maandag 16 mei 2016

Volunteering at the Columbia Triathlon

Columbia_tri_du_logo-1200x351Yesterday, I volunteered most of the day at the Columbia Triathlon and Duathlon.  I have to give major credit to everyone who raced.  It was a cold day for a triathlon!  The air temps were in the 50’s and low 60’s, and the water was only 61 degrees!  And some people (very few, admittedly) swam without wetsuits!  That’s crazy!

I started my volunteer shift at the swim finish, and was so impressed with all of the swimmers.  The general reaction was “That was cold!”  A few came out with blue lips and more than one person was showing some signs of hypothermia, which was a little scary, but everyone made it through safely.  There were a number of people pulled from the water, and in temperatures like that, it’s not a surprise, especially for the first triathlon of the season for most of the racers.

To add insult to injury, it was incredibly windy.  The bike course was apparently pretty ridiculous.  I don’t know how anyone rode with disc wheels.  I watched a few bikes with disc wheels nearly blow off the racks in transition.  Definitely wouldn’t want to be hit by giant wind gusts from the side while riding that.  Not that I’m fast enough for disc wheels to make an appreciable difference anyway.

I finished my volunteering working at the finish line til the last person came through.  I was so impressed with all of the racers.  Everyone looked so strong and awesome.  And one thing I love about this race is that if you make the time cutoff off of the run course, you’re allowed to finish.  Doesn’t matter how long it takes you – there will still be people waiting, and the finish line will still be there.  Not every race has this option for many reasons, but I love that about this particular race organization.

I will say, watching this race made me a bit nervous for my race on Saturday.  Come on, Mr. Sun!  Warm up that water!  I think it’s supposed to rain Saturday too, which will make for some extra fun.  I’ve got to figure out what gear I want to wear.  Possibly a windbreaker.  Who knows at this point.

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