REV3 Maine half iron distance

Baydog destination racer Jamie Neilsen travelled to Maine in August to compete in the Rev3 half iron distance race.  He is the first Baydog to complete a rev3 event. The following is a recap taken from his blog (http://trikinggator.blogspot.ca/)

After doing many 70.3 Ironman Events, I wanted to experience a Revolution 3 Event. I wasn't disappointed. Now the third season for Rev3 and its inaugural event for Old Orchard Beach, Maine I will be back to do more. There are so many little aspects that are different from Ironman. For starters a picture of you is taken during race kit pickup and then shown on a Jumbro Tron as you cross the finish line. You're given your own tattoo numbers to apply to your body. Swag is awesome included were Blue Seventy swim goggles. The medals are sweet too. Triathletes with families, Old Orchard Beach is a clean & entertaining vacation spot. Old Orchard Beach was a combination Olympic & HalfIron distances for a total of about 1100 racers. I'm sure the field size will grow as Revolution gets more exposure. The Swim in the Atlantic ocean was a thrill. At times the gentle swales of the ocean you couldn't seen the buoys. The run to T1 was about 500m (estimate it was long). The race started at 6:20am (which I loved)in order to get all the waves out the water, into T1 & out on their bikes before the first Amtrack train would go by on the other side of transition. My wave was the third wave leaving at 6:28 am. A real treat. Usually because of my age category 45-49 ; I'm generally the 18th of 23 waves which typically comes close to 8:30 am before I start. I remember coming out the water and hearing the starting gun commencing with the Olympic Age groupers. Swim time was 41 minutes. Happy with that as my strategy was to go easy, swim straight and in the words of Conrad Stoltz have fun. The bike course was a racers dream. Flat and pavement surface ideal. Hence a rocket time of 2 hrs & 34 minutes for me average 34.7 kph. The run took me much longer than I expected. My desire time was 1 hr 40 minutes and I was just slower than I would have liked clocking in at 1 hr 50 minutes. Overall a PB for me at 5 hours 13 minutes ++ seconds.