Siesta Key Triathlon : Official Thread (Page 2)

To say that I am disappointed in all of the "last minute" information/changes provided by this race would be an understatement.  Some sort of preliminary info. regarding packet pick-up and day of event times (racking, start, transition open/close, awards, finish, etc...) should have been released weeks ago.

The beach run...oh my.  I was literally steaming about this last night.  Thankfully I've moved on to the "suck it up in the face of adversity" phase today.  Despite that fact, I feel that the last minute change to a beach run is just wrong.  I'm all for facing new challenges head-on and adapting to whatever is put before me, but I have chronic issues with my calves and avoid sandy surfaces like the plague.  Had I known this was going to be a beach run, I would have never signed up.  If what the RD says is true (run was changed due to bike/run congestion AND so we can take in the beauty of Siesta), then moving to a beach run was something that was probably known months ago.  Such info. could have (should have) been posted on the website. Personally, I'm inclined to think that this was more of a permitting issue.

My dearest friend registered to do this race as her first Oly event.  Of course, her main goal was always to finish; however, she is a seasoned sprint triathlete and had a time goal.  Needless to say, she's feeling a bit crushed right now as running is her weak link.  I've seen this race touted as "beginner friendly" many times and unfortunately, with the change to the run, "beginner friendly" goes out the window.  A 1-mile finish on the beautiful sands of Siesta might have been nice, but 5.5 miles of beach running for the Oly... ouch! 

OK-- vent over.  Time to suck it back up.  Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

RedCorvette-- Have you been using the "Contact Us" form to get ahold of the race director or do you have an actual e-mail address?  If you have an e-mail address, could you please PM me with it or leave it in a follow-up post?  Thanks! 

For anyone reading this, I did the 2011 Siesta Key FIT and I am not sure I could recommend this race.  The swim is nice, but the OLY/Intl distance is two loop race where traffic becomes a little dangerous. The slower you are the more dangerous it gets.  I was one of the first 20 off the bike and traffic had not gotten too bad, but there were several close calls with autos for others.

The worst part was the beach run.  Deep soft sand or running in water are mostly your choices. Very disorganized on the beach with no chip readers at the turn arounds.  Several people cheated and simply ran part way and turned around.  

It's really too bad.  The setting is wonderful but the marginally safe bike with a horrendous run kind of ruins the race.  Post race food was far above average.  Results took 1+ days to post which doesn't mean much since who knows how many OLY/Intl distance only ran a 5k.  A race with lots of potential, but most ruined by a poorly thought out run.  If your a runner, find another race.

I'm with ya DWMMIM.  I have nothing but high praise for this race last year and the organizers.  They did a great job.  In fact, I believe they did a good job this year but the beach run was really, really bad.  I had a calf injury going into the race but I thought I would get thru the run OK.  A jump over one of those sections where the water had washed 15 yards into shore and my day was done.  As a resident of Sarasota it's a race I always want to participate in but I won't do it again if they continue to do the Olympic distance run on the beach.