Brierman Race Report

The Brierman 50lite triathlon is a .85/40/9.5 mile race in Boonsboro state park near Hagerstown, Maryland. This race features a cold swim on a flat lake, a two loop bike course with a climb up the side of a Mountain, and a run course up and down a very long steep hill. The park is an amazing race venue.

AJ and I arrived Sat. at 2:30. We signed up for the race, listened to the course talk and drove the bike course. The bike course had us both intimidated. The climbs were long and steep. It was obvious we were going to spend much of the day below 10mph. After that we went to the hotel to watch the race in Kona and got a "good" meal.

Sunday we woke up at 5am and got ready to race. We headed to the race site, readied our transition, stood in line for the 2 toilets offered, pulled on the wet suits and headed for the shore.

The swim was two laps on a very calm lake. The water was cold, so I wore two caps. We all started together for a "mass start"(maybe 100 racers). The horn blew and we were off. The swim was really nice. I just swam nice long even strokes and enjoyed watching the sun rise over the surrounding mountains. I was bummed when the swim ended. This was a perfect swim for me. I think it was my best of the year.

T1. I entered on the wrong side of the rack. This slowed me a bit. I put on a long sleeve jersey, my helmet, glasses and headed up the first steep climb out of the park.
"clack,clack....."
Many riders were unable to stay up. I started in an easy gear and had little problem. The ride was a mix of fast descents (48mph top speeed) Long steep climbs, and sharp turns. It was far tougher then any I have ever ridden. The highlight was the amazing fall colors and veiws from the side of the mountain.

The course also was littered with McCain/Palin signs. My malicious side had plans made up for the signs, but they were never realized as I feared some folk may not be able to distinguish aero bars from antlers. The ride was mostly very lonley on the second loop. Once the sprint group left the course we were so spread out on winding mountain roads, that I never really saw other riders. I wondered how far back I was. feared I was dead last until I passed one rider and spotted another that rode 500' behind me.
As I returned to the park down the steep hill we had previously ascended I was excited to start running.
T2. I entered and had to push my way through two people from the sprint race chatting in front of my rack space. I got my run stuff together and headed out for a nice run.

So I figured we would start with a short climb and out and back run around the lake, along park roads. What actually happened was a long climb up a steep hill followed by a long steep descent before turning around and running it in reverse. Half way down to the turn around I was caught by the athlete who had been riding 500' feet behind me on the bike course. I began to match his pace, and we ran the rest of the course together. His name was Scott. We paced and managed the long climb well before opening up our pace as we ran the final fast mile back to the finish. We crossed at the same time. We were glad to be done.

I checked on AJ to see how he did. He said, "I won."
We had been told we couldn't have a race shirt due to our late entry, so I asked if they found an extra shirt for the winner of their inaugural race.
He replied "No".
This happened in front of a Newspaper reporter who was interviewing AJ.Hee hee hee.

I am happy with my performance. Had I planned on doing this race, I would have spent more time doing hill work over the last 3 weeks.
The race management really kind of sucked and the cost for entry was to high. They had made promises to us via email and danced around the issue when we arrived at the race site. AJ had been told he would be given a discount and I would be charged the online fee since the site closed earlier than indicated online. When AJ asked for the discount, the RD took a shot at him saying, "I will cut you a check when you get the 1st place medal."
After he won, the RD continued to dance around the issue. We are waiting to see if he actually honors his promise and sarcasm.
I loved the course both for the challenge and beauty. I will return if Piranha Sports keeps it's word. The venue is awesome. They have a good race. I just thought the management provided very little for an expensive race. If I do return I will register far in advance.