Congratulations 2011 Elephant Men and Women
Thank you all so much for coming to our 5th annual event and for once again making it safe and successful! I hate to say it but I told you so….. Elephant Man is not for sissies, and this year was no exception. A GREAT BIG high 5 to all of you who tuffed out the long course- I know it was absolutely horrible and wonderful all at the same time – you are amazing for completing this challenge… I have had so many ask me if it will be an annual event and we have not made any decisions on this front yet… I bet if we asked only those who finished it you’d say you never want us to host it again!!!
The results are ready to view (thanks to super web designer Chip Cooper at Sol Web Solutions and super timer Angie Kandalaft and her team with Chasing 3)!
I have to apologize for the awards ceremony being a little loose this year.. the 2 events made it a little interesting to sort thru details and with only the tuffest of the tuff in the long course we had to wait ‘til everyone was in because this influenced nearly every age group- to those of you who stayed around ‘til the bitter end- Thank You so very very much! A huge elephant size hug for you because having you there when our youngest competitor and final competitor finished the long course made the day!
We will put medals in the mail to those of you who were not able to stick around for the ceremony. Also, we missed handing out our spirit award which this year goes to Jason McClure - he shows up to nearly all of our events with a smile on his face, races hard and ALWAYS has our backs – can’t ask for more than that now can we – Thanks Jason for being you!!!!! Hooray, Yippeee! Way to go! Cheer Cheer!
We learn more and more with each passing year too! Soooo many more kids signed up and this was great but also contributed to one of our challenges. I know we had a cross over in the kids race- last year this was avoided by having only the 5-6 yr olds do laps around the parking lot…. This year, so many asked me to allow the next age group to stay in the parking lot too and not have to ascend the “big hill” in accommodating this request we ended up with a big snaffoo!!! I had taken it for granted that this would work and it just didn’t! But please know my staff and I worked hard to personally lead kids thru crux sections and keep them safe. It has already been suggested that we delay the young kids start but I don’t think this will help as then the older kids will be returning from their bike leg –creating another crux section. It has also been suggested that we make it a swim, run , bike order… also not sure this will help as long as we have so many kids and have youngsters having to make laps. Our venue really creates some limitations and I explain all of this to you only to let you know I am thinking about it and working to resolve it so we can try to keep hosting kids events.
As always, I learned that as an RD I have soooo much to learn and I continue to be amazed at the things that present themselves. Thank you for being kind to my family, friends and volunteers and for making Sunday a great day! We will have our wrap up meeting on Thursday evening and I will pass along to all the volunteers a huge thank you then but if any of you have specific praise for any or all of them, please let me know and I’ll make sure they get the message! Again Congrats and Best Wishes to all of you for the rest of your 2011 Tri season!
Kori
