Delaware Diamondman.....

Ask Pennstate what he thought of the race ...........

TRIBMAC has done it as well.

Since it looks like I'll be out of town for Eagleman, this might be my first-ever 1/2IM event next year... Is it a decent first race at that distance?

Edited by DrPete 2009-07-16 12:28 PM

He's back????

Check his logs.  He's even *gasp* training. 

Ahh, okay.

I just remember talking with Fred at E-Man and his experience with the race was ...... less than optimal ....... to say it nicely.

There are better races, in my view, too.  But D-man is flat which makes it attractive to many (it was my first HIM).  And Fred has this knack for taking wrong turns on bike courses. 

This user's post has been ignored.

Can I get some honest assessments (pros/cons) of this race?  Eagleman was my first HIM and second race ever; I'm afraid I might have been spoiled.  I read some race reports for Diamondman 2008 from someone of similar speed, actually a little faster than me, who said that they had "run out" of water AND gatorade at the bike bottle exchanges by the time she got there.  Really?  I only have two bottle cages, so I'd be pretty pizzed if I was all ready for a bottle exchange and there were none.  Can anyone share their experiences??

Check my race report for details, but I'd give it a C grade at best. I had done quite a few sprint and oly races, and was looking fwd to my 1st HIM. Then, 2 weeks before they almost shortened the bike loop so it wouldn't be a true HIM. People went a bit nuts, and luckily they were able to change the course back to 56 mi bike. Few other things:

- I was there plenty early, but due to lack of porta johns, I was "late" into the water for my swim. The lake is like .25 mi from transition, so I was freaking a bit.

- Major lack of volunteers/water/etc.

- Run was blazing hot along a canal.

Feel free to message me with any specific Q's.

I did this race twice in '04 and '07. It's ok. I doubt I'd do it again, though.

The bike is flat, uninspiring, but easy. Coolest part is the 2x crossing the big bridge on the C&O canal. Other than that, it's not particularly interesting.

In '04 a manure pond upstream overflowed and the swim was cancelled due to high e.coli levels, and replaced with a 5 mile run to make the race a long-course duathalon. In '07 they held the swim, but I remember the pond seemed very shallow and muddy - had to wade out 100yds or so just to get to the starting line and I remember my hand hitting bottom several times during the swim.

The run is a mile or two along roads, then on to the C&O canal path. This path is hot/dusty/unshaded and full of large gravel that eventually starts to really irritate you. The 13.1 run in '04 was better - it was a double loop out to the C&O canal and back twice, which reduced the amount of time on the towpath. When I did it again in '07 they modified the run so that it goes out much further along the canal as a single out and back. This extended the time spent on the hot/dusty/gravel towpath and made fur a very miserable run. The 'scenery' the pirhana web site describes on the run gets old in about 5 minutes, and every support vehicle that drives by leaves a nice swirling dust storm to chew on for the runners.

I never had problems with a lack of water or gatorade on the course (though I heard from several others that they ran out), but the water they did have on the run last time was HOT (not warm or cool, but HOT). No ice or anything along the run. Gel packs were HOT. Luckily, I brought my own fluids and gel and was in pretty good shape.

Absolutely no shade on the run, bring sunscreen and lots of it.

They run a sprint and a 1/2 IM simultaneously, and due to a lack of volunteers on the bike course, a number of the sprint participants in '07 ended up riding the entire 56 mile bike course! I talked with one guy who did this and he said by the time he realized it, he and a couple others just figured WTH and took a long ride. They weren't bitter about it, more amused really. Pretty funny.