The 13th Fawn Lake Triathlon was held on August 28, 2022
. RTU timed this race from 2009 to 2019.
The race has been USAT sanctioned since 2016. In addition to timing, I filled the role of USAT official.
The race organizers asked me to fill the USAT official role again this year. So, I was there bright and early at 6 am on race morning.
The event has three separate races; an adult race, a long youth race for kids 12 to 15, and a short youth race for kids 6 to 11.
The adult race started at 7:30 am with a 700-meter lake swim, 12-mile bike, and 5 km run. The weather was partly cloudy and 70 degrees with a 68-degree dew point and 80-degree water temperature.
After doing a bike check, I watched the swim start to ensure there were no wetsuits and the swimmers were going in the correct direction.
After the first swimmer was out of the water, I headed to the transition area to watch the participants head out on the bike leg.
Then, I rode my 30 pounds steel 53-year-old bike onto the course to watch for drafting. I got to a location where I could watch most of the field pass by once. Before the front biker passed me the last time, I headed back to the transition area. When back at the transition area, I found a cyclist had taken a spill and was in the ambulance with a shoulder injury.
I watched the transition and had to give a few penalties for participants removing their helmets while walking through the TA before racking their bikes.
The organizers changed the location of the youth race transition area from the traffic circle in front of the clubhouse to the exact location of the adult race’s TA. The circle location did not have any barriers to keep parents and spectators away from the kids. This year, the organizers lined both sides of the TA with a red string, which made instructions to parents easy.
The older youth race started at 10 am with a 225-yard pool swim, 6-mile bike, and 2 km run. Participants swam in lanes in the pool. So, the organizers started the race in 3 swimmer waves.
I repeated the watching process. There were no penalties, and only one parent had to be warned about assisting their child in the TA.
There were 62 participants in the younger kids’ race which started at 11 am with a 75-yard pool swim, 3-mile bike, and 1 km run. Swimmers started in waves of 6. That spread the field with the required 11 start waves. We started the younger kids after the last bike for the older kids had finished.
With the younger kids, I’d rather yell instructions than penalize them. They got off their bike and walked to the mount point, and the parents moved outside the rope and gave their kids verbal instructions. A couple of parents ignored my instructions: “they can do it themselves.” And I had to issue a couple of outside assistance penalties.
A few parents complained their child could not tie their shoes. The child is six years old. They can do it.
I have two principles used to officiate, safe and fair. Many USAT rules exist for safety and probably had a genesis from a past lawsuit. Since all assistance is not equal, no help makes the event fair.
As part of this year’s bike check, I needed to ensure all handlebar ends were plugged and nobody was trying to use an e-bike. The latter was a first.
Post-race, only a few helmetless bike riders looked at me as if I had a third eye when I asked them to wear their helmet. All had compelling reasons why they were not wearing a helmet. They would have removed their bib number from their shirt if they were smart. I should have DQ’d all of them. It’s a tradeoff of a small tri not wanting to piss off customers and strict rule enforcement. I was probably the mean jerk race volunteer,
They may ask me to help again in 2023. Somebody has to be the mean guy enforcing the rules.