Powerman Alabama Race Review

On March 28th I competed in the Signature Duathlon (5k-40k-5k) at the Powerman Alabama Multisport Weekend. Here is the race review:
Signature Duathlon: 5k run, 40k bike, 5k run
March 28, 2010
Oak Mountain State Park, Pelham, AL
Entry fee: $65 by 1/31, $75 by 2/28, $85 by 3/24
Hotels: Lots of choices and all are fairly close to the Park—all of the popular chains right off the Interstate. We stayed at the Comfort Inn about 2 miles from the park.
Travel: 8 hour drive from Greensboro, NC—Closest airport is in Birmingham, AL
Restaurants: Lots of choices along the same strip as the hotels—chain and independent restarurants. I had good Italian at La Dolce Vita and a great post race breakfast at The Egg and I.
Race Goodies: Very nice black long sleeve shirt, finisher’s bottle opener/key chain and water bottle.
Course:
Run—The run was a shaded out-and-back in the park on a gravel/paved road. It was challenging course with lots of ups and downs.
Bike—The bike was also an out-an-back, two loop, on a low traffic road. As with the run it was very rolling---you were either going up or down….
Aid Stations: The run had one aid station with water and Heed, so you could hit it two times and there was a water bottle hand off at the end of the first loop.
Volunteers: Friendly, helpful volunteers.
Expo: At the race site—a couple of tents with the basics.
Timing: Chip timing—some times were missing in the final results…
Awards: Very timely ceremony, with great overall prizes to the top three finishers. Age group winners also received product as prizes. There were lots of door prizes given out before and after the ceremony.
Post Race Food: Drinks, pasta, pretzels, cookies, fruit….
Parking: Plenty of parking available at the park.
Porta Potties: Park facilities and porta potties at the transition area.
Transition Areas: There was a large paved transition area with good flow. The racks were numbered, but individual spots were not—it was first come, first served. The lack of individual marked spots lead to some crowding on some racks—too many people racking their bikes all on the same side….
Waves: The short course went first, followed by the Signature Duathlon and finally the long course PM event.
Synopsis:
This was my first time racing at the new race site and I loved it. Team-Magic did a great job organizing and running the Powerman Multisport Weekend. It was a great show-case for duathlon, with junior, pro, age-group and off-road race options.

Rating: 4.0 CRANKS

Scale:
1 CRANK = Don't even think about doing this race...
2 CRANKS = Hmmmmm, a last resort...
3 CRANKS = Not bad, you get what you pay for...
4 CRANKS = Solid event all around...
5 CRANKS = Can't miss, a must-do race...