Heart of the Lakes - 2014

Originally posted by Farlig

Okay. There's less than a week until this race, so it's about time to start a thread.

This is my first year doing HOLT. I'm a little concerned about not having a packet pickup until the morning of the race - I'm one that likes to have everything together the night before. But, based on all of the reviews from previous years, it seems like it'll be a well-run event.

Does anyone have any course advice? There don't appear to be any killer hills on either the bike or the run, so I'm hoping that'll lead to some speedy times.

Originally posted by benihana



This is one of my favorite races, but I was bummed when they schedule Du nationals the day before, so I won;'t be racing it this year

As far as the course, the first few miles out of transition along Hwy 55 are relatively flat/false flat/slight up hill. After you turn right, there will be a couple smaller hills, and the only somewhat big hill comes IMMEDIATELY after a long downhill, so get your speed up, and you should be ok.

The run is net up hill for the first 2 miles, but not much, other than that, it is pretty flat. There isn't much shade on the run course, so if the sun is out, this is what makes this course tough

Packet pick up in the morning is easy at HOLT, very well run, and efficient

When you get to the race site, you will notice that there are 2 seperate transition areas, on seperate streets. As you look at the lake, the one on the right is for the long course, and the one on the left is the short course. For the long course (and probably the short) there are designated transition racks based on your wave, so make sure to rack appropriately

overall, it is great race...have fun!