The Traverse City Cherry Triathlon was held at the Greilick Outdoor Recreation Center just outside of Traverse City. Greilick Outdoor Recreation Center offered camping on site to athletes and their families for the weekend, this makes for a great race experience. Wake up on race morning with your bike already racked and ready to go, just roll out of bed and get ready to swim! 3-Disciplines and Greilick want to make this race into a festival of triathlons much like Wildflower is on the west coast.
I raced the Half Iron distance (70.3) which included a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, and a 13.1-mile run. This race is also the first of the Tri the Triple 210.9 series from 3 Disciplines and hopefully the most challenging, with Half Bavaria and Sunrise Side coming up later this summer.
The swim was warm, 800 water meant no wetsuits on Rennie Lake. Bright skies and flat water made for an uneventful swim, maybe slower without the wetsuit but the warm water was nice.
The bike was very challenging, with over 2800 feet of climbing it was the hilliest half I have ever done. With all the climbing there was a lot of very fun descending opportunities as well.
The run course had something for everyone, dirt road, pavement, and trails. Keeping with the theme of a very challenging event, the run didn’t disappoint. Whatever was left in my legs after the bike the run took. I was able to finish with a second place in my age group, mainly due to the low number of finishers and not my stellar performance.
~Kevin
I competed in the Olympic distance triathlon. The 3D race was held at the Grelick Outdoor Center, which used to be a Boy Scout Park. The location was remote, but still pretty close to Traverse City during Cherry Fest time.
The water was 80 degrees – way too warm for wetsuits. It was a 2 loop course and the water was quite clear. The swim was nice! Then it was a hike up the trail to T1.
We headed out on the bike for two loops of hills among the lakes and forests around the park. It was a scenic and fun bike course! I wasn’t very prepared to do hills, but I made it!
Then it was back through T2 and a 6 Mile run. Part of the Run was on paved roads, the other part trail with some long sections of sand. The run finished off with some new trail cut through the camp and into the finish line. I finished first in my AG.
Kevin and I had the opportunity to stay at the camp and it was well spaced out, the facility was nice and it was super convenient to be staying right there for the tri. We would definitely do that again!
~Katie