New York Road Runners Sprint Triathlon Official Website

Jason C.
New York, NY

  (08-25-2009)

"What a great inaugural triathlon for the New York Road Runners! I have participated in a number of NYRR events in the past, including 1/2 and full marathons and their expertise in organization, logistics and execution is the best I've ever seen. So knowing that, I didn't hesitate to sign up for their first triathlon event. I just so happened to be training for a longer triathlon this fall, so this event was a good intro to the sport.

It began with a 400m pool swim, followed by 16k bike and 5k run. I'll go through each part in detail.

For many first-time triathletes, the swim is the hardest part. The 400m swim takes place in the Flushing Meadows Corona Park pool, a beautiful new Olympic-sized venue. You swim back and forth across 8 lanes, snaking your way from lane to lane after each lap. They started the race one person at a time, staggering each by 10 seconds. Prior to the race, we are asked to self-seed ourselves in terms of expected finish time for the 400m swim. Having been training, I had a good sense of what my time would be. However, there were others who could have been a little more modest. What ended up happening was a lot of pool traffic bunching up making for very crowded lanes. At one point, there were 4 of us in a single lane all trying to get through and it made things a bit chaotic. My advice would be not to panic and just do what you can, swim breast stroke if things get too crazy and then pass if you can later on. I definitely got whacked a few times but I heard that is par for the course. I finished the swim portion a bit quicker than I estimated and got out and ran to the transition zone.

Once on the bike, the course takes you around a 3.3 mile loop around the park 3 times. The course is pretty narrow, and has a fair number of sharp turns where you need to slow down. There are a number of clearly marked speed bumps along the course which are a drag, but nothing to get too upset over; they can be avoided by riding near the curb. Each major turn is clearly marked with cones and volunteers pointing where to go. The whole course is pretty flat and there are a couple of straightaways where you can pick up some serious speed. I would say I spent about half the time in the aero position, the other half navigating traffic and turns in a more upright position. One weird thing - you have to count your own laps using the honor system as there are no timing mats on the bike course to ensure doing so. Not a big deal as there was a race marshal giving instructions at the beginning of the lap telling you which way to go over and over again. Pretty straightforward bike portion overall. Once you're done, you head over to the dismount part and it's a short jog over to the transition zone to start the run.

Having some running experience, I saved my energy for this part. It's a 5k loop of the inner part of the park. Again, it's well laid-out with clearly marked cones that show where you need to go. There were 2 or 3 aid stations along the way serving Gatorade and water, enough for a short course. It would have been nice to have mile markers but there were volunteers at the first mile, 1.5 mile and 800m to go points telling you how much farther there was. The race winds up in a nice open clearing where spectators can cheer and watch as you cross the finish line. Good food (bananas, pretzels, Gatorade, water) at the end, as is standard for NYRR. Wish there was a medal too, but I didn't see any.

There was an awards ceremony after, which I skipped out on but all in all, I really enjoyed the race. I'd definitely do it again and recommend it as a good introduction to triathlons!"

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2009