High Cliff Triathlon Official Website

The "Nitty Gritty" Details (User Opinions)

Dan A.
Wautoma, WI

  (08-10-2009)

"This was my first half-iron at 15 and I loved it! The swim was decent with a little bit of choppy water. The bike is no fun in the beginning with the hill, but after you pass that, it isn't too bad. The run goes through 2 loops of forest/open fields and the open fields feel very hot. Finished strong and was happy to finish. "

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2009

Jason E.
Sun Prairie, WI

  (06-22-2009)

"Course:

Swim: Nice, shallow swim with a very sandy lake bed. The beach and the starting chute are narrow, but controlled with small waves of 50 athletes. You can walk the first few hundreds meters, which is kind to those of us who take a few minutes to settle down. Running up the steep hill from beach to transition could be potentially treacherous despite efforts to cover trouble areas with grippy carpet. I heard some mentions of the water being very choppy. I didn't think so. Therefore this lake must not get very choppy.

Bike: Very flat after the relatively tame hill coming out of transition. Mostly very nice, smooth roads, with 1 or 2 being a little rough. Adequate bottle stations (3 of them at miles 15, 30, and 45). Sufficient intersection support, and lots of marshals. Not too many turns.

Run: Run starts off going up the same "tame" hill as the bike, except it’s not so "tame" on the run. Then a double loop with a variety of surfaces, from broken granite, to dirt singletrack (watch out for roots and rocks), soft sand ("quicksand"), to pavement, and even grassy prairies. About 75% shaded. Little fan support outside of the stick portion, but adequate aid stations with water, Gatorade, two stations with Hammer Gel, one station had Endurolytes, and another with ice. The ice was gone on my second loop, and it was a very hot day.

I'll give it a "4" losing most of the point because of the multisurface run course. It was advertised as being shaded with some variety, but possibly under advertised as being extremely diverse.

Crowd: Crowd support was sufficient throughout the transition areas, but non existent throughout the entire bike (very rural), and most of the run (State Park forest). More crowd support could lead to a better effort.

Organization: I found this race to be very well organized in just its 6th year of existence, but this is an organization that produces 16 races at this time. Experience doesn't hurt. However, I was disappointed in cheap, generic medals with paper stickers. Medals are typically low on my list of grading criteria, but I've gotten better medals at 5Ks.

Overall: I enjoyed this race. The venue is beautiful, but very quiet. The organization is professional, but kind of cheap. I would do it again depending on the timing, but wouldn't necessarily go back before trying other races first.
"

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2009