Pine Barrens Olympic Distance Triathlon Official Website

The "Nitty Gritty" Details (User Opinions)

keith v.
clementon, NJ

  (08-06-2009)

"Nice swim in Atsion lake, well marked. Bike course was easy to follow and on roads that were lightly traveled. Run was a bunch of loops through the woods-volunteers were there to point the way. Some areas were loose sand that you could not avoid-not fun to run in! Not a lot of spectators, but what do you expect for an Olympic distance? Basic amenities, nice medals (I got one!)"

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2008

DavyRockett .
Blankety blank blank, NJ

  (06-05-2009)

"First ever triathlon, course was great, but watch out on the run course. Last 1/3 of the run is ALL SAND. Oh, insult of insults at the end of my first tri. Haha. Great swim, nice bike course, run goes through trees. No real crowds, but a great atmosphere."

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2008

Gregory L.
San Francisco, CA

  (05-12-2009)

"the pine barrens triathlon was my first triathlon ever...and it was a great first one. Not too big, but not too small, and pretty close to home. the race was located in a park down in south jersey. to set the scene i had trained for it over a summer while living in maryland. i wasn't totally sure how much i would like triathlons after this, so i used the only bike i had at the time, my trek 850 steel-framed mountain bike. yes, that's right, i did my first triathlon on a steel-framed mountain bike :). however i did swap out the mountain bike tires for a pair of slicks, so i didn't look COMPLETELY ridiculous.

got to the transition early on raceday, since i had never really prepped a transition area before i wanted to make sure i gave myself enough time to setup. got my bike and run gear setup quickly and then headed down to the lake to get ready for the swim. the great part about this race is the lake temperatures are in the upper 70's (at least when I did it), so most people didn't even have wetsuits. the most interesting part about the swim was the color of the water. it was RED. it was a little bit freaky at first, but i got over it pretty quickly. supposedly the red color comes from the trees that surround the lake. the swim course was very pleasant, though in typical first time triathlete fashion i zig zagged all over the place since i had only open water swam once before.

hopped out of the water and quickly through T1 and onto the bike. the course was flat and fast as i remember it, mostly on country roads. and i even passed a few people w/ my mountain bike!

at T2 i grabbed a bit of nutrition and started on the run. had the typical wobbly legs at first, and took me till about mile 2-3 to get into my normal gait. the run course was a 2 loop course on a combination of trail, pine needles, dirt and road. overall very flat, well shaded and pretty fast. crossed the finish line somewhere in the 3 hour range. i honestly don't remember my time, and there was some kind of recording malfunction, so even to this day they don't have past results for my race :(.

overall it was a great first time triathlon, lots of really nice volunteers who helped along the way. except for the little timing snafu, it was a well organized and decently supported race. and if it was sucessful at one thing, it was getting me hooked on tris!
"

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2003