Florian Basier's Staging Area

This was my third time running Cap Tex, but the first since it got purchased by SuperTri and I am extremely disappointed by this change. Besides a huge price increase, it did not translate to anything of value for the athletes (quite the opposite).
First, their backend system cannot really support multiple registrations. So if you end up signing up 2+ athletes at registration, you will only receive communication (wave assignment, official results) for one.
Packet pickup is limited to 8h on Sunday before the race, starting at a late 10am. Absolutely nothing on Saturday. Such 1-day pickup is extremely rare for both small and large races. Expo is underwhelming. There is then a mandatory bike dropoff (which, for races with only 1300 athletes across 3 distances, is a clear overkill, but whatever) and confusion between volunteers at the expo who stated that you only need the bracelet for race day, and volunteers at bike dropoff who required the bracelet (for no real reason since you are only dropping a bike, not picking up!). Finally you get to put your bike on a rack, with no numbers (semi-free placement) and nobody respecting the alternating direction rule.
Anyway, after all that mess you make it to race morning. Something new that SuperTri brought is an all-pro format. So transition closes for everyone, then the pro males do their race, then the pro females do theirs, and then the age grouper can START theirs. It means the start of the race is a full hour after what it used to be. So transition closes HOURS before you get to swim, you now get to swim with a sun high enough on the horizon that it blinds you half the course, and to run with a sun high enough that it is hellish. During this time you can waste time listening to the CEO of SuperTri bragging about his program and how much they are gonna reward the pros and about this race being the “largest triathlon in Texas” (I guess if you don’t count any of the 4 IM-branded races, nor Kerrville nor the OilMan, the 1300-strong course is the largest in Texas indeed…).
The swim is now wave-based, but there is no logic as to what these waves are. In the past you self-seeded by expected swim time, for smaller tris I’ve done wave starts with some consistency (Male 20-30, Female 50+, etc), here it is just a random wave you are assigned to. You still start 2 every few seconds, not exactly sure when because when I reached the start I was told “jump now, your time has already started” even though the athlete in front was still emerging from the water. Great way to start the race by jumping on top on another athlete and having 2 paraplegics seconds into the day.
The swim itself was better than last time I did it. There are still plenty of weeds preventing you to swim properly, there are still debris (branches, trash) floating in front of you, the water still smells the bat guano from the Congress bridge, the volunteers on Kayak still place themselves on the course rather than on the side. And thanks to the late start you are blind half the course swimming East. BUT at least the water was clear and wetsuit was legal.
The bike course is still the same: 4 loops, which are very crowded with multiple bike skills at the same spot, from the beginners doing their first loop to the semi-pros doing their fourth. Potholes are still everywhere, the sidewalk when doing the U-turn on Cesar Chavez is still unmarked so I’ve seen a few first-timers having to jump from the sidewalk to the road there, and the dangerous U-turn at the end of the lap is where the street is the most damaged (the right turn at high speed down Congress also has a damaged pavement). Lots of DNFs on the bike because the organizers did not account for course safety.
Finally the run. 2 loops in the park, with extra back and forth on a bridge and on a side street, each of them with no shadow whatsoever which – given the late start – are just nightmares. At this point, remove these 2 from the course and have us run more loops in the park.
Medal is underwhelming, just a black circle with a guitar on it because Austin? Not sure what they tried to do but that’s the ugliest medal on my rack.
When transition reopens, they are creating an Ikea-style course where you are supposed to enter one point and exit another. I get it for the exit, but not for the entrance, I’ve never seen that at any race I’ve done. If you can prove (with your bracelet) that you can enter transition, I’ve never been told to do a 1mile loop to re-enter. And the staff member (not a volunteer, a staff member) enforcing this stupid rule started being rude explaining “I’ve been here since 5am”. Yes, so are we. And we did a triathlon on top of that.
I’m now hesitating to even do Kerrville, even though I’m already registered, since that triathlon too has been purchased by SuperTri, but one thing is for certain: Cap Tex Tri doesn’t exist anymore, and SuperTri Austin is not going to be on my list anymore.

When you pay this much for a race, you expect it to be well organized, and that was the case.
With the recent addition of Dallas 70.3 to the calendar just 3 weeks before Galveston, we saw a huge dip in attendance, from ~2000 to ~1400, with also a beginner percentage slightly higher than it used to be, leading to messy transition (people not knowing how to rack their bikes properly, etc), I think the transition area was short on volunteers for that reason. However the race was well supported.
Swim: wetsuit legal, we started out of 2 docks instead of 3 this year, which created a less crowded swim, Buoys and kayaks were frequent enough, and the saltwater swim is protected enough so visibility was great throughout
Bike: back and forth with 3 aid stations (every 15mi or so), properly separated from traffic. Lot of people and sometimes a narrow lane so not necessarilly easy to pass or ride strictly respecting the 6 bikes length rule, yet no real drafting packs or anything. Roads were cleaner than they use to as well, so I haven’t seen that many flats than I use to.
Run: the new course (from last year) is mentally challenging as the 3.5 laps have no shadow and little to no scenery. No shadow either for spectators who are now concentrated on a handful of spots, so it doesn’t have the crowd support it used to. The U-turns are down to 2 which is good. They also monitor your lap times and skipped times live, so cheaters are not only flagged but escorted out of the course. It happened to a lady who was starting her 3rd lap at the same time as me but was told by a referee that her course skipping had granted her a DQ (at mile 66 of this 70.3 race). Good.
Swag-wise you get the usual backpack, T-Shirt, and (new) a small towel for finishers (rather than the hat).

This was the race’s 11th year, which is always a tough time for organizers as the race turns into a small, local event to a larger, more recognized event. And long story short: the organizers are NOT ready for it.

Pre-race: almost NO information email, the only source of information for packet pickup, schedule of events, or just weather alert (this race was held during the winter storm) was the -confusing- website. Website itself is not necessarilly clear. The “marathon” page gives you turn by turn instructions but the location of the start is on another page, which only mentions “The Hangout”. If you are not familiar with Gulf shores, you have to google it to find out what it is and where it is. Packet pick-up had a very small window, starting at 1pm on Saturday.

Race day: no gear check. start line was fine, with appropriate amount of bathrooms, but the start itself was confusing. Pacers for the Half and the Full had the same equipment so it was hard to place one’s in the chute (is the 3:00 pacer a fast one for the full or a slow one for the half? do I need to move up or back?). Then everyone starts at the same time, and you reach the narrow state park trails as early as mile 1. This does not give time to the pack to thin out, so the race is extremely crowded, making it difficult to pass, until the marathon/half split happens around mile 7-8. The aid stations (on that shared path in particular) were extremely small, and volunteers were overwhelmed with the density of runners who had to stop and get in line to get a cup of water. Some tables even got so used to that “the runner picks up its own cup from the table” that when we hit these stations again at miles 18-25 they were still not handing out the cups. This could be easily resolved by either having corrals, or having different start times for Full and Half.

Course: the course is very flat (some slight ups and downs but barely noticeable) and almost entirely in the state park, with a mix of pavement and boardwalk. Trails are narrow (especially with how crowded the course is), and you are running in a forest/swamp. Which is very humid (95%+) and does not help sweat evaporates – so if you are a heavy sweater and need to sweat to regulate your body temperature, this is going to be a more difficult race than what the course profile suggests. Don’t let the name of the race fool you, you only see a beach the first 100 yards and the last 50 yards.

Crisis management: One of the main reason to go to organized events is to be protected from problems. For this race there was a big red flag with the winter storm expected to hit us early. The organizers decided to maintain the race as scheduled. Don’t get me wrong, I laud this “hope for the best, prepare for the worst” approach. I’ve had cancelled races in the past, only to see on race day that the race could/should have stood. But they dropped the ball in the “prepare for the worst” part. Saturday forecast had the storm hitting us at 9am, only 90minutes into the race. But there was absolutely no preparation for it. Wind, hail, rain, slippery boardwalk, flooded roads when coming back to town. Everything we faced was forecasted. We knew we’d face it. They could have move that race from the late 7:30 start but didn’t. When we arrived on the finish line it was a disaster: the wind had taken down some portapotties which were now spilling on the course, everyone on the finish line had evacuated inside. Nobody to hand us water, nobody to even give us our medal. We had to inquire inside, receive conflicting information, and that is not what you want to have to do after running 26.2miles including a few in terrible conditions. While we were wet and freezing, they did not have towels, safety blankets or anything of that sort. They even paused the food serving “because of the conditions”, so forget about comforting warm food. They had plenty of spare long sleeve shirts because of everyone who decided not to run in these conditions, but did not offer anyone any. Again, I am fine with the “hope for the best, prepare for the worst” approach. I am flabbergasted by the “ignore the risk, don’t plan for anything” approach that they took.

There was some confusion about the shuttles between the time I registered and the time the race was held so my hotel was miles from the shuttle start, which was a bummer.
Weather was windy and a bit of rain just before the start, which seems to be very common yet there is no protective accommodation at the start line except a few (not a lot) portapotties. Then the race is 24 miles of flat (who said boring?) and windy. There’s sand everywhere so wear eye protections, flying sand is no joke. The mileage signs were all down because of the wind (seems to be a recurring issue, why don’t they lest them?) and there were no toilets on-course (a few trees here and there, if you are a man…). Once in Biloxi at mile ~24 you climb onto I-110 which feels unnecessary at this stage: you are now facing the 20mph North winds on an unsafe road (it’s a moving bridge so there are gaps between the pieces, pay attention where you place your steps!), just to U-turn a few hundred yards after the Half marathoners did U-turn (somehow the two distances don’t match and the Half marathoners start at mile 12.6 of the full) and finish in the local baseball stadium. Once you are done with your race, please climb stairs to enjoy refreshments, bathrooms and gear check… This could be improved, just like the app they use for tracking and cheering (whoever designed this never ran once in their life) which stopped tracking at mile 4. Overall a nice mid-size race, perfect to check Mississippi off the list.

So many minor hiccups for a race with great potential. You get to visit the town, from the old chinatown to the bridges, which is great… But you also get a very confused start, with the 10k and the marathon starting together in a giant uncorralled wave, with groups of walkers ahead blocking even the elites. Because of the tramways, there’s not one route but multiple ones because you may be directed to alternative routes at any of the 10 tramways crossing on the route. When you do, the official app considers you “off-route” because of course it doesn’t account for alt routes. The end of the race is terrible, with a first back and forth in the middle of homeless encampments, then when you are in view of the finish line you do a S shape actually running the same road three times with two U-Turns.

This year was a bit cooler than last time I did it, which made a huge difference on the DNF rate.

You should know exactly what you are signing for: a single 10k loop with a mix of loose sand, grass and gravel road, little to no shadow, absolutely no scenery. Heat index at or around 100F when the race start, and two help stations full of ice and awsome volunteers. And you are doing that same loop 5, 10 or 16 times depending on your selected distance.
The first two loops are when undertrained, over-optimistic runners are passing you like crazy – only to DNF in the first 4h.

Time is irrelevant, use these first 2-3 loops as a (long and tedious) warmup. Milk the shadow as much as possible by walking, never fight the loose sand or the “technical” parts (steeper uphills/downhills with roots) and you’ll survive through the day. It gets super dark when night falls, and the cowpies everywhere means you’ll fight flying bugs at every step, but at least the Texan sun will not be eating you alive anymore. Be prepared to drop bag(s) in tent city to adjust your gear based on the time of the day: loop 1 protect against the sun, loops 2-3 focus on ice capacity, remove layers on loop 4, add light for night loops… Don’t underestimate changing socks. It forces you to stop, seat, remove shoes and socks… but otherwise the ice cubes slowly melt and drip along your legs down to your socks. I’ve never seen so many blisters on one foot in my life. But at least I kept all my toenails this year, so still calling it a win.

This year the aid stations lacked consistency. The one in tent city only served gatoritas (sodas were not) while the Hot Tamales station was doing the opposite. Both were staffed with volunteers helping with ice stuffing (in your pockets, arm sleeves, etc) or refilling your water bladders. They rocked, like they usually do at TROT events but even more so at Habanero since it’s by far their toughest race.

Very well organized race.

It may be tricky logistics-wise as this is a Saturday race with an early start and an earlier bus shuttling to the start line so if you are traveling from out of town, you’ll probably have a very short night.

Otherwise, this race is really in two parts: ~10 miles with a strong downhill (and a small uphill around mile 6) and beautiful landscapes, and then ~15 miles of flat and boring. Of course the sun comes up when you reach that point and it feels HOT, even in February. The start line was full of porta-potties which sometimes is an issue on the starting line.

I wanted my wife to be able to track me quickly so I downloaded the app and started it on the start line, and it was the best idea I’ve had that day. As expected, it provides tracking (even though the mesa website was apparently down most of the race due to high traffic), but it also provides pace information at every mile, information about upcoming aid stations (“aid station in a quarter mile with restrooms, water and gatorade. Next one in 2 miles”), race tips (“that hill will be over in half a mile”), and -first time I’ve experienced that- tourist tips: I was able to learn about the Saguaros, the canals, the history and economics of the area….

If you ran the Houston Marathon and struggled with the “hills” of Allen Parkway, this 25k is a perfect training. While not on Allen itself but on Memorial, this is the left bank of the same Bayou so you get the same hills and are doing them 6 times (3 back and forth).
If you are not training for Chevron, I would discourage you from running this except if you love running on a debris-filled highway with no shadow and very sparse aid stations. Also, a very small field with a very wide range of running skills, from the sub 90 25k runners to the walkers (walking all 25k!), so the third loop feels really alone, not really motivating when it gets hard.

Very scenic race.
Half marathoners stay with the marathoners for the whole first 13.1mi so you don’t have to worry about slower runners on the course, and people self-corraled in a very clean way so there was absolutely no slaloming required.
The rolling hills are no joke, especially on the second half. My only concern is with the open roads: having cars drive in-between runners in a sometimes unsafe way did not felt good at all.

Very well-organized race on a scenic, flat course. Lots of races claim to be flat, this one definitively is.
Only issue is with the aid stations: there are very few of them, under-staffed, and the cups are filled all the way making it hard to “pinch and drink”. Very nice otherwise!

You have to be ready for these rolling hills: there are three in the first half, and only one in the second, but it is at the worst place: a 4.5mi continuous climb with up to 11% gradient between miles 20 and 25.

Well marked course with a lot of animation, either official ones (rock bands on scenes, faces of the fallen) or just random mariachi bands and cheering spectators (a lot of them!).

My main concerns are with the distribution and location of porta potties, which had only 2-3 at a time before the half/full split, creating long lines. Sometimes they had groups of them close to each other, sometimes they were miles apart, with no indication, creating useless lines as there were empty ones 200-300yds further. Sometimes the porta potties were very close to the course (so the lines were blocking the runners), other times (on Fort Sam Houston), they were 200 yards off course !

Another issue was the non-enforcement of corrals. There were at least 16 corrals which is great, but there were a lot of people in corrals 12+ who snuck into 1-7 corrals, leading to 1-overcrowded porta-potties in the corrals and 2- out of pace runners crowding the first 5-6 miles. It’s really disappointing that such an easy-to-do enforcement of corrals was not done.

Quick, 2-loops race. What you’d expect from a 10 miler in the burbs. Nothing more, nothing less.
Pretty large spread of levels, from sub-50 10 milers to very slow 5 milers, which on a two-loops course means some slaloming on loop 2 but nothing too critical either.
I was only running it as a gear test before an upcoming marathon and got exactly what I was expecting from it!

A very well organized race (World Athletics Gold Label).
Lots of animation along the course, from the giant American flag mile 2 to the multiple bands and of course lots of supporters cheering.
It is a flat, fast course with only two obstacles: the Westpark bridge at mile 13 and the Allen parkway underpasses towards the end.
Corrals are checked so there is limited slaloming needed in the first miles even if the half marathoners crowd the road as the pace groups are consistent.