American Triple-T and TOUGHMAN Ohio on-site lodging GOING FAST!

The response to the new venue and lodging for the 2019 American Triple-T and TOUGHMAN Ohio has been very strong with the on-site cabins and lodge rooms are going very fast.

SALT FORK LODGE AND CONFERENCE CENTER

This massive pine beam and stone lodge captures the atmosphere and flavor of the grand park lodges built at the turn of the century.

Salt Fork Lodge is perfect for bringing the family or the spouse along to the race. Let them sleep in and then it’s just a quick walk to the main staging area to catch you crossing the finish line.

Salt Fork Lodge features 53 two-bedroom cabins conveniently located next to all the action. These cabins sleep up to 6, have two bedrooms, bathroom, full kitchen with dining area, living room and screened in porch for all your bikes and gear which makes a cabin perfect for teams traveling together.

Whether you’re doing your pre-race routine or recovering from a hard effort, these stress-free environments are peaceful, private, and close to everything.

For the GUARANTEED LOWEST RATES please call 740-435-9000 and mention the “HFP Racing” block.

DO NOT BOOK ACCOMMODATIONS ONLINE.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN TRIPLE-T

What IS the American Triple-T? Well, it’s everything you’ve heard it to be, and more. The event is so much more than your typical “triathlon weekend” — it’s a triathlon achievement of epic proportions for all who partake. It is 3 consecutive days of racing, gelling together 4 races covering a total of more than 70 or 140 miles for the weekend. You will find yourself swimming in chilly Salt Fork Lake, riding the challenging hills of Guerney County, and finishing with a demanding run on the trail systems climbing and descending those same hillsides.

The American Triple-T is not for the weak or faint of spirit. It has humbled many triathletes who didn’t take it seriously, and it validates a host of others who test their “tri-mettle” at the “T” every year. Athletes from all 50 states, and 4 continents have all sought the privilege of earning their American Triple-T finisher T-shirt. Competitors, volunteers and spectators all come away with a new appreciation of the sport and of the athletes who train and tame mind and body to complete this legendary event.

You’ll also come away with newfound friendships, and you’ll solidify those bonds every year you come together to face this demon. There are even a special few who turned their initial shared experiences at the American Triple-T into a union of souls, and they came back the next year to compete as husband and wife! While we cannot guarantee that you’ll find your soul mate at the “T”, we will guarantee an incredible, unforgettable experience unique in the triathlon world.

So please, take your time, peruse the website, and check out all the unique aspects of this amazing weekend event, then reach deep down and find the courage to sign up and join us at the 2019 American Triple-T on May 31-June 2.

ABOUT TOUGHMAN OHIO

HFP Racing and Salt Fork Lodge & Conference Center invite you to Ohio’s season opening long course triathlon — TOUGHMAN Ohio. This exciting course serves as the final event of the American Triple-T Ohio event, giving you an opportunity to compete alongside Triple-T participants as they battle for top honors. Salt Fork State Park is nestled in the Appalachian Hills of southeastern Ohio. TOUGHMAN Ohio will challenge all ability levels as you take on this challenging bike and run course.

The Salt Fork region is dubbed the “Crossroads of America,” the Salt Fork region is found nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains along I-70 and I-77. Salt Fork Lodge & Conference Center is tucked away in the rolling hills of southeastern Ohio just a short drive from Cambridge, in Ohio’s largest state park. The lush wooded surroundings boast miles of recreational trails, wildlife, and impressive views of the sparkling lake.

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FIT Family Series and ALL OHIO Rankings Update

A season of racing has finally come to an end and over 75 athletes were crowned 2018 FIT Family Series Champions along with another 35 athletes finishing in the runner-up and third place positions.

All series champions please send your tri top size (sizing chart) and your shipping address before October 15 to customerservice@hfpracing.com. Series champion tri tops will be mailed out in late December or early January. Anyone that placed in the top 3 will receive a “champion”, “runner up” or “third place” medal in the mail.

ALL OHIO Rankings: https://triregistration.com/Points.php?org=18

FIT Family Series Rankings:  https://triregistration.com/Points4.php?org=18

ABOUT THE FIT FAMILY SERIES & ALL OHIO – POINTS SYSTEM
We use a sophisticated algorithm that was developed by TriRegistration.com to determine the true champions from HFP’s FIT Family Series. We also produce All-Ohio Rankings which rank athletes participating in all HFP events regardless of distance.

The series points system gives the average time for each event 100 points (110 for Sprint, 120 for Olympic, and 130 for Half). Your points will be the average time (in seconds) multiplied by 100, then divided by your time (in seconds). If you are faster than the average time, then you will have more than 100 points.

This allows us to get a consistent points system that isn’t affected by the number of participants in a particular event or by the time of the overall winner, which can vary greatly depending on who shows up. Your total points is the sum of your 4 highest point totals, so you must complete 4 races to qualify.

Both the FIT Series awards and the HFP Ohio Rankings system use this method to compute the points earned at each event. From there it is different:

FIT Series Awards are grouped by race distance, thus separate series awards will be given for Mini Tri, Mini Du, Sprint Tri, Sprint Du, Olympic Tri, and so on, so you must do 4 races in the FIT series of the same distance (and in the same category) to qualify for a series award.

HFP ALL OHIO Rankings are only divided by sport (triathlon and duathlon), so all races count towards your overall ranking regardless of distance. It is separated by sport and category though. One race remains in 2018 that will count toward the ALL OHIO rankings…the Deer Creek Fall Challenge.

Rankings are published immediately after we post the results online.

NOTE: Anyone racing in the FIT Family Series Championship at Portage Lakes State Park will be awarded 25% points bonus when determining the final series points.

 

 

Miss Ohio to sing National Anthem at American Triple-T

Cambridge, OH – Matti-Lynn Chrisman, originally from Cambridge, Ohio and the current reigning Miss Ohio will be on site on Sunday, June 2 to sing the National Anthem at the American Triple-T before the participants take on the challenging final event.

The official voice of HFP Racing, Rich Fowler with the newly crowed Miss Ohio

About the American Triple-T
The American Triple-T in Ohio has an almost cult like following that continues to attract athletes from more than 40 states and 5 countries each year. The Salt Fork State Park event is scheduled for the first weekend of June.

The American Triple-T is played out in the Ohio’s largest state park in southeastern, Ohio, just a little over 1 hour by car from the Columbus, 2 hours from Cleveland and Pittsburgh and just 6 hours from Chicago.

The Salt Fork State Park is in Cambridge, Ohio in the rugged, unglaciated hill region of southeastern Ohio region and is known for its vast forest wilderness, containing a blend of rich woodlands and rolling meadows. Participants will be treated to a spectacular venue with panoramic views of Salt Fork State Park, conveniently located within steps of the Lakeside Cabins and the Salt Fork Lodge providing participants a private retreat between the demanding races.

VENUE HIGHLIGHTS:

• Strong cell phone service coverage for most carriers all around the venue
• Participants can stay plugged into their social media before, during and after the race
• More on-site (and lower cost) lodging at a family friendly lodge with 53 cabins next to the transition area and 148 guest rooms just a brief walk away.
• Easy driving access from major Midwest cities via major interstates (I-70 or I-77) and located within 2 hours of 3 major international airports (Columbus, Cleveland and Pittsburgh).
• Clean easy to access lake with nice egress into the water via carpeted boat ramp
• Unique run course featuring the Shadbush trail system
• Super supportive park, lodge and visitors bureau will be on hand to deliver a red carpet experience

American Triple-T @ Salt Fork Labor Day Bike Course Recon

 

After our big announcement on Saturday, September 1 that the American Triple-T, after 15 years at Shawnee State Park, was moving to Salt Fork State Park in Cambridge, Ohio I made plans for a bike course recon day on Labor Day. I wanted to ride all the roads on the course to be able to better answer the many questions coming into our customer service…the number one question was the terrain on the bike course and how did it compare to Shawnee State Park.  The plan was to ride the half iron course and then when it intersected with the Olympic course on the way back do the rest of the Olympic course. This would allow me to hit every section and every major climb on the weekend.

I arrived at 9:30am at Salt Fork State Lodge and Conference Center and parked at the transition area location across the cabin boat docks. There is a nice bathroom located there and a nice egress to the swim course from the cabins private beach area.  I jumped on my bike and road a few laps around the parking lot to make sure everything was working properly. I quickly realized I forgot to charge my front derailleur battery and I could not shift out of my large chain ring. I addressed my options; I could ride the entire day in my large chain ring (wow that would make for some hard-core blog riding) or swap out the back-derailleur battery with the front temporarily, so I could shift into my small ring and leave it there for the rest of the day. Believe it or not I decided to go with first option and keep it in my large ring for the ride…that lasted about 6 miles and after my 4^th climb at 480 watts I decided that there was no way I was going to survive this course in my large chain ring. After switching to my small ring, I finally started to enjoy the ride…even as temps approached 90+ degrees by 10:30am. About 7 miles into the ride I left the park roads and started riding the county roads of Guernsey County which is when I got the first switch back climb on Freedom Road (love the name). As you can see the switch back is wide enough for two-way car traffic to pass by safely and the elevation is much more gentle than the steeps of Shawnee. On this particular climb I bombed down the decent and actually enjoyed the accent which still was mostly in the shade.

After a left turn on to Broadhead Road, which is a smooth and gently rolling road, you’ll notice most of the houses do not have electric lines running to them…you are now officially in Amish Country! This is a beautiful section of the course and I enjoyed passing by the many Amish houses and seeing their underwear out drying in the sun. Other than some horse droppings, the road surface is smooth and fast. In the middle of Broadhead Road you’ll drop down to the Rocky Fork Recreation Area around mile 11. The climb up and out of the Rocky Fork Recreation Area is nice and has a gentle rise to the road that leads to “Ohio’s Pikes Peak” and the top of the climb.  

At 13.5 miles you leave to the smooth surfaces of Broadhead Road and head north on the bumpier Salt Fork Road which features some wheel sucking cracks in the road. I’ve been assured by the county these roads will be repaired by the time the race rolls into town. You’re only on Salt Fork Road a short distance (about 1.5 miles) before it turns into State Route 258. Once the road turns into State Route 258 the surface goes back to smooth and fast. State Route 258 rolls down towards River Rd where you begin a nice flat section along the Tuscarawas River. This is a spectacular section that had very little traffic on it and provided awesome views of the river. I rode past the turn around point at Gilmore Road so I could restock my fluids at a local gas station in the little town of Gnadenhutten (say that five times fast).

The ride back from Gnadenhutten was a little tougher on River Road as I discovered I had a headwind coming back. However, I still enjoyed this section and held back a little knowing the ride back up 258 would be tough in the early afternoon heat. At the top of 258, around mile 41, I stopped at the appropriately named “Sally’s Hilltop Store” for another refuel stop which included a huge chocolate chip cookie that the checkout lady said was actually made by Sally.  Salt Fork Road turns into Old Twenty One Road and had some of the same wheel sucking cracks and bumpy sections that plagued Salt Fork Road. However, you can count on those being repaired or at least well highlighted by orange paint by race weekend.  At mile 46 you take a left back on to Freedom Road for 4 miles of serious roller coaster riding. This section featured large hills that go straight up and straight down allowing me to hit about 45 mph safely without even peddling. I can imagine this will be a really tough section on day 3 of the Triple-T for both the XT and ST racers.

Once I got back to Egress Road where the half iron turns right and heads back on to the park roads, I opted to go straight and ride the back half of the Olympic course which again featured the switch back climb from earlier on Freedom Road. The course goes south on Birmingham Rd which is a state bike route and features smooth road surfaces and multiple long climbs. I loved this section of the course and I’m sure this will get rave reviews from participants…maybe not the second time around in the afternoon but certainly during the AM course.

Birmingham Road intersects with the little town of Winterset, home of the Pot House Garden Center that Batman appears to be watching over…from thereturning right onto Cadiz Road (State Route 22) was a nice relief as I knew I was getting closer to the park. Due to this road being a higher traffic road we’ll be detouring car traffic via Birmingham Road south to Lake Ridge Road during both Saturday races. As you approach the park entrance you cross a bridge that has a spectacular view of a beautiful lily pad section of the lake. The section in the park from Park Road #1 to Park Road #3 is no joke and features some of the toughest climbing of the day (or at least that’s what my legs were saying at this point in the ride).  Some of the park roads have sections with orange paint on them and according to the park manager these sections are scheduled for repair…hopefully before the race.

Once I pulled back up to my truck I was totally cooked and looked forward to jumping in the lake to cool off and to clean off. There was about 8 boats anchored in what would be the right side of the swim course and many had entire families enjoying themselves on inflatable rafts or just swimming near their boat. I was amazed that there was a nice firm sandy bottom as I walked out to nearly chest deep water, which will be part of the swim course for every race. This will certainly be nice for the Saturday PM race where many participants will discovery it’s really tough to swim after riding a hard-hilly bike ride and may need to stand for a break ;).

There is no doubt that Salt Fork will continue the tradition of challenging courses in the American Triple-T. However, the major difference I felt was that the hills may have been long (in some cases even longer than Shawnee) but they were not as steep and the descents were much safer.  All the courses are on much wider roads with have much better visibility than the roads of Shawnee.

HFP Racing is planning an early May training camp for the American Triple-T to give participants a chance to train on these roads and get some miles on the Shadbush Trail.

Hope to see you then.

Shannon Kurek, aka HFP Man

Great Lakes TRIAD is Coming!

Mark your calendar for Fall TBD, 2019 for the Inaugural Great Lakes TRIAD in Vermilion, Ohio. (.4mi Swim – 18.6mi Bike – 4.3mi Run) x 3 = 70.3 miles
More details on this EPIC triathlon adventure coming this fall on http://www.hfpracing.com.

HFP Racing 4th of July SALE

“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

Plan your summer racing during the HFP Racing 4th of July sale going on now through Midnight on July 4th. Receive 15% any HFP Racing event below by using the code “HFP-4th-Sale-2018” during the registration process.  Remember the code is case sensitive and must be typed in just as it reads. This code is not retroactive for races already registered.

July 7-8: FIT Family Series @ Caesar Creek (Waynesville, Ohio)
July 21-22: FIT Family Series @ Buck Creek (Springfield, Ohio)
August 4-5: FIT Family Series @ Alum Creek (Lewis Center, Ohio)
August 18-19: FIT Family Series @ Vermilion Harbour (Vermilion, Ohio)
September 8-9: FIT Family Series @ Portage Lakes (Akron, Ohio)
September 30: Deer Creek Fall Challenge @ Deer Creek (Mt. Sterling, Ohio)

HFP thanks and remembers our U.S Armed Forces this week both active duty and veterans for their selfless sacrifices that allow us to live in this wonderful country.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you at an HFP Racing event soon.

Shannon and Jennifer Kurek

1st Annual TRI The Heights Courses Confirmed

Grandview Heights, OH – Race committee members from the 1st Annual TRI The Heights Youth Triathlon are excited to announce the confirmation of a completely closed to traffic and volunteer-supported courses for their September 1 event. This exciting new event is a partnership with the City of Grandview Heights Parks and Recreation and the Grandview Heights | Marble Cliff Education Foundation. The triathlon will feature distances for kids 6 and under through age 14.

TRI THE HEIGHTS TRIATHLON COURSE DESCRIPTION
Youth racers will be treated to a spectacular swim in the brand new Grandview Heights Municipal Pool (transition area #1), then transitioning to a bike ride on a fully closed to traffic and volunteer-supported bike and run courses.

The bike course will feature a tour of the beautiful Grandview Heights/Marble Cliff community and provide older participants a challenging climb up Lincoln Road before their respective turnarounds.

The run courses start from Wyman Woods Park (transition area #2) and feature a loop through the park before finishing at a grand finish in the park open space.

Following the race, participants will have multiple activities to continue their fun, along with an awesome post race party.

More race information can be found at https://hfpracing.com/race/tri-heights-youth-triathlon.

TRI THE HEIGHTS TRIATHLON VOLUNTEERS
TRI The Heights is Grandview’s first annual kids triathlon with a priority on safety, fun, and community. Pulling off an event like this requires manpower – a lot of it. We have a wide variety of needs ranging from packet pick up to post race tear down and everything in between. If you need more details, please don’t hesitate to contact Taylor Lindsey at Parks and Rec at 614-488-3111 or tlindsey@grandviewheights.org and thanks!