Harpole’s Heartland Lodge & Resort Blog

I hope everyone is doing well! Several club members wanted to know how the Chicago Triathlon went this past weekend, so it was suggested that I do a race report for the club.  If someone else attended please feel free to add your comments.

I am going to try to give you the pros and cons so you can make up your own mind if you would like attend the race sometime in the future.  I can see it going either way, some would love it and others may not.

Pros:

1)       I stayed at the host hotel, the Chicago Hilton. Once you arrived at the hotel you never had to drive anywhere. Everything was right at the hotel or within walking distance. (I am huge fan of this) The cost was around $170 per night or $85 if two people split the room.  It’s a good idea to go up Friday and make a weekend of it. Registration was also at the hotel. I think staying close is key to enjoying the experience.

2)       Expo-The expo was very nice. (Fri & Sat at the hotel) Almost everyone in the Triathlon industry was there.  Several vendors said it was the largest triathlon expo in the world. It was very cool talking to everyone in person and trying out the products. Most venders had show discounts so you could buy your favorite toys, I mean gear J for 10% to 30%

3)       Living out in the sticks, I enjoyed being around 10,000 other triathletes. (They claimed it’s the largest triathlon in the world.) The hotel was mostly filled with racers and everyone working at the hotel catered to us, (Bikes, late check out, etc) normally it’s the other way around we are the “weird ones” with the bikes. So it was a nice change. It really didn’t feel like 10,000 people either. (This included the kids tri on sat and the other events)

4)       The Hotel had a Pasta Buffet Saturday night that was awesome! I think there were at least 6 different types of pasta!

5)       I enjoyed the race. The swim was nice in Lake Michigan. It was basically a straight shot. It’s in the harbor and you may get a little diesel smell but the only reason I think I noticed it was because another racer pointed it out to me in advance. (No worse than the jet skies at other events.) After about the first 50yrds everyone was spread out and it was a nice swim. The bike was on Lake Shore Drive and had a few issues. See below. The run was very nice along a running path that parallels the lake.

6)       The after party (food, etc) was the best I have seen.

7)       The best part of the weekend was going to a Cubs game on Friday and watching them get their butts kicked!

Cons:

1)       The transition area opened at 4:00 am and closed at 5:45. Depending on your waive you may not start the race until 9.00. But you could go back to the hotel and rest. My waive was 8:37 and I actual fell back to sleep for an hour. Also you can use your own restroom in your room before the race.

2)       Everything was a ½ mile to 1 1/2 miles from the hotel. Well within walking distance but could be frustrating for some. Transition was 1 ½ miles from the hotel but the swim start was only a ½ mile from the hotel. You also finish the race close to the swim start but about a mile from transition. This was not a big deal for me. The new Tri pack I bought after Hy-Vee made it easy to ride my bike over and back. The trade off for not having to drive and find everything made it worth it.

3)       T1 reminded me of Columbia’s T1. Its a little ways and you run on a paved bike path. It can be a little hard on the bare feet. They do allow you to put shoes/flip flops on after the swim but only a few did.

4)       Bike-The bike was nice but Lake Shore Drive has some pot holes and cracks. It was no worse than Hy-Vee but still can be frustrating for some. There was a huge head wind off the lake going north, but had a nice tail wind coming back south.  

5)       The only thing that frustrated me was getting stuff out of transition after the race. It open up at 11:00 but the pro’s came thru around 11:30.  They didn’t want 8,000 racers flooding the transition area when the pros were trying to go thru. So they let people access in stages.  This was a bottle neck. Next time I will either go straight over after I am finished and get my gear or wait until the pros are done. 

After talking with others about larger venues, I went into this race thinking that it would be a once in a lifetime experience. I was expecting the worse and I ended up being pleasantly surprised. It was great experience for me! I think you have to have patience going into an event like this. For those who did Hy-Vee this year, I felt like Chicago was a lot easier to get around and more organized. (I understand Hy-Vee was different this year because of the flooding). Also there are a lot of first time triathletes at this event, so they do a great job explaining everything. The only thing missing was more blue QMC jerseys.  I hope that a few of you will sign up for next year. I am planning on attending it again and would like a roommate if anyone is interested. Their web site says that they sell out far in advance so if you think you may want to attend you need to make reservations early.  Also reserve your room in the Hilton far in advance. You can always cancel the room reservation.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Gary

www.Heartlandlodge.com