Mooseman Triathlon Festival - International Distance : Official Thread (Page 2)

Looks like rain and thunder storms are in the forecast.  Hopefully they hold off until after the race.  This is my first Tri.

According to this, the water temp is 70F. Not sure if that's a shore reading. Either way, I doubt it will be cold. http://home.metrocast.net/~prondeau/NewfoundWeatherVws.html
 

My first try as well. I was hoping for better weather, I guess that just means more bodyglide Good Luck.

I swam in the lake last weekend and it was 65 F which felt really nice.  I have no concerns over the water temeprature.

Good luck everyone!

Edited by kinger18 2010-06-04 12:10 PM

Ugh!!!  I didn't race today and I am filled with regret and disappointment.  Mooseman was my favorite race last year, and I've really been looking forward to it while doing my training the last few months.  I waffled back and forth several times about doing the bike/run, and I was seeing a lot of people leaving and figured  a. I couldn't go fast on the bike as I've never ridden in the rain before and would be afraid of wiping out b. the run is my least favorite part  and c. I didn't really care to ruin my fairly new $150 Newtons in the mud pit that I saw in the finish chute and transition... and I felt bad for my spouse in the car...
But of course, about 20 minutes after leaving the sun came out...  And later as we were driving home I passed people out on the bike course... the road was dry and I felt tortured.  Regret is an awful emotion.  So, I'm trying to let it go.  But I'm also anxious to hear from those of you who did race.   
Moving on - any suggestions for a race to sign up for next weekend??  These are the options I've found so far:
Hyannis Sprint
Escape the Cape Sprint
Ashland Olympic (though this is a FIRM race, so I'm not super excited, even though it is an Oly)
Any others...especially Olympic distance, maybe even the following weekend instead  - my next race I'm signed up for is Nantucket 7/10.

Time to drown my sorrows...  Any advice greatly appreciated.


 

Ugh, I hate guilt.  It eats me alive sometimes!  The run is my least favorite part too, so I hear ya there!  I don't have too much adice for those races because I've never done them, but definitely sign up.

And don't EVER do that again!  No one including the weather should be able to take your training and dedication from you.  Suck it up and kick a$$ at your next race!

Yeah...the guilt is the worst part and I won't do it again.  Lesson learned.  I was just swayed because on my way back to the car to  wait out the delay, I was surrounded by people who were packing it in.  I have done a modified race in bad weather before.  I think I just have bad weather luck when it comes to triathlons - my first 2 ever that I signed up for in '08 were completely cancelled due to tropical storms.   
I wish I had access to the radar when I was making the decision as well!


 

Pretty sure most races don't have an extra 60-90 minutes to delay.  Police, volunteers and road closures normally have to be done by a certain time.

I didn't race either.  At 7 when they announced the cancelation of the swim and it MAY start at 9 the outlook was grim.  I would have stayed if I knew.  The sun came out as we got back to the hotel

That link to sign up for Ashland doesn't work.  What is the back ground with 'FIRM' you didn't seem happy to see them on there??  Did you find any other OLYs??



Edited by gobey007 2010-06-06 5:25 PM

You are not alone. Out of 1100 entrants, only 600 finished. It was disappointing.  The conditions changed miraculously though. Up until 8:30, I was expecting them to either call it off altogether or change it to a 5k fun run or something. If you didn't have rain gear and you had to park in that mudhole over a mile away, it was hard to imagine the way it turned out.

The only advice I can offer is to continue to set your goals high, but recognize when the rules suddenly change and it becomes a new game...like when the stock market crashes...where do I go from here? Those of us who stayed took a risk that the bike course would be treacherous...better to live and race another day. A slight turn of events could have made things different, and you would have been offering me advice after I woke up.

Hang in, bro. You'll have that much more desire in Nantucket. Please do not drown your sorrows. Been down that road. Use them to spur you on to bigger and better things. But continue to make sound decisions. In the endurance game, you will win in the long run.

Actually, the change in conditions was predictable. The weather radar on the internet showed the thunderstorms were going to pass fairly soon. It seemed the rain was going to continue, but we can race in the rain.

In my opinion, I found the organization to be poor. Registration was not run well. Cars were entering the park only to be told that there was no parking inside the park, and to turn around and go down the road 1 mile.  Transition was abruptly closed during the downpour so people were shut out from putting their bikes into transition - thereby jamming the chute with people. The goodie bag was really weak - you get better stuff at the dinky no-name local races.

The decision making by race management to cancel the swim AND shorten the bike ride was questionable, IMHO. I would have (reluctantly) understood if the swim was cancelled. Fine. But to bludgeon the race by wiping out nearly 40% of the bike ride too, really sucked. The bike ride was basically shortened to a long sprint.

On the whole, I was unimpressed how this thing was run. I was told that in previous years it was a great race. That was not my impression at all.

So sorry to all those who worked so hard to prepare for the Mooseman only to have it altered to be nothing like the race you were expecting. I was there, in the pouring rain doing body marking as you headed into T1. For what it's worth, the volunteer situation was poorly organized as well! I hope you all find another race. ((hugs))

I truly appreciate all the volunteers, and always try to thank them.
So here's a big thank-you for you, too! :-)

This user's post has been ignored.

100% agree.

Poor communications.  Alot of people I spoke to tried to register but they were turned away. They opened it once again. I was able to get in line, then they shut it down again.  I've run nothing similar in my life but I would have been embarrased to put my name on that registration fiasco. Get in this line, receive a piece of paper...go into that line.....for another 20 minutes and get two more pieces of paper...now go into a third line....what the **ll.... The way to "improve it" is so obvious I won't waste time typing.  Not that I really care but I heard raves about the goody bag last year.  It was more of an advertisement bag.  Nothing good in it.  I've already passed the XL t-shirt to my 7 year old.  It fits him nicely.  It looks like a halter top on me.  For $125 at least get some decent size shirts.

Thanks to the volunteers though.  Tough to deal with the coditions.

I was really dissapointed in myself for quitting on this race, but up till 7:45, It didn't seem like the weather was letting up, and I didn't feel comfortable riding those roads in bad conditions. -- good to see i wasn't alone.

about 20 min after we left (8:20) it fully cleared, the radar on my blackberry showed nothing but clear skies coming, and the sun even poked out.  a that point, it would have been 8:40 to get back there, and not enough time to get set back up, and ready to go.

for me, the risk of injury wasn't worth it, i've got 4 other Tris this season, and a few road races. but I couldn't get over the feeling that I made the wrong choice when the sun came out and it turned into an incredible day.

on another note, because I dind't race, I also didn't turn in my timing chip, anyone know where these can be sent?  I emailed on the mooseman site, so if I hear back i'll post it here, but incase anyone already knows.

Ugh, I hate to say things like this, but sometimes it's just too obvious.  I have to agree completely with the above post.  We worked the finish line, collecting timing chips and giving out "blankets".  I had to answer a ton of questions, which should have been provided.  Competitors had no idea where anything was.  No one working the IM tent knew where awards were held.  The volunteer director in my area didn't even know where the med. tent was.  The scary thing is, someone actually needed to find it when I asked.  Luckily one of the med staff had just arrived to help out at the finish.  She knew exactly where to go.

I also want to congratulate all the athletes on dealing with such crappy weather yesterday.  It was ridiculous.

Well, thanks to all of you for making me feel a bit better about my decision.  It was looking grim... I was soaked along with all of my stuff... and the walk back and forth from the parking didn't help.  

I think I've decided to do the Ashland Olympic this Sunday - similar distances to Mooseman.  I have only done 1 FIRM event, which was a duathlon, and fine - just started a bit late, was smaller, and seemed to have a bit less fanfare and fun vs. some of the others.  But the distance is what I am after, so I think it makes it an easy decision vs. going with a Sprint.  I am doing a HIM in Sept as well, so I'd rather get an Oly in now knowing that my next race is a Sprint.  I think I'll post in the MA forum to see what I can learn about the Ashland event.  I did click on the link to register earlier and it seemed to work ok.  I might hold out another day or two though, because from what I saw on the extended forecast so far, looked like more T-Storms on Sunday!  Grrrr.

 

I too was disappointed in the goody bag this year.  I'm not sure where my $100-$125 entry fee went?  I felt like us OLY racers helped subsidize the 70.3 on Sunday and that's about it.

Registration - a total fail. 

That said, I stuck it out as I really had nothing better to do.  Plus if you're going to call yourself a triathlete you'd better be willing to deal with less than ideal conditions.  Anyway I was really glad that I stuck around.  The weather turned absolutely perfect!  The road was dry and even though the bike was shortened it made for a fun race.  Personally I set PRs for both avg MPH and run pace given the lack of a swim leg - so that made for some fun.

As follow up, if anyone else left with a timing chip...

To avoid the lost chip fees, please mail your chip to the following address:
Attn: Timing
World Triathlon Corporation
2701 North Rocky Point Dr.
Suite 1250
Tampa, FL 33607

I was signed up to do the race but had surgery the week of the race so obviously didn't go.

After talking to mav about the day what a disaster. Wait but no place to wait out of the rain. Why there wasn't a better communication plan in place is beyond me...and to have to park way down the road and not in the park even if you get there early and have to go back and forth to your car to get out of the rain and then you don't know what they have decided to do.

Given the day and what happened, glad I wasn't there this year for first time since '05.

We did Keith's first race of the year in TX at Lonestar in April which was affiliation with Ironman as well. The sprint on Saturday they held off the swim and after about maybe 30' canceled the swim. They said they had radar in the truck and were tracking the storm that was in the area. It wasn't raining but very windy and waves on the bay were big. They did TT start bike/run event instead.

It is sad to see how many races are having course altered these days. I've been doing tris since '04 and piror to the last two years rarely heard of any races canceled, swims canceled or things like that.

Last year I had two tris have their swim canceled...waves/wind for one, and fecal matter for other.
This year of the two weekends we had registered to race, swim was canceled on one day of each weekend of racing.

I'm signed up to do Ironman Florida with oil now coming very close to Panama City Beach. Has IM said what they may do about the swim or the race, nope?  Wonder when they will tell us what their contingency plans are and how/when they will make final decision.

This was my third year at Moseman and probably my last. Terrible organization as far as the oly went. Seems the race has been sold out to the ironman brand. Really sad, it used to be a great race.

Head over to the Endorfun forums and see what they're writing there - some clowns are congratulating Endorfun for killing the race and "keeping us safe". No mention of the poor organization...

what would you have done differently? not defending Keith, but given the extreme circumstances and the shape of the park, what more could have been done? #1 was to keep you guys safe from the lightning in the swim. Check! #2 it is unfortunate that the weather suddenly split and cleared, but does Keith have control over the weather? Have you been to a race where they have a HUGE tent set up to keep everyone dry in the event of a rain/lightning storm? #3 they can't postpone a swim that long, then suddenly do it and still keep the police around to block off and faciliate the course. They have a race schedule to stick to and need the park cleared enough to make way for the afternoon HIM'ers to start checking in....its been that way for a few years.

Chalk this year up to extreme back luck. If I was the race dirctor, I'd be freaking out that nobody would come back next year! They have been doing this race for a few years now and do even bigger races through out the year; its not like they suddenly forgot how to organize an event!