Danskin Recap

The House of the Mouse played host to the Danskin Womens Tri yesterday and it looked like a fun time had by all the participants. With no men there to mess things up the women had good results. The course was a 1/4 mile swim in the Seven Seas Lagoon (fancy name for the lake by Grand Floridian Hotel), 9 mile bike that contained a couple no passing zones, and a 2 mile run that went through the Happiest Place on Earth. The race is a really good experience for beginners but for experienced competitors I could see it getting frustrating - the no passing zones, crowded swim, no room on the course to pass, lots of ladies just chatting and having a good time not really racing or looking out for those trying to go around them. Oh well, all races get your competitive juices going no matter what.

Beth (my lovely wife) and past/future Team Hendryx athletes, Whitney and Debbie, raced and tore up the course. As did Gary's (current TH athlete that will rock at House of the Mouse 70.3 next weekend) wife Sandra.

Beth was certainly prepared for the race as she trained a lot with our TNT team and had put in swims of 1500 meters, bikes of 20-25 miles and runs over 3-4 miles - so the course was a pretty easy conquest. She finished in 1:12:34 - it is hard to compare times on a course like this because of the crowds and no passing zones - but for her first race of the year we will call it a success and start to focus on longer distances later in the year!

Thoughts from Danskin:

- too crowded for spectators
- no coffee or food for sale for spectators
- the smell of bacon was a cruel joke
- starts way too early for the distance (but they need to have everyone out of the Kingdom by the time paying customers arrive)
- logistics are a mess
- never saw so many balloons in a transition area
- never saw so many racers so late and not worried
- I wish had a swim angel
- the pregnant lady looked like she might have had her kid on the course
- racers seemed to have fun
- super popular and sells out fast

Beth decided that she will not do the race again next year because of the logistic issues but I think she had a good time and should be proud of her results.