5150 roll call

Well that just sounds like too much fun, I'll probably join you. Bad luck for SM Park this year, first Corporate Challenge then today. Last year 5150 swim was cancelled due to rain. Hopefully better conditions this year. 10 day forecast shows 40% chance of rain that day of course that will change.

Time? I might be in for a quick brewski Friday.

Mark- I think I'm dropping her off about noon or 1. Packet pickup is 2-7 from what I read so I could see me having lunch and beers from 1-5 or so then grabbing my packet on my way back into KC. Text me when you are heading up and we can try to hook up

I'll be there. I think I'm going to do packet pick up race day morning, though.

Current water surface temp is 79 degrees. It would be nuts if this race was wetsuit legal...

I'm in, sending FB message about packet pick up caravan

You guys may want to double check your Friday plans before heading there. I don't see Friday pick up listed on their website anymore.

Hey guys, I just wanted to get a feel for how you felt about the event itself, organization, course marshalling, traffic control. etc. My wife raced it and was very disappointed overall.

Same. My swim wave took off with half of us still warming up. We couldn't hear anything being announced from the water. Bike was long, by a mile (not sure how that happens, but I'm assuming it was for a better turn around spot), no announcer, no excitement what so ever. Oh, and that bike mount/dismount.... Wish I could have just sat and watched. My wife said it was quite enjoyable (Sorry Reece...) Missing Ultramax....

I don't mind entertaining spectators, yeah, I couldn't get my left foot clipped in and the bike mount was uphill so I fell over. Awesome, then I dropped a chain coming back into the park on the DAM hill. Not my best bike split. No free Hy-Vee spots this year, was hard to hear with that darn blower (air for swim enter/run exit arch) so close to the swim start. All the caps were the same color so there was no age group visualization. First water station had ONE person when Pete got there and there was ONE cup of water so she had to refill. When I got there, there were TWO people but not a bunch of pre-filled water cups etc. Could have used more volunteers at aid station #1 at least.

I paid $65 early registration I think so I actually didn't expect much more.

Uphill bike mounts, not good in my opinion. Pro's are probably used to it and they have much better bike skills than I....

WTC doesn't really excel at the 5150 experience like they do at the IM or 70.3 distance. Still, I would expect a little more from them. Maybe that mostly falls on Silverback.

I'm going to start volunteering my announcing services (serious).

Congrats to all those who raced!

Impersonate Ron Burgundy. Mike Reilly would be out of a job...

I really like the Silverback logo and think they do a good job of branding themselves. Short of that, nothing else about their race production (that I have seen) has been anything but average, or worse. I know they do KS70.3 which continually rates very highly, but I've not yet experienced that. I really harped on them after Tinman so I'm glad someone else brought this up.




The whole announcing thing just sounds silly, and I feel silly about bringing it up...but it definitely CAN add to the atmosphere. I can remember my very first tri and thinking that the Ultramax guy was so annoying. Looking back at it now, I can see the value and how it adds to the event, whether he's annoying or not. I've done Nation's in DC twice, and they had an annoying radio morning show personality talking. Again, somewhat annoying but it actually made the event seem BIG (it was) and helped generate a buzz among participants. I think a decent announcer could/should do the same thing for a 5150 event. It's not like this event doesn't mean anything--it's very "promotable". Barkeep....maybe you're the answer.

I wonder how much WTC actually has to do with these 5150 races. Yesterday was all Silverback. The 5150 in St. Louis last year was all Ultramax. It seems like they just license the title to a local RD and I guess it's up to the local RD to promote as they see fit.

From those that have done this and KS 70.3....how was it different as far as set up? Does KS 70.3 have a hill right after the bike mount?

For me personally, I had a pretty bad race. I didn't want to do it going in and my time was almost 14 minutes slower than my last tri in Chicago. That said, somehow I got a top 15 spot with probably the slowest qualifying time of any 5150 ever. Ha ha. Not sure if I am proud or embarrassed.

Edited by dprocket 2014-07-21 9:42 AM

You'd be great Mike!

The funny thing about silverback is that their biggest client is The Color Run. Those races are all about hyping up a crowd and from what I have seen on TV they do a great job of it. I imagine that their budget is a lot bigger for a color run and their expenses are a lot less, but I would think they could bring a little of that to triathlon. It is supposed to be fun. To many people take this sport way to seriously.