Well now I've done it and registered for my first Xterra triatholon (my first tri for that matter).
The race is on my birthday July 28 - figured it was kismet and went with it.
Has anyone done this race that can let me know what I've gotten myself into now?
I did this last year, it was my first tri and a well run event. I had two minor complaints.
1. No chip timing. Meaning your transition from each event was part of your time for that event. I was sloppy in the first transition and wasted a lot of time cleaning sand off my feet trying to get my bike shoes on and really would have liked to know how much time I actually wasted. I emailed back and forth with the promoter about this and apparently I was not the only one who complained about this and they will have chip timing for this years race.
2. There is a mandatory dismount area on the mountain bike course. This dismount area is a very tame although wide stream crossing. I have no idea why a mountain biker of even average skill would need to walk it. Promoter indicated that the park forced this on them, so it is what it is.
A couple of things you should know particular to this event and tri's in general;
1. Practice your transition, I struggled with this and wasted lots of time in this area. Get there early and setup your bike on the inside and put a bucket on the ground to dip your feet into to wash off the sand quickly. have a big beach towel or two ready to dry your feet on as well.
2. The swim is broken up into to 500 meter laps. You start on one side of the beach and run down to the other and then do you lap, get out and repeat. I was not expecting this and was not prepared to have a beach run between my laps. It was surprisingly painful and really impacted my time.
3. The mountain bike course is tame, but still very fun. This worked to my advantage as most of the people(outside of the serious competitors) were novice mountain bikers and I was able to pass a large number of people here and generally feel really swell about myself.
4. The trail run is BRUTAL, with the middle mile on the far side of the lake being very difficult. Very rooty and rocky, up/down ... etc. I basically hopped down the trail as opposed to running. That and the fire tower climb really sucked the last remaining energy I had out of me. The fire tower climb is in the open with the sun beating down on you.
5. Get a tri suit, changing in the transition area is frowned upon and I think will get you DQ'ed
BTW, think we rode together once at ringwood and talked about this event if I recall correctly. I was on the giant anthem with another guy on a nomad.
I am not doing this event this year, but that is not because of the quality of the event. I really wanted to do this, but I decided to do the super six pack and the darkhorse and something had to give. I do plan on doing this next year just to see how much my fitness has improved.
Good luck and have fun, I really did enjoy the challenge of my first tri and wish I could fit this in this year.