organised by NYP Tri and well sponsored, a great swim in Ripon racecourse lake, although quite a lot of weed slowed progress. Lots of marshalls to help swimmers out of the water. Matted run into T1, lots of space for bike racking and gear and well sign posted, a few potholes on road adjacent to mount line but well marshalled and they did a great job of traffic control. Bike course was an out and back - bit scary at times with bikes overtaking/undertaking slow cars but a quick course with fantastic route marshalls and traffic control and then an interesting run around the racecourse local area on very quiet rural roads and paths. Good level of marshalling and easy to follow route, feed stations were just water but that was ok for event distance. Nice finishers t shirt and medal and a better than average goody bag. Good value for money, especially for a National AG qualifier race, will definitely be back again next year (and hopefully a bit quicker!)

First off - I want ths review to be fair. So I hope to highlight the positives. But with a sad and heavy heart I have to say this race was dangerous - Sadly I think greed has won out and as such too many racers on the course with cars virtually unimpeded really made things quite hairy. I know of at least two bad crashes affected by these factors and wouldnt be surpised if there were others...

In this review I start from the following positions/bias: I have done Liverpool Tri twice. This was an age group qualifier standard distance also over a shorter but closed road event. It was very busy...but no problem. I am not adverse to busy events (I have also done IMUK), but the closed roads made it safe. Second, this event is expensive - due mostly to the status of a qualifier I imagine. But being expensive, I expect bang for the buck... not 'making do'. If I want that I can pay half the price elsewhere.

Site:

Firstly the campsite and the location seems to give loads to do for all the family. Great venue. loads going on. Had to pay extra to park which gien the cost is a bit cheeky, but for a good cause (air ambulance)

Transition:

On grass...but the weather was nice so was fine. loads of space. One of the best transition areas I have seen. Place for bag drop also, which is helpful

Swim:

The route and location of the swim is insidde the race course and was perfect... loved that element. What I did not love were the weeds. Again, remembering the price I dont find it acceptible that weeds came up to the water surface in places, put frankly this could cause some weaker swimmers real problems and cause panic. Borderline unsafe. Again given the cost (£70 odd times over 1000, plus other events over the weekend....money spinner), expecting these to be cut back the week before is not unrealistic.

Bike:

They promise a "PB Bike course"...no. Not hilly, but not flat and very windy at points. But the course itself was ok...quick maybe even. However, there are a number of roundabouts to cross and whilst there is limited traffic control, they promise more than is delivered. The roundabouts are annoying...but a part of cycling on open roads. Sadly they insist on having marshalls at the entrance and exit of each one... heres the thing the marshalls at the entry almost exclusively did a wonderful job of confusing the cars and causing them to drive irratically all the time waving the cyclists through I was not alone in the complaint that the marshall indicated it was safe and that they were stopping the car...only for this not to happen and brakes to have to be slammed on by the cyclist. It would be better if the marshall was not there and cars could drive at their usual low ability...they don''t need help being more dangerous. Sadly thats not it for the bike. With over 1000 competitiors unless you are at the very front or the very rear, the bike was busy. Sadly the traffic was also unhindered so often 2 bikes abreast on both sides of the road as well as cars and HGVs.... some very close passes and dangerous overtakes. The cars had lost all patience from driving for miles stuck behind cyclists. Not a good combo. I feel very strongly that the only way for this event to be safe, is to close the roads. Sadly I feel this comes with a cost so will be ignored as what must be substancial profit marins would suffer.

Final moan about this section - given that it was a GB age Group qualifier I was expecting drafting to be monitored ....there were motorbikes but these were mostly sat at the side of the road...looking AWAY from the bikes at the view!!! perhaps they werent bothered unless we were at the cutting edge but it was very annoying to me as I had to pass at least 2 Wakefield Triathlon chaingangs of 2 or more riders...shameful behaviour by the way the club should be very annoyed by this. There were some other mixed chaingangs going on, but the ones where a team was so obviously working together to gain an unfair advantage stood out.

Run

Again - partially closed roads wwere the order of the day... why not fully close them (pay the residents) and have a simple out and back run. the way out was great in terms of the route. The way back in went off road and along canal paths... ankle twisting territory, also alonng the canal barely space for two runners. Given the number of competitors lots of jams and not acceptable for the cost and stature of the event. If it had rained it would have been abismal.

Well spaced water stations and helpful marshalls although given the heat they struggled to give out the water quick enough...but hardly their fault

Finish:

Finish line was good. Only downside was that they seemed to forget to give out the medals and me and my group all had to go back in to get one when they seemed to have remebered and started dishing them out... My result was lame...but one of use qualified for Rotterdam. It would be awful if he hadnt got one... especially if he wanted it in a framed product like the ones you can get

Other notes:

The photos being free was excellent and the photos were good.

I imagine this review may fly in the face of some others...but I hope it wwill be listened to so the event can improve and nobody gets seriously hurt in the future.

I should also say I have nothing against freebird events and have every intention of doing the sundowner Tri maybe next year as I hope to go long maybe bookended by half iron ddistances. But only this particular event which could (and in a number of was was) be awesome with some changes.