Goosepond Half Iron

just getting back to the sport after moving from Atlanta and did not know that it was an option ...looks like a good race - and in a great area. Not in for this year but could definitely be in for next ...be sure to write a race report!

Might try the Olympic distance there. Probably a stretch for me as I just did Mountain Lakes in Guntersville as my first tri. But Goosepond would be a great new goal!

Really frustrated the race director moved the date to convenience himself. Out of the 5 emails I have sent I have received 2 replies and the last one was responded over 3 weeks from when I sent the email. We are now unable to go due to work issues.......I pray everyone has a great race and this lack of communication and self absorbance from the race director is not an indication of that day. Good Luck Everyone!

What happened? I looked on their FB page and it did not mention anything about rescheduling a race?

The race director got a kona slot. The race was going to be the same weekend as kona, so he moved it up a week.

It's a great venue. look forward to seeing everyone there next year!

I feel like I missed out on something there... Not sure what, but it just didn't have the vibe that it should've.

I felt like the race volunteers running transition were a little on the "i have better things to do than this" mentality. They were constantly telling us to leave transition even though it was open. There was no order to how the bikes were racked or where your slot was. Just seemed discombobulated.

The ride was ok. They had volunteer fire department folks at the turns guiding, which was helpful. The road was primarily chip & seal and was rough. It was FLAT. I'm used to rolling hills and I didn't get any relief from the coasting because it was so short lived. There was 1 water swap around mile 25-30.

The run, well, that left a good bit to be desired. It was a two loop course with 3 turnarounds. Sadly, each turnaround was at the top of the hills. So you ran up, around the checkpoint, and back down. Definitely not my cup of tea. Not sure what was happening either, but some volunteers were saying you didn't have to run the "parking lot" piece on your second loop and some were. So several runners missed turns or got bad directions and then were just running to get the distance.

It was good. I mean, for a $100 HIM, what do you really think you're getting? I had fun, got a medal and a shirt, placed okay, and notched another groove in my belt.

But yes, when I finished at the 6:35 time, most of transition was empty, and several parts were being taken down and getting packed away. I did hear that the RD had already left for Kona and left it in charge of his volunteers, so not sure what happened there...

These races are back for 2017. Joint effort by Peak Racing of Atlanta and Endurance Sports Management of TN. Details here: https://runsignup.com/Race/AL/Scottsboro/GoosepondPondIslandHalfIron...