This was my first experience with LB triathlon. It sounds like things were poorly organized at last year's event... with some major running debacle, but this year's event was great!!!! I had a fantastic time and would absolutely encourage others to do this Tri. I've done others (LA, Catalina and Napa) and this was a great beginners race! With the long beach break water there are no real "waves" to speak of and the water temperature was a perfect 70 degrees! I think the transition area could be better organized with clearly marked areas. Some people take up way too much space and we are all very protective of our gear- so mark off space and add more racks, please! Luckily, all the volunteers/staff were really friendly and helped some of us make some space. The bike loops were just the right mix of inclines and flat straight away's! The scenery was gorgeous, the parking was only $10 and easily accessible- although I live a block away from the transition area so I didn't use it. As for the run- it can still improve. Ideally there would only be ONE loop! I would much rather run to the Belmont brewery and back than to 13th place twice. That would also minimize the confusion with the loops! There is nothing better than watching the sun rise over the palm trees and running on the beach at 8am! The temperature was perfect and again... The views... Gorgeous! Overall, I thought it was a great event, a great course and the people were extremely helpful! I plan making this an annual tradition! read more

Long Beach Triathlon - Transition area - Races & Competitions Near Me - Long Beach, California

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This was my first Triathlon, and I loved it. Race officials explained everything and answered all my practical questions (usually before I asked them) in the Course Talk the day before the Tri. There were tons of volunteers and things seemed well-organized. I didn't stay for the awards ceremony though-- I finished pretty quickly despite being a slow swimmer, and it felt good to pass so many people on the biking & running parts (all those folks who easily passed me on the swim, and I let at least three other groups of athletes start before I slipped into line, since I knew I'd be slow & didn't want to hold up too many people...) I hope to do another tri soon because of my good experience in this one! read more

I have done my fair share of triathlons - sprints, olympics, half-IM. They range wildly from those fantastic races you look forward to year after year, to those races that bring back memories of one poorly planned fiasco after another. LBT was firmly in the first category. Large urban races are hard to pull off and the race organizers did a great job. The course was well planned. It started with rectangle ocean swim that had large buoys for sighting, but a slightly long run up the sand to the transition area (probably can't be helped). The bike was fast and flat - lots of newbies in this race and on loop two they were spread out all across the road (which was two lanes wide). Thankfully there was enough room to maneuver around them and I didn't see any accidents. The run was a path along the beach and was flat and fast as well. I was nursing an achilles injury and so didn't enjoy it as much as I should have, but some people were speeding along nicely. Pros: -Plenty of bathrooms - only a 5-10 minute wait (this can be a disaster when poorly planned races only have 4 bathrooms for 1000 competitors). - Ample room in the transition area - Good quality unisexual t-shirt with simple design (I've been to races where all competitors got purple shirts - wtf!) - Lots of parking that was easy to find. Cons: - Parking was $8 (not a huge issue, but the race was already $120) - No race day packet pick-up so I had to drive to the LBC to get my packet the day before. Also, the expo building was badly marked - circled the area for a while. - Bike course was too flat, but I'm not sure that could be helped given the area. Overall, a good sprint that I would recommend. read more

As others have noted, the organization at this year's event was awful. -- No turnaround marked for the running portion. -- Packet pickup the day before took me half an hour to find. -- The bike portion was advertised as 14 miles, but it was less than 12 miles according to my cycle computer and Google Maps. (The Lapio results say it's 16 miles.) -- The results do not include transition times. -- Only one bib number and only one sticker. Often you get two bib numbers and usually one sticker each for you bike and helmet. -- There was a different foot race (5K, I think) going on at the same time on the same path. The one pro I can say is that the weather was good, the ocean swim was nice, and the bike portion was a fast course. I've contacted the race organizers through their website to express my dissatisfaction, and have heard nothing back. I will likely skip this race next year. read more

I write this with a heavy heart. I used to love this event and have participated in it every year for the last 5 years. But 2015 was my last, and here's why: -When I arrived to packet pick-up they were having athletes park on the soft sand (no big deal for cars/trucks that have AWD) and when I parked there was a lady whose car was stuck. I tried to be helpful and approached Jeff (race director of Pacific Sports and this event) to see if there was anything such as cardboard, etc. to place under her tires to help gain traction. He acted like I was a complete bother and "literally" waived me off and said no. I then proceeded (begrudgingly) to register for the next day's race and pay this kind man $140.00 to participate. -Race day was a mess. First, it was the same weekend as a volleyball tournament so you had to run an additional quarter of a mile longer than before to get to transition around the fenced off volleyball arena. Not too big of a deal unless you're comparing your swim times to previous years. -The bike was fine, but the run...its supposed to be two loop course. You're supposed to leave transition, run to the turnaround, and repeat to finish. Only one problem...there was no turn around set-up at all or person/volunteer to signify its time to turn around!!! So those of us within the front group of runners kept running frantically hoping to find it! So, after 1.75 miles away from the finish line for a 3 mile total run, we all decided to turn around. We finished the run at 3.46 miles, which I guess you could call the .46 extra as a bonus, unless you're racing for a top 3 spot such as I was. -After the race completed and most athletes were waiting for their finish times/splits to be posted, nothing was posted or announced for almost 2 hours! With my family (including two small kids) in tow, this was a long wait. Then the race director announces no awards ceremony will take place since they screwed up the run course and that they would figure out the rankings of everyone to the best of their abilities and mail the medals to the top 3 placers of each age group. At that point, knowing I placed 1st in my age group for the first time at my favorite event of times past, I was truly disappointed. But ok, they'll mail the medal and we'll take what we can, right? Wrong... -After letting a month go by (trying not to be impatient) I e-mailed the race director asking if the medals have been mailed. His response: "We don't mail medals". That's it! So I replied "You announced to all of us that you would be mailing the medals due to the mishap of the run course. Please advise." His response: "We sent out awards for Long Beach a month ago, it is too late to claim them." SERIOUSLY??? Since I know a few guys that finished in top 3 spots at the event as well I asked if they received medals (in case I was odd man out) and they confirmed they hadn't. So unfortunately I have to come to the conclusion that Jeff Caress is not only a poor race director and lacks the skills necessary to run a good event, but is a flat out Liar with a lack of care for the athletes that support his events. Funny enough, Pacific Sports runs the LA Triathlon as well and I heard it actually went worse than this one. I can only hope and pray that a better company takes over this event or replaces this one as it is sure to fail with a better, smoother running, and more passionate race director. Until then, I will NEVER register for another Pacific Sports triathlon/event in my life. Keep Tri-ing my friends! read more

This was my 1st triathlon Sept 2015 and now I know that Pacific sport is not a serious organization. They failed to mark the course correctly, the run was not marked at all. They made empty promises to fix the participants run times. They not only did not fix the run times they failed as a company to recognize all the hard work we put into the race but they do not work hard to commit to fixing the problems that occur. This might be a great beginner course and I would only recommend when a different company is running it. I agree with many of the previous comments. With today's technologies, we as athletes have the tools to measure our races why is this organization having a problem measuring and marking the course. Don't waste your money and make this race your problem for what ever might come up for you. read more

So sad. This could have been a great race, except it was run by unqualified, unorganized officials. This was my ninth triathlon race and by far the worst experience. The issues with this race: -race day schedule stated that roads would close at 6am. I arrived at 5am and expected to be able to access the Convention Center parking lot off of Shoreline Dr., but instead had to drive around to find another entrance. There was signage for parking, but instead of it being on the main strip of Ocean Blvd., it was on a side street. -not enough bathrooms. The bathroom line took over 15 minutes. Felt sorry for all the people still waiting when transition was closing. -pieces of glass and metal in transition area. Should have be swept better. -TURNAROUND FOR RUN WAS NOT MARKED!!! This is the main reason the triathlon gets 1 star. The results should be null and void. The run was supposed to be two loops of a 1.5 mile course to equal 3 miles. Instead, most runners ran way passed where the turnaround was supposed to be. I ran 1.7 miles out and one runner, who was wearing a gps watch, started telling everyone to turn around, so runners where turning around everywhere. Instead of running two loops, I only ran 1, but it was still 0.4 miles farther than the course was supposed to be. -Only water was offered at the finish line. Usually there is some type of fruit. It was very hot by the end of the race and an orange slice would have been nice. -race workers didn't care to check my bike number to my bib number when I was leaving. They just waved me through. Big no-no! There were some expensive bikes in transition, anyone could have walked out with another person's bike. -My results list me in the wrong age group. I contacted the officials three times without any reply. This to me was the nail in the coffin. They haven't even apologized to athletes for the run course error. I reported Pacific Sports to USAT and feel the race officials should have their certification revoked. The swim and the bike courses were so much fun. If another organization takes over the race, I would definitely sign up again. The price of this race is not worth it. There are many other triathlons that are cheaper and put on by more professional organizations. read more

This is the worst run triathlon I've ever experienced. It seems that they can't do anything right. Last year they actually failed to mark the run course, causing most of the athletes to run farther than they were supposed to, and thereby screwing up all of the results. I would have won overall supersprint, but they refused to reply to my emails asking for a review. This year, the bike course was shorted by several participants, causing the results to be screwed once again, including the overall sprint winners. I took second in my AG this year, but the printed and posted results showed me at fourth, so I didn't stick around for the awards. My friend was told that if I wanted my medal I could send them $10 and they'd mail it to me. Gee, thanks!! Another black mark: we walked straight into transition and straight out with our bikes and gear. No security, nobody checking whatsoever. It's a shame, because it could be a fantastic race. The course is fun and Long Beach is a great city for events like this. Race managers are simply too inept and incompetent to be allowed to continue. You can tell that athletes are getting wise, because the attendance was anemic this year. Never again. read more

Rule number one of a race is to mark the course. The race director forgot to put out the run turnaround marker and half the people in the race ran an extra mile. If this was not bad enough, he denied the course was not properly marked. It was not until one of his employees pointed out that the run turnaround sign was sitting next to the timing table that he admitted they made a big mistake. Due to their blunder, USA Triathlon will not accept the race results from 2015. Pacific Sports is a bad operator and have zero customer service skills. Avoid the race at all costs. read more

The Long Beach Triathlon is one of the worst run events that I have ever participated in over the last 10 years (50+ triathlons). Short on staff, mismanaged, lots of surprises . . . not good! read more

The swim was nice and clearly marked and so was the bike leg of the race. Unfortunately the run was chaos, no marked off area for the turnaround for a 2 lap run leg. My friend who didn't have a GPS watch ended up running 4+ miles intended of the 3.1 race distance. Based on other reviews this has happened before so they need to rectify the situation for next year or people may not be back. read more

I ran in the Long Beach Triathlon today. I ran this event last year and other than the race packet pick up location issues, the race was run well. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for this years event. I participated in the super sprint. I'll just list the issues: 1) For the swim they used black buoys: very hard to see while your swimming in the ocean. Every other Tri I've done uses bright fluorescent colors. 2). The super sprint swim is half the sprint swim distance. When you visualized the difference of the sprint start and the super sprint it was obvious that the super sprint was more than 400 meters. Plus my time was way longer than usual. It was at least 100 meters longer than it should have been. 3) Bike event was great as expected. Except for ID have to agree with Barbara's review on the distance. Instead of 7 miles my bike computer showed 5 1/2 miles. Again another screw up by race officials. 4) Run event was horrible!!!! 2 people handing out water at the aide station. On the way back, only one person with water. WORST of all: THE TURNAROUND WAS NOT MARKED WITH A PERSON OR A SIGN!! Instead of running one and a half miles, I ended up running 3.4 miles!!! VERY UNPROFESSIONAL!! Very disappointed. I paid a lot of money to run in this event. The times mean nothing now, I can't compare my progress with last years times. This was no different than me competing and timing myself, except this time I paid a lot of money. I do these events to set goals for myself and hopefully see some progress. I surely don't want to spend money to experience something as poorly run as this event. There was no award ceremony because there was no accurate way of telling who ran what distance. It said I was second in my age division, but there was no way knowing for sure: they didn't post split times on any portions of the race. I may have run double the distance as the "first place" competitor. It's a shame to see so many frustrated and angry competitors after the race. I don't think I'll ever run in this event again. Which is a shame. I am signed up for the Newport Beach Tri held by the same organizers, hopefully it is run a whole lot better. How could the event organizers not have the running turnaround staffed and clearly marked. After I completed the race, I informed the announcer of the turnaround not being staffed or marked, and he tried to call some event staff. But that's an example of how disorganized and uninformed the leaders of this event were. Bottom line: I had a good workout, that cost me a lot of money!!! BUT I SURELY DID NOT COMPETE IN A PROFESSIONALLY RUN TRIATHLON!! read more

I reviewed this race last year and gave it a 3 stars because the course is pretty, the race is easy to go to, there are many places to eat after and is not a difficult open water swim. But this year I had it and it seems I was not the only one. My complaint last year is that by not placing timing mats they don't know how many laps racers do and at the time of the medals some "short runners" got to the top spots, hilarious and it was corrected two days later online, but it spoiled the awards for some people, me included. This year the organization came up with the fix, no turnaround point at mid run, so some people ran 2 miles, some 4 and at the end everybody was complaining and no awards ceremony and posted times that are as good as what my garmin says I should have done if I had ran the correct distance. I kid you not, the pre-race meeting was a joke too, the guy explaining the course was wrong on everything and on top of that he has an attitude. It seems that now this race is property the company organizing other triathlon on the South Bay, guys, we pay $120 to $150 to race these events, a little bit of competence should be expected. read more

Seems like they got the kinks worked out since last year. Great event, organized well and a lot of helpful volunteers. Just a couple minor suggestions. Need more transition bike racks, plenty of open space for more. Bike was advertised on one website page as 11miles and the course map as 14miles. My bike had it as 12miles. The run seemed a little long. My watch had it at 3.4miles. Could do without the little confusing 2 laps (turn around points marked and volunteers) and just make it one 3.1mile lap. read more

This is the 4th Long Beach Tri my friends, husband and I have done. Very dissappointed with this year's organization. Confusion at package pick up. I think the funniest call out is that this being the 4th LBT completed, the past 3, the bike course was clearly 11 miles. At the expo we noticed on the board that it said the bike portion was 14 miles this year (website said 11 mile bike).... we asked if the bike course has changed from previous years and they said no......hum...... I wanted to know then why my Garmin GPS watch recorded 11 miles in the past however now they were saying the course was 14 miles. The answer that was given to me was the first loop is 7 miles, there are 2 loops therefor 7 + 7 = 14 miles. Ridiculous! Swim was fine, the "11" mile bike ride was fine however no turnaround marking on the run? Are you people kidding me????? There were runners jumping over the curb whereever to do their own turnaround b/c no one knew where a turnaround was. We've done Malibu Tri, Lavaman in Hawaii, Hermosa Beach Tri, Redondo Beach Tri, June Lake Tri all of these multiple times and have never been so disappointed with the organization of this event. The cost is not cheap for this event and am pretty sure we will be heading further sounth into the OC or San Diego to find a replacement for the Long Beach Tri for 2016. Get it together Pacific Sports and Events... read more

I completely agree with all the previous complaints. This race was horribly organized and I finished the race feeling disappointed because the race results were all screwed up. How hard is it to put the turn around sign in the right spot on a straight bike path? I did see a 5k turn around sign next to the ladies with water at the aid station (who by the way, made me grab my own water off the path because they were chatting and not paying attention). But the sign was totally off the path so I assumed that wasn't it. I think it was even leaning against the table. I wish the transition times were separate. The swim was great and having the road completely open for the bike course was awesome. Everything else sucked. On their website they state there is a festival after the race with food and entertainment....that's a lie. I also ordered a small t-shirt and they only had medium. The cost for this race and what you get out of it is NOT worth it. There are so many tri's to choose from in So Cal, and I will not be returning to this race. By far, my favourite is the San Diego Classic Triathlon. That race is 100 times better. read more