Race Guide: Pumpkinman Sprint & Olympic

Pumpkinman has been running strong for over 15 years now and has become a staple of triathlon in New England. Known for putting on a fantastic event, with even better post-race food, I’ve raced the various iterations of the race, and it’s still one of my favorites. The current iteration of the race favors strong cyclists, especially at the sprint distance with a 0.3 mile swim, 15.5 mile bike and 2.9 mile run. The Olympic distance is a 0.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike and a 5.4 mile run.

Pre-race

Getting to the venue, you’ll end up in one of two parking lots. You’ll either be down in the field on the other side of the finish line, or you’ll be at the top of the hill beyond the trees behind transition, which is a bit easier logistically if you can get in there. If possible, I would highly recommend taking advantage of packet pickup the night before. If not, packet pickup and transition open at 5 am. If you’re getting there early, make sure you pack a headlamp. There are two banks of portapotties - one at transition and a second down by the water. If you go out for a warmup run, there’s often been one down at the hot corner.

Swim

Knights Pond is a great venue for hosting the swim. With clean, clear water, the swim has traditionally been wetsuit legal. However, the swim is the one portion of this race that feels overly complicated to me. The swim course is set up as two, concentric triangles where the sprint athletes swim the inner triangle once for a total of 0.3 miles while the Olympic distance athletes swim two loops of the outer triangle for a total of 0.9 miles.

As you enter the water, be aware that it can get a little weedy on your right, so try to hang left a bit for the first 100 yards. For the first leg of the triangle, you’ll be swimming into the sun. This can be a bit difficult to discern between the sprint and Olympic buoys, especially if there’s fog so I would recommend a new pair of goggles for race day. Once you round the first buoy, you should be free and clear for the remainder of the course. Sprint athletes will head straight out of the water and into T1. Olympic athletes stay in the water as they make their turn out for their second loop.

T1

One of the things Pumpkinman is notable for is the challenging hill climb from the water’s edge up to transition, offering an additional award for the athlete that completes it the fastest. Be careful not to allow your heart rate to spike too much as you make the climb. Also be aware that the grass will become slicker over time athletes drip water on their way up. Bike Out is at the opposite end of transition from Swim In

Bike

The bike course a lollipop with Olympic athletes doing two loops around the top. The course itself is somewhat hilly, slightly technical, but one of the most fun courses in the area.

Heading out of transition, you’ll take a right turn onto a gentle downhill, which gives you a moment to settle in and get a preview of the run course as you’ll be riding the last 2 miles of it in reverse. Looping around, you’ll pass by the “hot corner” (where Pond Rd. intersects with Knights Pond Rd.) before a 2-mile rolling climb up to the end of the “stem” of the lollipop. From there it’s a descent to the end of the road where you’ll take a left onto Emerys Bridge Rd. (Look for the whoopie pie shack!)

You’re on Emerys Bridge for about 1.5 miles before taking a right onto Bennet Lot Rd (you’ll see it coming as it’s just before a right curve sign). Taking this corner, immediately drop into your small ring as this is one of two notable climbs on this course. You’ll continue on Bennet Lot to the end of the road, taking a left onto Ogunquit.

The course will continue to roll upwards for another ~2 miles. Just after the top of this hill, as you start to come down you’ll take a VERY SHARP left onto Thurrell Rd. Unfortunately, there’s not much to signal this turn is approaching other than a “Blind Drive” sign. As you come around one of the bends, you’ll get a glimpse of orange safety netting in place to catch athletes that don’t make the corner.

On Thurrell, you’ll swoop down past some sharp corner signs. Once past those, you’re clear to drop into your aerobars for the rest of descent. Taking a right at the end of Thurrell onto Great Hill Rd (aptly named), you’ll climb the other substantial climb on this course. Here you’ll have a good line of sight to see it coming. Just settle into your small ring, and at the top, you’ll either take a right for the 2 miles back to transition (sprint) or a left to head out for your second loop (Olympic).

Off of Great Hill, you have a descent to flush out your legs to get ready to run. You’ll just have one short climb which brings you into transition. This is a great opportunity to get some fluids and/or calories into you before heading out on the run.

T2

Bike In is the same location as Bike Out. Pass straight through transition to Run Out (which is in the same location as Swim In) and take a left onto the run couse.

Run

The run is a pretty forgiving loop. Coming out of transition, you’ll run down a steep hill to the hot corner (~0.25 miles). Taking a right onto Knights Pond Road, it’s still a slight downhill until you hit the mile marker when turning onto Junction Rd. From here, it’s pretty flat until the 0.5 mile climb up to transition. From here you’ll either take a left to finish up (sprint) or go straight for your second loop (Olympic).

Heading into finish, you’ll run clockwise all the way around the outside of the transition area. The sprint run I believe is just shy of a full 5K. With the Olympic, since you don’t run around the transition area twice, it clocks in closer to 5.5 miles, so pace accordingly.

After running around transition, you’ll take a left to head downhill over the fields to the finish line!

Spectating

I think one of the best places to spectate is the corner of Pond Rd and Knights Pond Rd (aka the hot corner), especially if you’re there to cheer for an athlete competing at the Olympic distance. If you hustle, you can see them coming out of the water and make it down to the corner before they head out of the bike. Standing there, for an Olympic distance athlete, you can see them four times. After they head out for their last loop of the run, you should have plenty of time to make it over to the finish line.

Post-race

As mentioned previously, Pumpkinman has one of the best post-race meals around, so I would highly recommend taking advantage of that. Outside of that…

While preparing for this article, I noticed a Whoopie Pie shack that’s only open Saturdays on the bike course just after you take a left onto Emerys Bridge Rd, so sadly I didn’t get to stop. But if you do, please let us know how it is.

The other place I love to stop is Aggie’s Ice Cream! In South Berwick, there’s also a number of places you can grab a bite or a beer before heading home.