Escape the Cape Triathlon

Escape the Cape Triathlon

June 8, 2014

A few people have asked me about this race….sorry this has taken so long. (Yes, that's me in the picture!) 

This was a fun race with a few different twists to it, but definitely not a race for a PR. Sprint and International Distances offered. I did the Sprint Distance….  .35 Swim/10 mile bike/ 5K

Stephen Pinchac did the International…1 mile Swim/20 mile bike/ 5 mile run

Ok…here's the details:

Mandatory bike rack the day before, so be prepared to make a weekend out of it. Race morning parking is at local winery…you are then shuttled to race site (Cape May Ferry Terminal)

1500 Athletes are taken out on the Ferry (both Sprint and Olympic) You can pretty much jump whenever you want…(Sprint wave goes off first, then Olympic) You cross timing mat right before you jump (more incentive not to hem and haw once you get to the edge)  I personally wanted to get it over with as soon as possible, so I went to main level (but apparently so did everyone else) It was pretty packed. Unfortunately, there were some issues with the boat drifting..repositioning took a little while. It was getting really hot standing on deck in the wetsuit and wall to wall people. I was trying not to look down (I had been told that the jump was around 8 feet..apparently some of my friends can't be trusted :) When I got to the edge, I realized I HAD to look down (just to avoid jumping on top of someone) All I remember is that the very nice man on deck was talking to me, I looked down, looked at him, said a few things I can't mention here (hopefully he forgives me)  and just jumped before I lost my nerve (I think he was still talking) It seemed REALLY high, but  I estimate 12-15 feet. I also felt like I went about 10 feet deep..took a while to get back to surface. OK…hard part done (or so I thought) Now the lifeguards are all yelling at us to swim left (swim course was not marked...no buoys. hopefully this will be fixed for next year) I keep swimming left (with everyone else) I ask the last lifeguard where the finish mat is…he points way to the right. I give him a WTF? look….he explains that they didn't want us swimming into the jetty (honestly, we were nowhere near the jetty) But, safety first. I get out and run a couple hundred yards on the beach…ouch…little did I know that this was just a preview of the run that was coming up.

Long run to transition…onto bike. Bike course mostly flat, a little windy, one incline to speak of (over bridge and then same bridge on the way back) Bike done. Then it gets mean again. 

Off the bike…right onto the sand. For a mile. Desperately looking for some firm sand…not to be found. Nice and mushy…at one point the tide had come in and we were running thru about 6 inches of water…(dammit..why did I wear my Newtons?..lol)  Finally up a %#@!! sandy hill to the pavement. Solid ground never felt so good…my calves thanked me. Easy run to the finish…greeted by ice cold towels and lots of spectators. Great post race breakfast buffet.

A little confusion trying to get back to the winery where we had parked. We were not allowed to take our bikes on the shuttle…no one really knew what we were supposed to do. We were told to just ride back the few miles on our bikes (with all of our gear) or leave our bikes and go get our cars…hopefully this will be fixed for next year too.

Overall.. great, well organized race. (a little pricey…if I recall correctly…around $160) This was the second year for this race…Stephen DelMonte is very open to comments and suggestions, so I'm sure the race will be even better next year. He has gone on record saying that he will NOT take out the run in the sand, however…:) 

Eileen