Waseca 1/3 Iron & Sprint- AUG 2nd!

I was going to post about this!  Any of you who know me also know that I suck at climbing.  This course ROCKS!  It is flatflatflat.  If you like a flat course, come on down!  Unless you're in the F 40-44 AG.  Then you can stay home.    Kidding!  The run course looks super-flat too. 

Thanks for the update. I'm looking forward to this one. It's a tune up for IMWI for me. It seems like it's going to be a really fun distance.

I am doing the Sprint, sprained my ankle playing kickball last week so that is far from ideal, but trying to recover to be close to 100% for the race.

Bill,

When will we know for sure about the condition of the water?

Was the condition of the water in question? Being from Madison where our beaches are all cesspools, I just assumed the water up there in the middle of Minnesota was clean and worry free.

Hi Friends,

Here is the latest from the Waseca Triathlon:

7-23-09: UPDATE: I just got back from Waseca and Clear Lake this afternoon. I personally swam the Sprint Swim Course and the water was fine. The temperature was 73 degrees. I wore my fullsuit Blue Seventy wetsuit and was quite comfortable. Through my goggles I could see about 4 feet in the cloudy water. It was totally fine to swim in. Not a perfect Boundary Water Lake, but it is going to be fine to do a triathlon in. So, plan on the first year of the Triathlon in Waseca to be a SWIM, BIKE, RUN! Check out the pictures of the area I just took this afternoon. Go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wnevala/

SWIM, BIKE, RUN!

Bill Nevala

Sounds good, I assume with water temp at 73, wetsuits will be allowed on race day.  (Only ask so I can rent one for my wife, and wanted to make sure we didn't rent one and not be able to use it.)

Hi Thanks for asking.

I am pretty positive the race will be Wetsuit Legal. The temperature has been very consistent the past month. 73 degrees maybe even cooler in the morning.

Take care,

Bill

Hey Bill,

I see the new list of participants and may have a slight error with my name Jeff Vanis - I am currently listed in the SF category with my sex as a female.  I somehow think if I managed to end up in the top 3 of that category people may ask some questions.

I assume that will also change my wave after that is fixed. Will also send you a PM incase you dont read this.

Hi Jeff,

Sorry about that. I have updated the database with the correct information. You will now be Bib 160, Wave # 3, Sprint Males U-34. See you this weekend!

Take care,

Bill

Just a couple things I heard through out the day and suggestions for improvement.

I mentioned a sign to direct traffic at the start either short or long course, the person was not yelling out directions very well and it would just be easier to read the sign at that point.  I know you said people should have heard during the race meeting, but so many people talk during it, that it was hard to hear.  The reason I say this as my main concern is because a long course guy got routed to the short course and ended up coming in just ahead of me on the bike and stopped right on the sidewalk where the cones were to dismount and stopped blocking all traffic moving in to to a worker about the mistake but at the same time blocked traffic from moving forward on the sidewalk.

The swim - It sounds like you had the female waves start outside the beach rope, but the start and end of the swim being in the same spot was confusing as the first few long course swimmers came in as the guys started.  Maybe a triangle style course from each side of the beach to eliminate the crossing of paths.

The run - good course, water stops were perfect.

The bike - Short course somehow change so its not an out and back the turn around was bad because there was loose gravel and was just difficult to turn around and be careful at the same time.

Thanks much for the race, it was a perfect day for it.

Nice race. Great venue. Pretty well organized. Thin on participants, but that's to be expected with it being the first year, and with other races going on that weekend in the region. For some reason I swam really slow, not sure what happened, but that's a nice calm lake. A little slimy, but not weedy. Bike course was a little boring (rural Minnesota - to be expected), but flat (though windy). Really nice run route, but not as shaded as I thought it would be. Agreed on the perfect water station locations. Good eats after, and decent parking nearby. "Thanks" to the volunteers. I think they were some of the best I've seen, but I wasn't involved in the mixup at the start/end of the loop. Definitely a 70.3 candidate, but I recommend sticking to this (long course) distance, as it's very unique and offers something different (which is why I went).

Congrats Bill.

Will you be done racing all THIS year's races you are registered for by that time next year?

Another suggestion would be to stretch over two days or only have it one distance in the future.  For the differences in distances and times, the second round of awards got to be quite long after the short course was finished, and for those entered in the short course waiting for the drawings it was a lot of time to kill.

I'm still working on my (epic long) race report, but I had to stop by and comment.  I did the long course and had a great day.  The courses were marked very well, there were plenty of aid stations and the volunteers were the best I've ever seen.  This one is on my calendar for next year for sure! 

Hi,

Lifetime Photos has some of the pictures on the their Sports Gallery now. Take a look at Lifetimephotomn.com.

Take care,

Bill