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2005-09-16 2:17 PM

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Subject: Anyone done the Greenfield MA tri?
Anyone do this one in the past few years? If either the sprint or the oly here were one of the three that I am going to do in a year (I'm sticking to MA because I want my wife and kids to be at the finish line) , is it a good one?


2005-09-16 8:20 PM
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Subject: RE: Anyone done the Greenfield MA tri?

I haven't done it, but my coach highly recommends it. It is a small, locally run, long running Tri, that is put on well.

I'm thinking of doing it next year. The Oly is small in size and I like smaller races in general.

Kathy

2005-09-17 12:01 AM
in reply to: #248085

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Subject: RE: Anyone done the Greenfield MA tri?
D.Z. - 2005-09-16 3:17 PMAnyone do this one in the past few years? If either the sprint or the oly here were one of the three that I am going to do in a year (I'm sticking to MA because I want my wife and kids to be at the finish line) , is it a good one?


I volunteered at it this year.

It's nice. The location is the public "swimming pool" which is actually a park on a section of river. You go down stream and then turn around and go back up stream. The water is cold because it has recently been on Mount Snow in Vermont! It is also clean and not very deep and has no weeds.

The ride is a bit longer than a normal sprint and has a couple of noticeable hills, including one that is short but mean with switchbacks. It also has a long downhill section. It goes through country/residential lands and along a river, it is closed to traffic in some places and the traffic is extremely sparse in the others. It's two loops and goes by the grandstand and announcers call your name and people cheer. Oly is four loops IIRC.

I don't really know the run, I've never done that part. It's a fairly hilly area so it won't be a flat run, but I don't recall hearing anyone complain about big hills on the sprint. The oly distance, though, goes the entire 7.5 miles of the bike loop, including the ugly hill.

Afterwards there's a nice lasagna dinner and ice cream bars and Lightlife meatless meat products and an awards ceremony. (There's a nice pasta dinner the night before, too.) There's no expo, it's pretty small, but it is USAT sanctioned.

A local elite triathlete, Patrick Bell, died suddenly in June after doing a triathlon in Ashland. He had been the youngest kid to ever do the Greenfield. This year his siblings all did the sprint and his youngest brother, 14, won the brand new "Patrick Bell Award" for the youngest person to finish the sprint. There's some hope that the award will attrack more youth to the sport. My 12 year old went to the pool to do laps with me this evening. I see it working.

The race is friendly to family/spectators in that there's a playground at the park and picnic benches as well as a grandstand and it's easy to see the swimmers & runners coming in as well as the cyclists going by during the loops.  There's a place within walking distance to get soft-serve and a concession stand at the park as well.

I'm planning on doing the race next year. The only reason I didn't do it this year was that I had just done my first one, the Danksin, the week-end before and I wasn't ready to "tri" again.


Edited by Gwendal 2005-09-17 12:05 AM
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