Planning
Going into this 2025 I was not completely confident that Mustang Showdown was going to happen again. While Cal Poly was a fun location there were a lot of issues. Basically all of them were related to the course, getting it closed to cars AND pedestrians, as well as making sure there was not overlap between the run and bike course this year. I started in March trying to find a new location.
I was initially very hopeful that the race would be possible at Cuesta College, the local community college on a few miles down the road from Cal Poly. Unfortunately after multiple months of being told I couldn't submit for a permit, and checking in regularly to find out when I could submit one, I was eventually told to submit a permit in June. I then was quite quickly told that they could not accomidate us and there was absolutely no way to make it work. So that led me to frantically searching for a new venue with only 4 months left till the race. Reaching out to the highschools in San Luis Obispo and Morro Bay they were unable to accomidate me (and thought that I should ask Cuesta College as it seemed like something they could help with) as well as reaching out to Nipomo Highschool as they might be able to help.
And Nipomo Highschool saved us. We were able to quickly plan the race and get everything figured out. They were super accomidating and we quickly opened registration and got 70 registrations, between a collegiate and an open category.
Race Recap
I was lucky enough that one of my other teammates was willing to be race director on the day so I was able to participate in the race before I graduated. So I am not completely sure how the race went from a race director perspective. From what I saw the race went very well.
The swim was in the Nipomo Highschool pool, which worked great, but was unfortunately only 25 yards, so times were quite a bit faster, and we had to do a lot more counting of laps. During the first round the pool deck got a little slippery and we had a fall, luckily noone was hurt and the races continued, but we did have to make sure to sweep the deck and put out rubber matts before later heats.
The bike course (right) was super fun. With a lot of turns while still being able to go quite quickly. We had only a minor issue on the out and back at the top of the course, not having enough cones so a few people cut the corner a little early, but that was quickly remedied.
The run was super lucky. We had initially planned to run on the outside of the campus and just run around, finishing near transition, but one of the WCCTC coaches asked right before the deadline if we could run on the track. We quickly asked Nipomo High and they said we were more than welcome to. It ended up being perfect. We had to do 3.5 laps of the track, starting in the outermost lanes and each lap spiraling in two more lanes, so by the last lap we were running in lane one, finishing on the infield.
Issues
While I didn't get to see much I know there were a few issues, but they should be easily worked out.
One of the big things that I am aware that will change for coming years is increasing the number of female heats. We used the same schedule as in 2024 which was fine for 2024, but this year we had 32 male racers, and 26 female racers in the collegiate field. We were only able to get 2 more male racers than last year, but our female racers almost doubled, which was great to see. Additionally, the race is going to be a few weeks later in October of 2026, so more schools, who start later in the fall will be able to send their teams (USCB).