The Esprit de She Tempe is home to Duathlon and Triathlon (3 distances: Super Sprint, Sprint and International). The mandatory packet pick up and bike drop off on the Saturday before the race, makes it a weekend event. The expo/packet pick up area is also the finish line area. It's typically warm during the athlete's meeting. This year there was a founding finisher's section in transition. This only pertained to the location of the bike racks. There were no added perks like there were in last year's race (additional port a potties in transition). The remaining racks were divided by the distance/event you were competing in.

The sprint triathlon was a 0.5 mi swim in Tempe Town Lake, 12.4 mi bike ride and 5k run..

The swim start takes place 75 mi from the shore's edge. There are 3 min between waves; waves are divided by age and event distance. The buoys were clearly marked and there were a number of kayaks for race support.

The transition area is in grass, so keep that in mind.

The sprint bike distance is one 12 mi loop. The international distance does 2 loops for the bike. There were a number of steep hills (Priest Road over pass, Curry Rd, Lakeview Dr) and a quick u turn.

The run is along the dirt path along Tempe Town Lake coming back to the finish along the sidewalk. There are rolling hills during the run.

The expo features a beauty bar (massages, hair & nail treatments), a bubbly bar (mimosas or sangria) for participants 21 years and up, and delicious breakfast burritos by Cafe Boa. There was also a photo booth (free pictures posted to the Aspire Facebook page). My favorite part is the race shirt: It's a cycling jersey made by Moxie Cycling (worth $60). It's flattering for a wide number of body types. Depending on when you register, you can also score an extra Moxie jersey. Keep an eye out on promotions (like registration before the end of the year.) Race pictures were also provided free of charge by Athlinks.

Note: I am an Esprit de She Ambassador and I was granted a comped entry for this race. http://balancingmommy.com/about/affliations/