Weirdest Race day cancellation/modification....?

Kuch · October 2017

I have had some odd luck at my last two races, which involved delayed starts and ultimately, last minute changes to the race.
This got me thinking about what other stories of odd race morning events you guys have experienced...

A few weeks back, the Dewey Beach triathlon had a delayed start and then a cancelled swim, replaced by a beach run to T-1 due to crazy fog out in the ocean (I think this was the same day as Toughman NY).
Not that crazy, but the next race.......

This past weekend, as we are setting up in transition at the Baltimore Triathlon, we find out that some drunk lady crashed her car into a phone pole on the bike course, bringing it down in the middle of the road and forcing the RD to re-direct the course to a much shorter route.
This lady must have been raging hard, because the roads were clear around 5-5:30 am, so this happened at like 6 am.
Everyone was bummed, but I honestly have no idea how the RD could have prepared for that.

OverBiker_Sam · October 2017

NJ State 2015 (I think) - Telephone pole down across the bike course. They cut off 5 miles, and had us doing a lollipop through a sketchy school parking lot to get ~0.5 miles back.

Escape from Philly 2016 & 2017 - Hid under a tree for 90 minutes in the pouring rain and lightning. Both years the Sunday oly swim was cancelled due to too high flow of water. In 2016 we had a rolling start bike leg biathlon, and 2017 it was a R-B-R duathalon. In 2016 the sprint was changed to a duathalon as well, due to high fecal counts in the water.

Rash · October 2017

man, that 2016 sprint sounds like it was shitty! (gotta hit them when they are right over the plate like that)

eremillong · October 2017

Microburst went through while on the bike course Pumpkinman 70.3 in 2016. Branches and whole trees down on the bike course. It was the most terrifying ride I have done. Finished the ride and the run was cancelled as transition and the finish line were totally destroyed.

Robert Rankin · October 2017

Cedar Point last year a drunk driver hit another driver head on on the causeway killing a few people. They were forced to completely stop the race. I'm not sure exactly how far into the race most people were but it was more than 11 hours after the start.

Martin · October 2017

Sprint tri changed to du because of fecal coliform. Took them close to five hours to get organized. Transition was ok, but the festival/registration area was a mudpit from rain the previous day.

Sprint tri - volunteer at run turnaround no-showed or went for a hot dog or something, taking pylon with them. No idea how far we ran, but when we caught the lead pack on the way back we asked where they had turned around and tried to keep it fair by running to the same place. More or less.

mbrekk44 · October 2017

Racine 70.3 in 2016. Thunderstorms in the morning led to a cancellation of the swim. This led to a time trial bike start, with 3 bikes taking off every like 15 seconds. Total draft fest and completely unavoidable, it was actually really fun and crazy fast (like 27- 28 mph avg) The bike was shortened to like 34 miles. The run was still 13.1 and hot. It was fun getting lapped on the run by Lionel and charbot

Aaron Webstey · October 2017

I mentioned this on the podcast, but if you didn't hear it: only time I made an ITU payday was at Boston in 2006. Severe weather forced cancellation, but not until the actual morning of the race. Prize money was divided up and paid out equally to all elites (I don't remember if they split equally between genders or not). I was pretty happy with it; others were who had traveled there for a relatively easy payday/points grab were not

Kuch · October 2017

mbrekk44 said:
Racine 70.3 in 2016. Thunderstorms in the morning led to a cancellation of the swim. This led to a time trial bike start, with 3 bikes taking off every like 15 seconds. Total draft fest and completely unavoidable, it was actually really fun and crazy fast (like 27- 28 mph avg) The bike was shortened to like 34 miles. The run was still 13.1 and hot. It was fun getting lapped on the run by Lionel and charbot

Wow...the shortened bike leg sucks, but other than that, I agree, that actually sounds like fun!

Kuch · October 2017

Robert Rankin said:
Cedar Point last year a drunk driver hit another driver head on on the causeway killing a few people. They were forced to completely stop the race. I'm not sure exactly how far into the race most people were but it was more than 11 hours after the start.

Holy shit! I dont recall ever hearing about that, that's horrible.

A few of us at the race were talking after the RD made the announcement about the drunk driving incident.

I don't know about you guys, but when I am driving morning of a race at some ungodly hour, and am on any kind of non-interstate road, if I do not see a bike rack on your vehicle, I am immediately super suspicious.
I am going to assume that you are either hammered and have been out all night, or that you are on your way to dump a body....either way I am keeping my distance!

doyoueventribro · October 2017

Last year I did a long course tri that was delayed 1.5 hours due to fog on the water. It was aweful. My nutrition was all jacked up because I planned for a 6:30 AM start but didn't start until 8. I bonked hard.

This year the same race had a cancelled swim 5 days out from the race due to elevated levels of e. coli in the water. On race morning it was severe thunder showers and they had to cancel the race entirely.

In contrast, my craziest, "wasn't cancelled/delayed" was Challenge St. Andrews in 2014. A tropical storm hit the down on the saturday before the race and downed a lot of trees and shut down power to the entire town. Somehow they managed to get it all cleaned up and the race went off without a hitch. There were two sections on the run course where they literally just cut a tree to make a path wide enough for runners to go through it.

Rash · October 2017

I think this fits the category:

Did a short course race where the race director kicked everyone out of transition 45 minutes before a 7 am start (sun wasn't quite up yet) then realized he hadn't set up the swim course. Made everyone wait at the water while they inflated the buoy's then set them up - never saw any sort of measuring going on. Started around 1 hour late. I was in the first wave and when we rounded the first buoy it followed us essentially to the second having not been secured. No clue what the folks behind us did.

Heading out on the run, there were three forks in the course. One about 100yds out of transition which regardless of which way you went, at least put you back on the same course - one direction (which I took) just added about 100 yds of uphill. The second was at the top of a hill - I was in a distant third so couldn't see the guys ahead of me to figure out if we are supposed to go left or right. I guessed and roughly .5 miles later of wondering where I was I was relieved to see the guy in first coming back. At least if I was wrong, he was too. The final "fork" was actually a T. You were supposed to go right to a turn around then come back and go the other direction to another turn around. I would bet 75% of the racers just went left not knowing and cut out that little extra loop. I only went right because I saw the guy in second coming from that direction.

On the run back at the top of that hill the volunteer was just now walking up and was still about 100 yds away. At that point there was a long enough line of people that they could at least all go the same way.

To keep people around for awards they locked off the parking area and would not allow you to get your stuff out of transition - you couldn't leave. They refused to do awards until everyone finished. Other than some granola bars, there was no food available. Overall awards actually included gift cards and gear so I was at least thinking I could walk out with some loot before never doing their races again. Instead, they yanked overall podium folks from AG awards then proceeded to give the loot to the AG winners. So basically a guy who finished 5 minutes behind me walked away with a new helmet and a $50 Trisports gift card as the AG winner.

I was finally able to get my bike and car out at close to 2pm to drive home.

Robert Rankin · October 2017

Kuch said:

Robert Rankin said:
Cedar Point last year a drunk driver hit another driver head on on the causeway killing a few people. They were forced to completely stop the race. I'm not sure exactly how far into the race most people were but it was more than 11 hours after the start.
Holy shit! I dont recall ever hearing about that, that's horrible.

A few of us at the race were talking after the RD made the announcement about the drunk driving incident.

I don't know about you guys, but when I am driving morning of a race at some ungodly hour, and am on any kind of non-interstate road, if I do not see a bike rack on your vehicle, I am immediately super suspicious.
I am going to assume that you are either hammered and have been out all night, or that you are on your way to dump a
body....either way I am keeping my distance!

Yeah it was a shitshow. Last weekend the park was open, so it was packed. Park had just closed, and they had to shut down the causeway for hours. We stayed at the resort and were trying to head to dinner, but couldn’t get out. They were routing traffic out the other exit by the lake, which isn’t big enough to handle the traffic, but couldn’t reroute the run course over there due to the distance. Had to take a shuttle to pick runners up and drive them back to the park from the town. Some people circled the parking lot to get the distance. They only had 100ish people signed up for the full, but only a couple of us had finished before the accident. Lot of first timers. Rev3 did their best with a really shitty situation that was completely out of their control.

dmagic17 · October 2017

Rash said:
I think this fits the category:

Did a short course race where the race director kicked everyone out of transition 45 minutes before a 7 am start (sun wasn't quite up yet) then realized he hadn't set up the swim course. Made everyone wait at the water while they inflated the buoy's then set them up - never saw any sort of measuring going on. Started around 1 hour late. I was in the first wave and when we rounded the first buoy it followed us essentially to the second having not been secured. No clue what the folks behind us did.

Heading out on the run, there were three forks in the course. One about 100yds out of transition which regardless of which way you went, at least put you back on the same course - one direction (which I took) just added about 100 yds of uphill. The second was at the top of a hill - I was in a distant third so couldn't see the guys ahead of me to figure out if we are supposed to go left or right. I guessed and roughly .5 miles later of wondering where I was I was relieved to see the guy in first coming back. At least if I was wrong, he was too. The final "fork" was actually a T. You were supposed to go right to a turn around then come back and go the other direction to another turn around. I would bet 75% of the racers just went left not knowing and cut out that little extra loop. I only went right because I saw the guy in second coming from that direction.

On the run back at the top of that hill the volunteer was just now walking up and was still about 100 yds away. At that point there was a long enough line of people that they could at least all go the same way.

To keep people around for awards they locked off the parking area and would not allow you to get your stuff out of transition - you couldn't leave. They refused to do awards until everyone finished. Other than some granola bars, there was no food available. Overall awards actually included gift cards and gear so I was at least thinking I could walk out with some loot before never doing their races again. Instead, they yanked overall podium folks from AG awards then proceeded to give the loot to the AG winners. So basically a guy who finished 5 minutes behind me walked away with a new helmet and a $50 Trisports gift card as the AG winner.

I was finally able to get my bike and car out at close to 2pm to drive home.

So you got nothing at all for overall podium? Actually I don't know of any local races that do actual prizes for winners (AG or OA). Just medals and maybe some random raffles at the end.

Kuch · October 2017

Rash said:
I think this fits the category:

and gear so I was at least thinking I could walk out with some loot before never doing their races again. Instead, they yanked overall podium folks from AG awards then proceeded to give the loot to the AG winners. So basically a guy who finished 5 minutes behind me walked away with a new helmet and a $50 Trisports gift card as the AG winner.

I was finally able to get my bike and car out at close to 2pm to drive home.

In Ben Hobbs voice: "Please take this opportunity to publicly shame and trash this Race company......."

Rash · October 2017

Would love to trash them by name, but there are so few races close by I can't burn any bridges. In their defense, their other races I have done have not been bad. Also, they have a new head race director.

Yes - I got nothing for OA podium. I was surprised by the gear and gift cards. Only other race I have done that does that is HITS Palm Springs - but that is only for OA, not AG. Not sure if they do that at all their races or just Palm Springs which is their championship. I guess perhaps Escape if you consider each AG winner gets free entry to Alcatraz (which costs $750).

IanL · October 2017

This year St Andrews half had the swim shortened to 300m due to fog.

Brent_R · October 2017

One year at our local sprint the Bylaw buddies decided they didn't like the usual bike course and recommended (read: forced) a change to the bike course. The RD came up with a reasonable compromise, although not ideal. It ran though a neighbourhood with some construction ongoing. The RD was assured it wouldn't be a problem, the town had cleared it with the developer and construction company.

On the morning of the race day my coach/friend who was the bike course captain is out setting up cones and getting the course ready. A guy pulls up to him in a pick up and asks "What're you up to?"

Bike captain replies "Setting up for the triathlon today."

"On this road?"

"Yep"

"That's not going to work" says truck guy. "This road isn't going to be here in an hour because we are going to dig it up as part of the construction."

Ruh roh.

So they turn the bike course into a 1.6 ish km strip that we ride up and down on 6 times to get the 20 km in. There's chaos everywhere. The cars are so lined up from the weird traffic blockage that at some point cars just ignore the cops telling them not to go. There's several relatively benign car v. bike incidents. This leads to the cops changing their mind and STOPPING CYCLISTS in the middle of the race to let some traffic through. I'm like 90% certain the guy who won didn't do 6 loops.

The bike course was restored to its prior route the next year.

KenElPescadoPelado · October 2017

I nominate @Brent_R for the Master Storyteller badge.

Matt · October 2017

Ken, design the logo/image for it and I'll make it happen

KenElPescadoPelado · October 2017

Matt said:
Ken, design the logo/image for it and I'll make it happen

How's this? If I were better at this I'd give them faces mouthing "ooooh" and "ahhhh"...

Matt · October 2017

Done!

kjrunnin · October 2017

KenElPescadoPelado said:

Matt said:
Ken, design the logo/image for it and I'll make it happen
How's this? If I were better at this I'd give them faces mouthing "ooooh" and "ahhhh"...

That's so pretty. Now I need a story to tell.

KenElPescadoPelado · October 2017

kjrunnin said:

KenElPescadoPelado said:

Matt said:
Ken, design the logo/image for it and I'll make it happen
How's this? If I were better at this I'd give them faces mouthing "ooooh" and "ahhhh"...

That's so pretty. Now I need a story to tell.

After Aruba, I'm guessing we'll all have a few... ;-)

Tad_M · October 2017

Damn, @KenElPescadoPelado , all that power at your disposal, and you forego the chance to create a badge with the image of Mr. Rogers..........

Aaron Webstey · October 2017

Matt said:
Ken, design the logo/image for it and I'll make it happen

Good thing somebody around here is taking care of business

KenElPescadoPelado · October 2017

Tad_Machrowicz said:
Damn, @KenElPescadoPelado , all that power at your disposal, and you forego the chance to create a badge with the image of Mr. Rogers..........

Sworry, I think of him for his sweaters and trolley more than his stories. This is generally what comes to mind when I think of storytime:

GasBomb · October 2017

My story is about a crooked RD. Earlier this year (mid may) there was supposed to be a 70.3 race in Noblesville, IN. Which is about an hour drive for me. Anyhow, I get up race morning, put the bike in the truck and out of habit check my email on my phone. Ugh, race canceled. Reason: Weather I look around and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Huh, check weather app on my phone, no forecast of storms. 20% chance of rain in the late afternoon, but that would be hours after the race was finished. So, I go back to bed and wake up to read Facebook and it is a complete bash fest against the RD. Turns out the guy never got permits for the course, never reserved any space at the city park, never turned in paperwork with USAT, etc.... Several people showed up to the race location that morning having not read their email and were shocked to not find anything set up at all. No bike racks, no swim buoys, no signs on the bike course or any other typical triathlon stuff. Just an empty parking lot and a sunny sky. So, under threat of bodily harm, lawsuits, and other unpleasant repercussions, this guy reschedules the race for the 1st weekend in October. Completely screwing anyone who was planning a fall race. I did a chargeback on my credit card and got my money back. After all, I had no room in October for a race and I felt there was enough evidence that this guy was a con. So, guess what happened for the re-scheduled race? Yep, he sent out an email at 2am, you know right after everyone was asleep and couldn't respond. Reason for cancellation: Personal/Family Issue. Just WOW.

Matt · October 2017

Thought that said Rear Derailleur...

Tad_M · October 2017

@GasBomb , you just gave me an idea.........

jrielley1406 · October 2017

@GasBomb I was waiting to see if anyone would mention that shit show. Thankfully I got my money back for the May race and there was ZERO chance I was attempting the make up. And glad I didn't.

Hopefully this is the last straw with this guy and he just stops stealing people's money.

I did his race in 2016 when it was Toughman and it was also a disaster. Was first on the bike and was sent straight at the first roundabout and went a mile off course. Then on the run there were no aid stations set up and the ones that were set up it was self service. Disaster but I chalked it up to a first year race.

Really unfortunate since the May date is a really attractive date to start the season around the Midwest.

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