Subject: RE: Is Redman typically wetsuit legal? ray6foot7 - 2009-07-06 11:43 AM I read a race report that said last year they had to take several water temperature readings at various locations before they recorded a temperature that made it wetsuit legal. (I inferred that this meant the R.D. wanted it to be wetsuit legal.) I can promise you that any good RD is going to take 3-4 different samples of water if it is borderline wetsuit legal. A good RD wants a wetsuit legal race for several reasons: 1 - makes 99% of the athletes happy. Happy athletes equals good marketing for next years race. 2 - makes the swim a much safer swim especially for first timers at X distance triathlon 3 - typically improves swim times (giving the race a better reputation of being a "fast" race ) Sometimes it works out that the water is rough with a good chop, but the water temp is borderline so the RD is going to find water at the wetsuit legal temp no matter what as a wetsuit swim in choppy waters would be a go versus a non-wetsuit swim in choppy waters means a cancelled swim. Gulf Coast Triathlon falls in this category almost every year. It is borderline degree wise but always seems to be a rough swim. BTW this is an awesome race to do. Very well run and organized. Did the Half last year and am signed up again this year for the Half. A tad bit rough roads on the bike, but otherwise perfect. Edited by Lance 140.6 2009-07-12 4:17 PM
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