From a spectator’s point of view
I’ve wanted to comment on the cycling portion of the Hartsville YMCA Sprint Triathlon since the day of the event last September. So here goes.
As a cyclist and as a spectator of the event that September Sunday morning, I’m surprised that no cycling participant was not seriously injured or, God forbid, killed that morning due to the poor handling by “event staff” along the bike route.
Though I am grateful to see this type of event in the area, something needs to be done regarding the “event staff” along the course. The ones I observed had no idea what to do as far as guiding/warning the riders to sharp turns, left or right turns depending on which course, International or Sprint, the athlete participated in. Mostly they sat on their butts talking to each other.
One particular participant in mind was doing the International course and had to do 2 laps for the biking leg of the race. The “event staff” that was manning the Lakeview and New Market road intersection absolutley was poor, to say the least, in directing the riders which way to go if in fact they had to do 1 lap or 2 laps. This rider in fact wrecked because he wasn’t told until the very last second which way he needed to go. Yes, the athletes should know the route before hand but the “event staff” need to be more involved in handling their portion of this event. The rider that wrecked flattened his tire because he went off the road and hit pavement that was tore up on the edge of the road. I ended up carrying him and his bike back to the transition area so he wouldn’t have to walk and carry his bike the 2 miles back to the transition area.
As for the traffic speeding down Lakeview toward the Lakeview/New Market intersection, something needs to be done about the fast approaching vehicles to this intersection. I’m not sure how many times the hair stood up on the back of my neck because I just knew that a cyclist was going to be hit and killed because of the lack of effort going into the planning of the cycling portion of this event. More signs need to be erected from either direction as motorists are approaching this intersction. More law enforcement officers need to be stationed along the route and at the intersections.
I guess that all I’m saying is that more emphasis needs to be geared toward the training of the volunteers that act as “event staff”. The kids I saw could care less about what is going on. I’m not sure why they volunteer for this but maybe the YMCA staff that are in charge of this can do more to ensure that the biking portion of the triathlon is looked at more closely so that no cyclist gets hurt or killed next year.