My letter to USA Triathlon
To Whom It May Concern:

I would be very surprised if this is the first letter to this effect which you are
receiving; I would like to file an official complaint about the Lake Delavan
Triathlon run by Frank Dobbs of Lake Geneva Extreme Sports on June 3, 2006.
My complaint mostly centers on the poor marking and lack of volunteers on the
bike course, and while I do understand that it is up to the participant to know
the course, that does not relieve the race director from the responsibility of
marking the course.

The swim course was the right length, but the race director gave two different
sets of directions, one at the pre-race meeting saying always keep the buoys on
your left, and one right before the race, which not everybody heard, saying to go
out with the buoys on your left and return between the two columns of buoys.
As a result people were very confused in the water, and swimming in many
different directions.

It was the bike course that was a complete disaster. First, and possibly just a
minor problem compared to everything else that went wrong on this day, was
the fact that nowhere in the race’s website, in the race packet, or the pre-race
meeting was the drafting policy announced. As a USAT event I believe there
should be a no-drafting policy, but I asked several people, and the answer that
summed up the entire day was, “I don’t think there are any rules in this race.”

As for the course itself, the Olympic course and Sprint course started out
together then split and rejoined twice. The first split was properly manned with
two volunteers and a sign, so far so good. After that the Olympic course was
supposed to do a small box reaching: an intersection moving south, turning to
the east and circling around to come back at the same intersection moving
north and turning to the west (think: three left turns make one right turn).
There were two volunteers at that intersection too (only I didn’t know it was that
intersection until reviewing the map after the race). They told me, and
everybody around me, to turn west right away. It was about halfway down that
road that I began to think that I had missed something. Most people I spoke to
after the race reported the same thing happening to them. Later in the race
there was supposed to be a very sharp turn way out on the course to bring you
south back towards the race. This was a very important turn and was either
unmarked or marked with a very small sign, because I ended up in a pack of
about 20 people huddled over a map trying to figure out where we had left the
course.

Olympic participants were greeting each other after the race with, “So, how far
did you end up riding?” and getting replies usually ranging from 15 to 20 miles,
although I did hear that one poor participant rode over 40 before finding his
way to the finish.

I freely admit that I do not have the best sense of direction, and if it was just
me, I would probably just get mad at myself for not memorizing the course
better, and plan to tape the map to my aerobars for the next race (something I
still plan to do). But of the 83 people entered, 53 were placed in the ‘non-
standard bike course’ category. The placement of an athlete in the ‘official’ or
non-standard’ category seems to me to be based completely on the time it took
them to complete the bike leg. My placement in the ‘non-standard’ category is
accurate, given my bike split of around 45 minutes, but there are certainly
others in the race posting times of 1:30 that didn’t cover the course, and on the
other end, people posting 2:30’s who got completely lost and went over the
distance. The only places there were volunteers on the course were at spots
where cars might need to be stopped, so I am pretty sure that there is no official
record of who completed the course. They didn’t even make a note of it when
the pack of 20 of us came through and said something to the race director, who
was standing at the entrance to the transition area. I did not find to a single
person who said that they didn’t have a problem on the bike course, and I
sincerely doubt that 30 people actually completed the course correctly.

A single entry fee for this race should have covered enough posterboard and
markers to make large enough signs (with the words Triathlon Course on them
so they don’t look like real estate signs) so that nobody would have gotten lost.

A little effort talking to local schools and universities (not to mention local tri
clubs, running clubs, even cycling groups) would probably have resulted in
enough warm bodies to have one person at every turn.

And even the smallest sense of responsibility on the part of the race director
would have made him feel ashamed at the job he has done. Instead he has
brushed it off. How he could offer official results at all mystifies me.

When an athlete chooses to participate in a USAT sanctioned event, they expect
high standards, but this is not what Frank Dobbs provides. This is not the first
event run by Frank Dobbs where there have been problems, I have spoken with
many athletes who will never run his races again. I agree whole-heartedly with
that sentiment. If I can’t be assured of even a mediocre experience at a race
sanctioned by USAT, there is no reason for me to pay the fee for USAT
membership when I can just as easily participate in a non-sanctioned event.

I strongly encourage you to either revoke his sanctioning, or more closely
monitor his events.

Sincerely...