If you missed it, I feel for you, I really, really do.
It had been exactly 678 days since we produced our last triathlon in 2019 (Ironman 70.3 Atlantic City). That is far too long for us here in DelMoLand. You have to think of event production like the MLB season. There is a reason they play 162 games. Baseball is a sport of repetition and the only way you get better is by playing the game every day (or in our case every other weekend or so).
The 18th Annual Stampone O'Brien Dilsheimer Law Tri the Wildwoods Presented by Inspira Health was magical on many levels but here are my top 3:
1. Home: There is nothing better than doing what you love for the first time in your hometown. To stay in your own bed. To know every single cop, firefighter, EMT, public works, traffic crew and ALL OF THEM are pulling for you. They know what you've been through and they're willing to go the extra mile. If you were there, you felt the energy.
2. Weather: There aren't many days in a summer when you watch the sunrise over a still Atlantic Ocean, but that is exactly what we received from the Gods on the morning of July 24, 2021; it was arguably the most beautiful day of the summer. Temps in the low 70s, a slight breeze, high clouds with bright sunshine. We couldn't have asked for better conditions. To me, it was if the Weather Gods huddled up and said, "Listen everyone, we need a good one here. It's the return of triathlon for many of these folks, so save the ugly stuff for tomorrow." And that is EXACTLY what happened. The following morning, I woke up to a howling wind out of the northeast that would have cancelled the swim and made the rest of the event cringe worthy.
3. Simple: We kept things simple this year. We went back to our roots for this event, and it was the perfect call. For some of you, you remember the "Tri/Du the Wildwoods" back in 2004. Over the years we added a 5K and a kid's race. This year, we made the conscious decision to scale back to focus on perfect execution of our main event and it paid off in spades. Although we had a Sprint/Oly'ish distances, everyone did one loop on the bike due to us needing to be off the roads earlier for the community AND our volunteers. It worked. We had a smaller field than we normally do...and we liked it. All of this has made us re-imagine Tri the Wildwoods once again and ask ourselves, "Moving forward, what is best for this event, this community and our athletes?”
Those were my three largest takeaways. I'd like to give MASSIVE props to my team. They were short-handed and performed exceptionally well (once again). Jamie D. Kristy, Rachel, Lauryn, Kait, Ally, Chrissy, Kristin, Abby, Teddy, Ralph, Nancy, Bryan, Andy, Pat, Eric, Andrew, Will, John, Joe, Christian, Justin, and the DelMoPRO timing team of Ryan, Mike, and Ed,...all pulled together for a perfect day.
Check out photos from Tri the Wildwoods HERE.
By the time you are reading this we will have produced the 11th Annual CRDA Atlantic City Triathlon Presented by Inspira Health and our Inaugural DeSatnick Real Estate Poverty To Cove 2.4 Mile Open Water Swim. Some of you are gearing up for the 8th Annual DeSatnick Real Estate Escape The Cape Triathlon Presented by Inspira Health, while others are looking forward to running season and will join us at the Crest Best Run Fest Presented by Inspira Health on October 2-3.
Yes, we're getting our reps in, we are in mid-season form, and I am grateful to be playing the game I love with all of you.
