Swim - NEW START PROCEDURE
1. Staging Area
You will be assigned to a specific wave time. You can expect to start within 5 minutes of this wave time. When you arrive at the pool, you will be greeted by the swim coordinator and will enter the staging area. You can go to the staging area early if you are ready and you may get to start early. Priority will be given to those who are assigned that wave time. Once in the staging area, you have the option choose up to 3 other people to swim with who are also in your wave. All people in a wave have similar swim times (within 1-2 minutes) and the swim coordinator will place you in order of swim times then assign lanes.
2. Lane Check In
Once you have been assigned a group, you will line up in the lane check in area. When a lane clears out from the previous 4 swimmers, you will be assigned to that lane. Next, you will meet your lap counting volunteers. Lane numbers will not be assigned before this time because we will be filling lanes as they become available.
3. Starting Line
You will then proceed to the starting line with your 3 fellow racers. The official starting volunteer with send you across the timing mat 5 seconds apart. You must WALK to your lane and get in FEET FIRST. Any diving will result in a restart of your swim without a restart of your time.
When in doubt, ask/follow volunteer instructions.
WHY ARE YOU DOING IT THIS WAY?
FAQ: Why are you changing the start? I've done this race for X years and it was fine.
A: It was 'fine' from a racers point of view but there are many behind the scenes aspects you may not be familiar with...
The purpose of the change in start is to all for a chip start time rather than a traditional gun start time. By doing this we can accomplish a variety of things.
FAQ: I'm not an outgoing person, I am nervous about finding people to swim with. Can you help?
A: If you don't want to talk to anyone, that's just fine. We are all about making new friends on race day but that might not be for you. Just tell us your name or swim time and we can take care of the rest.
1. Staging Area
You will be assigned to a specific wave time. You can expect to start within 5 minutes of this wave time. When you arrive at the pool, you will be greeted by the swim coordinator and will enter the staging area. You can go to the staging area early if you are ready and you may get to start early. Priority will be given to those who are assigned that wave time. Once in the staging area, you have the option choose up to 3 other people to swim with who are also in your wave. All people in a wave have similar swim times (within 1-2 minutes) and the swim coordinator will place you in order of swim times then assign lanes.
2. Lane Check In
Once you have been assigned a group, you will line up in the lane check in area. When a lane clears out from the previous 4 swimmers, you will be assigned to that lane. Next, you will meet your lap counting volunteers. Lane numbers will not be assigned before this time because we will be filling lanes as they become available.
3. Starting Line
You will then proceed to the starting line with your 3 fellow racers. The official starting volunteer with send you across the timing mat 5 seconds apart. You must WALK to your lane and get in FEET FIRST. Any diving will result in a restart of your swim without a restart of your time.
When in doubt, ask/follow volunteer instructions.
WHY ARE YOU DOING IT THIS WAY?
FAQ: Why are you changing the start? I've done this race for X years and it was fine.
A: It was 'fine' from a racers point of view but there are many behind the scenes aspects you may not be familiar with...
The purpose of the change in start is to all for a chip start time rather than a traditional gun start time. By doing this we can accomplish a variety of things.
- We can consolidate the race timeline to allow the same number of people to get in and out of the pool in a shorter time frame. This also allows our volunteers to work shorter shifts and racers don’t have to start at 7am or 7:30am as in years past.
- This will allow for the timing errors to be substantially decreased as each person’s time is manually started rather than by the computer.
- There is more flexibility with last minute changes.
- We can allow for friends who are in the same wave to swim together.
- We can run the lanes in the pool independently so that we utilize the whole pool the entire time rather than waiting to start a wave if one person happens to be slower than the rest.
- Those who have put the wrong (too fast) swim time in can self seed to the back of a lane, or those who have improved and had too slow of a time can self seed to the front of a lane or join others who also made the same mistake when registering. We would like a better experience for every athlete and our volunteers.
FAQ: I'm not an outgoing person, I am nervous about finding people to swim with. Can you help?
A: If you don't want to talk to anyone, that's just fine. We are all about making new friends on race day but that might not be for you. Just tell us your name or swim time and we can take care of the rest.
