TryCharleston 2013 (Page 2)

Anyone camping at KOA Friday night and have some room for an extra tent? I'm only staying the night Friday, but KOA makes you book for 2 nights on the weekends :/

Would love to share and help chip in if anyone is interested! :)

I was wondering about the possibility of thunderstorms, too.

mamooney - I wonder if you could check with TrySports or Trek Bikes to see if they know of anyone camping at KOA?

Setup trailer is already out there at the lake! I'm getting excited/nervous already, and I'm only doing the sprint It's just the first of the season... always a little nerve-wracking!

Good luck to all those racing this weekend.  I do hope the bad weather comes thru early and doesn't mess the race up.  

Here's an interesting review of the sprint from another guy on facebook:

unfortunately, this review is the same that I heard from a number of friends that did the sprint.  I was "fortunate" enough to do the half so the bike course markings were not an issue but I will say that when I came up on what should have been the sprint turn around there was still no one directing traffic and not a single sign.  I saw at least 6 bikes coming back down that road well after what should have been their turn.

The traffic incident we had on the bike of the half course had more to do with the flow of traffic than anything.  Police officers were holding traffic at a couple of intersections to let the bikers through but the traffic was backing up on a two lane road and we as the bikers had to try to ride beside them on the narrow road with no shoulder in order to make it to the intersection that was being blocked. 

I will also throw in one more item that was not mentioned in the facebook rant.  I took a spill on the bike at an intersection through no fault of anyone but myself.  I tried to go into a turn a little too fast and the back tire slid right out from under me.  A very nice lady that was directing traffic at the intersection helped me back up and held my bike while I got my chain back on.  I was skinned and bleeding but nothing broken or really hurt so I continued.  When the race was over I headed to the medical tent to get a few bandages on the scrapes.  There were 2 or 3 other people in the tent waiting on some minor help.  The problem is there was 1 person trying to attend to everyone and she kept looking around for help.  As I sat there she asked if I had also hit the pothole on the run course.  (I did see the hole but was fortunate enough to miss it as a person in front of me hit it and showed me where it was.)  As I sat there 2-3 more people came hobbling in and all had hit the same hole on the run.  Apparently everyone in medical knew the pothole was out there but not a single person made any effort to put out a cone or send a volunteer out there to warn the runners. 

I was looking forward to this race and had heard a number of good things about it.  I will just say that I was not impressed AT ALL with how the race was run.  I have done setup event races before and was satistfied so I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this one and perhaps try it again in the future but this was definitely not a good impression.

I did the Sprint and have to agree with statements above although I don't view the loop on the swim creating a crowd as that big an issue. Having done mass starts with over 2500+ people the minimal contact in this event is nothing.

The weather was a big problem but should not be used as an excuse.

It is imperative that the athletes KNOW THE COURSE. This is the 2nd race I have done this year where this has been a problem. There should have been a cone and an official at the sprint turn around.  There was a paint mark on the pavement but it was hard to see on the wet road. I also realize that there was no warning sign as you approached the turn so you had to move left and brake in front of the 1/2 people. I had done the 1/2 twice in the past so I knew where the turn around was located and didn't have a problem. Obviously others did. Again KNOW THE COURSE, put it in your GPS.

I don't want to point fingers but I hate to put all of the blame on Set-Up. I think they may have delegated a little too much of the race management to a local committee. I think that if they want to put their "Brand" on races, they will need to have better oversight of the race. I would encourage everyone to give some constructive feedback to the guys at Set-Up.

Overall I had my best race in a long time. I had been training for the half but injured my shoulder snow skiing 6 weeks ago. I wasn't able to swim 100 meters 5 weeks ago. I broke the top tube on my carbon fiber race bike and had to use my vintage Cervelo trainer. In spite of that, I had a good race. I will definitely plan to return.

Another comment I heard was in regards to the tee-shirts. I personally didn't care but I know some of the first timers really expected to take something home to show they did their 1st and possibly only triathlon.

I also heard that they were planning to add a full option next year. That spells disaster to me. They need to get the shorter distance right before they consider expansion  

This sums up the organization of the race. TRY Charleston is an organization who puts on the race. The TRYCharleston.org website does not seem affiliated with the Setup website and having done B2B twice, I know that the RD  Jeremey who does this is the same RD as B2B, so my conclusion is that TRYCharleston.org dropped the ball on the Bike course volunteers and directions. I did Charelston last year and it was very well organized, so I dont know what changed this year.

I hope that TRY Charleston and Setup make good to those people affected by the bike course mix as I know Setup always puts on great races, and when they do mess up, they make sure it is corrected and made right for all involved.

Dont be hasty to judge a company for one screw up though. If Ironman was to be judged for one screwup, then there would be no Ironman.

Echoing "pshriver", contact Set Up and Trycharleston, voice your concerns. 

I did the sprint as well and did find issues as above.  Setup Events usually does a tremendous job with their races so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.  There are perhaps some explanations: I have a feeling many of the volunteers did not show up due to the weather.  I noticed half of my Master Clydesdale group didnt show as most of our Triathlon club bailed out so I wouldnt be suprised to learn that many of the volunteers bailed as well which would leave Setup with a skeleton crew to staff a sprint AND a half.  In regards to the turn on the sprint bike, the turn off 17 was marked but NOT staffed which I found unusual as Setup usually has several volunteers at every turn.  The turn around point shortly after that DID have a police car with flashing lights, orange cones, and a volunteer with a bullhorn instructing Sprint racers to turn around and half racers to continue on so I had no trouble but when I reviewed the results after the race I was astonished to see that many of the Open division competitors had slower bike times than I did and now I know why.  And here I thought I just raced exeptionally well!

The run course was soaking wet but couldnt be avoided so no complaints there.

The logistics of the two transition zones did make for a difficult setup especially in the dark during a cold rain.  Several of us had a hard time finding the middle school for T2 but once there I was fine.  My issue came during the registration Saturday am (I worked friday night and didnt get to Charleston until 11pm so couldnt check in the night before.  Saturday when I checked in, I asked about the transition bag they website mentioned we would be issued so they could move our gear to T2 after the swim.  I was told they didnt have the bags at that time but they would be brought by before the start.  No bag at the start.  I ended up piling my wetsuit and other gear neatly in a pile, mounted my bike and rode on.  I had to wait until 2 hours after the race, in somewhat of a panic hoping it was in the lost and found bin coming over by truck after the awards ceremony.  Thankfully it did but by that time I was freezing and worried I had just lost my recently purchased wetsuit.  I think the 2 transitions was necessary to prevent bikers from having to cross 17 as well as to allow for a nice run course so I really have no issue with the course in and of itself.  It was a fast swim, bike and run and I enjoyed the race.  If the logistics get ironed out I think it will be a fine event overall as I have come to expect from Setup.

I am not sure what wave you were in or what you swim split was like but I do know that when the first few cyclists hit the turn around point for the sprint there was no guy with a bullhorn at that time.  I was an earlier wave because I did the half and he was not there when I went past that area.  A friend of mine (who missed the turn and did over 20 miles on the bike) asked about it later and was told that the volunteer who was at the turn around was late for whatever reason.  I did not think about lack of volunteers because of the weather and that may well be the explanation. 

I do plan to try another setup events race since my previous experiences were much better but I also would not blame an athlete for deciding not to race future SE events because of this fiasco.

Clemson05

"I do plan to try another setup events race since my previous experiences were much better but I also would not blame an athlete for deciding not to race future SE events because of this fiasco"

I raced with the Master Clydesdales, third wave of the Sprint.  I regularly race Setup Events races in the Columbia area and can say, without hesitation, they are all well organized, staffed, and designed.  The Lake Murray Triathlon is next Sunday May 5th and is one of the best courses in SC second only to the Dam Tri in September.  I highly recommend both and hope your experience will be much better.  I agree Charleston was a fiasco but I do not know how much was due to poor planning versus poor circumstances.  I did like all 3 courses and found them to be rather fast despite the weather.

Not to take away from anyone's experience with the race because I was not there nor have i done that specific race....but make sure you are not blaming Set Up Events for something they had no control over. 

Please understand that Set Up can be hired by any organization to handle time and transition areas for a race but that be it.  I know from experience.  I am part of a committe that puts on a kids triathlon in the Upstate, "shameless plug...Sugar Creek Youth/Kinder Triathlon".  We hire Set Up events to handle the timing chips and transistion area, the rest of the race is on us the committe.  We the race committe is responsible for staffing the swim, bike, and run course as well as the transistion area.  Set Up has no responsiblity to that.  We are responsible for marking the course, making sure the athletes know where to go and making sure volunteers are out there helping out.

It sounds like the TRYCharleston.org is the "race committee" and Set Up was the timing/transition committee.  I am not affiliated with either TRYCharleston or Set Up Events so I cannot tell you the exact situation but before you start blaming someone, make sure you understand the whole situation...Just because Set Up Events is there does not mean they are putting the race on or that Jeremy is the Race Director...