Anyone run the Philly Tri?

I'm doing the Philly olympic as my second tri, my first was this morning on Staten Island. From what I have been told both the Philly and NYC are swimming with the current so they shouldn't be that bad. I know the area and the two loops on the bike for Philly don't look that bad. You would be surprised what you can do in a month if you know what to focus on.

I volunteered in 2009 and raced the Olympic in 2010. We were not able to swim last year because a Sprint participant had drowned and they were still searching the river for him. They made it a run/bike/run and it was super-duper hot, so I can't tell you much about the water. In 2009, if I remember correctly, they bussed you from transition across the river to one of the boathouses, and you swam downstream across the river. If I remember correctly, you had to swim back upstream after the last buoy to get out of the water.

If they use the same course for the bike, it's two loops. I think there is one significant climb and one significant descent. It gets pretty narrow in a few places, and there is at least one narrow, tight turn on a downhill that struck me as kinda scary.

I had planned to do swim/bike/quit last year. When they cancelled the swim, and since they were kicking me out of tranisition anyway, I decided to do the first run leg. I'm pretty sure the run course is pretty flat, and bound to be really, really hot.

Good luck!

I'm doing the sprint course this year. It is my second tri. I live by the Art Museum just at the edge of the course. I know that T3triathlon, the local group I'm involved with, is doing practice bike rides on both courses this week. I'll probably do both and can post a report when I'm done. I've run the course and along the river it's entirely flat, but it's a little hilly on the Edgley Field/Mount Pleasant loops. From looking at the map the Olympic just extends the course through the east side of Fairmount Park (Sweetbriar loop) and there is one uphill but not too bad. I run this all the time.

Both runs are along the river and are entirely flat. Yay!

Can't say much about the Schuylkill since I've never swam it. Philly natives have a bad memory of when it was an open sewer, although I have a friend at EPA who says it's quite clean for an urban river.

I was there last year as a volunteer and it was a difficult time due to the drowning on Saturday and the cancelled swim/heat on Sunday. Saw lots of my friends really struggling with cramps.

Almost got punched out by a few people too - I was working the exit from T2 and one of the race officials came over and told me to let people know they were shutting the course due to heat. People wanted to finish no matter what!

If you are a runner or bike it is a great place to live.You have the 8.5 mile loop path around the river, 12 miles of maintained trails in Wissahickon, and the 25 mile bike path to Valley Forge.

Do the Philly marathon or ING half marathon, also called PDR (Philly Distance Run). Both courses are flat and fast, and a lot of people do PDR as a marathon tuneup. Weather has been good the last couple years, too.

I was out of Philly for 19 years on and it's amazing how nice it is. From my door to the Art Museum steps is .41 miles, according to Garmin

Less than 3 blocks from the start and finish of the above races. I become the baggage claim/porta-potty/BBQ stop before and after races and I love it.