Question:Newbie to the sport and I can't figure out why they require you to check-in
and rack you bike the day before. Some races are 2 hours away, nice drive
in the morning, but not so far that I'd wan tot spend lodging money because
I had to getthere on friday to check-in my bike. Is this common throughout
the tri world, or is it certain races that do this?
Answer:
I've seen many events talk about a day before check-in, but never seen
it in practice. Many do push a day before registration, and I agree that
it's often a total waste of your time ... even with the pre race discussion
you have blatant blocking and drafting the next day. Their motivation is
to do the simple tasks that have to be done for all 200-2000 athletes before
race day, when they're racing an 8am start deadline.
Most events do allow day of registration, sometimes officially, sometimes
not. It's not always possible to be there the day before, during
business hours, as some would like.
I've never seen it in practice either. While many RDs may _like_ to do
day-before check in, I suspect the fact that they don't may have something
to do with cost and liability.
Suppose an RD requires day-before bike check in for a race with 500
participants. They then have to provide a security guard for roughly a half
million dollars worth of bikes (possibly more) which will be sitting in the
transition area all night.
Why would they undertake that responsibility if they don't absolutely _have_
to? Any RD's have any input on this?
I've probably done about 150 or so triathlons in the past 18 yrs from
Nova Scottia to Hawaii....during that time, I can only think of about
4-5 times that they required "day before bike rack" check in. Those
few instances were very large triathlons and LC (long course) tri's.
In the US, I haven't seen it become that common of a requirement.
The reason is simple, the time delay of starting the race is
significantly reduced. So, with some tri's that have (say) 2000 plus
entrants, the pre-race bike rack requirement becomes a necessity.
Usually, the race director can make exceptions to the rule... all you
need to do is call and see if he (or she) will make an exception.
However, if it is a very large (and well organized) triathlon... they
may not be able to make an exception.
I'm a relative newbie to the sport with only 2 sprints under my belt
and one of those required pre-race day bike check-in. For that matter,
there was no day of race registration either. Then, again, as suggested it
was a very large race. The women's only Seattle Danskin race drew a crowd
of over 4,500 racers! However, they had security on-site over-night so I
wasn't concerned. I would only suggest that you take a cover of some sort,
small towel maybe, to put over your handle-bars and/or seat, so they don't
get wet with dew.
4500 is definitely atypical, as is the preday check-in. Personally I think
that series has grown way too big - they either need to schedule a lot
more dates, or just close the size down.
How many waves for that number? Isn't it a sprint length race?
It is rather large, isn't it. But I gotta tell you, it was a whole lot of
fun.
As for waves....I belive they went off every 3 minutes, approximately 50 to
a group and it took around 2 hours. It was, however, extremely well
organized so, to the best of my knowledge, everything went off without a
hitch.
Wow, sounds like there were almost 60 waves total at one every 3 minutes for
2 hours.I do chip timed races with only 5 waves and at least half the time
someone in my age manages to do the swim in 4-5 minutes because they went
off in wrong wave. Can't imagine the confusion and faulty results that
might result from 60 waves
What would it take to register the start time for each contestant? Is
it just a need for a timing strip, or is there also a limit on the number
that can be read quickly?
For races like Alcatraz where everyone jumps off a boat, I'd prefer a
more accurate timing method then "my wave went at +2 minutes, so take
two minutes off my time." Then we wouldn't need to rush the gates,
jump ahead of other age groups, etc.
The problem at the chip timed events is there is no "start" timing matt so
folks who go off mistakenly (or deliberately) in earlier waves aren't
caught. I realize that races that start with contestants in the water pose
a problem. For those races I'd propose a matt reading before contestants
enter the water to verify they are in the correct wave. There's still a
problem with awards being passed out at the finish line as someone starting
in the wrong wave wouldn't get caught until all the matt timings were
combined.
The inconveinience of a large triathlon can be tough for a small/medium
community to take. The Race Director (RD) may sell the deal with figures
regarding positive economic impact: restaurants, hotels, other services,
taxes, etc. You have to show some benefit(s). I believe that this would be
one of the reasons for this policy, but maybe not the main one.
