Meek & Mighty Triathlon
Swim 100 yards • Bike 3.6 miles • Run 1/2 mile (Ages 7-10)
Swim 200 yards • Bike 5.4 miles • Run 1 mile (Ages 11 & Over)
Saturday - April 26, 2008

The sport of triathlon has seen tremendous growth over the past decade. One of the largest areas of increased participation is in the beginner and youth events. In order to better prepare our athletes for future events, such as St. Anthony's Triathlon, we have decided to make several changes to enhance the safety of the event and ensure a better athlete experience.

 New Changes for 2008
  1. Time trial pool start:
    • The time trial start will allows us to change to the standard triathlon format of swim, bike, run while enhancing the overall safety of the event. The time trial start is widely used in triathlon for events including a pool swim to allow for better spacing on the bike portion of the event. It has been used in the national Ironkids series for years with great success.
    • Athletes will still be seeded into waves with the first being adults 15+, second will be ages 11-14, and last will be ages 7-10. The first wave will begin at 8am and athletes will line up in numerical order starting lowest number to highest in each respective wave. Plenty of staff and volunteers will be on hand to assist with lining up the athletes in preparation for their start. A timing mat will be near the pool side at the start location. Athletes will be started one at a time. As they cross the timing mat, their time will begin. Each athlete will be individually timed using a timing chip picked up at registration. The time interval between each athlete will vary based upon the swimming ability of the athlete starting in the position just in front of them. If a slower swimmer is in the water, the start of the next athlete will be delayed a few seconds to allow for appropriate spacing. If the swimmer just in front, is an accomplished swimmer, the time interval will be less. Each swimmer will start approximately 5-10 seconds apart. It should take between 20-25 minutes to start all athletes in wave 1. When all athletes from wave 1 have exited the water, we will wait an additional 5-10 minutes to start wave 2 and we will then follow the same procedure for wave 2, and then wave 3. the approximate start time of wave 2 will be 8:40am and wave 3, 9:20am.
  2. Bike check in:
    • ALL athletes will be required to check their bike into transition by 7:45am race morning at the North Shore Pool parking lot. In years past we have had problems with athletes checking in bikes and interfering with athletes that started in an earlier wave. This will help to eliminate congestion in transition and will allow for all participants to have a safe race without outside interference. Bikes cannot be removed until the last runner from wave 3 has exited transition. This should be shortly after 10am.
  3. New run course:
    • To eliminate having runners and cyclist on the same road we have changed the run course. The new run course will be utilizing the trail through Vinoy Park, 5th Avenue North in front of the Vinoy Hotel, Bayshore in front of Vinoy Park, and North Shore Drive on the South side of the pool. The only section that will have biker and runner traffic will be North Shore Drive on the south side of the pool. Bikers and runners will be separated by cones and barricades to prevent any runner/biker interference. A complete description of the run course will be posted on the triathlon website and will be sent out via e-mail in January when the new course maps are completed.
  4. New finish line:
    • To create a more exciting finish, we will be adding a finish line structure with finish chute directly in front of the North Shore Pool on the road/throughway east of North Shore drive. This will allow us to capture all of your exciting finish line photos.
  5. Crowd control barricades:
    • Last year we experienced a larger number of spectators than expected. As a result, we had spectator interference as they attempted to cross the road in front of the athletes. This year, we will be adding crowd control barricades in the North Shore Pool area with designated spectator cross-walks to enhance the overall safety for both the athletes and spectators.
We are certain the described changes will enhance the safety of the event and will allow for a better race experience for all of our particpants.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at philip.lahaye@baycare.org or 727-820-7791.

I hope you have a great winter of training.

See you in April!

Philip LaHaye
Event Director
St Anthony's Triathlon