Iron Girl Sprint Triathlon

Iron Girl Sprint Triathlon

Iron Girl Sprint Triathlon

( 3 reviews )
100% of reviewers recommend this race
  • Pleasant Prairie ,
    Wisconsin,
    United States
  • August
  • Other
  • Road Race
  • Event Website

Lisa Dretske

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
50 34
2016
"Girl Power!"
Overall
T-Shirts/SWAG
Aid Stations
Course Scenery
Expo Quality
Elevation Difficulty
Parking/Access
Race Management
Lisa Dretske's thoughts:

This is my 2nd time doing the Iron Girl Sprint Tri. This race typically draws in close to a thousand women to Southeastern Wisconsin. The expo and bike check is the day before the race. There are a few vendors selling shirts, gear, nutrition, and anything else under the sun. The packet pickup was very fast, even at the heavy traffic time. In the packet we got an awesome women's fit tech singlet, with a cool iron girl logo printed on it. Definitely a keeper! They also had 2 times available for a course talk, though to be honest, you could get all the information straight from their very well put together race guide. After packet pickup they had bike check. Originally they said that each person's number would be listed on the racks, but this wasn't the case So, it ended up being more of a free for all with where your bike ended up.
The next morning was race day. The transition area was open for an hour and a half. Parking was super easy and within a 3 minute walk to the transitions, this made hauling all my gear over very easy. They marked our arms and legs with our race number right away in the morning before entering transition. One complaint about the transitions, there were some port-o-potties inside the transition area, but they wouldn't let us use them until during the race. This forced everyone to leave the transition area if you had to go.
The race started across the lake, so everyone took the half mile walk together once the transitions closed. They had an announcer trying to hype up the crowd with music and fun chatter. There was a bit of confusion with the wave starts, since some of the volunteers screwed up the green color caps the day before. This wasn't a huge issue, but could have been handled better. The swim was a straight line across the lake. Because of the sun rising right where we are sighting, it would have been nice to have a few more buoys to our side, but we all managed. The transition was easy to get to once we were out of the water The bike out was a bit of a corkscrew though. They changed it from previous years and not for the better. This year they conjoined the bike out and run out in the same section, which was confusing and caused people to bottle neck a bit. The bike course was nice and flat for the most part. The roads weren't perfect, but it's Wisconsin. It was nice being able to cheer each other on out on the bike course. People are always more supportive on this race than other tri's. Once back in the transition area, we had to go to the bottleneck process again for the run out. They also changed the run from previous years. The beginning was the same, making us run around Lake Andrea. Instead of continuing on the road, they made us run on a gravel path for a mile of the race. We also ended up crisscrossing on the running path, which was very confusing and not necessary at all. Luckily, they had the water station set up in a way, that if needed, you could grab from it twice. It was a very hot day, so this was a plus. Once you get through the gravel road portion, it's just a short portion left around the lake and into the finish chute. At the finish they announce your name over the speakers, which is fun! They also give you a great finishers medal that has a charm that can be detached and made into a necklace.
Post-race: They have tables and chairs set up for people to relax and watch the remaining finishers. They also have a ton of food for the racers! Breakfast burritos (meat and vegetarian options), bagels, fruit, greek yogurt parfaits, orange and apple juice, chocolate milk, coffee. I think there was more but my hands got full. We had to wait a while to get our bikes out of transition due to remaining participants still on the course, but the sun was out and it was beautiful outside. They did post our race times very quickly as well as posted them online. The announcer said that awards would start at 10:30am, so I went to get my bike out of transition at 10am when it opened and headed back. By the time I got back, they had finished the awards, and it was only 10:25am. This was frustrating since I was supposed to receive an award. The award for 1st in my division was slightly disappointing. In years past, you got free entry into the following year. This year I got a cup.

Here's the run down:
Pros:
+Great swag
+Tons of post-race food
+flat and fast course

Cons:
-course can get congested in some spots
-gravel road section on the run
-skimping on the division awards

Overall, this is a great triathlon, especially if you haven't done a triathlon before. It is still competitive, but you get a lot of support from other racers along the way. I would highly recommend this race to first time triathletes as well as someone who wants to have a killer PR.

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