DETAILS:

LOCATION:

Warsaw / Winona Lake is in north central Indiana, on US Highway 30, about 40 miles West of Ft. Wayne. Winona Lake Park is located on in the southeast part of the greater Warsaw area on the North East side of Winona Lake at 1590 Park Ave., Winona Lake, IN.

RACE DAY PARKING:

Race Day Parking will open at 5:30am. The roads will close at 7am; so all athletes must be present by that time. Spectators wishing to leave before 11am must coordinate with the parking crew. Please pay special attention to signs and Marshals upon arrival to make sure you arrive in the appropriate parking lot.

REGISTRATION:

You can register for the triathlon as an individual or as a relay team of two or three people. The registration fee includes an, event t-shirt, swim cap, chip timing, free parking, awards (overall and AG) and post-race refreshments. You may sign up online at 

NO RACE DAY REGISTRATIONS.

T-shirt not guaranteed after June 7

Registration closes on the last Wednesday before the scheduled race,  at midnight or when the limit of 500 entries is reached, WHICHEVER OCCURS FIRST. Registration entries are not transferable to other individuals nor can they be deferred to a subsequent year. Once registered, no refunds are permitted for any race category.

USAT AGE DIVISION:

The MINIMUM age for entry in an ADULT age group is 15 years old on or before 12/31/2021. This applies to a solo triathlete or a member of a team.

Age group divisions

Adult: 15-17, 18-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85+ The age group of a Athlete will be determined by age on December 31 of the event year, NOT by age on race day. You will be assigned to an age division according to your age on 12/31/2021.

RACE COURSE CHARACTERISTICS:

ADULT AGE GROUP

Course	Length	Description
Swim	440 Yards 0.25 miles	Triangle course see map 11+ waves, 3 minutes stagger Each wave less than 50 Athletes USAT rules govern the use of wet suits
Bike	14 miles	Open road course with a few small hills to Pierceton and back. Bike helmets must be strapped at all times. You must furnish your own water bottle on the bike course.
Run	3.1 miles	Open road course with some curves and few minor hills, scenic on recently completed Greenway Trail through a wooded area, along a creek. Runners must wear the race number in front. Water stations along the route.

 

KAYAK GROUP

Special ADULT– Kayak – Bike – Run Wave

The Kayak course is separate from the swim course and will launch from the beach and paddle out to a buoy and return. You will be expected to return your kayak to the designated grassy area along the beach.  Then you will continue to the Bike and Run events.

You MUST provide your own Kayak, paddles and personal flotation device. Athletes MUST wear a personal floatation device during the Kayak portion of the event. This group will be limited to a maximum of 30 Athletes.

Kayaks, paddles, and personal flotation devises may be dropped off during packet pick-up either Friday night or race morning. Kayak equipment will be stored in the Community Center overnight if it is dropped off Friday evening during packet pick-up. Other wise please drop off equipment Saturday morning to the designated area at Winona Lake Park beach during 6 am-7:15 am before the race.

This wave is participatory and is intended to introduce adult Athletes to the sport. Kayak Athletes will wear a timing chip and their times will be recorded. Finishers in this group will be presented a finisher medal.

Course	Length	Description
Kayak	1.5 miles	3/4 mile out, 3/4 mile back You must wear a personal flotation device. See Special ADULT Solo – “Kayak / Bike / Run Wave” for more information.
Bike	14 miles	Open road course with a few small hills to Pierceton and back. Bike helmets must be strapped at all times. You must furnish your own water bottle on the bike course.
Run	3.1 miles	Open road course with some curves and few minor hills, scenic on recently completed Greenway Trail through a wooded area, along a creek. Runners must wear the race number in front. Water stations along the route.

YOUTH AGE GROUP

Please Note: The final waves of this race will be for the youth Athletes. Depending upon the number of Athletes, we will launch the number of waves as appropriate for safety of the Athletes. Both youth age groups will participate on a shortened version of each of the Adult Swim, Bike and Run courses. This is a participatory event and finisher medals will be given.

Youth 11-12 Age Group

Course	Length	Description
Swim	110 Yards	55 yards out 55 yards back Wave Start less than 50 Athletes USAT rules govern the use of wet suits
Bike	1.8 Miles	Open road course with a few small hills to Kings Highway and back. Bike helmets must be strapped at all times. You must furnish your own water bottle on the bike course.
Run	1.46 miles	Open road course with some curves and few minor hills, scenic on recently completed Greenway Trail through a wooded area, along a creek. Runners must wear the race number in front. Water stations along the route.

Youth 13-14 Age Group

Course	Length	Description
Swim	110 Yards	55 yards out 55 yards back Wave Start less than 50 Athletes USAT rules govern the use of wet suits
Bike	2.97 Miles	Open road course with a few small hills to Kings Highway and back. Bike helmets must be strapped at all times. You must furnish your own water bottle on the bike course.
Run	2.29 miles	Open road course with some curves and few minor hills, scenic on recently completed Greenway Trail through a wooded area, along a creek. Runners must wear the race number in front. Water stations along the route.

Relay Teams:

A relay team is comprised of 2 or 3 athletes who compete as a “group” to finish the triathlon. Typically, one athlete completes the swim, another the bike, and the final person does the run. Each athlete passes his/ her timing strap and chip from one to the other as they complete their respective leg of the race. A two-person team can complete the race in any combination of legs. Relay team members can be comprised of mixed of genders and ages. However, all Athletes must be 15 years of age on race day. EVERY TEAM MEMBER IS REQUIRED TO SHOW PHOTO ID AND SIGN USAT RELEASE FORMS AT PACKET PICKUP.

Chip Timed Race

All Athletes MUST wear an assigned timing chip. You will be responsible for returning your timing chip at the finish line or pay a $30 replacement fee. Teams are only assigned one timing chip (same as Bib Number) and must transfer that chip to succeeding members of the team while at the bike rack in the transition area.

Packet Pick-Up

Friday, June 23, 2023 from 5pm-8pm

Saturday, June 24, 2023 from 6am-7:30am

Community Center (Senior Center) in Winona Lake Park 1598 Park Ave, Winona Lake, IN 46590

We strongly encourage Athletes to come to packet pick-up on Friday to see the race layout. Government issued Photo ID and USAT card (or one day insurance is) required at packet pick-up. Everyone is required to pick up his or her own number and show ID/USAT card.

YOUTH Athletes (ages 11/17) must be accompanied at Packet Pick-up by a parent or legal guardian and present

1. Race officials reserve the right to require proof of age from each Athlete in the form of a birth certificate or other official proof of age document.  Failure to produce a proof of age document may result in disqualification from the event.

NOTE: All timing chip straps will be handed out on Saturday morning.

PRE-RACE CLINIC AVAILABLE

A no charge pre-race clinic will be conducted by Scott Erba, the 2017 Optimist Sprint Triathlon winner on Friday, June 23, 2021 at 7:00 PM at Winona Lake Park, just east of the Community Center, near the Beach area. For those new to the sport, Scott will answer questions and offer information and helpful hints for Saturday’s race.

BIKE CHECK AND MINOR REPAIR

Trailhouse Village Bicycles will be on site to make minor bike repairs and check for and provide bar-end plugs if needed. Race Day morning. Have your bike in racing condition when you arrive. HELMETS ARE MANDATORY, with chinstraps snapped while riding your bike. The helmet must be fastened before the Athlete first mounts the bicycle, at all times when the Athlete is on the bicycle, and must not be unfastened until the Athlete has dismounted. You must bring your own water bottle for the bike portion of the race.

USAT Referees and Penalty

USAT Referees will be present for pre-race instructions regarding penalties and disqualification rules. Referees will enforce the USAT helmet rules prior to, and during the race. An Athlete must reduce cycling speed to an acceptable and safe level when exiting and entering the transition area. Failure to do so shall result in a variable time penalty.

Limited Access to the Transition Area

The transition area will be guarded. Only Athletes will be allowed to be in the ADULT transition area, and will be the only one allowed to pickup a bike and racing equipment. Your body ID must match up with your bike ID number. A separate area will be provided for Youth Athletes.  One parent or designee may accompany the Youth into transition to help set up but when transition closes for competition to begin only Athletes and race officials may enter transition.

Insurance Coverage

Your personal insurance will be the primary carrier. USAT will be a secondary supplemental insurance carrier. The USAT yearly or day membership fee covers the cost of the USAT supplemental insurance coverage for the Athlete during the event.

Award Ceremony:

Awards are scheduled for 11am in front of the Community Center. Don’t miss out on claiming your award! If you cannot attend the Awards Ceremony, you can pick up your award between 10:30am and 11am. Unclaimed awards will be held for 30 days and then donated to a local charity.

ADULTS – Awards will be presented to the Top 3 female and male Premier, Age Group Athletes by USAT age groups, Clydesdale, Athena, and PC. Relay team awards will be given. Not claimed race T-shirts, local sponsor merchandise and general prizes will be distributed at the award ceremony. Please note that Athletes that do not race in their age group (and are not signed up to race in the premier division) are not eligible for age group awards. YOUTH and KAYAK division Athletes will receive finisher medals since they are participatory events.

ATHLETE FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS

Athlete post-race food area is open from 10AM to 11:30am. The athlete post-race food area is for athletes only and your athlete wristband, bib or body marking provides you access.

BBQ chicken, pizza, perogies, fruit and vegetables, and other food for the post race party will be available.

EVENT CANCELLATION POLICY

If Natural Disaster, Foul Weather or Community Disaster occurs, our action steps are as follows:

1. Optimist Triathlon Management in concert with local officials will make decisions based on safety first.

2. Courses and/or race segments will be altered as agreed to between Optimist Triathlon Management and local officials

3. Financial: It is not financially feasible for Optimist Triathlon Management to accept the risk of a disaster for everyone. Each registered Athlete needs to accept the risk of his or her entry fee. There will be NO REFUNDS or free entries to future races. The money you paid was spent developing the subject event.

4. The Optimist Club that sponsors the race does not save any money if one of our events has to be canceled for reasons beyond our control. All supplies and services needed for the events are purchased and/or arranged in advance. All event supplies and services associated with that event must be paid for, regardless of the outcome. Entries may NOT be transferred, or exchanged, or deferred. The Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club is a 501c3 charity and all proceeds from this event are donated to charity.

Personal Safety

The swim course utilizes a body of water that is open to the general public for swimming, boating and other recreational and commercial activities. The Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club wishes to caution all Athletes that it does not provide lifeguard services PRIOR to the event, and that all Athletes who swim prior to race day will do so at their own risk. Athletes may swim in the designated swim areas of Winona Lake Park during the Park hours prior to the race. While we make reasonable efforts to inspect the swim entry and exit points for underwater hazards, the inspection does not take place until just before the swim discipline starts. Athletes are further admonished to exercise caution and to be mindful of underwater hazards. Keep in mind that this is a natural body of water and is subject to hidden hazards including, but not limited to: currents, underwater obstructions, tides, rip currents and indigenous marine life.

When training, please bike and run on the shoulder without moving into the traffic lane. Please be courteous and aware that the people sharing the roads with you are people you will count on during race day to fulfill your physical and emotional needs. Please ride single file. As you are one of Winona Lake’s invited guests, please respect and obey the traffic laws during your training practices. Violators will be cited. You are required to carry proper identification at all times. If you are stopped, you must present your identification to the inquiring officer. Failure to do so may result in race disqualification. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Race Results / Penalties Posted

Race results will be posted ASAP at the race, and on active.com. Race Penalties will also be posted immediately after the race. For those Athletes that elect to not race in their age group, we will only record your times for our event, but the timing official will be instructed to NOT REPORT your results to USAT for rankings. Athletes that elect to compete in the Kayak/Bike /Run option the timing official will be instructed to NOT REPORT your results to USAT for rankings.

Winona Lake Area Attractions

Things to See and Do

• Kosciusko County Visitor’s Bureau Events

• The Village at Winona

• Wagon Wheel Theatre

The award-winning Wagon Wheel Theatre, one of Indiana’s oldest theatres, is well known for professional theatrical productions and concerts.

Questions? Contact the Administrators

Contact:

Paula Deming USAT Certified Race Director	optimisttri@gmail.com
Jason Gergely, Race Coordinator	jasongergely@yahoo.com	317-504-8942
Kris Shipley, Race Coordinator	shipleypestsolutions@gmail.com	574- 306-6609
Adam Heckaman, Race Coordinator	adam@splendorboats.com	727-808-4394