This review for the Olympic/Intermediate Distance Course for TriRock San Diego on September 22, 2013. This is the first time that I had competed at TriRock San Diego.
Pre-Race: The race expo was held in the grassy area outside of the Hilton, where a lot of the out-of-towners were staying. Side note, the Hilton is a great hotel to stay at if you want to compete in this race. The hotel is a 5 minute walk to the swim start and the transition area. Back to packet pick-up, I was able to pick up my packet without a problem, and there are a good amount of volunteers helping everyone out. There were a few booths selling triathlon gear, and some had really good discounts! I got myself a pair of triathlon shorts for 50% off!
Course: The swim was brutal, to say the least. We started along the dock, and swam out about 20-30 yards for an in-water start. The first part of the swim was not to difficult. But when I made the first right turn into the bay, I was fighting the current. It felt at times that I was not even moving in the water. After fighting the current to get to the “U-Turn” portion of the swim, I was hit by one of the buoys in the bay. It looked like the buoy was moving from North to South. Once I got around the buoy, I was able to swim with the current (which helped a lot), and get back to the swim start and get it of the water. It felt like I was in the water forever, and when I checked my watch, it showed nearly 49 minutes! I have averaged roughly 32-34 minutes in previous Olympic distance triathlons. So that was very disappointing to see that on my watch after getting out of the water. On to the bike course, it was very flat. The only elevation was an overpass by the beginning and ending of each lap. The remainder of the course, as mentioned before, as very flat. I will commend TriRock for putting people out by the train tracks this year and directing and warning people of the oncoming tracks. I had heard horror stories from competitors in previous years of accidents on the train track area. I do commend them on listening to the athletes concerns and adjusting. The remainder of the course was through the US Naval base in San Diego. There were a lot of turns in the base, which kept my speed down, but it was a very scenic and enjoyable bike course.
Run Course: Again, very flat! Both laps seemed to go by very quickly, especially since I was chasing a fellow competitor through out the run portion. I was very happy with the run course. I would give the full course a B. The Bike and Run would get an A, and swim would get a D.
Post race: The post festival was great. It had a good band, a great beer garden, and a great breakfast! The only gripe that I have about the post race is there were no bands along the course. I have competed in a few Rock N’ Roll marathons before and there were many bands out on the course. It was a little disappointing, but not a deal breaker.
Overall, I would give this race a B. I will definitely compete in this event next year. I would ask the TriRock coordinators to focus on improving the swim. Otherwise, thanks for a great experience.
Shameless plug: Follow any of race endeavors on Twitter: @DavefromPhilly.
