11/25/2023
Turtle Bay Triathlon Update:
Aloha Athletes,
I apologize for the multiple messages! It is our goal to get everyone the most up to date information as quickly as possible, sometimes that means a couple updates.
I just received the official word from our professional water safety crew that based on current and forecasted conditions, it will not be safe to hold the swim portion of our race tomorrow. We are very disappointed to make this decision but the safety of our athletes is always the top priority. The swim portion of the race will be replaced with a run. The race format tomorrow will be run – bike – run. We will start athletes in their respective waves the same as currently scheduled with the youth first, then adult men, then adult women and relays. We still plan to start the race near the transition area, please be there ready to run at 6:15am for the athlete briefing.
The first run will be approximately .75 miles for the youth athletes and approx 2 miles for the adults. The rest of the course will remain the same for everyone. I realize we all wanted to do a triathlon tomorrow but holding a safe event is always the first priority.
If you raced last year you might recall that we had pretty good surf, 18’ to 20’ on the outside. That was longer period swell creating great outside surf and keeping things quite a bit calmer inside. This current swell is shorter period. Combined with an almost full moon high tide the waves are doubling up, reaching 40’ early this morning and forecasted to stay XXL through tomorrow morning. Our swim venue in Kawela Bay can handle sizable surf, but these unusual conditions have reached the limits of what is safe for our athletes.
If you know of any athletes interested in racing now that the swim has been replaced with a run, we will be keeping registration open overnight. For those registering now, we can allow for packet pickup tomorrow morning from 4:30am to 5:30am, pick up at the finish line before heading to transition.
Mahalo plenty for your support and understanding. We are still looking forward to having a great event tomorrow!
Ben Williams
