Grand Columbian
Hi,
I'm looking at doign Grand Columbian (half) this year and looking for feedback on the race. I'm considering doing it because a friend who's come across country to race with me before is doing it and asked me to come out. The major wrinkle is that my first half ever will be the week before (Patriot's in Williamsburg, VA). I'm fine with doing Grand Columbian as a C/D race (no time expectation, relaxed go of it), but not sure if it's a wise idea or not. I'm in good shape and not intimidated/concerned by the distance at this point.
Thoughts? Advice?
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Comments
The run will test you as well with a number of challenging hills on a dirt road through a two loop run course.
It is a well run race with a great after race meal and good company. Grand Columbian also puts on an Olympic distance tri the same day and over much of the same course.
I suspect that if you pushed hard on this course your legs could be a bit toasted for a bit afterwards.
I agree that it is a very tough half ironman course. I'll add that the environment is starkly beautiful, sparsely populated, treeless, windy, sunny, and includes the Grand Coulee Dam, a must see man-made wonder. The swim includes an underwater easily visible guide rope, which provided me with my fastest 1.9 mile swim split ever. The bike, with the hill Al mentions, and the poor chip seal road surface, and windy plateau, gives me my slowest 56 mile split. And, 2 out of the 3 times I've done it, I flatted just after I crested that hill - maybe the decrease in air pressure combined with the warming temps pops my tube??? The run is kind of fun after that.
As to back-to-back halfs, I've done that a few times before, and I actually do better on the second one than the first. In any event, TGC is a great course just to swim and ride for fun - they also have an aquabike, if you want to skip the run!