It’s
already July? Where the heck has the
season gone? Just a few months ago I
was whining about my spare tire, and here we are in the thick of the summer
season now! Of course, I still have
that spare tire, but there’s something about 90° weather and 80% humidity that
just makes it go bye-bye in a few weeks, so I’ll let it be for now.
One of
the problems the summer brings about (although it’s a problem like having too
much ice-cream in your freezer is a problem) is that there are races nearly
every weekend. You could point your
browser to Lin-Mark and find a race every single weekend until September! How can you decide which one’s to do?
I couldn’t either,
so you’re getting all of them for July in one swell foop. Call me indecisive, call me lazy, call me
Joan (wait, no – not Joan. Nevermind),
but there was just no way I could pick one race and do all the others justice,
so read on – there’s so much you could be doing!
There are two races for this Fourth Edition: A Sprint Distance (.5 mile swim, 12.5 mile
bike, 3.1 mile run), and an Olympic Distance (.9 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, 6.2
mile run).
This is a course for the multi-loop lover, and those
that love a technical challenge from their course. The swim is 4-laps of Sunrise Lake (2 for the Sprint), so at less
then 400M per lap, they’ll go by fast!
T1 comes after a short beach run-out, and then it’s time to hit the only
Figure-8 shaped bike course I’ve ever heard of.
The bike this year will consist of 2 laps (one for
the sprint) that leaves the park and explores the surrounding hills of
Morristown, which can be surprisingly unrelenting if you aren’t ready for
them! Lots of steep ups and downs,
rollers, with precious little flat time to allow recovery. Those with good handling skills will LOVE
this course for sure!
Once you make it off the roller coaster and through
T2, you’ll be in for a treat: The run
takes you half on pavement, and half on trails. The Sprint race is a straight up out-and-back, whereas the
Olympic takes you past the Sprint turn-around into an off-road segment back
into the Park. Much like the bike
course, the hills are pretty much a constant force.
Everyone I’ve talked to about previous versions, the
opinion is that this is one solid challenge!
The race management has gone a long way to fix some course difficulties
in the past (poor markings, tough-to-follow trails), so this one is worth
heading to – and you’ll be able to eat the most at your BBQ later that day!
·
7/14 –
The Pittsburgh Triathlon (and Sprint
Adventure Race)
(http://www.friendsoftheriverfront.org/client/html/01_frame.html)
For the Fifth Edition of this Pittsburgh gem, the
race has been moved to a new location – just in front of Heinz Field on the
Allegheny River. It’s an Olympic
Distance trek, with the Adventure Race (Ride 12 miles, Paddle 2, Run 3.2)
heading off after the Olympic swim start.
The swim is a straight down, straight back
course. It heads downstream first, then
turns around to come back up into the current.
Needless to say, you’d better take this one out easy unless you want the
ultimate test of your negative-splitting ability! You’ll exit out of the boat-ramp at Heinz Field, and then head
out onto the two-loop ride.
PennDOT (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation)
has agreed to close off the HOV Lane of I-79 around the downtown loop: Once
you’ve left the transition zone you’ll enter the HOV Lane and grind out a long
steady climb away from the city, turning around at the Perrysville Avenue
Exit. You’ll then circle around the
outside of Heinz Field along Reedsdale Street, Allegheny Avenue and North Shore
Drive to complete your first lap. Once
more with feeling, then it’s time to run.
Once you leave T2, you’ll enter the Three Rivers
Heritage Trail and run upriver and back along the Allegheny with a view of
downtown Pittsburgh and many of the bridges, that connect the city across the
Three Rivers, as well as Point State Park (former finish line of the Springtime
Pittsburgh Marathon). You’ll spend time
along the historic industrial riverfront, and the race directors promise the
sight of “flora and fauna along traditionally neglected and debilitated
areas.” as you pound out the miles back
towards the finish line.
For more information check out the website, or write
to
Jennifer@friendsoftheriverfront.org
·
7/14 – The Triangle Triathlon, Raleigh, NC (
http://www.set-upinc.com/)
This event usually sells out early, and 2002 was no
exception to this standard. Run by the
precise and experienced folks at Set-up, Inc., this Sprint Distance event has
become a staple in the North Carolina tri-scene. With a 750-meter lake swim, 15-mile bike, and 3 mile run, it’s
just fast, fast, fast all the way.
The swim takes place in Lake Crabtree
(Point-to-Point) starting at the boat ramp and ending on the beach at the other
end, with a short jog to T1 along a sandy path.
The bike course is shaped like a large “+” when
viewed from above, and you’ll work your way around the plus sign in a sequence
of three out-and-backs. That means
plenty of chances to see whom you’re chasing, or who’s chasing you.
The run is an out-and-back (with a J-Hook turnaround)
so you’ll have one more chance to see where everyone is, and bring it home
strong. Tony DeBoom won the overall
title last year, and this year’s elite field boasts some strong names with
Chris Eschbach on the men’s side, and Laura Drake on the women’s side.
·
7/20 – The Sunset Sprint Triathlon & Duathlon,
Bridgeton, NJ
(
http://www.lin-mark.com/entrysunset02.htm)
This race is an absolute staple on the Mid-Atlantic
Calendar. Many time host of the
Mid-Atlantic Sprint Championship (and Sprint Nationals in 1999), this race
always brings out the fastest of the fast.
I’ve never personally done it (for me, I’m just getting up to speed when
a sprint tri is over), but everyone I’ve talked to about it simply RAVES.
The ½ mile swim in Sunset Lake gets under way at
8:00am, with the first 2-mile run of the duathlon starting at the same
time. From there the triathlon heads
out into the smaller rolling hills around Bridgeton for 16 miles, with the
somewhat drier duathlon competitors following the same rolling course.
The fast final 5K run for everyone is a
cross-country romp that takes you past the
grounds of the constantly improving Cohanzick Zoo, and straight into one of the
better post-race parties around. One
important note – due to the size of the field (400+ usually) all athletes will
be parking at the local high school football field parking lot, and riding
their bikes to the lake.
Be sure
to leave enough time for yourself! Neither Linda nor
Mark from Lin-Mark Computer Sports (the race timers) will give you extra credit
for running a 5:20 mile to get to T1, okay?
7/21 – The Anthracite Triathlon, Jim Thorpe, PA (
http://www.geocities.com/AnthraciteTriathlon/)
In 2001, 79 athletes raced the first edition of this
Olympic Distance event. Many more are expected for the second after hearing
nothing but good things about it. The
1500-meter swim takes place in Mauch Chunk Lake, a fresh-water lake wedged
between two mountain ridges. There was
no map on the website at publication time, but without currents or tides to
worry about, you can look forward to a pretty smooth swim.
The 40K bike course Bike
will begin and end at Mauch Chunk Lake and pass through the towns of Summit
Hill, Lansford, Coaldale, Nesquehoning, and then back to Jim Thorpe. If you’ve raced the Wilkes-Barre Triathlon
before, the terrain should be very similar:
Hilly, rolling, but still a fair test all the way.
The 10K run is takes place
on a mixture of a former rail bed and paved roads. It’s advertised as a shaded trail run that gradually descends
through dense woodlands, rhododendron & laurel thickets to the turn around
point and then ascends back on Lentz Trail Road to the start/finish line.
The race website was
filled with quotes singing the praises of this race and its staff, so this
looks like an event that could become a tradition in almost no time at all.
7/27 – The High Rock Lake Triathlon, Salisbury,
NC
(
http://www.set-upinc.com/)
Rounding out our month of
racing, we head back down to North Carolina one more time for one last
Sprint. Brought to you by the same
folks of Set-Up, Inc., (think Triangle Triathlon – it was only a few paragraphs
back) this race moves to a new location for 2002.
The 750-meter swim is a
half-square in High Rock Lake that starts at the Elks Club and takes two
left-turns to bring you to the transition area (and finish line later on).
The bike is an
out-and-back course with a single left hand turn on the way out, the
turn-around, and then a single-right turn back to T2. The 20K (12.4 miles) will go by quickly for sure!
The closing 5K run looks
almost more technical then the bike!
You’ll leave T2 and follow Gravel road to a dirt-path, which takes you
to Topsail Road. From there you’ll make
a right onto an out-and-back section of pavement, then back to the finish the
way you came.
Unlike the Triangle Tri
this race isn’t yet sold out, but its close!
As of the time of this writing, there were 94 spots left – hurry!
So that’s what’s going on in
the region this month – and there’s still two full months of warm, summer
racing to go! Good Luck out there, and
maybe I’ll see you on the road soon enough.
I don’t know which one to pick (although that Anthracite race looks and
sounds awesome), but since I’m moving into a new house this month…any one of
them might be easier than the road I’ll have to follow!
Enjoy!
Bob Mina is the monthly columnist
for Xtri.com – The Home of Draft Free Triathlon Coverage on the web. If you were offended, bored, or put off by
any of the above material, whatever you do don’t go to http://www.xtri.com and click on the link for
“Hurricane Bob” on or about the last Tuesday of every month. He can also be reached at bob@bobmina.com - complaints are welcome;
compliments are encouraged.
