Chattahoochee Challenge 70.3 race review

Race in Columbus, GA 4/21/2012. The race was hosted by the local Columbus triathlon club http://www.tricolumbusga.com. They did a very good job for their inaugural 70.3 and only their 3rd hosted event. Packet pickup was Friday at RideOn Bikes which is a large well stocked bike shop located very close to the event site. You would be able to pick up any items you needed or forgot to bring at the shop. The Marriott hotel is located directly across the street from the bike transition area and would be the easiest most convenient hotel. I stayed at the Howard Johnson which was about 1/4 mile away. Do not stay at the Econo Lodge, we checked in there only to find cockroachs in the bathroom and immediately checked out.

Woke up a 4:15 and couldn’t sleep any more so started getting ready. Rode over to bike transition at 5AM. Thought I would be alone but there were already 15 or so people in the staging area getting set up. The staging was behind the Convention & trade center and was underneath a large overhang in case of bad weather. The weather actually turned out fantastic – about 60 degrees at start rising to 78degrees at 3PM. Light cloud cover early giving way to sun by 9AM. I set up my stuff & talked with several people. I walked up the Riverwalk to the swim start at 6:15. The club had positioned a dock in the river at the start. The river had a good current. You do have to watch out for shallow areas in the river, especially on the swim back up the current for the last 1/4 mile. If you go close to shore you will end up in very shallow water but avoid most of the current. Walking up the boat ramp out of the water was challenging. I lost my balance and fell back into the water.

The bike course spends the first 5 miles on the Riverwalk. Since it is an open course there were other bikers, joggers and pedestrians. The path wanders and you need to be alert. Pretty hard to do 2 abreast with the traffic. I hope that they modify the race in the future to come of the path sooner and onto regular streets. Once we got onto the streets you could relax a bit. When you get onto Fort Benning it was very nice but could have been marked better. The last 4 miles to the turn around are the most challenging, both going and returning. Water station at mile 18 & 36 on the top of a hill. There a lot of flats and false flats with the hills near the turn around area.

The run course is well marked and well stocked with aid stations. The course is fairly flat and the promoter had good police support to hold up traffic at any intersections. Run was probably the best section overall for marking, support, and spectator viewing. The area had a good number of sitting areas and shade for the spectators. Overall it is a very friendly race for spectators. The finish area is a good large area with plenty of room.

 

My wife really enjoyed this race from a spectator point of view so we will probably be going back next year.