Submitted on behalf of KCollier
First off…I have to thank Race Grader for the free entry. This was my first time doing the San Diego TRI Classic and I LOVED IT!
I loved that it was a smaller race than most of the ones I usually sign up for. To me, it had more of that “small town race” feel about it. It wasn’t like it didn’t have a lot of amazing athletes, but it was just smaller. Maybe its the timing of it? September doesn’t have as many triathlons as some of the other months in the season.
Race packet pick up was a breeze and there were a few vendors around to check out. You also got a small tour of Moment Cycle Shop in order to finish your packet pick up. I have never been inside the shop…I will have to go back one day when it’s less crowded.
To combat the expected heat…it started early. That to me isn’t so bad because you never really sleep well the night before a race…so getting up an hour earlier isn’t really a big deal…the pay off was worth it.
I loved that we could drive into the area and park close to the venue with NO issues. The transition site was on the east side (backside) of Liberty Station. Parking was in the lots along the water way. Maybe it’s because we were early…but I didn’t hear anyone complaining about parking…so it must have worked out for everyone.
The transition area was on grass. At first, I didn’t know what I thought of that, but later…I really liked it. I think I liked it because by the time I ran in from my swim…I had run along the grass enough that any dirt/rock/sand debris was off my feet and they were pretty clean before I put my socks on for my bike ride. The transition was set up by race type/sex and age group…so when we saw a few men in our section…it made us wonder what was up. One of the ladies in our section asked and found out that he thought there would be a faster entry and exit between transitions. He didn’t move and was crowding her out until an announcement was made stating if you were not in your proper transition space, you would be DQ’d or penalized. So, he finally moved..but he was really nasty about it. My thought was…”Seriously dude! Way to make an impression on the ladies.”
Please continue to read my race report on my blog: http://mytrinlifebykimcollier.com/2013/10/05/san-diego-triathlon-classic/