18 September 2010

Rev3 Cedar Point: Ironman Addendum and Race Day Video

I've been asked by many of my blogger friends to talk about how I thought the Rev3 experience was. Since I do not have an official Ironman sanctioned event to compare it to, I can only speak about my experience with this race. I have decided to post my observations in the form of bullets, as this would be easiest. If you have any specific questions for me, please do not hesitate to drop me a line, or leave a comment—I love comments!

• The site for the beginning and end of the race—inside an amusement park—was VERY cool!

• I thought the Rev3 site could have been a little more user-friendly. It was difficult for most of my friends to find, and track me online. I would suggest that they have a large link on their website that says "TRACK ATHLETES HERE." My wifey spent over an hour trying to find me online, and was only able to track me from a friend who posted the link on Facebook.

• There was plenty of course nutrition and aid stations on both the bike and the run.

• The sports drink on the bike and run course was CeraSport. I was not a big fan of this drink at all. I can stomach pretty much everything in terms of nutrition, but I thought CeraSport was not the yummiest thing they could have went with. I have yet to meet another athlete who actually liked the taste of CeraSport.

• The race meeting was a bit informal. I have been to race meetings that were mandatory—like Musselman—where athletes have to sign in, or give their bib number. Race meetings are to ensure the athletes are informed and safe. The RD was a nice guy, but he did not have a list that he was going through. It seemed like he was kind of flying by the seat of his pants, although he managed to store a lot of information in his RAM.

• There was plenty of parking for transition, but when I first entered the park, I spent twenty minutes trying to find transition. One simple suggestion: A sign that reads "Parking for Rev3 Transition here," complete with arrow would be nice.

• Rev 3 did a great  job of making everyone out on the course feel like they were a world class athlete  running the biggest race in the world.

• The finisher shirt? Extremely Awesome.




My Ride 




5 comments:

Caratunk Girl said...

Great shirt! Well, when you found the athlete tracker, I wonder if it actually worked?? The WTC site is easy to find but doesn't work half the time, which is equally frustrating...

Rev3 sounds pretty cool.

KC (my 140 point 6 mile journey) said...

Love the race shirt! The non-IM 140.6 I'm doing has an online tracker so we'll see how well that works out on race day. Their website sucks really bad. For 1, it isn't user friendly and 2, it isn't updated in a very timely manner which does not sit well with this Virgo who feels the need to be overly prepared w/time to spare for unforseen circumstances...uuugh!
Hope your recovery week has been a good one!

ONEHOURIRONMAN said...

I hope Rev gives WTC a run for their money. Even establish their own world championships in the future. It would divide the sport for a while but ultimately make it stronger and bigger.
You need to do an M dot race so you can do a comparison. Pros and cons on both sides I'm sure...

Molly said...

Congrats Mark!! Love the addition of the videos to your recaps.

and I had to laugh when I saw your new header photo...it's the boy version of mine!

Unknown said...

Mark - I am so happy our sons were able to contribute to your success by documenting the journey. Nice Job! ML