Publix Triathlon Series

I would like to take a few moments to document my experience with the Publix Family Fitness Triathlon Series this year. First off, yesterday during the Championship, I used a good bike and got under 30 minutes for 10 miles and then ran a Tri PR of 22:39 in the 5K. That being said, the entire series was a complete disaster. I entered 5 events over the course of the series. Only one of them (Ft. Desoto) went off perfectly. Two of them had the swim cancelled, one had the swim shortened and another had the swim moved from a lake to a pool, as well as shortened. Three of them had problems with the timing, which I applaud them for changing timing companies and the timing was great during the final 2 events. I got to 2 events on Friday night to pick up my packet and they told me I had to pick up my chip on Saturday morning. So what was the purpose of picking up the packet early??? I picked them up early so that I could get a little extra sleep and still had to get there early to get in line for a chip. So I had already decided that I will never enter a Publix Triathlon Event EVER again. That was before I got there yesterday and had a great day. I am now looking forward to when I decide to do another Triathlon (not Publix). To cap it all off, I went to the Best Western at 2 for the awards ceremony because I finished 2nd in my age group over the whole series. There is no one there and the lobby knows nothing about it. So I decide to check the website and see that the awards time and location had been changed to 1. They never said anything or had any signs up during the race. Did they assume that everyone was checking the website while in Transition??? So I storm over to where the awards had just ended and ask someone for my award. They give it to me and I get the hell out of there. When I get home, I am looking at my award. A nice glass trophy, a $25 Publix Gift Card and an expired Gift Certificate for a pair of Crocs. You bet, expired 8/31/.09. Very classy! Boy am I glad to be done with that entire experience. Never again will I ever consider registering for a Publix Series Triathlon/Duathlon event.