Pre-Registration
The Piranha Sports website is more informative and detailed than most, providing detailed information on all aspects of the race from time schedule, run and bike course directions, easy-to-read maps of the course, ability to view registered athletes and filter on age groups, and sign-up for the race. After you register, there are no follow-up race email notifications.
Parking
We recommend that you arrive early and secure a parking lot close to transition. Otherwise, later arrivals will be directed to park in a lot that is very far from the race course, about 0.6 miles away to be exact. This is what happened to us. Don’t forget anything in your car!
Arrival
Once we arrived after our 0.6 mile “warm-up” walk from the parking lot, we had to wait in a rather long line to get into the registration tent. Make sure to bring ID to pick up your packet. After that, you continue in an efficient procession to retrieve your timing chip and undergo body marking. Body marking is done with either tattoos or black marker by volunteers. The bathrooms consisted of 5 porta-potties which had a long line virtually the entire time right up to the race start. The one I was in had no hand sanitizer.
Transition
Transition area is pretty large and you have a reserved spot for your bike. Run-in and bike-out are well-marked. Now gaining entry to transition is a different story. Unless you arrive early, they close transition during the youth triathlon. Once that is over, transition opens for approximately 30 minutes so the later arrivals can get situated. By that time, there is a very long, slow-moving line to get into transition. Security in transition is typical. You must wear a wristband that they check before you can remove your bike.
Course
The duathlon started pretty suddenly with almost no warning. There were volunteers telling you where to go or cones with arrows. The road course was similar, with police holding traffic so you never had to brake. Course was as described on the website.
Swag & Post Race
Received a visor and a technical t-shirt cut in a women’s fit. The post-race spread is pretty decent. In addition to the usual bananas, they have apples, bagged chips, crunchy granola bars, gummies, a variety of wraps, and bottled sports drinks. Gatorade and water were available in jugs. There were 2 TV monitors mounted high with scrolling results. Results were posted almost immediately after crossing the finish line.
Awards Ceremony
The awards ceremony was quick and efficient, they went through both du and tri in a pretty good time. There is an actual podium that you stand on and you get your picture taken. The medals are large and well-made.