Sorry, no pictures, Craig got a few of Lisa and me but they are very blurry. Spring Valley Lake is a great place located in a country club in Victorville. The drive is less than an hour and it's a Saturday tri which are few and far between in California. The course is actually ok, maybe they could use a few modifications on the bike course (more on that topic to come), the run is a nice run around the lake. I haven't uploaded Craig's Garmin yet but the website says it's a 3.5 mile run. That said, and also the fact that I respect anyone who is a race director and I wouldn't want to do their job, this is my impression: this race organization needs a lot of work, it was the most poorly organized triathlon event I have attended. The venue is great it just needs infrastructure work. The swim was ok but at the pre-race meeting they announced that due to the request of a local fast female triathlete they were going to start the women first. Think about this, it is a non-sanctioned, low key, family friendly event, that means a lot of first timers and you are going to let the men swim over the majority of the women. No thanks, I don't care for black eyes and bruised ribs. My suggestion to accomodate the super fast of either gender is to create an "elite wave", then men, then women. They actually didn't start the women first because the timing company said they already had it set up to do men, then women, however they promised a women first start next year. The bike was a total disaster, it was not well marked, there was no one to flag the corners (except a child at a busy corner who waved a car in front of me!). I heard some people saying they went 10 miles, some said they went 18, it was supposed to be 14. Everyone coming into T2 the same time as I did was very angry. One woman who looked very fast and experienced was in tears and said she wasn't finishing the race. Everyone and let me emphasize everyone was angry. When I got to the first turn after being directed out of T1 there was a bike crash, I didn't see it happen but there was nothing to mark that turn, the crashed guys on the ground actually told me to come back, I had missed my turn. And so it continued, at one point I came upon a cone directing me back to T2, I turned, looked at my watch and said to myself "there is no way I just rode 14 miles in 20 minutes (I wish). I turned around and headed back down the road hoping I was going the right way. Please, please, put adult volunteers with a big orange flag at every turn. I understand it is the responsibility of the athlete to know the course, but just tell me a tri (especially sprint) where you had to read a map. The intersection on the college campus where a child (with no flag) was attempting to direct traffic should have been controlled by law enforcement.
The run also was not marked, or flagged. A police officer actually came and rounded up about 10 of us and told us to go back we had missed our turn. The very last turn was not marked, I looked at the street sign and thought, hmmm since I drove in on Country Club this morning, there might be a good chance I need to turn here and finish on Country Club.
I think this race has a great amount of potential, I loved how close it is to home, the actual course is ok they just need a lot more support. Oh and one more thing while I'm griping, why did I pay more to register online before the race than did my friend registering on site???
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