Weber State Turkey Tri Report

This morning Scott raced the Weber State Turkey Tri Du.  The race was scheduled to be a reverse triathlon, but the bike leg was cancelled.  The storm that started yesterday made the outside a bit white and wet.  In fact, Scott wasn't sure if he was going to race or not, so I shot this picture to give him a sense of what the outside world was like while he stayed snug in bed.

The snow, by the way, was not "fluffy" or "powder" Utah snow.  It had a nice bit of solidity and moistness to it.

After a bit of prayer, Scott decided he'd give the race a shot and we agreed that if the roads were really bad, he would DNS.  He had to return the timing chip to the university anyhow, so off we went.

It became clear that the bike leg was cancelled when we saw empty bike racks set up in transition.  This was confirmed when we walked to the registration table, too.  Thankfully we had left the bike on the car rack just in case, so there was no schlepping it around a few times over up and down the stairs we do our repeats on.

The race itself was a 5k run and 300 meter (or yard?) swim.  Scott was in wave 2 which started at 9:05.  As he waited for his heat to start, I shot the following photos.  (Forgive me for not cropping them and making them look all pretty.  Yet, they should help with the perspective of the weather and snow.)

After he started, I paused to snap a few more snow shots.  In the last one, you can see the Great Salt Lake.

I returned inside to wait before heading to the pool to watch him complete the swim.  He came earlier than I had anticipated (I wasn't wearing a watch or checking my phone), went through transition (on the pool deck), and asked about the starting point.

It became clear that he was a swimmer, as the definition of "swimming" was loosely interpreted in this leg of the event.  (Note- we all have our strengths, and I commend all who tackle swimming.  I also miss the heavens out of it, and look forward to returning to my favorite athletic home one day- beyond the trails and yoga mat.)

In the second photo, the athlete on the lane line paused to let Scott swim by.  This was at the 100 point of the race, and Scott had passed three swimmers in this lane alone.

Following the race, we hung out waiting for the raffle and results.  While our number wasn't called, we thoroughly enjoyed our time.  On the way out, the fog was sitting heavily on the mountains.  We also spotted an icicle on Scott's rear bike wheel.

The race was put on by the Weber State University Tri Club.  Nearly all aspects of the race were handled thoughtfully and respectfully.  The pre race briefing was excellently conducted.  There was plenty of food (bananas, oranges, bagels) pre and post race.  The run course was well marked, and there were tons of volunteers on hand.  The turkey also kept everyone in good spirits!

The only concern was that it appeared that some athletes cut the swim course short- swimming a 150 instead of 300, and that there were limited staff/officials/volunteers on the pool deck to help.  Perhaps a more thorough explanation of the swim leg at the briefing and on the website would help.