Liberty Triathlon 2013 Long Course

Other people here may disagree but I had a horrible experience with this race last year, or more with Final Stretch. I may be taking it extreme but I will never do a Final Stretch event because of this. I ended up dropping out of the race after the bike last year for multiple reasons (some personal) but also because a lower than advertised number of aid stations on the bike. The volunteers at both aid stations handed me 1/4 full water bottles! The waves were mistimed and they had many people going off in the wrong waves, especially the elite waves. These could be all minor things but I do race the elite division and "live off the course" while racing and plan my nutrition on what is advertised for being handed out as well as number of aid stations. All of this was not communicated correctly, plus it was very hot that day. I asked a Final Stretch "employee" on site about this miscommunication (I actually was being nice and was calm) but was completely blown off by this individual. Of course I was beginning to get upset when this happened. I debated sending an email or not for a few days after about complaing about my experience and this individual. I finally did but never received a reply, an apology or even an explanation. I sent a total of 3 emails (maybe a little overboard on my part). The first with my complaints and the other two as follow ups asking if they could provide any light on this. I sent them directly to the two (I believe husband and wife but I won't provide their names) people running Final Stretch.

I have done this race in the past and really enjoyed it but the mismanagement and lack of professionalism last year turned me off so much I can't give them my money ever again. Maybe I am over reacting but I wasn't even out looking for an apology or anything in return but an explaination on why things were so poorly managed but that never came.

Great, now I probably sound like I am an a$$hole! Anyway just wanted to share my experience. I am doing Kansas 70.3 that weekend for 2013, It will cost A LOT more but I am sure it will run very smoothly.

Seriously I've done many of their races last two years and had no problems. I like their race organization techniques. I race in age-group division. I don't live off the course. I come with enough juice and gels to get me through. Anything extra on the course is great.

I'm in for '13 Liberty HIM. I'm doing IMWI on 9/8. So this will be my 1st HIM in '13. The 2nd one is Chisago HIM.

That is actually great to hear that you have not had problems. As mentioned I probably over reacted as I have done other races that they put on with no problems as well. I was just very put off by them not even responding to my emails or with one of the "event staff" blowing me off. I honestly was not even upset or pointing a finger at them but just was wanting to find out what happened, more of an explanaition so I can learn from it myself so this does not happen to me again in a race. Also, I do understand that I could have taken enough nutrition with me and none of this would have been a problem but I never have done this for any other race as I just make very sure I know what and how many aid stations there are so I did not expect it.

Maybe something like this will never happen again because I do know of a few others that I race with who had the same problems and sent emails without responses either. Even though Final Stretch did not acknowledge us, hopefully they made the changes needed.

BTW, Final Stretch is one of better race organizers in MN.
You know they have good plan and organization but they do rely heavily on volunteers especially with high school sports programs. And if you've got young volunteers that don't follow instructions then it's SOL on your part.
There's one race organizer that you just have to come really prepared but I won't name name.
FS have a Facebook group setup. I'm sure they will answer your queries there.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/54385144766/

I agree that their major problem has to do with their reliance on volunteers.  They have very few staff and if you talked with a staff person on race day I'd say it was a surprising coincidence.  I volunteered at a recent FS event and my group made many mistakes.  Even as a very experienced racer I did stuff that had me rolling my eyes.  Race day is really really hectic and there's not enough management to go around.  The 1/4 full bottles are a good example. I am sure it was the case of untrained volunteers who had no idea and had never raced a tri before.    It will probably happen again.  If you want to resolve this, volunteer at a bike aid station next year and make it happen.

I agree that they should at least have the aid stations/support they have advertised.    Even if they have no aid stations, they need to be honest about what they can handle so you can be prepared.  I think they have grown a lot in the last few years and I have witnessed several "growing pains."

Regarding communication, it's a problem if you e-mail them at [email protected].  I have sent many things in that direction, unanswered.  However, if you can get hold of a person's e-mail address its better.  If you wish to try contacting them again, PM me and I can give you an address.

I have communicated directly with them on a few things and even then some communications are dropped, so it's not perfect, but a start.   I firmly believe in providing feedback about this sort of thing after a race and I don't think 3 e-mails is excessive when you're being ignored!  I honestly and truly think that many race organizers really don't know how important this stuff is. 

And lastly, for everyone reading this, I highly recommend volunteering at a race if you haven't. It's quite eye opening.  It's a very hard work day, you start early (sometimes before racers) and go go go until it's done.  At times it's really boring, other times it's out of control.    It's given me much more respect for volunteers and also is eye opening, truly, about how races are organized.  Even the biggest organizers can't stay on top of everything ("T.O." cough cough).

Regarding Liberty specifically...  I have only done the Olympic, but I've got enough experience with this race to make a few opinions.

1.  It's not really "mid-season", it's pretty early.  But it's a good way to motivate yourself to get in those long grueling bike rides in the spring. 

2.  The course is pretty nice but not easy.  If you can get ready for this bike, you're in really good shape for races further down the line.

3.  The weather can be all over the place.  Sometimes it's rained and been cold, apparently last year it was quite hot.  It's always wet suit legal.

I think it's a good race.  But yeah, it's not a very "fancy" race and you probably want to plan to manage your own nutrition. 

Wow thanks for the thoughtful replies!  I took a deep breath and registered for the long course.  My first ever tri was Square Lake long course last year.  I was totally shocked at the complete lack of support along the bike route.  I thought if someone had a medical emergency or got lost that poor soul was completely SOL.    In fact, at one of the major turns when I got there the race volunteers and direction signs were gone!  It's just darn lucky that I remembered to turn at that point.  So I guess based on that experience, I have zero expectations of any bike leg support.

I am mainly interested in another practice tri to work on transition agility and to see how I am doing training-wise.

I am sorry for the crappy treatment of racers by Final Stretch.  Either they are really incompetent or they don't care about good customer support.  That's too bad.  Eventually no one will want to pay to participate in their races.

Which full are you training for?  Reason I ask is that if you're going to use this as a fitness indicator then it ought to somewhat match the terrain/type of course at the full you're doing.

For example, I did SuperiorMan last summer as my fitness indicator getting ready for IM AZ.  Both very similar in that they're relatively flat courses and multiple loops.  I purposely chose not to do the Rev 3 half in the Dells, even though it looked like fun, because it was a hilly, technical course, not anything like Arizona.

I thought the roads were in 75% good shape. Some parts may be rough but no large potholes that you have to dodge. I agree that aid station for bike route needed improvement. In general, they should have improvements from last year.

Seriously!  That's crazy!