Serpent’s Shadow Multisport Festival
Silver Lake, NY
- Sprint, Duathlon, 5K
- Duathlon , Road (Paved), Triathlon
- Official race website
Join the annual Serpents Shadow Triathlon, Duathlon and 5K in the heart of Wyoming County. The triathlon will consist of a paddle-bike-run and will start in historic Silver Lake, continuing through Wyoming County for the bike and run. Participants will take in the sights of the rural landscapes while offering … MORE
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I had completing a triathalon on my running bucket list but I am not much of a swimmer and I am terrified of open water so I wasn't really sure … MORE
I had completing a triathalon on my running bucket list but I am not much of a swimmer and I am terrified of open water so I wasn’t really sure how I would accomplish it but then I found this race which is a paddle-bike-run triathalon so no swimming required! This race is located in Silver Lake, NY not to be confused with my old LA neighborhood. Silver Lake is just under an hour from Rochester. This race starts at 10am so I had plenty of time to get there and no hotel is needed. Packet pick-up can either be the day before or on race day. Packet pick-up was practically on my way home from Randolph so I got my packet Saturday at a local brewery. Packet included bib and a nice technical long sleeved shirt. I also stayed and went for a hike at Letchworth which is right nearby on Saturday since I didn’t think a half marathon and a triathalon were enough for a weekend. Letchworth is amazing, definitely visit if you are in the area. I was very anxious about this race Sunday morning and I realized triathalons are not great for anxious people as there is so much that can go wrong. Luckily Wolfpack Multisport knows how to run a triathalon so nothing went wrong except for the medals getting stuck in the mail but they told us about that. They did email an athlete’s guide the week before. I think it had enough info for an experienced trialthlete but personally I would have liked a bit more about how the transitions etc work but race day was pretty flawless. Kayakers dropped their kayaks off first and then parked and brought their bikes to the transition area. The kayak start was interesting. Everyone got in their boats starting at about 9:45. Then we had a mass start. The kayak was about 1.2 miles. It was a square and you went around very easy to spot buoys. Luckily weather was great today as I heard the kayak section was rough last year when it was stormy. There was a bit of a current but it wasn’t too bad. The only difficulty is the final leg of the race was the most against the current. The kayaking was a fun, easy way to start. Much better than swimming in scary open water. The kayaking took me around 20 minutes to my relief so I had plenty of time for the bike. There is a 2 and 1/2 hour time limit to finish the kayak and bike portion and then an additional hour to finish the run. I am a terrible biker so I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time. After the kayak we pulled our boats to shore and there was about 0.4 miles to the transition area. This was a little annoying but we were told about it. Then we went to the bike transition area. I was nervous about this part since I am not much of a biker. I just do easy bike rides along the canal path as cross training or to ride to work and don’t really ride on hills or streets. The bike ride is 16ish miles. The first half is wonderful through very rural scenic area around the lake and through farmlands. I also saw some adorable cows but didn’t get off my bike to take a picture. The bike course was well marked and most but not all intersections had volunteers. I did hear of one person missing a turn. I was very paranoid about getting lost so I was paying super good attention but it seemed easy to follow to me. Around mile 8 you go more through town. I didn’t like this as much. Along with being terrified of open water, I am also terrified of dying in a bike accident (again why a triathalon was on my bucket list who knows?). I do think the race did everything they could to make this safe and there were course marshals at every busy intersection and I was absolutely never in danger but they can’t patrol every drive way and small street so this part made me nervous. The roads are also kind of gravely not the most well maintained in the town area. There are some potholes. I have a hybrid bike and am used to terrain like this so it was not particularly a problem for me but definitely slows you down. There were two really steep hills near the end one at mile 11 and one at mile 13. I had to walk my bike up these hills. The rest of the hills were rolling and easy and I am even worse at biking up hills than I am at running hills. I actually thought the bike part was great just my own not really enjoying bike riding got in the way which was not the races fault. I was relieved to get back to the transition and then it was the 5K. The 5K was both extremely easy and tough. It was nice to end on what I am familiar with and nice to know I would definitely finish but also after stepping out of my comfort zone so much for this race, it was kind of anti-climactic and I really didn’t feel like a 5K after that bike ride. The 5K course was fine but more of an afterthought and the star was really the bike course. It was an out and back through some neighborhoods by the lake. More scenic than average but no spectacular views. Rolling hills. Not too bad but more uphill the second half. Also well marked with a water stop at the 1 mile mark you pass twice. My time was really slow for a 5K but not bad for all I had done this weekend (half marathon & 5 mile hike Saturday, 1.2 mile kayak and 16 mile bike ride right before the 5K). I was so relieved and happy to get to the finish line. I finished around 2:38. I haven’t seen the official results. My time was about exactly what I thought I would do but my main goal was to finish and not die. The RD was very friendly and cheerful at the end. As I said before the medals got stuck in the mail and didn’t arrive on time. It was disappointing to not get a medal at the end as this is one of the races I am proudest to finish. I really stepped out of my comfort zone for this race in some ways more than I did for the 50K I did earlier this year. But they did say they would mail the medals and to make up for them not being there on time would engrave our names and finishing times. I will update the review when I get the medal and if they are really nice add an extra star to the swag. The end had some basic food and also pizza including cheese. Overall I am very happy I completed a triathalon. I’m not sure I will do another one. While I thought this race was great and have nothing negative to say except don’t save the worst hills for the end, I really don’t like racing with my bike very much. Plus I have much more of a one sport athlete mind set. I would rather use all my training and dedication to running so I can be mediocre at one sport instead of terrible at 3. It was still a great experience and one of my proudest accomplishments and I would recommend this race to you crazy triathletes!
*** Update on the medals – There was a lot of communication about the medals and they were sent a few weeks later. The medals are nice. I don’t have a triathlon medal to compare them to but they are the size and quality of a nice but not spectacular half marathon medal which seems right since this was about the difficulty of a half marathon. I am happy with the medal though it is not spectacular enough to raise the swag rating. I was also surprised I got third place in my age group so got another medal. I looked and there were only 4 participants in my age group but hey I had to beat somebody ***