2013 USAT Mideast Regional Championship - Course Report

 

June 30, 2013 Epic Races and the Waterloo State Recreation Area hosted the 2013 USAT Mideast Regional Championship.

I love competition but almost didn't sign up for this race because I had never heard of it.  In fact, no one had....well, sort of.  Boy am I glad I didn't pass this one up!

 

The venue, just east of Jackson, MI, under a slightly milder format, was formerly known as the Waterloo Triathlon by Elite Endeavors.  I never raced “Waterloo”, but back in the day, (roughly 2000-2010),  “Waterloo” was one of those local races that drew in all of the best local triathletes in the area.  Racers would battle it out for bragging rights over the ½ mile swim, 16 mile bike and 5 mile trail run.

After registration peaked at nearly 500 in 2008, for unknown reasons participation steadly declined to less than 150 last year, Elite Endeavors pulled the plug on this once great, mid-west classic.   

Fast forward one year, Eva Solomon and her team at Epic Races have upped the ante by stretching the course to a full olympic distance race and taking it over to turn this race great again! 

Having never done this race and to try to help get the word out on the new "waterloo", here's a detailed run down of course for the 2013 USAT Mideast Regional Triathlon Championship.

Swim – 1.5K – Portage Lake

Beautifully clean and clear. Smooth like glass and a 2 loop clockwise layout that was perfectly marked with bright orange, round sight buoys and huge yellow, triangular turn buoys.  3 waves: M39 and Under, M40 and over, all women.  Sandy, rock free entry. Deep water start.  Paddle board lifeguards were scattered throughout the swim.

Another nice feature; a huge poster board was placed right at the beach showing the swim course, each buoy, and directional flow arrows.  It seems like such a minor detail but pre-swim instead of hearing 100 people pointing out inflatables and discussing where they thought the course would be, I only overhead about 5 of these pre-race jittery conversations!

Post heat-wave water temp 77.5, (how convenient!)

T1

Nice, open, grassy transition area, Plenty of space between racks (read: growth).  I’d guess it was maybe a 1/8 mile run up the hill from the beach. A smooth-ish paved path guided the way up. One of my few gripes about the race was the placement of the timing mats.  Instead of a timing mat right at the swim exit, it was located right before entering transition at the top of the hill.  The result of a nice, quick T1 time was the appearance of a slightly slower swim.  Maybe it’s just me, but would have preferred to see a more accurate swim time and then be able to determine who flew up the big hill and through transition!

Bike – 25K** – single loop - rolling terrain

Rolling hills through rural Jackson County.  It was an open course with very little car traffic. (I think I saw fewer than 5 cars).  It was an honest course with mostly rolling hills that constantly forced a decision to “power up and over” or “hold steady and grind”.  Maybe a dozen 90 degree turns, which means I would classify it as a technical course. Skill and technique were required to make it into and out of each turn without scrubbing too much speed.  In my opinion, another key feature of a Championship course and I loved it!  Pavement was mostly good with a few sketchy/rough spots but generally speaking, pretty good road conditions.

Another huge shout-out  to Eva and her team of tons of volunteers! Out on the bike course, EVERY intersection was either patrolled by police/sheriff and or was staffed by a volunteer waving a big orange flag to direct you through the turn!  So instead of 20 people doing body marking and pointing racers down to the beach, they were out on the course and were truly being utilized! (no offense to the 3 wonderful body markers and pointers!)

Also out on the course, I saw a very sneaky moto bike marshal out on the course.  I must have seen him half a dozen times.  Once, he was even parked like a cop, tucked in following a  90 degree turn.  I saw a rap sheet of a dozen or so offenders on drafting and position fouls when the results were posted!  Way to get ‘em guys!  Legal racing must be enforced!

T2

Great! See T1 comments above. 

Run – 10K** – Mixed terrain (.75 miles paved, 3.75 miles dirt road, 1.5 miles single track trail)

10K Run Course

The run headed back out the paved park road, which allowed us to get a peak at the chasing bikers.  My garmin file confirmed that from transition all the way out of the park was a slow climb.  The course quickly turned on to a 2 mile dirt road out and back.  The rollers back there from my memory were more severe and anything out on the bike course.  Truly challenging terrain to test the legs and provide instant feedback about bike effort.  The out and back section again, allowed us to get another look at the leaders and chasers before taking a left hander onto another 1.5(ish) mile dirt road section.  I think I counted 3 aid stations serving water and gatorade throughout.  This year we also, had the pleasure of a few scary country dog showing us their displeasure at a bunch of  spandex clad junkies interrupting their quiet Sunday morning.  All bark, no bit (I hope), but nonetheless, some nice encouragement to keep us moving!

The final 1.5 miles of the run were in my opinion the signature feature of this race.  If 1.5K swim, 40K bike and a 10K weren’t enough, the single track trail run that lead us to the finish line literally brought many to their knees!  The trail twisted and turned through the dense Waterloo forest.  We were greeted by roots and rocks, off cambered switchbacks and some quad pounding descents, the longest mile was definitely the final one!  Slippery leaves and mud added to the challange!  It felt damn more like an Xterra run but that was the beauty of it!  If triathlon was supposed to be easy, they’d call it _____ (fill in your own blank)!

The Finish

After a nice downhill approach to the finish, the finish area was positioned conveniently between the swim start and transition.  Bottles of cold water and your standard post race pizza party ensued under the pavilion.  Some nice prizes were awarded to the OA Male, Female and Masters racers, including gift certificates to the local bike shop.  AG awards ran 3 deep with our pick off the prize table for our efforts.  Top 5 in AG or Top 33% qualified for the coveted AG Nationals race in Milwaukee, WI later this August!

All and all, my overall impression of this race is very high.  Eva and her team are definitely on the right track.  If I had to nit pick a points for potential improvement, I'd include; a name, if you can’t call it the Waterloo Tri, think of something and advertise it more.  Rethink timing mat placement, stretch the course to match Olympic distance standards (my garmin measured 24.05 mile bike, 6.03 mile run).  Speed up the awards, everyone is exhausted and many have long drives home.  Oh, and mosquitoes….do something about all of those pesky transition and finish area mosquitoes! ;)

All joking aside, this was an absolutely fantastic event and without a doubt a race start thinking about for next year!  It was very clear to me that this is a race for racers, put on by racers!  Attention to detail was their best attribute!  I can’t wait to see this event grow back into a local Battle of the Best just like “Waterloo” used to be. 

Thanks for Reading

Best of luck and be safe out there!

next up: USAT Mideast Regional - Race Report