Race: Onalaska 70.3 Triathlon
Location: Onalaska, TX
Promoter: i Tri Events
Where to Register: http://itrievents.com/itrievents/
Price: $150-200
Rating: silver medal
Onalaska is a very small Texas town in Polk County, just outside of Livingston and smack in the middle of deep East Texas. Prior to my friend doing this very race in 2014, I had never heard of the town. My loss! Onalaska is charming, friendly small-town Texas. The town is very supportive of this race and even provided goodie bags for all the participants with a nice t-shirt, koozie, and information.
Back to the race. I'm familiar with i Tri Events from their annual No Label Triathlon in Katy, TX. I did that event in 2015 because my work subsidized it and hey, good beer, and ended up really enjoying myself. I did it again in 2016 and podiumed both years. i Tri Events has the feel of a small, local company with a lot of passion and less of the corporate anonymity of some M-dot and other branded races. This is a personal preference of mine, as I am a regular volunteer with our local multisport organization. i Tri Events always seems to be fairly well organized at their events, though their website and flyers could use a good editor. Tina is the director, I believe, and she's personally running every event. I like to see her passion and ownership. In terms of swag, they give decent swag. The shirts are always comfortable and attractive, the medals are very nicely done and unique, the podium awards are functional (e.g., growlers, pint glasses), and they don't overload you with crap you'll never actually use.
The race was scheduled for Sunday, September 11, 2016. I drove up the day before to complete packet pickup. Pickup was held at the race start, which gave me an opportunity to get a lay of the land and check out some of the course. There were signs in multiple spots directing me to my destination, so I had no trouble getting in to grab my packet. The volunteers were very friendly and chatted us up for fifteen minutes or so. They provided the goodie bag from the city, the goodie bag from the race, shirts, and other essential race items. After we departed, we drove just the start of the bike course and all of the run course. After that, we headed into town to eat dinner at Joe's Italian (the pesto dip is a MUST) and check in to our hotel for the night.
Transition was scheduled to open at 5:30am and we had to shuttle a very short distance from the parking lot to transition, so I arrived at the race site around 5:45am to get ready. We had plenty of time to set up and transition was not crowded since the race field was less than 150. We placed our bikes and set up our transition equipment, then moved our car to a school parking lot down the road. The shuttle very quickly brought us back to transition, which allowed us another chance to go over everything before the race started. This is always reassuring! Transition was not well lit, but I've yet to go to a race that has such an amenity. I was grateful to have packed my headlamp.
At 6:40am, the race director started announcements. She let us know that the current had moved the buoys, but they would be replaced in time for our start. She then kicked off a remembrance ceremony for 9/11, which was very nice and timely. After the ceremony, she went over last minute instructions and asked the men to line up. Since the field was so small, swim waves were divided into men and women/clydes/athenas/relays. The mens start was easily twice as big as the other start, so I was glad to be last. The swim start went smoothly with exception to the boat ramp entry, which was covered in thick algae. It was a little slippery! The water was warm and a bit choppy, but not bad. As we started swimming, I quickly noticed that the buoys were very hard to see. Fortunately, I'm slow enough of a swimmer to follow everyone else so I did just that. The water grew choppier as the race went on, but it was never unmanageable. I could tell that the buoys were all over the course and grew frustrated that it felt like I was swimming forever, but I did manage to finish under the time limit and with only 1.35 miles clocked. Many others clocked 1.5-1.6 miles. During the swim, the course was well guarded by jet skiers, kayakers, and one pontoon boat. I saw numerous athletes take a "time out" with these resources, but that is pretty normal for a triathlon.
After the swim, we had to run up an asphalt parking lot to get to transition. This sucked a little, but at least it wasn't hot yet. I made my way easily to my bike and took a few minutes to gear myself up and head out. Volunteers at the bike out recommended walking your bike to the top of a very short hill so that you could start on a flat surface and I did exactly that. The bike course started out crossing the lake we just swam in on a two lane bridge. The lanes were not closed off to us and the shoulders were in horrible condition. I stayed in the lane as much as possible, moving over for the infrequent traffic. There was a hill at the end of the bridge, then more flat roads. After six miles or so, the race course finally showed its hills. None of the hills were insanely difficult, but they were consistent enough to keep you shifting. Around mile 21, we hit the first water stop. The volunteers were friendly and offered assistance. This was also the first U-turn point. Around mile 31, we took a right turn onto a scenic parkway. There was an immediate aid station manned by another bunch of friendly, helpful volunteers. They offered to hold my bike, fill my bottles, bring me food, etc. The parkway would take us about 7 miles before hitting another water stop and U-turn. Again, great volunteers. I really enjoyed this stretch, even if the road conditions weren't ideal. It was fun, shaded, and scenic! Mile 45 had us turn right back onto the main stretch to head back in. The first segment, back on Hwy 980, seemed way worse going out than it had on the first pass. Chip seal, hills, vehicles passing too close, and no shade, not to mention fatigue and soreness. The left turn onto Hwy 190 and the last six miles were bittersweet, painful, and a little treacherous on the aforementioned horrible shoulders, but a welcome site. I flew into transition and immediately took a seat to get ready for the run.
As I sat in transition putting on my run gear, a friend who was doing the relay conveyed the very sad news that an athlete did not make it out of the water. This set a heavy tone on my heart, but I sucked it up and continued my race. The run out was deeper into the camp we were using for transition and around some RVs. We ran around a mile on roads with no shade, then turned into a neighborhood that would play host to three loops of running. There was a water stop with great volunteers immediately into the neighborhood and two more excellent water stops within the neighborhood loop. I would estimate that each loop was between 3.5 and 4 miles, though I was too incoherent to keep an accurate measure. The route was partially shaded, a little hilly, full of turns, and very low traffic. The water stop volunteers were great, refilling bottles and offering water and Gatorade. I would have liked to have seen better cooling options (i.e., ice baths, misters, cool towels) since it was in the 90s with heat index, and possibly some foods like pickles, orange wedges, and salt, but overall the run course was fine. After my second loop, I picked up a sheriff's department tail. Apparently the rest of the field behind me had dropped out, so I was the last competitor standing. An official told me that I had 15 minutes left before the sheriff's deputy would sweep me, and I knew I needed at least an hour to finish, so I just kept plugging along until I got swept. By some graceful miracle, I never did get swept. The Polk County Sheriff's deputy, who I believe was actually a sergeant, stayed with me and never pressured me to drop out. I felt terrible, overheated and depleted, but I managed to stick it out for the entire 13.1 miles.
As I rounded my way back into the camp, the sheriff's deputy played his sirens. I don't know if they were for my benefit or to alert the finish line that I was coming, but it really gave me a HUGE boost. I turned the final corner and saw that the finish line was still up, which surprised me. I was 10 minutes over course limit and way behind everyone else, so I had no expectation of them waiting for me. I was greeted with my medal, a cold towel, water, and the news that I placed first in the Athena 0-39 group. Go me! The podium and tents were even left up for me. Totally unexpected but very much appreciated.
After finish line festivities, I went to transition to recover my bike. Volunteers were taking down the rest of the transition area, so I thanked them for waiting for me. I also noticed a bike still on the rack, which I assume belonged to the lost athlete. I had a little moment for him and moved on.
All in all, I enjoyed this event for my first 70.3. My friend who has completed four 70.3 races, including this one twice, had to drop out on this second loop of the run. He said that this was easily the most difficult race he'd competed in.
Race pictures were available online within a few days, though they didn't have any photographers on the run course. Results were available same day on the timing company's website.
Silver medal awarded for: great support, difficult course, field size
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