Tri Key West Olympic Triathlon : Official Thread

Had a really good time in KW this weekend.

RR is up.

I am relatively new here on this forum and 2011 was my first season doing triathlons. I did 8 sprint tries this year, (and am the Broward County Champion 60-64male.)  so perhaps I am not the most experienced to say what I am about to say, but in an effort to present information about this KW race I wanted to write what happened to me and many others at this race. I have waited almost 1 week post race to write this in hopes that some of the negatives from this KW race were corrected, but again I was dissapointed.

1. Race morning race staff were not on time and timing chips were not available at the time promised and the first wave racers had to sprint from the chip/marking area the 300yd to the race start line to make their wave start.

2. Race staff moving the swim bouys delayed the sprint race 3 times before the first wave sprinters were allowed to start.

3.  Racers exited the water and had to run 300yds across roads and through tennis courts to get to the transition area.

4.  Most infamous was the North bound bike racers getting STOPPED for 8 minutes by Monroe County Sheriff Deputies.  AND then AGAIN STOPPED for 3minutes by Monroe County Sheriff Duputies as the racers were Southbound.  Myself and others sat for a total of 11 minutes as all the biker racers we had passed rolled up and stopped beside us.

5.  There was only 1 KWTRI staff member to be found as I finished my race and he directed me to the Multirace tent to "go tell them about getting stopped by Monroe County Sheriffs".  Multirace staff WERE NOT responsible for these mistakes.  Multirace was at the KWTRI as timers only.

6. Immediately post race, KWTRI offered bottled water ONLY to each racer.  NO FOOD.

7.  Race pictures are still NOT AVAILABLE from KWTRI

I attempted for an hour post race to locate ANY KWTRI authority to voice my concerns to, finally gave up and got in my car and drove back to Ft. Lauderdale.

I will never go back to Key West for a triathlon unless there is a change of venue.

I hope this helps others who contemplate going to Key West for KWTRI 2012.

I didn’t do this race, but I was there in support of two friends that did and pretty much spent the entire day there.

1.  My friend was on the first wave and he didn’t have a problem collecting his timing sheet or being body marked.  In addition, had plenty of time for warm up, go to the resort restroom and talk to us before they were sent on their way.

3.  This part I agree with you, that run from the pier to the transition area looked rough, and also the last stretch of sand to the finishing line.  They ended up rolling the carpet found in the last 20 meters after about 15 runners had already come in.

4.  I cannot speak about this because I wasn’t in the course, but neither of my friends had a particular problem with this.  Most likely it was just one of those occurrences where they didn’t have any other option but to do that and a few racers where affected.

5-6.  I don’t see how you only found one staff member when you finished the race.  I was at the finish line until almost the very end and there were plenty of staff members and volunteers both prior and after crossing the line.  In regards to the food, once again I saw plenty for the participants and beer.

This is the second Key West Tri, and for a race that is that young they do an incredible job.  Do they have some problems, all races do but generally speaking I think is very well organized and it has an excellent vibe.

I’m doing it next year for sure.

I dunno what to tell you, I did hear other people talking about being stopped, but I will bet you that was a Monroe county thing, not a KWTRI thing.

As far as the pics go:

http://www.outdooreventphotos.com/Events/Multi-Sport-Events/Key-West-Triathlon-December-3/20388055_7HhkzC#1613381047_3bZjpzc

I really didn't have a problem with the rest of the things you didn't like. I did the oly, that seemed to go smoother.  They should have had more food if they ran out, but sometimes people take more than they should. At least they had enough water, thats all I really cared about.

I am relatively new here on this forum and 2011 was my first season doing triathlons. I did 8 sprint tries this year, (and am the Broward County Champion 60-64male.)  so perhaps I am not the most experienced to say what I am about to say, but in an effort to present information about this KW race I wanted to write what happened to me and many others at this race. I have waited almost 1 week post race to write this in hopes that some of the negatives from this KW race were corrected, but again I was dissapointed.

1. Race morning race staff were not on time and timing chips were not available at the time promised and the first wave racers had to sprint from the chip/marking area the 300yd to the race start line to make their wave start.

2. Race staff moving the swim bouys delayed the sprint race 3 times before the first wave sprinters were allowed to start.

3.  Racers exited the water and had to run 300yds across roads and through tennis courts to get to the transition area.

4.  Most infamous was the North bound bike racers getting STOPPED for 8 minutes by Monroe County Sheriff Deputies.  AND then AGAIN STOPPED for 3minutes by Monroe County Sheriff Duputies as the racers were Southbound.  Myself and others sat for a total of 11 minutes as all the biker racers we had passed rolled up and stopped beside us.

5.  There was only 1 KWTRI staff member to be found as I finished my race and he directed me to the Multirace tent to "go tell them about getting stopped by Monroe County Sheriffs".  Multirace staff WERE NOT responsible for these mistakes.  Multirace was at the KWTRI as timers only.

6. Immediately post race, KWTRI offered bottled water ONLY to each racer.  NO FOOD.

7.  Race pictures are still NOT AVAILABLE from KWTRI

I attempted for an hour post race to locate ANY KWTRI authority to voice my concerns to, finally gave up and got in my car and drove back to Ft. Lauderdale.

I will never go back to Key West for a triathlon unless there is a change of venue.

I hope this helps others who contemplate going to Key West for KWTRI 2012.

 Lucky this is not the Slowtwich forum or you would need a flack jacket for these silly complaints.. I thought it was a great tri and the only legitimate gripe you have is the traffic foul up and that was all Key West finest at fault there... Maybe a little dose of HTFU would do you some good..

I think that you need to request that next year the RD have a big wheel of cheese to go with your whine.

I did the sprint..was in the 1st wave.  So what the swim start got delayed...we ended up waiting all of an extra 5 mins or so.  

Don't know what you are taking about regarding timing chips...I got there racked my bike, and walked right up and got my chip...took all of 10 seconds.

So what if we had to run across the sand and tennis courts...where else are they going to put transition?  I think that it was a non-issue unless you are really keen on nit picking

At the finish...I got a water...walked 25 feet, got my timing sheet instantly...walked another 25 feet...got a bagel, fruit, etc...walked 25 more feet and got a free beer.  I really don't see anything to complain about here.

The police stopping people didn't effect me, but that does suck.  Hopefully that doesn't happen again...if so, shame on the RDs.

I thought it was a great race, great venue, and very well done.  The venue was one of the best parts of the race.  I thought that the pictures were up in a reasonable amount of time.  Honestly, I was too busy having fun in KW for the next two days to even think about the pictures.  Once I did think to look...they were up and were good for the most part.  Right after the race is not the time, IMO, to seek out a RD and start .  Send them an email a few days later.  It is more effective and will also allow for cooler heads and more rational thoughts and responses.

I had a blast and am hoping to do it again next...oh, and I traveled almost 1000 miles to get to the race.

I did the OLY also, and honestly I thought it was a well put together race. 

A few quirks here and there, mainly in pre-race registration (like having to get a post-it with your name and number before getting into the main line...I waited in line for 20 minutes, finally getting to the front to see that I needed a post-it...I was mad, but could honestly of cared less). 

I am going to go over the few points that you posted to share my insight on the events, because honestly it seems as if some pertinent information was omitted.  

1. "Race staff was not on time." I am not sure what time you were there, but I checked in after getting my bike in T and walked back out to get my timing chip and body-marked. I am an early arriver to transition out of habit, so I am not sure how late they truly were. I was in the first wave (OLY) of the day, and had plenty of time to BS with other racers in my wave, and casually walked to the swim start. 

2. "Race buoys"...Not sure about that since I did the OLY. But my only qualms with the swim was that half of my wave swam out to the sprint buoy, and the other half swam out to the OLY first turn buoy. I am not sure if those that swam out to the wrong buoy were forced to correct themselves, or if they went on their marry way...I signed up for the race very last minute, and honestly my problem with the swim course was my own fault for not 'scoping' things out properly. 

3. "Long Transition run"...Yeah, it sucked. But I would have rather had my bike there, than in the soft sand where you come out of the water at. The venue is Key West, not much opportunity to truly scope out a great location. I personally liked running through the tennis court since the surface was rather soft. Many M-Dot races have even tougher runs to T1, to the point where you look like you are running on sharp glass or molten lava. 

4. I heard about the Monroe County Sheriff stopping people, but this isn't a RD problem (at least on race-day). While I didn't hear if this happened last year or not, this is something that can and should be worked out before next year.  Ironman TX had something similar happen, and this actually resulted in a few people's Kona slots....that stoppage is a bit more important and severe in my opinion. 

5. "Lack of KWTri Staff": Not sure about this also...I saw plenty of people that were involved in the race, and actually ended up talking to the RD and associate on the way back to T1 to get my phone (so I could take a picture with Macca). 

6. "Lack of food": Once again, this is something that the RD cannot have constant control over. This is a race, not an all-you-can eat buffet. I saw many families encouraging their children to eat the bagels and fruit that were there, so I am not surprised that the food was gone. To me it seems a bit silly that people are whining about food (even when I finished)...I heard a gentlemen griping about paying 70+ dollars for a bagel and fruit. I wisely remarked that it was better than the 300-600 dollar pizza and soda after an MDot race. I do the races for the race itself, not the post-race food, which is just a welcome perk. (End of rant).

7. "Race Pictures": Another issue that doesn't warrant the RD being involved. The photography company needed to go through everyone's pictures to tag the appropriate bib numbers (and decipher the numbers for those that didn't display their bib properly)...this takes a tremendous amount of time. Typically pictures (regardless of sanction or size) are posted within a week, and I believe that they were well within that timeframe. 

As previously stated, a well thought out e-mail to the RD and staff would be far more efficient than a hot-headed race-day rant while the Race Director still  has people actively racing. 

All in all, I had a great time at the race. The race was difficult with that strong wind, but I still set a PR by over 10+ minutes. Trust me, I was in no mood to deal with BS problems at the race as I drove from Jacksonville late Thursday night (left at 10p) stopping in West Palm area, and getting up the next morning and driving to KW from West Palm. Post-race I immediately headed back to Jacksonville. I wanted to stay and have fun on Duval St, but unfortunately this race fell directly in the middle of finals week for me (I am a Graduate student), so I had to get back to the grind of studying. I will also say that the Sheraton down the street from the race was amazing. Race-day parking was alright first thing in the morning (just remember where you parked, because it looks way different when the sun is out, haha). 

this may seem like an odd question, but did anyone get/see a flyer for an event in the Bahamas while at Tri KW?  I sent some to the organizers for distribution after talking with them, but never heard back.  not trying to promote the event here, just see if the flyers were there!

Thanks