I was planning to be in NYC this weekend and needed a long run to train for the Louisiana marathon so when this race magically appeared last week it seemed … MORE
I was planning to be in NYC this weekend and needed a long run to train for the Louisiana marathon so when this race magically appeared last week it seemed perfect. However it was far from it. This was an epic fail. Definitely the worse race I have done. This is part of City Tri’s return to racing series. I was very excited for this series since they were producing half marathons not just shorter distances like NYRR and NYCRuns but wow it was bad. For starters I arrived at the race almost an hour early because I always worry about getting lost and not finding the start. They gave very specific directions about where to meet in Prospect Park but no one was there. I am usually early to races but have never beat the RD before. Another runner showed up a few minutes later and we anxiously awaited the RD and were thinking this race might have been canceled and we missed the email as there was no one there 45 minutes later. Then about 10 minutes before the race someone comes by with the bibs. She gives the bib without safety pins and asks if we have a bib belt which I don’t. She then went on a lecture about how bad safety pins were while luckily I always carry some spare safety pins in my pouch. There are still no other runners but then a few more approached. Two of them saw how lame the race was and just left. If I didn’t need to get a long run in and it wasn’t so hard to motivate myself to do long runs in bad weather I probably would have too. In the end there were not even enough runners for it to count for any half marathon clubs. The other runner who was there early with me was very angry about this especially since the race advertised multiple waves and said “tech shirt for first 50 registrants” implying there would be a decent amount of runners. Personally I wasn’t happy this race wouldn’t count but if 2020 has taught me anything it is to just roll with the punches. The start was super weird. There was some weird chip timing with a scanner clipped to a pole. No start line or finish line. The race was just the main 3.3 mile Prospect Park Loop X 4 with the “finish line” about 0.1 miles before the “start line” to make it 13.1 miles. There were absolutely no course markings, mile signs or anything to indicate you were doing a race. One of the runners was confused where to go at one point and I only knew where to go because I just ran an organized race here. I actually didn’t mind the course. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about all the loops but it was kind of nice knowing what was coming up and Prospect Park is a pleasant place for a run. I didn’t love doing the long hill in the beginning 4 times but at least I knew it was coming. Prospect Park was pretty in the snow but not as enchanting as Central Park. There were two water stops one at the “finish line” and one halfway on the course with little water bottles and Huma Chia Gel. I hadn’t tried the gel before but I forgot to bring my own and tried it. It sat well during the race but not so much a few hours later while driving home. The “finish line” was super weird and I’m not even exactly sure where it was. I just kind of ran to the race staff member who then handed out the swag. The swag was surprisingly good. It was not specific to the race but Brooklyn themed and I assumed used for their other Brooklyn races but I mean they announced this a week ago so not really time for race specific swag. The color scheme and design isn’t my personal style but the medal is big and the shirt is tech. Although they gave me the wrong size I requested a men’s medium but got a women’s medium. Luckily the shirts run big and the women’s medium actually fits well. You also got a City Tri mask which is nice quality but I don’t really know if I want to give them advertisement. Also I am very confused by my listed race time on the website. The website initially listed the time I put above above which is consistent with my Garmin data and then when I looked later to write this review it had my “gun time” listed as the main time and it was 3 minutes slower. No idea where those 3 minutes came from since the race started like 20 minutes late so it clearly wasn’t subtracted from the start time and I passed the timing system right away since there were so few runners. Oh well this race doesn’t count for any clubs so I don’t really care too much about my official time which was pretty mediocre since I just ran it at a training pace since I couldn’t pump myself up enough to run my race pace as this didn’t feel like a race. This was definitely the worst produced race I have done. I also thought the website was somewhat deceptive to make this seem like something more exciting than a glorified training run. I definitely would not recommend these return to racing series by City Tri. I was planning to do a couple more but I have decided not to waste my time with them. I can’t figure out how this race benefits them. They couldn’t have made money and they definitely turned me off from doing any of their other races. At least it forced me to get in a 13.1 mile training run. If you are looking for a race in NYC definitely stick with NYRR or NYCRuns. However this disappointment of a race did seem like the perfect note to end the 2020 race season on. Here’s to a better 2021!
If 2020 were a race it would be this one
I was planning to be in NYC this weekend and needed a long run to train for the Louisiana marathon so when this race magically appeared last week it seemed … MORE
I was planning to be in NYC this weekend and needed a long run to train for the Louisiana marathon so when this race magically appeared last week it seemed perfect. However it was far from it. This was an epic fail. Definitely the worse race I have done. This is part of City Tri’s return to racing series. I was very excited for this series since they were producing half marathons not just shorter distances like NYRR and NYCRuns but wow it was bad. For starters I arrived at the race almost an hour early because I always worry about getting lost and not finding the start. They gave very specific directions about where to meet in Prospect Park but no one was there. I am usually early to races but have never beat the RD before. Another runner showed up a few minutes later and we anxiously awaited the RD and were thinking this race might have been canceled and we missed the email as there was no one there 45 minutes later. Then about 10 minutes before the race someone comes by with the bibs. She gives the bib without safety pins and asks if we have a bib belt which I don’t. She then went on a lecture about how bad safety pins were while luckily I always carry some spare safety pins in my pouch. There are still no other runners but then a few more approached. Two of them saw how lame the race was and just left. If I didn’t need to get a long run in and it wasn’t so hard to motivate myself to do long runs in bad weather I probably would have too. In the end there were not even enough runners for it to count for any half marathon clubs. The other runner who was there early with me was very angry about this especially since the race advertised multiple waves and said “tech shirt for first 50 registrants” implying there would be a decent amount of runners. Personally I wasn’t happy this race wouldn’t count but if 2020 has taught me anything it is to just roll with the punches. The start was super weird. There was some weird chip timing with a scanner clipped to a pole. No start line or finish line. The race was just the main 3.3 mile Prospect Park Loop X 4 with the “finish line” about 0.1 miles before the “start line” to make it 13.1 miles. There were absolutely no course markings, mile signs or anything to indicate you were doing a race. One of the runners was confused where to go at one point and I only knew where to go because I just ran an organized race here. I actually didn’t mind the course. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about all the loops but it was kind of nice knowing what was coming up and Prospect Park is a pleasant place for a run. I didn’t love doing the long hill in the beginning 4 times but at least I knew it was coming. Prospect Park was pretty in the snow but not as enchanting as Central Park. There were two water stops one at the “finish line” and one halfway on the course with little water bottles and Huma Chia Gel. I hadn’t tried the gel before but I forgot to bring my own and tried it. It sat well during the race but not so much a few hours later while driving home. The “finish line” was super weird and I’m not even exactly sure where it was. I just kind of ran to the race staff member who then handed out the swag. The swag was surprisingly good. It was not specific to the race but Brooklyn themed and I assumed used for their other Brooklyn races but I mean they announced this a week ago so not really time for race specific swag. The color scheme and design isn’t my personal style but the medal is big and the shirt is tech. Although they gave me the wrong size I requested a men’s medium but got a women’s medium. Luckily the shirts run big and the women’s medium actually fits well. You also got a City Tri mask which is nice quality but I don’t really know if I want to give them advertisement. Also I am very confused by my listed race time on the website. The website initially listed the time I put above above which is consistent with my Garmin data and then when I looked later to write this review it had my “gun time” listed as the main time and it was 3 minutes slower. No idea where those 3 minutes came from since the race started like 20 minutes late so it clearly wasn’t subtracted from the start time and I passed the timing system right away since there were so few runners. Oh well this race doesn’t count for any clubs so I don’t really care too much about my official time which was pretty mediocre since I just ran it at a training pace since I couldn’t pump myself up enough to run my race pace as this didn’t feel like a race. This was definitely the worst produced race I have done. I also thought the website was somewhat deceptive to make this seem like something more exciting than a glorified training run. I definitely would not recommend these return to racing series by City Tri. I was planning to do a couple more but I have decided not to waste my time with them. I can’t figure out how this race benefits them. They couldn’t have made money and they definitely turned me off from doing any of their other races. At least it forced me to get in a 13.1 mile training run. If you are looking for a race in NYC definitely stick with NYRR or NYCRuns. However this disappointment of a race did seem like the perfect note to end the 2020 race season on. Here’s to a better 2021!