at this race as at Buffalo, there was some of the same crowding with the bike and run - runners sometimes 4 wide, cyclists going by, and traffic trying to get by as well.  Not very safe.  There was also no food available at the race finish.  About 30 minutes after I finished there was a "meal" of vegie/pasta salad (I don't like mayo), chips, and a chicken sandwich (that rated 'meh' at best), but I really wanted a banana, trail mix, or something sooner.  Post-race activities were pretty lame too.

Detroit Lakes is a nice little town, but I have to say that I was disappointed by this race.

I guess I didn't stick around for very long when they were calling people up for the energy drinks etc.  I didn't see anything else on stage that they were giving away that I was interested in.  There didn't seem to be much organization (at least from my perspective as an athlete) to the post-race activities.  I don't know that the rain had any impact on what they were doing then.  I will agree with you completely on the different chutes going into the transition/finish areas. 

Despite some of the issues with this race, I'm glad you had a good time.  With the exception of a couple minor things, I thought the bike course was decent and relatively interesting (some are pretty boring compared to this one).  Hopefully see you at another race some time.  Fill out a race report.  They're always fun to read.  Also having more reports to read, I think, helps people decide on and prepare for races.