Race briefing was on the beach and lasted about a minute, although inaudible in the wind.

Swim was way too close to shore, meaning it was not deep enough and you were caught in the breaking waves.

There was several traffic lights and we were told these were marshalled and a time advantage would be given to people gaught at the lights. At least two sets of lights had no marshals.

Could have been a great event if more thought given to the details

This was my first ever Triathlon and I really didn't know what to expect. Registration was well organised and instantly put me at ease. The swim was just offshore so for someone like me who wasn't a confident swimmer, it gave me confidence and then when I realised I could still stand up if required I relaxed and just got on with it. The support along the swim was great and the same in transition. The ride was flat and having never completed anything else I can't criticise the marshalling or marking etc. Starting the run was great. Loads of people cheering and the MC pumping out the tunes. Really made you feel good. The run was like dodging the crowd but still very well supported. Personally having nothing to compare to it I was more than happy with the day. 

Tide came in just before first wave started, so there wasn't a lot of water to swim in! Easy to sight as we just followed the shore line. 

Bike course is dead flat, but has several turns and junctions. Could have been better marshalled in some places, including the traffic lights.

Run is straight out-and-back on the sea front. Lots of supporters and great atmosphere.

Pleasantly surprised with this inaugural event. Recommended for beginners and more advanced triathletes alike.

Read more here: http://paddlepedalpace.co.uk/2017/05/race-re-cap-southend-triathlon/

For my first event, Sundried did a brilliant job .
The course was well laid out, the event staff were friandly and helpful.
What was really important for me was the amount of expert advice on hand. 
All of my probabaly very naive questions were answered if full.
I will deffinatley be back next year.

The First Southend Triathlon was for a most part, a fantastic success, there is however, one massive part for improvement which was almost universally agreed.

Registration and pre-race

Registration was easy, with the first swim starting at 12 with a 9am registration you might think that arriving that early was a silly idea, well for me it wasn't, those turning up closer from 10 onwards had a nice long queue, perhaps a bigger registration tent would be warranted but it did seem to be very late registration heavy so it could be argued neutral, I personally had no issues here though!

So with 2 hours to kill before the pre-race briefing I trundled on down to the local pub to enjoy a few cold drinks (non-alcoholic of course) having checked into transition and dropped of one of my bags in the bag drop (which was really well organised). returning to the "athletes village" just before 10:45 to enjoy the now much more lively atmosphere and await the race briefing. It was also incredibly appreciated that there was water being offered at such an early stage in the day as it was an absolute scorcher, top marks are due here!

The race briefing was given over a PA system which ensured it was heard well by everyone, nothing stood out as being missed and it was thorough and to the point. Following the briefing we made our way down to the start line on the beach ahead of the 500m (not 750m) swim.

Swim

There isn't much to fault with the swim, at least not that could be easily rectified. It was my first open water swim Triathlon (and ever actually - I'm a confident swimmer and have considerable experience swimming while clothed so a wetsuit was a very welcome relief), but those familiar to Southend will know the beach isn't exactly sandy or smooth, once the footwear was removed and placed into the provided bags to take back to transition the sharp stones and cockles were prominent. the offer of a warm up session wasn't taken by many on such harsh terrain.

The swim itself was also lovely, the buoys were well spaced and tracking was quite easy despite the incredibly dark and murky water unassisted b my own leaking goggles (thanks washing machine effect) but the water temperature wasn't too cold and there was several people (read maniacs) who didn't don wetsuits!

Leaving the sea and entering into transition was perhaps the only other points of contention as firstly again you had some sharp stones to deal with and secondly you had to return your swim hat, I know a lot of people were disappointed at that but as a method of counting athletes in, it does make a bit of sense.

Transition

Transition was good, numbered bays with plenty of space, fortunately the competitor next to me didn't turn up so I had lots of space for my wetsuit but not sure where other people put there’s as transition was no boxes/bags.

Bike

Here is the contentious part. I am a confident cyclist, You kind of need to be when riding TT bikes at speed round a course. Sadly, this course was not very fit for purpose which is a real shame, it really let this tri down.

Firstly, Marshals didn't point out the right direction, it wasn't easy to tell if they were stopping traffic to let you pass unhindered or to let you turn, the lack of signage also didn't help alongside the large volume of right turns didn't help this aspect. I, amongst others took wrong turns or missed them entirely.

Secondly there was two sets of traffic lights (un-marshalled which I know some people jumped, traffic lights should always be marshalled to prevent people jumping them which is a danger to themselves, other competitors and other road users. the time stopped should be noted and credited back post-race as these sometimes are an unfortunate consequence of open road tris but they should be mitigated.

Thirdly, a lack of hazard marking. I crashed, there was bit of road that from a distance looked like an island you get with pedestrian crossings, it was actually a narrowing in the road as part of a speed check. With cars coming the other way having right of way, salty sweat in my eyes by the time I realised it wasn't an island it was too late for me. this stopped my cycle leg. This was definitely a point that should have been marked out, marshalled, signed and highlighted but there was nothing, I was very fortunate to have a friend cycling not far behind me as a non-participant who was able to turn round and flag down a motor official. That said, the first aid response was great.

I've seen some people defend the cycle leg as being open to traffic so yes caution should be used, that maybe true but there's hazards you can control - such as marshalling traffic lights and dangerous road points, and hazards you can't control such as traffic. the problem being there wasn't enough controllable hazards being controlled.

I crashed out on the bike at 9km (including wrong turn distance) at about 18 minutes, I crashed at 34kmh and fortunately, a bit of road rash, grazing and wheel damage aside, myself and my bike were ok (pending official bike shop check). This could easily have been avoided and I'm more upset that I couldn't finish the bike course properly and had to be driven back to transition after the first aid patched me up

I cannot advocate the bike course so to be hearing that next year’s race would be a closed road affair has brought me a lot of reassurance.

Run

I ran out of Transition having racked my now course decrepit bike for an out and back sea wall run. Water was provided at the start of the run and just at approximately 2.2km (and therefore 2.8km) which was most welcome on the day. The only problem the run suffered from was again being on open paths, there were a lot of dilly dalliers around walking without due care or attention to the 300+ people that would have been running past them. Marshals were there to advise people to keep left and pay attention however they were too spread out and as soon as they passed the marshals they went back to being in their own world.

This was however the minority and the support from the majority of them was however brilliant and it's just a shame a few of them ruined it for the many.

Overall

Overall I was disappointed, and that's purely because of the bike leg. The swim and run were brilliant with the few niggles aside, the bike really let this one down. If if the course remains the same without better attention to the controllable hazards I wouldn't recommend it purely from a safety point of view, so I will be watching next year’s event with trepidation for a safer and better bike course. Should these changes be made for the bike course - I will definitely be back.

Enjoyable and friendly event. Smooth registration and bag drop. Nice swim course running parallel to the beach, albeit shortened to 500m which was a shame (vs 750m advertised when I registered). Bike course was good once you got out of town, and relatively well sign posted and marshalled. On the way out and way back in on the bike hold ups from traffic lights, cars trying to park and some casual cyclists on the cycle way into transition added some delay and potential safety issue. First year of the event so expect these can be addressed next time and didn’t detract from what was otherwise a well organised event. Nice out and back run route along the promenade, with good local crowd support. So overall a great event which I would happily do again.

This was my first sprint triathlon so it was all new to me. The marshalls and competitors were all very friendly which made it more enjoyable.

From a personal perspective I learned a lot especially with the transitions. So I can build on this going forward.

In terms of the organisation I thought it was a well run event and the interaction with the public was handled in a professional manner. In a perfect world we would have closed roads but this is unlikely to happen. 

The main thing is that everyone was smiling at the end, the sun shone brightly and this was a great inaugural event.