Worst Weather Conditions You Have Raced In
IMLP in 2003 was pretty bad...cool rain all day...but the worst for me was a Du run by the old Triathlantic group at Point Lookout in Maryland....from start to finish...it POURED rain... about 55 degrees, Thunder,lightning..you couldn't see 10 meters... I won my age group!...but MAN...it was nasty. But hey...some people have a races where the weather is perfect...I like a little excitment!
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
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The 2005 Hartford Marathon was the worst weather that I've ever hit. I woke up to pouring rain, cool weather, "blustery" winds and that was the good part of the day.
Everyone was standing around waiting for the race to be called, but they let us go, soaked to the bone and shivering, hoping it would clear. It never cleared, the rains became torrential at times and the wind often set the rain sideways, stinging like pin pricks.
Blisters set in on both feet after about 18 miles and the constant sloshing and friction made the last 10K quite a memorable experience.
I like running in the rain, but that day may have been just a little too much. If I remember right, I think I finished in 4:23: soaked, blistered and wiped out-- now that's excitement.;)
john
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
Moab Adventure Race, 'storm of the century'. Washed out the Poison Spider trail, Slick Rock, created new canyons, filled old ones. It was a mess. Boulders the size of school buses, filling canyons. Lightning. Our team raced for 44 hours straight before the race was called. We were soaked for at least 36 hours of the race.
I was given the task of plotting our next set of checkpoints during one of the segments. The map ink was water soluble, and they had a small tarp shelter set up for about 10 people. There was at least 30 navigators trying to plot checkpoints in this small space. This was due to the torrential downpour.
The race was crazy. Paddling the Colorado river (30 miles of if) with impromptu waterfalls shooting off the cliffs is a memory I will not soon forget. Beautiful, powerful nature. Awesome.
Mine is not as bad as some. Olympic Duathlon, absolute downpour and 15-20 mph winds during the first run, same winds but rain turned to marble sized hail during the bike, and then returned to an absolute downpour on the second run. It was also upper 40's to low 50's the entire race. I was glad when that one was over.
Last year's Mason City Marathon. Freak storm brought snow, and not just any snow. Snow with 20-25 mph winds. Luckily I had leg and arm warmers in my car by chance from a bike race a few weeks before. I won AG mainly because most of the others either dropped out or never even started.
"If your not going to win, make the fellow in front of you break a record."
last years mighty montauk was pretty bad. It's a 1/2 im on the very tip of long island. It was a 2 loop course and the downpour left pools of water in a section of the road, and they had to close a 5 mile section. When I started running the water was at least 2 feet deep on parts of the road. I have a wedding to go to or I would be up in petosky too. Have fun!
IMWI 2006 - cold, windy and rain - all day long. People were suffering from hypothermia. A bunch of college students were giving out trash bags with arm and head holes cut out. They made the run much more manageable. It was still a great experience!
The second toughest was the Spirit of Racine HIM - Temp of 100 and heat index of 112. That was a tough day - people were just dropping on the run.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
IMWI 2006 i second that! A cold and wet day all around making the experience very very difficult.
Forza Nerazzurri








Just curious to hear about other people's experiences racing in bad weather --what race distance and what were the conditions.
I have a race this weekend in Northern MI and they are predicting rain, mid-50's at race start and winds from 13-18 mph. But the water will be warm!
Let me know. Thanks!