Friday Email - Final Thoughts
Good afternoon racers! We are so excited to have you on board for the 2020 Mighty Matapeake Multisport Festival, and can’t wait to see you in the morning.
First and foremost, be sure to fill out the COVID Survey that was sent out at 8am this morning. Didn’t get it? Check the top of the page at www.MightyMatapeakeTriathlon.com and you can fill it out there. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PRINT THIS FORM, JUST COMPLETE IT. We electronically record your information.
All of our athlete emails are located at the top of the website as well, if you want to review anything. All of our videos are ALSO at the bottom of the page, if you would like to review THEM.
WATER CONDITIONS
The water was 64 degrees yesterday. The DEEPEST point of the swim is under 4 feet, so if you panic, STAND UP. Water testing was completed and the health department is currently ok with us proceeding, even after the rain.
WEATHER CONDITIONS
Yup… we know… it’s raining… and it’s going to be cold….
We are closely monitoring EVERYTHING that is going on with race conditions right now and are speaking with the local health department and our friends at Emergency Services. Our plan right now is that the swim is still on. If you want to wear Neoprene socks, or a neoprene cap, feel free to. IF you wear gloves, there cannot be any type of webbing between the fingers!! As you come to the start line, we will be evaluating all of the gear. We are within the parameters set forth by every major sanctioning body, but we don’t anyone to feel like we are MAKING you swim. EVERYONE will have the ability to switch, up to 7:30 tomorrow morning, to the duathlon, should you choose. PLEASE give us that 30 minute buffer so that we can get everything switched over in the system.
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OUR SUGGESTIONS FOR RACE MORNING ARE TO:
BRING A JACKET FOR THE BIKE/RUN PORTION OF THE EVENT.
BRING A TOWEL AND DRY OFF A BIT AFTER THE SWIM
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Even if you feel great coming out of the water, and you WILL because it was 64 degrees yesterday, put on a jacket. When you get 6 miles down that course and turn around, you might feel REALLY COLD, and then it’s too late.
So we want YOU to have a jacket, well what are WE going to do. We are adding hand warmers to your gear bags tonight, and we will have Mylar sheets for you at the finish line. We are sorry to say that with COVID spacing requirements, we can’t feasibly do any type of warming tent for you, as we would love to do. What we CAN do is tell you to make sure that you put your car keys in your bag in transition, so as soon as you are done you can get to your car and warm up.
BIKE COURSE - Don't forget a jacket!!!!
We know, we never did a bike course video… because it is quite simply the easiest bike course you will have ever done. Come out of transition. Mount line. Ride to the end of Sonny Schulz Blvd and turn right. There you will see the shoulder has cones all the way down. There should be plenty of room for you to ride on the shoulder (No Rumble Strips!!! YAY!!!) and still be able to pass. This is an open course, so there will be traffic going next to you. Every intersection is controlled by a stop sign and has signage letting people know that there is a race. That being said, just keep an eye on cars…. It is their responsibility to stop… it is yours to protect yourself.
When you get to the end of the road (literally) you will see a trooper making sure that you can make a safe turnaround. Go around the cones that are set up and come on back up on the opposite shoulder of the road. As you approach Sonny Schulz Blvd, troopers will make sure that traffic is stopped so that you can turn left, safely, on to Sonny Schulz and down to the mount. So, simply put. Right turn off of Sonny Schulz, turnaround when the road end, left turn on to Sonny Schulz
DUATHLETES
We are going to do the DUATHLON start similar to the swim start. You will cross a timing mat to be collected in to a CORRAL (10 people at a time). We will say GO and wait a few seconds, and then the next 10 people will load in the corral. This will all happen near the FINISH LINE of the event. So the first wave will go with the first wave of swimmers (8 am), and the second with the 2nd wave of swimmers (about 8:02), etc… until we have everyone out.
DUATHLON RUN. Duathletes, your numbers are growing more and more every day as triathletes are moving to the du. Your first run will be STRAIGHT ON SONNY SCHULZ BLVD to Route 8. PLEASE IGNORE THE FIRST RUN TURN ARROW (we will have a volunteer telling you to go straight). Turn right on route 8, first right on to Marine Academy Drive and then immediate right on to the trail. Right off of the trail and follow the road back to Sonny Schulz. Left back to transition… It is a circle, .9 miles long. Run back up and go through the SWIM IN chute.
AQUABIKE
You will do the same self seeded start at the swim that everyone else will do. Feel free to join in the middle of everything. Your official finish time will be when you cross the BIKE IN mat in to transition, but feel free to put on your shoes and jog through our finish line for that race day feel!
RELAYS
Your swimmer can start with the other swimmers. Relay members can wait in transition, at your bike rack spot. The ankle chip will be shared from person to person (shh.... don't tell the COVID police).
RUN
The 3.1 mile run… as your exit from transition you will run up Sonny Schulz Blvd and you will see a large GREEN arrow pointing you to the right (where you parked). Follow those arrows and you will find the entrance to the trail to your left (also green arrow marked). You are going to follow this trails for 1.55 miles until you find a SELF SERVE aide station. The volunteer there is just there to replenish the water and Gatorade mini bottles on the table, not to hand you anything. Please grab what you need and turn around and head the exact same way back to the finish line.
FINISH
Once you are done, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Please be considerate of other athletes who are still racing as you go in to transition and get all of your gear. IF you need to head to your car/vehicle first, to get warmed up a bit, please feel free to do so. We won’t start breaking down transition, and will keep an eye on everything for you. As soon as we are able to, we will push results to BOTH the website AND Results on our TCR Event Management app, found on both google and apple store
ABSOLUTE EMERGENCY PLAN
So, let’s say we get low water temperatures, low air temperatures, or our emergency services just can’t handle what we have going on… what then? Well the answer is that EVERYONE becomes a duathlete. We will still try to get things started at 8am but might have to reconfigure a few little things. IF THE EVENT IS FORCED TO BECOME A DUATHLON, EVERYONE WHO WAS SIGNED UP FOR THE TRIATHLON STILL RECEIVES TRIATHLON RANKING POINTS THROUGH USA TRIATHLON!! We have called, verified, and double checked this. We will try to make this decision by 7am, based on water and air temperatures on site. We hope this is not the case, but the safety of all is imperative for the event.
As always, any questions, feel free to reach out to info@tcreventmanagement.com.
Excuse us if it takes a bit to answer them today... we are a bit busy (and wet).
Jason
