Flooding Might Move Hy-Vee Triathlon? (UPDATED 11:30 PM)

Unless you are living in a cave, you probably know that there is a lot of excess water in the midwest right now.  With the Hy-Vee Triathlon is now only 11 days away, there seem to be some concerns on how the flooding will affect the event.

The Hy-Vee swim takes place in Gray's Lake in Des Moines, which exists in the flood plane of the Raccoon River.  See a specific map of the race from Google Maps here.  Additionally, the run crosses the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers a number of times.  Now according to reports the Raccoon River itself is not necessarily flooding, but it meets the Des Moines River about a mile from Gray's Lake.  The Des Moines is nearing record flood stages, and because it is so high, it is creating a dam like affect upstream on the Raccoon.

Now that all being said, 11 days is a long time for water to receded, although the water is still rising and they expect more rain later this week. Even if the water recedes there exists other concern of bacteria contamination that officials will have to make sure is safe prior to the race

Moral of the story, if you have ever been to Des Moines when there is any flooding at all, you know its always bad near Gray's Lake.  Gray's Lake Park and the adjacent Water Works Parks are flood plains.  And even if the Raccoon stays behind the newer (1993) levees, the Des Moines is currently so high that they have closed the downtown bridges over it (where the run was scheduled to cross it a number of times).

Thus, from reports I have read, race officials are scrambling to figure out a solution.  They have not made an official announcement yet, as they do not want to release any misinformation, but I suspect something will come out later this week or early next. As Hy-Vee is the last of the US Olympic Trials, they need to do a swim-bike-run for the pro's (vs. changing the format to a duathlon, were you would run-bike-run).   Of course, even if they decided to change the race to a duathlon, they would need to change the course considerably with the original transition area being flooded out, and a bunch of the run course not usable due to river crossings.

There are other lakes in the Des Moines areas, and from the reports I read, it looks like officials are looking into an alternative route should Gray's Lake not be ready by race day.   Of course many of these lakes are at flooding levels themselves, and they also might present challenges for the size race that they are trying to hold. I don't envy race officials right now, although I am sure they will do the best they can.

Of course, I should note that this race is one of the least significant outcomes of this flooding. People are loosing their homes, possessions, and businesses. I will certainly keep them in my thoughts and prayers, and pray that it dries up a bit so water levels can drop.

Either way I am looking forward to going to Des Moines for the race. I do hope I can do some type of a swim, seeing that I have been working on that for some time now. In the event there isn't a swim assocaited with Hy-Vee, I might look to do an additional tri this summer, although I am really running out of open dates.

Notes:

• There is a good discussion going on over at Slowtwitch on this subject.  You will find it here.
  
• The Des Moines Register is also doing a great job of covering the flooding in Iowa right now.
  
• I will update WND with a new post as more information leaks out. 

Tonight:

Going to Lake Michigan for a swim in the new wetsuit.  Brrrrrrr

Hy-Vee Tri Update (11:30 PM CST):

• All indications are pointing to moving the event from Gray's Lake to Easter Lake. It will take some rerouting of the course, but it sounds like the event directors are on top of it.  [Update, no route announcement, but the age groupers will be a "dry" race (a duathlon).  See my update post here.]
  
• The Des Moines Register wrote a quick bit quoting the director of communications from Hy-Vee corporate (which by the way is a grocery store chain those of you not from the area). Looks like a decision is going to be made soon "“I can’t say until the (release) is approved, because we’re waiting for one more phone call.”
  
• One of the local news channels, KCCI, did a spot on their evening news. 
  
• Check back here at after the 10 PM news in Des Moines is over. I will update this post when if an announcement is made.  See the updates here.