Snake Bite Tri

Because triathlon has been such an incredible experience for us, my wife Lisa and I decided to start a super sprint triathlon in Morgan City. We felt like so many people would enjoy an event like this - everyone from local people who are already triathletes to individuals who have never done a tri before.

A few months ago, we started planning this event - sponsors, volunteers, USAT sanctioning, goody bags, meetings with park/city/parish officials, food, music, safety plans, etc. etc. etc. It has been quite an eye opening experience as far as how much planning goes into a triathlon. I think we are pretty well prepared. We even have the coolest triathlon name I've ever heard - Snake Bite Triathlon. We figured we could use fear to etch our tri name into people's minds - pretty cool, huh. It works.

Let me show you around Snake Bite Triathlon.

The event will be centered at Lake End Park in Morgan City on August 23, 2009, starting at 8:00am. We chose the venue because it's such a beautiful park with great access to popular bike and running routes. It also has really nice pavilions for post race partying (a big reason a lot of people are doing the race).

The swim - 400m. It will be a beach start, but we'll have to start a little ways out in the water because it's such a shallow lake. To become USAT sanctioned, we had to have the water tested to be sure it was suitable for swimming. Thank goodness it passed. There are plenty of snakes and alligators in this lake, but not a lot where we'll be swimming (I hope). We're being super cautious with the swim and are going to have more than enough volunteers/lifeguards on the swim course, because this will be a first triathlon experience for a lot our participants. We're also planning a "practice" swim a few weeks prior to the event to let everyone get a feel for the swim course, including the lifeguards.

The bike - 13 miles. It will be an out and back course along Highway 70, which is a nice smooth blacktop finish. Traffic will not be closed, so we'll have plenty of volunteers at every intersection, police presence at several points on the course, several individuals riding up and down the course on bikes and in vehicles, an aid station half way, etc. We're hoping that the mayor of our city will send out some street sweepers a few days before the race to clean the shoulders of the road where the race will happen - hopefully no flats!

The run - 2 miles, an out and back course along a shaded road. Heat is definitely a big factor in Louisiana right now, so a shaded run route will be really sweet. We will have an aid station half way, with water, electrolyte drinks, pretzels, cookies, etc. The run route is down a road that already has a walking/running path.

And after the run, it's PARTY TIME to celebrate the finish. We'll have great Cajun food, drinks, and awesome music. Finishing this race will be a great feeling for everyone, but especially good for so many of our participants who have never done a triathlon before. The whole purpose of this event is to promote fitness and triathlon in our area, and we've already had so many people sign up that we would have never guessed would do a triathlon. It's going to be such a great day!

Check out the Snake Bite Triathlon website for registration information.