SoAz Oly- Patagonia Lake, Nov 2nd

"Water temperatures vary from year to year from the mid 60 degree range to the upper 70 degree range. For this event, 
Park Managers have asked that Wetsuits be mandatory unless water temperatures are over 75 degrees"

weather can be anything of course- but early november could be perfect.  typical day might have lows in the uppper 40's, highs in the 70's

it's hilly.

it's pretty.

very rural.

the village of Patagonia is cute.

Looks like the race organizer is new at Tri's, but given that we have so little Open Water in SoAZ (not like you Scottsdalians), I'd wanna' support any open water tri.  My favorite- now defunct, was the Suhuarita tri- 1000m swim in a housing development's pond.  

There are a couple little B&B places in Patagonia, but really, Nogales is practically as close to Patagonia Lake as the town of Patagonia is.  You can stay in a Motel 6, Super 8, Candlewood Suites kinda' place pretty cheap in Nogales (the American side).

Originally posted by ratherbeswimming Pretty sure I'm in for this one... I haven't registered yet, but why not?

I noticed a little 'warning' on their event page that indicated that the road might not be OK'ed by ADOT, and if not, it would turn in to a duathlon.  So, I emailed Kate the RD, and got this response:

"Update today from ADOT- they are waiting on a letter to come in from the Santa Cruz PD.  Everything else is in line and ready to go.  Lots of little details make ADOT a little tricky, which is why I put that on the website.  I'm 100% confident that we will have our permits within the next 10 days, so I have removed the warning from the web page."

So, that would have been a reason not to sign up, but the RD seems hopeful.  Personally, I'm gonna wait another 2 weeks before I sign up, but am looking forward to it.  

Originally posted by desertchica I really hope this event takes off as we have nothing with ows down here. I am starting to think about what races I want to do next year and this one be really nice. No over night stay needed. I did the Firecracker sprint at the Hillenbrand pool this summer. Next year I am wanting to tackle something with open water. I am trying to figure out if I could at least volunteer for the Patagonia race this year. We need this thing to take off!

You can sign up for just the swim, too!

weather forecast looks perfect.  It will be cold when setting up transition at sunrise, but should be 55F at swim start, in the low 60's when we get on the bike, and pushing 70 on the run.  Light winds, sunny and dry.

My 'taper' turned into a week of getting slammed at work and not doing much of anything.  Can't even get in a swim... argh.  but, I wasn't gonna' win anyway.  It'll be fun.

Game On!

I'm volunteering! I'll be a wetsuit stripper and a director on the bike/run course.

I may also be hosting a warm-up session in the water pre-race. 

I'll also be working packet pick-up tonight!

I'll be the guy in the Orca wetsuit...towards the FOP, 

that forgot to put his trisuit on underneath...    

thanks for volunteering. 

Oh snap.

Thanks for Volunteering Elaine!  What a magnificent race.

although... I really needed a stripper and was counting on you.  Couldn't find you at the swim-out

95 in the Tri, but add in the Aquathon and relays, and I believe that the RD said 116 racers.  Certainly on the small side, but big enough to have a nice field.  A good showing from the tri teams from UofA, ASU and Colorado U.  So, if you were college aged, you had plenty of competition.  Only 4 guys in my age group (45-49) and one of them smoked me by about 2 weeks.  (ouch!)  But I loved the race.  Water wasn't bad at all, weather was perfect, course was hilly, scenery was SoAZ at its best.  I don't mind hills, but I hate rough roads- and the roads were nice and smooooth; well, at least the cycling roads.  It was a bit of a 'trail' run (actually just a dirt road) for the run leg, but that was cool.  Plenty of water/sports drink stations on the run route- which were appreciated.  

Wasn't sure if this was race organized or not, but when I got to T2, someone had taped a Gel to my towel.  So I grabbed it and ate in on the run.  Espresso flavored!  yum. (how did they know)

Overall, it was a well organized and run small event, all went very well-  and it's our only real open water tri in SoAz.  

Kudos to Kate Anderson.  

SERIOUSLY awesome race. Kate did a fantastic job!!!

Race report:

http://beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=505047