Des Moines ITU Triathlon on TV

It is not showing here in Cleveland because the Indians game.

^

one hour to go!

Is that carpeting in the pro's transition area? I even saw some of the same colored stuff on part of the bike course.

Yea... it is.

Shoot, if my transition area was carpeted the WHOLE way from the swim... and then to the mount line... I sure as h@ll wouldn't mind running barefooted.

Running on chip sealed parking lots barefooted- not for this girl!

$200K prize purse and a Hummer (I think that's what it was.) Those chicks are speedy, even in the wretched heat! Laura ? from USA won the deal. I got home just in time to see the end. Would have love to have seen the entire coverage. Very cool and inspiring and I wanted to throw up just watching them push it in the heat like that! Great stuff!

It's really interesting to watch the difference with draft legal races.  It's almost a team approach from the gun through the bike.  What I don't understand is, in a race that's got a purse like that, how would you not know to work as a team on the bike?  Chase 1 was all over the place.

I got to see a little of the race today - the run looked brutal!  I got teary eyed at th end - what a dork.

It was amazing the amount of carpet there... The road that fronts the capitol building was carpeted from T2 all the way to the end and they went over it each lap on the bike and run. So much blue carpet! Same with the swim; from the water exit to the re-entry, then from the [same] water exit through T1!

And someone mentioned heat... ugh you're not kidding! My wife and I were there as spectators and about got sick from it. Another thing that made the course difficult was that it was pretty hilly, and add to that the 25mph winds! Definitely only a course for the elite.

I am assuming that this is the race that was held in June. How did they send off the Pros? Because I did not see any AGers. I happened to look back through the RRs for the June race and no one mentioned the heat. Did it really get up to 100? I know it can get in the 100s, but usually not in June.

The woman on television said it was 100 but I don't recall hearing anyone at the event saying that. I know it was at least mid-90s which isn't much better, but I highly doubt it topped the century mark.

Edit:

Forgot to answer your other question. The AGers started at 7:00 AM the morning of. The professional women started at 1:00 PM and the men at 4:00 PM. Probably the worst time of the day to do anything like that, but that's what they did!

Edited by Bripod 2007-07-15 4:29 PM

Wow... the pros got the short end of the stick on that one.

It was good, they were fast... and it's a world I'm not living in, that's for sure. I finished my first Oly in 3:20 today! HA!

What an amazing race...it was such a sin to see that young girl completely fall apart with only like 2-3 miles to go. Then watching every woman fall over and be carried off at the finish line. It really was a great reminder of the mental aspect of the sport.

What a great race to watch!  Seems like the heat really took its toll; I was rooting for Sweetland? (the 18 year old) and Ohata - they looked like they gave it 125%!  Too bad the didn't air the mens' race (only snippets).  Cool that this will be a qualifier for the Olympics next year.  I wish my city would do something cool like this...

They don't really have any team approach at all. It just plays to each other abilities. The strong cyclist will want to attack and hopefully build up a lead so they can hold and win in it on the bike (like the men's race) or if no strong cyclists are pushing the pace the runners will be happy to ride with the group and hammer the run to see who can win it all (like the women did).

IMO The beauty of ITU racing is that you have to be good at all 3 sports otherwise if you come out of the water away from the leaders’ pack your day is pretty much over, and for those that insist that in ITU racing, the bikes makes no difference cuz it is draft legal, well  Rasmus Henning and his 200K USD win proved that is not always the case…

I did the AGer race at this venue and then watched both the mens and womens races. The AGers started at 6 am and we had different routes from the Elites. It was a lot cooler in the morning and we had little wind.

the Elites had brutal winds and heat. They definitely worked their butts off. It was so exciting to watch them. I didn't care that I'd been up since 3am that morning, I wanted to soak it all in.

The AGers had plenty of carpet too. We had carpet coming out of the water, enough that I really didn't need to rinse my feet once I got to my bike, but our bike transition area was regular pavement. The T1 exit was carpeted for mounting and dismounting bikes. The last part of the run was through the carpeted grandstand area where the pros finished (and where they lapped through all those times). It was so cool to run through an area like that. It made for a really awesome way to finish the race.

Oh, and Hyvee did an amazing job with the whole race. A couple of glitches with the lollipop section of the run, and no mile markers on the run, but other than that it was awesome. The food after the race was fantastic, and there was plenty of it. Also the schwag from this race was awesome. We got all the miscellaneous stuff you usually get along with a really nice back pack to put it all in, a chamois towel, a cycling jersey and a hat.

If you can come and do this race next year I would highly recommend it!!

I thought it was odd how they had to swim one lap then get out and run before the second lap. Has anyone been in a race with a swim like that?

Lemme tell ya....I was shocked to watch that girl just lose it like she did. At first, I was wondering to myself why on earth she was running up on the curb....2 seconds later, she's falling over as what looked like her coach catches her. It honestly freaked me about just a little bit...then seeing all the finishers collapse, kinda reminded me how dangerous this sport can be (on top of all the apparent injuries we can suffer), we can definetly push ourselves beyond normal limits that just aren't safe.

I raced in the junior ITU race on the same course as the elites and that was one of the hardest races I've ever done. That blue carpet that you had to ride through on the bike was like riding through mud, and it was even worse because it was on a hill. Then the heat was the real killer for the day. It was a good race though, tons of spectators lining the entire course. They even managed to shut down most of downtown Des Moines for the race. I was out on course during the mens and womens races with the U.S. junior national team and the national teams coaches so we got to see all of the good stuff.

Edited by gocorey 2007-07-16 11:15 AM

Edited by LaurenSU02 2007-07-16 11:27 AM

Yeah, I've seen this at the Seahorse Triathlon in Kalamazoo this year, though the run was not so long. The lake wasn't big enough for a one-lap course.