The good:

No one brings a crowd like New York. There is something about the energy these spectators bring to an event.
The race directors put athlete safety at the forefront of their decision making.
The bad: I personally had some logistics challenges. All in all though, everything was resolved; BUT, unless you are in the metro area, its not logistically convenient to get to the ‘places’ (Keep reading if you thought ‘the bad’ was going to be about the Hudson.)
The Rest:
I wanted to love this race, and it was a really good race, but I think I had higher expectations that the race could deliver.
I was fortunate enough to have VIP entry, but I didn’t feel VIP until finish.
Packet pick up was not faster (for me) than if I were a regular P.

Race Communication:
On point!
Very communicative and informative (seriously useful, not just advertising!)
Kudos to the race team for appropriate use of communication vehicles.
The race was also very active on social, and responsive!

Expo:
YAY! An actual expo. Well, 8 vendors in a conference hall of a NYC hotel, but I’ll take it.
Free coffee! (YAY!)
There were race sponsors and some last minute essentials. I think gone are the days of wall to wall vendors, but this was nice.
The athlete briefing (which was necessary) could have been completed through a Facebook live (or similar) video, rather than requiring everyone to sit in a briefing hall for 30 – 60 min.
I understand that two things are true:

Not everyone has ‘Facebook’ so an in person option makes race information accessible for all.
By requiring the in person briefing, the race can ‘ensure’ that everyone hears the same message.
I’ve heard the briefing and participated in a lot of races. I don’t feel that I learned anything new, but I appreciate that the event staff want to ensure they are ensuring athlete safety.

Pre-Race thoughts:
Similar to IM races, NYC Tri does not permit morning of bike docking.
They permit you into transition so that you can drop off any last minute items.
I personally found this a bit stressful. They hydrogel I use shouldn’t be made in advance… and it was 103 degrees, SO I opted to bring everything in the morning.
During the briefing it was communicated that only a clear bag can be brought to transition, which was additionally stressful because I have everything in my race bag, then making sure I transfer it tot he clear bag.
I appreciate the safety aspect, but I also have a system lol.
The nice part about all of this was I could have spent all day walking back and forth to transition to make sure everything was ‘just right’

Race Morning thoughts:
The window to enter and be in transition was a bit narrow, but at the same time appropriate. I was able to set up everything, fill my bottles, double check, get a picture etc.

The Solutions tent was near the start line which makes and abundance of logistical sense. I would have LOVED a solutions tent near transition, or the athlete village. I needed the solutions tent which is why I am so passionate about placement, but I’ve also been part of setting up races, and where it was located made sense.

The swim was in the Hudson. The Hudson is a river in a MAJOR metropolitan area. THE metropolitan area (if I may be so bold.) THAT being said, the water wasn’t as bad as you would think.
Yes there were things floating in the water.
Yes my white tri suit was brown.
No I wouldn’t do it again.
Yes, if you’ve never done it before, just do it.

There was so much support in the water. It was actually impressive. This, alone, is a reason to opt in for this race in the future.

The athlete village layout and the distance from the start was interesting. I would like to see 2 things:

Athlete Village / restrooms closer to start
IF the whole village isn’t able to move, there should be a VIP area closer to the race start.
DISCLAIMER there was really only a short distance between athlete village and start; however, I feel that if they were closer, I would have felt more at ease has I not needed to walk back and forth…
Transition was no issue.
Bike course was no issue, no hydration stops, but that was expressly communicated.

The run course started on a hill, which didn’t feel like it stopped until the finish line.
Great support (water stops).
Its NYC, great support from the crowd.

As indicated earlier, I was a VIP, and the finish area for VIPS was really nice.
Private bathrooms (the kind that look like a trailer and are really similar to a real potty…not the blue ones you see at construction sites or race starts….)
Free coffee (thank you ladies)
wonderful spread of food.

Most definitely a step up from a traditional ‘finish festival’
I was tempted to walk over to the regular finish line festival, but at the same time I was happy in my not crowded VIP area.

Getting back to transition to get my bike was the next obstacle I needed to tackle.
The race advertised shuttles and one person seemed to know where they were.
No one else.
The volunteers (while enthusiastic and generally helpful) pointed in a random direction which lead out of the park.

By the time I was able to get the website up and see that the shuttles were on 67th street I was on 77th and closer to the subway (which worked out because the ‘C’ train left me closer to where I parked my car.)

Another recommendation, have signs which read “transition shuttles’ so the athletes can locate them easier. Or (if possible) have a dedicated VIP one?

Collecting my things and exiting transition was no sweat, and they were validating wrist bands with bike numbers, so all was good there also.

In summery, I would recommend doing this race at least once.
If you’re local, do it every year.