Bela Bela 5150

[Milkworx]

Was a great (but tough) event, the wind killed me on the bike......

All and all a wonderful weekend, big up to the organisers!

[Garfield2010]

Was a great event. Yes it was warm etc but the water points were awesome.

[bradwentzel]

Worth the crazy entry fee?

[Garfield2010]

Hey Brad. Ja I must admin I have been very vocal with regards to the high entry fees for tri events. This race however has been worth every penny especially if you compare it to the Germiston races which is fractionally cheaper. The organisation was flawless. It was like IM but only over the olympic distance.

 

The infrastructure and vibe was awesome (the same as IM) and there were plenty of volunteers. The only critisism I have is that they allowed vehicles onto the cycling route which in my opinion was very dangerous especially on those roads as we hit speeds of 80km/hour and then an ou ballie comes around the corner in the middle of the road with a 4m wide Jurgens behind him.

 

And also as per usual the TSA vultures were there in full force to collect their pound of flesh right at the start. In short I will very much reconsider entering Germiston races again.

 

I hope that oke that passed out was ok? Anyone know?

[Milkworx]

Hey Brad. Ja I must admin I have been very vocal with regards to the high entry fees for tri events. This race however has been worth every penny especially if you compare it to the Germiston races which is fractionally cheaper. The organisation was flawless. It was like IM but only over the olympic distance.

 

The infrastructure and vibe was awesome (the same as IM) and there were plenty of volunteers. The only critisism I have is that they allowed vehicles onto the cycling route which in my opinion was very dangerous especially on those roads as we hit speeds of 80km/hour and then an ou ballie comes around the corner in the middle of the road with a 4m wide Jurgens behind him.

 

And also as per usual the TSA vultures were there in full force to collect their pound of flesh right at the start. In short I will very much reconsider entering Germiston races again.

 

I hope that oke that passed out was ok? Anyone know?

 

I must agree with you on all the points....I heard from the resort security guys that the guy dehydrated...also hope he is ok!

Was it just me or was there allot of technicals on the bike section? (or is it normal amount)

[davem]

Well done on a great time Garfield.

 

I must confess to not enjoying the race particularly much.

 

The organisation was very good as to be expected from IMSA. The combination of a few things made the race (in my opinion) an unpleasant experience:

1. The swim was a joke. The combination of siffy water, the ability to walk the swim course and the vortex effect made it silly. My swim time was probably 12 minutes faster than I would expect for the distance. It was impossible to actually swim due to the number of guys walking along to maximise the nice little whirlpool that got going.
   
2. The heat and wind was just too unpleasant. Never seen so many people pushing their bikes up hills in a triathlon.The narrow road, motor vehicle traffic and blown over road cones made me come out of aero several times when going with the wind gusts, it was just not sensible. Going at 70kmh less than 1.5m away from guys struggling to go 10kmh and having to dodge road cones was idiocy. The road surface was also pretty unpleasant. I felt really sorry for the back marker ladies going out in the heat and wind in the last start, it must have got really lonely out there.
   
3. The run was nice, great support and water points but by then the enjoyment was gone.
   
4. To the xxxx who decided in the first km that its cool to swing to the right to go round a speed bump and almost switched me into the curb, don't do that! Ride on the left like you are supposed to and go over the speedbump. They dont bite.
   
5. Spending 4-5 hours from registration to the race start is just stupid.
   
6. Not being able to put cold water on your bike from 11h20 (transition close) to 13h15 (start) (more for later starts) meant your water was stupidly hot. Next time put coffee in your water bottles.
   

Philosophically, we all had the same conditions and some made better of it than I did. This was not my favourite day of racing.

 

It was nice to see some faces that I haven't seen in a while.

[Metzet]

Yeah, I think its a great event, definitely worth the money. Great organisation as usual.

 

Swim - dislike, too many "truck and trailer" incidents..

Bike - enjoyed

Run - the heat took its toll but every station had COLD drinks which helped me get home :clap:

 

Agree they need to close that road out of town completely, I was hitting 75km/h down that hill and had to swerve for some clueless idiot in a car who was all over the road.

 

Some of the marshalls on the motorbikes never left too much of a gap either ! yellow card for blocking !!

 

I had finished the race and we were supporting on the bank when we saw that guy go down in front of us.. we managed to lie him down and get the medics over. He was buggered.. he was still muttering that he wanted to finish - he was only about 300m from the line, so that's a bit *** he didnt make it. Medics stabilised him fairly quickly and i think he was ok in the end.

 

plenty of problems on the bike, mate of mine got 3 (which ended his race) I also reckon guys might have over inflated and with the heat and the bikes sitting in transition for so long, all of this contributed to the problems.

 

Agreed - the starting time of the race is ridiculous esp this late into Aug. If they going to have it at this time of the year it needs to start early on Sunday morning.

 

More sensible start time next yr and I'll be there !

[Barend de Arend]

The swim was just plain bad. It was a washing machine until the first corner, and after that it was a wet run. If you tried to swim, you just hit a guy walking after three strokes. Just too many people for the size of the ski dam.

 

The bike was bad. The first problem is that the joke swim meant everyone started the bike simultaneously. You try not to draft, but that was just plain silly. And then you try to avoid traffic cones. And then you turn around and do 80 km/h against oncoming cyclists, and a bike marshal. Say squeeze!

 

The run was good.

 

So neither the swim nor bike could be raced. The could be finished, but not raced.

 

The four hour wait from registration to race start was bad, too; but I was prepared for that. It would be nice to have a bit more shade for the wait, though.

[Garfield2010]

 

Some of the marshalls on the motorbikes never left too much of a gap either ! yellow card for blocking !!

 

 

Bwahaha! Me too!! Crazy! And then when I got to the penalty tent I filled in the form took about a minute and then the guys said your time starts now. 90 secs later (already 150 secs since I got off the bike the oke ask me what card i got.) I said yeallow and he said oh **** sorry then you can go. Lost about 3 minutes and I still dont know why. No worries however.

[Garfield2010]

Well done on a great time Garfield.

 

I must confess to not enjoying the race particularly much.

 

The organisation was very good as to be expected from IMSA. The combination of a few things made the race (in my opinion) an unpleasant experience:

1. The swim was a joke. The combination of siffy water, the ability to walk the swim course and the vortex effect made it silly. My swim time was probably 12 minutes faster than I would expect for the distance. It was impossible to actually swim due to the number of guys walking along to maximise the nice little whirlpool that got going.
   
2. The heat and wind was just too unpleasant. Never seen so many people pushing their bikes up hills in a triathlon.The narrow road, motor vehicle traffic and blown over road cones made me come out of aero several times when going with the wind gusts, it was just not sensible. Going at 70kmh less than 1.5m away from guys struggling to go 10kmh and having to dodge road cones was idiocy. The road surface was also pretty unpleasant. I felt really sorry for the back marker ladies going out in the heat and wind in the last start, it must have got really lonely out there.
   
3. The run was nice, great support and water points but by then the enjoyment was gone.
   
4. To the xxxx who decided in the first km that its cool to swing to the right to go round a speed bump and almost switched me into the curb, don't do that! Ride on the left like you are supposed to and go over the speedbump. They dont bite.
   
5. Spending 4-5 hours from registration to the race start is just stupid.
   
6. Not being able to put cold water on your bike from 11h20 (transition close) to 13h15 (start) (more for later starts) meant your water was stupidly hot. Next time put coffee in your water bottles.
   

Philosophically, we all had the same conditions and some made better of it than I did. This was not my favourite day of racing.

 

It was nice to see some faces that I haven't seen in a while.

 

 

Hey Dave everything you say is also true. Maybe instead of having 45min intervals they can rather group us in 1 year groups and let a new group roll every 5 minutes..... Under 26's roll out. 5min later under 27's etc.

[davem]

Ummm, maybe just have it somewhere else.

[Garfield2010]

_{Dave I have nother brilliant idea. How about we patent a battery operated protable transition waterbottle cooler? You put it next to your bike on you towel and switch it on. Then when you come into transition you just grab the 2 ice cold bottles and transfer them to your bike, replace the empty slots with beer for after the race and off you go??!!}

[StumpJumPer]

Well...Very interessting comments.....

 

I Entered the event, but had to go on the Antibiotics on Wednesday....So I was the 'Photogropher for all my mates....

 

1. Goodie Bag was very Dissapointing(Actually Shocking)

2. How can you have Triathlon event where more than 75% of the people walk on the swim leg?????

The one guy even said that he was forced to swim because of the rocks hurting his feet because he walked like 900m

That is absolutely ridiculious...swim is a swim...very unfair if you swim and a coward walks faster right next to you..

 

3. transtion from swim to bike - transition to the Dismount - Why was this area not covered??????? The Poor Girl asks all the athletes "Please Carry your bikes" because there are thorns on the way....Four guys not making it out of the bike transition in the mere 15min I was standing complaining and very upset. However, the finishing straight has a great red cover for the last 100M.....very contradicting!!!

 

4. I took my camera and waited at the 20km turn for lap 2.

Only to find a very polite 15year old marshalling the turn...All of them were working for Free...(Hoerskool Warmbad Students)

There were al helluva lot of school children runnig the show on the bike leg....Working for free from 11 -17h00 in the blistering heat.

The poor lightie could not not keep up and manage...Only a very small sign showing LAP 2 or Finish.

So I make my way to the bike Dismount waiting...And here comes not 1 not 2 not 3 but 5 gentleman asking " Were do I turn for Lap 2??"

Now this area is at least 2km from the turnaround so ill give them 5km ekstra on the bike....3 of the 5 guys were heavilly upset. Other guy just whent straight into transition maybe breaking some records on his bike leg....

 

5 an final.....VIP tent next to the Finish.....Catering for all those buggers who took everyones money...All of them having a Great time.....

Instead the couldve provided proper shading for the Spectators....Got matts in and out of transition...And at least Set up a prober and clear sign to indicate the bike split at LAP 2 and Finish...Or even get a Grown-up to Marshall that important section??

 

Im am not speaking for myself, but for a group of 8 other athletes....And my close to 10 finishers asking them how they felt about the race.....

 

R800??????? I think they can get away with charging R250....

 

Someones Bank acount is very happy after Bella Bella 5150

[Milkworx]

Well...Very interessting comments.....

 

I Entered the event, but had to go on the Antibiotics on Wednesday....So I was the 'Photogropher for all my mates....

 

1. Goodie Bag was very Dissapointing(Actually Shocking)

2. How can you have Triathlon event where more than 75% of the people walk on the swim leg?????

The one guy even said that he was forced to swim because of the rocks hurting his feet because he walked like 900m

That is absolutely ridiculious...swim is a swim...very unfair if you swim and a coward walks faster right next to you..

 

3. transtion from swim to bike - transition to the Dismount - Why was this area not covered??????? The Poor Girl asks all the athletes "Please Carry your bikes" because there are thorns on the way....Four guys not making it out of the bike transition in the mere 15min I was standing complaining and very upset. However, the finishing straight has a great red cover for the last 100M.....very contradicting!!!

 

4. I took my camera and waited at the 20km turn for lap 2.

Only to find a very polite 15year old marshalling the turn...All of them were working for Free...(Hoerskool Warmbad Students)

There were al helluva lot of school children runnig the show on the bike leg....Working for free from 11 -17h00 in the blistering heat.

The poor lightie could not not keep up and manage...Only a very small sign showing LAP 2 or Finish.

So I make my way to the bike Dismount waiting...And here comes not 1 not 2 not 3 but 5 gentleman asking " Were do I turn for Lap 2??"

Now this area is at least 2km from the turnaround so ill give them 5km ekstra on the bike....3 of the 5 guys were heavilly upset. Other guy just whent straight into transition maybe breaking some records on his bike leg....

 

5 an final.....VIP tent next to the Finish.....Catering for all those buggers who took everyones money...All of them having a Great time.....

Instead the couldve provided proper shading for the Spectators....Got matts in and out of transition...And at least Set up a prober and clear sign to indicate the bike split at LAP 2 and Finish...Or even get a Grown-up to Marshall that important section??

 

Im am not speaking for myself, but for a group of 8 other athletes....And my close to 10 finishers asking them how they felt about the race.....

 

R800??????? I think they can get away with charging R250....

 

Someones Bank acount is very happy after Bella Bella 5150

 

My humble opinion....

1. I would rather get a good quality shirt(like the one we got) than a large amount of useless stuff (like soap, testers and very low quality shirt)

2. I Agree, maybe they can apply the rules more in the swim (may stand but not walk)

3. Did not notice that (was on MTB)

4. That was quite clear to me and was also mentioned in the race briefing as well as the prep pack.Signs were also quite clear to me

5.I agree, some more shade would be nice for the spectators

 

This was my 5th tri and definitely the best organized one in my opinion......there will always be some issues with events of this size, but for me it was great!

[StumpJumPer]

 

My humble opinion....

1. I would rather get a good quality shirt(like the one we got) than a large amount of useless stuff (like soap, testers and very low quality shirt)

2. I Agree, maybe they can apply the rules more in the swim (may stand but not walk)

3. Did not notice that (was on MTB)

4. That was quite clear to me and was also mentioned in the race briefing as well as the prep pack.Signs were also quite clear to me

5.I agree, some more shade would be nice for the spectators

 

This was my 5th tri and definitely the best organized one in my opinion......there will always be some issues with events of this size, but for me it was great!

 

Only thing dissapointing in the Goddie bag for me is that the RedSwimmingcap can get the 5150 printed on it.

And a waterbottle will be Great....just by printing the cap and giving a waterbottle with 5150 logo will make the Goddiebag 100% complete...

 

Also agree that it is a great event....My Complaints are simple small stuff....That in my mind should be some of the first things you look at when you want to org a event....

[Milkworx]

Only thing dissapointing in the Goddie bag for me is that the RedSwimmingcap can get the 5150 printed on it.

And a waterbottle will be Great....just by printing the cap and giving a waterbottle with 5150 logo will make the Goddiebag 100% complete...

 

Also agree that it is a great event....My Complaints are simple small stuff....That in my mind should be some of the first things you look at when you want to org a event....

 

Oh yes...sorry I forgot about the swimcap, a logo would be nice and at least a good quality one, not the thin/flimsy one we got.Yes there was a lot of bottles at the bike water point...they could have included one in the goody bag....and maybe a number belt(saw alot of guys with pins on their tri-suites, cant be good....)