Race Report: Give Peace A Tri 2013

Race results are IN! Masher competed in this year's Give Peace A Tri sprint race benefiting Mothers Uniting, a group that works to create a non-violent and just world for all children.

Due to damaging floods in NH, the race was moved at the last minute from Surry Mountain Lake to nearby Otter Brook State Park. You can read more about this in the previous entry regarding Masher's pre-race intel. The course thus went from pancake flat to hilly, but Masher's preview made him confident he was ready for the challenge.

He arrived at the race to see parking, the swim course and the transition area all well marked. These pretty prayer flags, decorated with local school childrens' visions of peace, lined the chute from the swim to transition. It was a beautiful touch and made the race feel celebratory.

Masher signed in, got his bib number and timing chip, got Sharpied up with his race number, and hit the racks to set up transition. Having two triathlons under his race belt he felt at ease this time about set-up.

This year he was a lot less nervous and he left plenty of time to get in a warm up swim.

To his surprise, there were a lot more racers in wetsuits this year. Masher thought the water was chilly but just fine. He HTFU and hopped in the lake sans wetsuit. (Okay, he does have that insulating layer of fur...)

After a warm up swim around half the course, he splashed around in the water to stay warm. Once the pre-race announcements were done, he waded into knee deep water with his wave (hmm, knee deep start really gives the taller racers a bit of advantage) and...GO!

He was off! Last year, being a brand new swimmer, he got dropped by his wave, swam alone for a time, and then the wave after him caught up, chewed up the water around him and spit him out. After all his time with Masters Swimming this fall and winter, he got more confident in the water and stayed with his wave. He even passed people in wetsuits! Swimming in a crowd means the water's a lot choppier and he did get stuck behind a few people he couldn't pass, but he is super proud of keeping up with the big boys this year.

A quick hop through the peace banners and Masher was off on his favorite leg of the race - the bike! This was a HILLY course. He kept a good pace on the hills but got passed by quite a number of really strong cyclists. He pined for last year's pancake flat course (mmmmm, pancakes!) but huffed his way along.

On the run he enjoyed the shady path through the park and a sunny patch along the dam. He saved some energy on the bike ride (not going all out on the hills) and gave it all for the hilly run.

Swim, bike, run and DONE! The smell of pizza greeted Masher as he crossed the finish line and hit the food tent for some amazing pizza by Little Zoe's Pizza, some strawberries and blueberries, and of course - a cookie.

Masher's got MUCH to be proud of this year. Last year, he was nearly dead last in his division and at the bottom third in overall rankings. This year...drum roll please...

Masher McBuns
Total Race Time: 1:16:52
Overall Rank: 74/163
Labbit Division Rank: 10/31
Swim: 11:01
T1: 1:56
Bike: 32:34
T2: 1:13
Run: 30:11

WHOO HOOO! Great times for a hilly course AND, way to move up in the rankings! Another thing to be happy about: no flat tire this year!

Masher's busy now getting his McBuns in shape for his first olympic distance tri: The Otter Limits Tri on September 14, 2013. Way to go Masher McBuns!

Masher's Pre-Race Intel

Masher McBuns was pretty psyched to check out the new course for Give Peace A Tri 2013 and find the buoys had already been set up. Last week he went to Surry Mountain Lake to get in a swim before the race and found the place had been severely flooded. The gate to the park was closed with a sign explaining why:

Surry Mountain Lake is a flood control area. The dam will purposely allow the lake to flood to save surrounding townships from flooding. Masher hopped past the gate and the park ranger's hut and didn't get very far before he saw the flood waters from all the recent rain in New England. You can see in the photo above that there's dampness around the ranger's hut.

Behind the hut there was lots of rock and debris from when the water was at its highest. Just beyond the speed limit sign you can see where the water was as of July 7th, 2013.

That's a lot of water. To give you an idea how just how much water that is, this should be a driveway that leads between the trees. Behind the group of trees on the right is a large parking lot. Beyond the trees on the right is a large grassy area where last year's transition area was. And beyond all of that was the beach and then the lake. Here are some shots from Masher's race last year:

Transition area.

The beach.

Park, picnic area and parking lot. Front gate beyond the tree line.

The transition area, beach, picnic areas, and parking lot you see above? All under water, making it impossible and unsafe to race at the lake. Instead, Robyn, the race director (she's in the beach photo above in the blue shirt, giving the pre-race info session) worked hard to move the race to Otter Brook State Park in Keene, NH. It's no easy feat to plan a multisport event, and to move one at the last minute was surely stressful. Masher gives a special big thanks to Robyn and her husband and all the volunteers who made this race possible!

Back to race intel! Masher checked out the new course site so he would know how to get there, and he lucked out because the buoys were already set up and he could swim the exact course. He did an easy hop along the run course so he could prepare himself mentally. It was pretty hilly...certainly not pancake flat like at Surry Mountain Lake, but he's ready to race! GO MASHER MCBUNS!

Dem buns!