From: dpe@inel.gov (Don Palmrose)
Subject: Re: What's the reason for the SBR event ordering?
Organization: INEL EG&G Idaho
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 92 14:47:43 GMT

Julia and Bruce seem to have a good discussion going on and I don't want to
ruin anything ;-)  However, seeing that no one on the group seems to have 
done a SRB, I thought I would give you my impressions of doing one a few 
years ago.

As a graduate student at Texas A&M University, I became active in triathlons.
Not only as a racer but also in the school's tri-club and in race organization.
There was once a race called the Texas Triathlon (when I left TAMU the guy
who normally was the race director had a major life crisis, his wife died,
and a major restructuring of his life -- end result the race was dropped).
It was a 1000 meter pool swim (i.e. staggard starts), followed by a 10k run
through the campus, ending with a 30k out and back bike course.

It had to be done this way because of the layout of the campus.  The pool and
the open country-side (best for the bike course due to less traffic and the
right distance roads with shoulders) were on opposite sides of a set of
railroad tracks that split the campus.  The run, by being second, allowed
for the racers to take a course that went under the railroad tracks, stayed
off of any major roads, and got you to the open country-side of the tracks
for the bike portion.

Due to the pool swim, everyone was stretched out to begin with, so drafting
was not a major problem.  I enjoyed the course, especially when I first
began, since it took out any bumping and pack problems.  There were two major
drawbacks to having the race like this.  A top performer never knew how he/she 
was doing against the competition if they were the first starters ( unless
someone past them by :-(  ), thus the winners were not immediately known.
Spectator-wise it was extremely boring since you only saw people going by 
individually.  The bike finish was only a problem if, by fate, two or more 
racers were sprinting for the line.  But for the 3 to 4 times I raced or 
helped, there were no accidents at any portion of the race.

As far as fatigue on the bike course, depending on the wind that day, it
was a major problem.  The last time I did the race ( 1989 ?), there was a
10-15 mph wind along the road that was the major portion of the bike course.
You had it on your back going out, but then had to fight it all the way 
to the finish line except for the last half-mile.  It was funny to be 
screaming down the road and see all the people heading back looking like they
can barely keep the bike moving.  I was thinking "I'm going to get them, boy
am I going to have a good race..." of course not feeling the wind since I
was riding with it.  Then after the turn-around......  It quickly became "Boy
how am I going to survive....".  Needless to say, the fear of crashing took
over and I went as fast as I could move without pushing myself to the point of
exhaustion that would cause me to loose control of the bike.  Also, generally
someone with a lead going into the bike course kept that lead so it did not
increase the excitement for head-to-head racing.

Anyway, I hope you all find this interesting.  The SRB does have its merits,
but I think that the run finish gives more spectator satisfaction and is
easier to set up a proper finish since most races I have seen finish in
a location more for the facilities nearby and not for the room available for 
the setup.

Don Palmrose




 
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