Old Point Tidewater International Triathlon Official Website

The "Nitty Gritty" Details (User Opinions)

Jason P.
Stafford, VA

  (06-13-2010)

"So many things went right today I don't know where to start. I have been excited about this race for months. Mostly because the bike course was on Fort Monroe and that was where we were going to park the trailer for the weekend. I was pretty confident that Tracee and the kids would be close to the bike course to cheer. Lets just say the front door of the trailer was about 25 yards from the bike route - I could not have planned it any better. This race is new on in the Virginia Triathlon Series so I had no idea what to expect from the course. The entire course was a sprint distance that international racers did twice - even the swim. My very faithful triathlon buddy, Bryan, was also running this race. We hooked up for a family style heavy carb meal at Mama Rosas - excellent food - and then headed to pick up our race packets. That is when we discovered that the swim course was two 750m laps - but you had to get out of the water to start the second lap. How was that going to work? Race day was an early start with all of the usual pre-race setup events - rack bike, body marking, timing chip, and go to the porta-john 3 times. I was in the second wave - Clydesdale division. The water temp was 75 at the start so I put on my wet suit and was ready for 2 750m swims. Honkkkkk - there is the horn, start swimming. It was a bit more crowded in the water than normal but by the first turn I had my swimming space. I really tired to concentrate on form - stroke, glide, breath, repeat. And of course it worked, I really felt good in the water and turn two came up fast. I swam to the beach and then got out of the water and jogged over to the start line to do it again. This was interesting, it gave you a great opportunity to adjust your gear and catch your breath. Plus I now know the course so get to it. I was out of the water in 32:10 and heading to T1. I knew that I had fans on the course so I was very excited to get biking. The course was very flat and fast, I found a tempo and just started pounding out the miles. I started to come up to the trailer and saw my fans cheering me on. It was by far the best part of the race. There was a nice tail wind head out but wow also a good head wind coming back, I had to down shift to keep my pace. Some of the road areas were in disrepair and I saw about 5 bikers on a the side of the road fixing flats. I really should carry a spare. I was finished with the bike and now the 10k run. The course was once again 2 loops of a 5k which passed the finish line 3 times. This actually was nice - I could see the race clock. And yes the first time I was that clock I knew I had a PR in the works. As always the run started slow but picked up to a nice pace around 1.5k into it. I saw Bryan for the first time on the course coming back on my first lap. On the second lap I new a PR was in the bag - but what would my time be? I saw the mile 5 marked and started to get a little sad because I knew it was almost over. Mile 6 with on .2 miles to go, last right hand turn (almost missed it) and crossed the line in 2:46:08. Which is my new PR plus was good enough to place 2nd in my division (nice running cap as my prize) This is a great course and will do it again. Needs Improvement - Gatorade at the finish and sports drinks at the water points.

By the Numbers
32:10 Swim
3:17 T1
1:06:10 Bike
2:20 T2
1:02:12 Run
2:46:08 NEW PR "

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2010