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2012-09-09 5:20 PM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback

Numbers were down this year. I have not compared the total number of athletes, but I would guess 100-150 athletes. I think its a combination of economy, the number of events now available, and  possibly Rev3 being so close to Detroit.  I feel bad for the athletes that went there and either could not race or their race was shortened, but We got beat up over a rough swim two years ago. We solved the swim problem. The contingency plan is to place the swim inside the marine so we can practically guarantee a good swim.

I met with Kenny and AnneMarie for a debriefing this morning. We are going to tweak the TA and include a crosswalk, so it is easier for spectators to cross Newman. A New caterer.

The motorcycle volunteers did not show up, so USAT officials were not as moble as we wanted.  

I would like the economic impact information, so I can take it back to 3D, the city and ETBA. We have great support from the city, and most businesses, but any information you can give me good or back, it will help me. Even if it is anecdotal, it wil help.



Edited by JBacarella 2012-09-09 5:21 PM


2012-09-10 7:51 AM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback

I thought the race was great.  The businesses we went to seemed very happy to have us there.  The course was awesome and we had a great time!  The food/caterer could definitely use some improvement.  Many people had to wait a long time for food. 

I loved the transition being right in town and the cheering from the spectators was great.  Thank you to those who work so hard to put this race on.  We will definitely be back to race it again!

2012-09-10 4:11 PM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback
JBacarella - 2012-09-09 6:20 PM

The motorcycle volunteers did not show up, so USAT officials were not as moble as we wanted.  

Well that explains the lack of USAT officials on the bike.  Watched two guys from Fraser Bike (39 and 41 year olds) draft out on monument for quite a few miles before I lost view of them.  At least I didn't see them on River road after the Dam Store as I had planned on giving them a nice shout.  In 2009 and 2010 I was swallowed up by pace lines so it was real nice not to see the real blatant pack riding happening this year.

Went to Mr Jack'ss last night and the waitress there was less then impressed of the triathletes presence and said it was a terrible weekend.  We basically thought her attitude was poor throughout our meal there.  Maybe she just scared folks off with her poor attitude, it made us feel like we wasted our time and money there. 

Thanks for your work Jim.  It was nice to meet up with you and your family.  I'll try to break down our cost early next week and give them to you so I have real numbers as the form I filled out at the after party was a real rough guesstimate.  Wish we didn't have to leave today as it was a beautiful day and we would've loved to stay.  It's a great city and a nice event to hang out and discover the area.

I can tell you we did our part in spending money at the sponsors and making mention of the tri so they knew why we were in town.

We didn't eat at the after party, was the food any good?  I'm guessing it didn't go so well since your looking for a new provider.  We ate at the restaurant on Thursday night and enjoyed our meal there.



Edited by rottieguy 2012-09-10 4:13 PM
2012-09-11 7:10 AM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback
rottieguy - 2012-09-10 4:11 PM
JBacarella - 2012-09-09 6:20 PM

The motorcycle volunteers did not show up, so USAT officials were not as moble as we wanted.  

Well that explains the lack of USAT officials on the bike.  Watched two guys from Fraser Bike (39 and 41 year olds) draft out on monument for quite a few miles before I lost view of them.  At least I didn't see them on River road after the Dam Store as I had planned on giving them a nice shout.  In 2009 and 2010 I was swallowed up by pace lines so it was real nice not to see the real blatant pack riding happening this year.

Went to Mr Jack'ss last night and the waitress there was less then impressed of the triathletes presence and said it was a terrible weekend.  We basically thought her attitude was poor throughout our meal there.  Maybe she just scared folks off with her poor attitude, it made us feel like we wasted our time and money there. 

Thanks for your work Jim.  It was nice to meet up with you and your family.  I'll try to break down our cost early next week and give them to you so I have real numbers as the form I filled out at the after party was a real rough guesstimate.  Wish we didn't have to leave today as it was a beautiful day and we would've loved to stay.  It's a great city and a nice event to hang out and discover the area.

I can tell you we did our part in spending money at the sponsors and making mention of the tri so they knew why we were in town.

We didn't eat at the after party, was the food any good?  I'm guessing it didn't go so well since your looking for a new provider.  We ate at the restaurant on Thursday night and enjoyed our meal there.

I think I saw the same two guys on River road half way between Old Orchard Park and Cooke Dam, in that little valley. Out of the first 25 on the bike after the turn around they were the only ones I saw draft. Since we both got to the valley at the same time, just opposite directions, I could see them long enough to say they were drafting.

I'm sorry to hear you got a bad waitress at Mr. Jack'ss. If you know her name or can give me a discription I will tell the owner. He is a friend of mine and I never have an issue telling someone, especially if they have a service business and they are a friend that their staff is not doing their job. I hope your tip reflected her service. It is more difficult for the businesses after Labor Day, because the college kids are gone and what is left is either exceptionally good or exceptionally bad and there is not a lot in the middle.

Los Cuatros food is always good, he just screwed up and was not prepared to serve enough food. Some people waited for 2 hours to eat, it was embarassing. I know he was told to have enough for 400 eventhough we did not have 400 at the dinner.

It was nice to meet you and your family also. It was also fun to have our daughters bring home hardware. Who cares if they were their age group, the fact that they ran it deserves recognition.

I will look foreward to your information. If you come up let me know. I am always up for a run or a ride. I don't know if you are into trail running but there is a fun novelty run in Omer at the end of January. It is a 15 mile nightime trail run called the Witchy Wolf. I ran it for the first time last year and really liked it.

2012-09-11 10:25 AM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback
Hey Jim, I did not view the dinner delays as a reflection of you, your city or any of the volunteers.  Not trying to be funny, but its kind of what I begun to expect from 3D.  Trying to get food has been a bit of a PIA all 4 years I've done the event.  I also wanted to share a positive dining experience.  On our way out of town, 7 of us grabbed breakfast at Augie's.  Great food and service and the gentleman who cashed me out had nothing but great things to say about the weekend's racers.  He'd mentioned he was one of the on course first responders.  However you may debrief the event up there, please share my thanks, again, with the volunteers.  While Kenny mentioned getting stood up by some, I couldn't tell and thought the course support was great (as I observed your rock star status with them at the one mile curve on the run).  Even those goofy kids at the 1/2 turn helped to get my mind off of how bad my legs were falling apart on the second turn through.  
2012-09-11 12:48 PM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback

Augies is a great place, regular old greasy spoon with just good food. The owner is a retired teacher and our fire chief and the guy who checked you out. He's a good guy. They make a great hamburger too.

The manager is a friend and I set him up with Kenny. Their food is always good, just poor planning, so I was disappointed.

We did have some volunteers who did not show up. I was just happy they were not the ones I set up. The kids that stayed are from the cross country team. All around great kids! They worked from 5:00 AM until 4:00 PM. You have got to love the endurance community, even the two goofy kids at the turn around.

I will see their coach this week and I will let her know.



2012-09-11 1:35 PM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback

Great day to race out there Saturday.  I absolutely love this venue and area and that is what keeps me and my family coming back.  I did the Olympic.  The swim seemed a bit long.  When I looked at where the HIM turn and Olympic turn was at it did not seem like a 500 yard difference. 

I thought the new TA was fine but also liked the other TA just fine too.  No complaints.  I have to echo a lot of what Steve already said about the restaurants and the race.  The worst service at Jack'ss and a waitress who did not kow what a 7 and 7 was and also asked me if the buffalo chicken sandwich was a burger? LOL.  Always love G's though and we went there twice.  We did not bother with the athlete dinner Saturday night as $15 for my wife is a bit much.   We went to G's instead.

As I was putting my race numbers on my bike I was saying this is a waste of time.  There is not going to be any referees on the course.  I saw the number 2 and 3 guys in the HIM come in off the bike wearing the same team kit within 5 seconds of each other.  Its just a bit odd.  They actually ran within a minute or two of each other as well so maybe they are just that equal in fitness who knows.

I guess in comparison to other HIM events I did this year (Grand Rapids and MI Titanium) the number of volunteers really stands out.  Those events had 15 people per aid station and this event has 2 kids at each.  Those races all have more competitors too so maybe it was fine.  I did not drink anything on the run course but for HIM athletes its nice to have lots of volunteers there.

In the end, I enjoyed the event and will come back.

2012-09-11 7:41 PM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback
rymac - 2012-09-11 1:35 PM

Great day to race out there Saturday.  I absolutely love this venue and area and that is what keeps me and my family coming back.  I did the Olympic.  The swim seemed a bit long.  When I looked at where the HIM turn and Olympic turn was at it did not seem like a 500 yard difference. 

I thought the new TA was fine but also liked the other TA just fine too.  No complaints.  I have to echo a lot of what Steve already said about the restaurants and the race.  The worst service at Jack'ss and a waitress who did not kow what a 7 and 7 was and also asked me if the buffalo chicken sandwich was a burger? LOL.  Always love G's though and we went there twice.  We did not bother with the athlete dinner Saturday night as $15 for my wife is a bit much.   We went to G's instead.

As I was putting my race numbers on my bike I was saying this is a waste of time.  There is not going to be any referees on the course.  I saw the number 2 and 3 guys in the HIM come in off the bike wearing the same team kit within 5 seconds of each other.  Its just a bit odd.  They actually ran within a minute or two of each other as well so maybe they are just that equal in fitness who knows.

I guess in comparison to other HIM events I did this year (Grand Rapids and MI Titanium) the number of volunteers really stands out.  Those events had 15 people per aid station and this event has 2 kids at each.  Those races all have more competitors too so maybe it was fine.  I did not drink anything on the run course but for HIM athletes its nice to have lots of volunteers there.

In the end, I enjoyed the event and will come back.

I'm glad you had a great race and enjoyed your time here. Everyone loves G's. We have family that will buy a dozen pizza sticks to take home with them downstate.

The cross country kids at the aid stations are a special group of kids. As a group they are good students and very nice. I think they are an example of the type of person drawn to endurance sports.

I am hoping we will be able to get the motorcycles for the USAT officials next year. I only saw the two guys drafting on the HIM course.

Bottom line for me is I'm glad you will come back. And the offer I always have if you need anything when you come to the area, let me know. Even if I can't help, I may be able to point you in the right direction.

2012-09-12 6:25 AM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback

Well, I've come to accept the drafting that occurs at 3D events, particularly this one.  I raced for them last year, but that doesn't change my belief that you need to ENFORCE the rules that are in place. 

I was sitting between 7-9th place for the entire bike course in the HIM and can tell you that there was a LOT more drafting going on than just the two mentioned earlier.  The 1st place overall female received quite a nice pull from several of us throughout the day. 

Some things never change, only the reasons (excuses) for not correcting them do.

2012-09-12 8:09 AM
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Subject: RE: 3 Disciplines Festival East Tawas. Athlete feedback

Is there anything different you would like to see the city and local businesses do next year? I am looking at not just race weekend, but also for those who come up and train during the summer.

Also, if you are up, contact me, I would love to go for a run or a ride.

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