Harryman Half Ironman Update
First, obviously, above are a few of the official race photos. (The last photo is right near the end of the run – the smile on my face might look good, but you can see the stress/strain in my shoulders and arms.)
Second, you wouldn’t even begin to imagine that drama that has been going on since Saturday night regarding the Harryman half. The Slowtwitch message board has been all a-twitter over a few controversies resulting from the race. The biggest one was whether the “winner” actually won. To summarize, he was someone none of the area regulars had ever heard of, who has no history of triathlons or cycling competition and, on the miserable, wet, cold day, his official bike split was 2:30 – 29 minutes faster than the second fastest bike split (it was also 8 minutes faster than last year’s fastest split – which was evidently done in much better conditions and by a well-known rider/triathlete in the community). People were incredulous and speculation was rampant that (intentionally or unintentionally) he only did three of the four laps. There were spreadsheets trying to estimate where he would have been at what time, posts from his “coach” and a “friend” who came to his defense, but nothing from the winner himself. People were fairly certain that ride was impossible, but it was all speculation. Other controversies included whether the swim was shorter than 1.2 miles and complaints about poor markings and directions on the run course. Also, there was plenty of complaining about the conditions.
Yesterday morning, the race director posted a message on Slowtwitch explaining that the winner had been DQ’d for only riding three laps and for not even completing the entire run course! Unless the “winner” responds it will be impossible to know whether it was an accident or intentional, but the fact that he messed up both is a little suspect… The race director also addressed many of the other issues people had been raising. I thought that his response was really informative and helpful, so I’ve copied it into this entry (as much for you to read as for me to have in this “diary” for my future reference).
One other result of the DQ is that I officially moved up a spot and now can claim 11th place overall! (I updated those stats in the original post. Of course I did!)
Hi All,
First, let me take this opportunity to thank my staff and volunteers who stuck it out on a miserable day. On days like that you just hope everyone shows up, they did and performed well under the conditions.
Next, great job to everyone that competed and props to those who finished. Not an easy task on Saturday. The bike course did most people in as the cold air temperature, rain, and already low body temperatures knocked many people out of the race and sent two to the hospital.
On to a few issues. First, we’ve given Bryan Parker a DNF in the Half. The bike data shows only three laps complete AND we do not have him checked through the run turnaround aid station. Cory Boilard is the Half winner.
Swim Course – Our swim courses are measured by GPS, however, GPS is only accurate to with 10 meters. Multiply that by three locations and the error starts growing. Plus you have to factor in drift in the boat as you’re setting the buoys, and wind moving buoys on the ropes. Open water swims set by GPS will always have some +/- .
Bike Course – As racers hit the bike course, the hypothermia kicked in. The water temp on Saturday measured 60 degrees which isn’t bad. With the air temperature so low (22 degrees below normal), the water felt warm. This led to many racers not to dress appropriately for the bike. Racers were dropping like flies. We had the Ambulance at Lake Welch filled with racers getting warmed up. We had to call in a backup rig as we started to worry that we were going to have many more.
As for not knowing about the racers who were transported, the ambulance situation at Harriman is complicated as the park spans several towns and two different counties. Which area responds to the call literally depends on where you get hurt. If the park police call in a bus and they come and take someone away, it is possible that we don’t know about it. Also, HIPPA regulations prohibit health care providers from giving out information except to family members. We did find out about those transports in due time, but not in real time. Our first concern is to get treatment for anyone in need, then we can sort out the paperwork.
Some of you might have noticed a rush of ambulances and police during the race. Due to the high volume of hypo cases, we scrambled the NYSARS units to patrol the course rather than remain in one position. That meant that certain areas like the U-turn at the bottom of Tiorati Brook to Lake Welch was only covered by the Park Police. The park police have their own communications network that we are not tied into. As racers needed assistance, they were calling in to their dispatch, which was then relayed to Lake Welch and to us. The Emergency Response Network has a standard rule in effect that if a certain number of calls go in for the same area, it triggers a “Mass Casualty Incident.” That then triggers a secondary response from other EMS crews which operate under the assumption that a bomb has gone off or plane has crashed. At one point, we had seven ambulance rigs, police cars, and the Chief of Rockland County Emergency Services on site. Needless to say, it was distracting for us for a while.
Run Course – We’ll start with the fact that USAT rules (6.2) states that racers are responsible for knowing the course. Naturally, we also work to mark the course. The Mini turnaround was suppose to be monitored by a volunteer that never made it to the location (our bad). We corrected this situation part way through the day, but many people had already cleared through. The turn was right at aid #2 which had volunteers to direct runners. I did get a report of a racer who blew straight past the left turn at aid #2 against the instructions of the race staff at that location. There was a cluster of racers who then decided to follow. The staff did the right thing but directions were not followed. The only thing that didn’t happen here was a penalty for going off course.
Congratulations again to all that won, placed or just finished!
Sunday and Monday were off days, yesterday I did an easy 45 minute ride on the trainer and today is another off day. I talked to John yesterday and this week is a really easy one – giving me a chance to mentally and physically recover from the race and some really hard recent training weeks. I’ll be back at it gangbusters’ style next week!
Bike – May 22
Time: 45 minutes
Average heart rate: 109
Indoor ride
Amazing race for you regardless of the controversy! Really amazing job. You seem well-tuned already for IMLP.