South Carroll Tri-to-Win Sprint Tri

I'll be there. This will be my second ever tri after the recent Columbia. How does the pool swim work? Do they start in waves?

This will be my first. I picked it because it was on a Sunday, and I coach my son's baseball team every Saturday. Any tips would be most appreciated. How do the swim waves work?
I hear the bike is fairly hilly. Good luck

The course is chip timed so you begin the swim poolside and walk across a starting mat once your number is called to go. You walk/run to your assigned lane, jump in and start swimming. A really weird start for anybody with a competitive swimming background, but I suppose it works ok.

The swim is based on your 400M seed time you entered on your registration form. The fastest 32 seeds have always been given the first and second waves. After that they let the slower swimmers go (under the assumption that the slower swimmers need more time to get through the entire course). Finally the faster swimmers that didn't make the top 32 places are let onto the course.

The swim is 16 lengths of a 25 Meter pool, swimming side-by-side sharing a lane with one other swimmer. You exit the pool and run across the lane leading to the parking lot and onto the grassy field where the transition area is set up. This field is not a manicured lawn but I've never needed footwear to run to the bike.

I think of the bike in 3 distinct sections. The first section is the highway section which takes place on Liberty Rd (Rt26) and Woodbine Rd (Rt 94). Hills are pretty gentle rollers and I like using a high gear and a tight aero position here on what is the fastest part of the course. Second section begins with a right-hand turn onto Gillis Falls Rd (aka the 'roller coaster'). There are 3 successsive down-up hills on this road. The downs are fast, topping 40 mph if you let them. The ups are steep but not terribly long. Maintain as much speed from the downs as you can and they roll by pretty fast. After you turn off Rt 27 there is a fast section with a really sharp left turn at the bottom of a hill - be careful here on this turn. The last hill that MelissaE mentioned is steep at first, then it flattens out a bit, but it gets steep one last time before you can blow across Liberty road and back into Transition.

The run is a 1.5 mile out along Liberty road - very wide shoulder and smooth state highway paved road. The run out is a net uphill. The turn-around point is at a hill top, which makes the second half feel easier for me. There is one aid station right at the start/end of the run and one at the turn-around point. The hills on the run are not steep but are long and gradual. The finish is up the hill to get back to the swim club.

After the race you are usually welcome to hang out at the swim club for the day - well worth it to bring your family as it is a very nice club with lots to offer.

Awesome info. Thanks. The heads up is much appreciated. I am really looking forward to it.

Good luck to everyone today!!!

Thanks for the information about the SC Tri to Win event. It was my first tri and I appreciate your detailed description of the event.

I'm just continuing this thread from last year.

Anybody racing this tomorrow?

My estimated swim start time is 9:00. That run is going to be fun in the late morning. :-(

Thanks for the great description. I've been out to ride the bike course a couple of times and that last hill on Gillis Falls Rd is brutal as is the last one. A friend works with the foundation and they changed the run a bit this year, no longer going out the driveway but back behind the pool and out the driveway of the adjacent property. Looks like a good stretch of grassy run.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!