The Giant Acorn Triathlon Festival features Olympic and Sprint distance races staged out of beautiful Lake Anna State Park. With a sandy beach time trial start, a refreshing (low 70’s) freshwater swim, rolling country roads for the bike and a run course that stays completely within the State Park. The race is amazing for so many reasons, but the best part is the park itself with a beautiful venue and banked stadium style seating overlooking the swim course, run course and finish line! Bring the family as the park features miles of trails, a playground, swimming beach and visitors center featuring a “gold mine”. Outside the park you can relax post race at the Lake Anna Winery or the Coyote Hole Cider Works. Be sure to race with friends and make some new ones at the Giant Acorn Triathlon Festival.
On the fence about registering? Watch our race videos HERE and waver no more. Don’t miss out, sign up below!
REGISTER NOW RUN SIGN UP PAGEGiant Acorn Olympic
Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 8:00 AM
Triathlon: 1.5K Swim (Lake); 24.6Mile Bike (Rolling Hills); 10K Run (Rolling Hills)
Aquabike: 1.5K Swim (Lake); 24.6 Mile Bike (Rolling Hills)
Swim Course: The 1.5K swim begins on the beach at Lake Anna State Park. The rectangular shaped course will have 2 right turns and sighting buoys will be located
approximately every 75 meters. We expect the water at this time of year and at this section of the lake to be in the low 70’s. A temperature reading will be taken and posted the Thursday prior to the event. The water temperature at this location has averaged in the low 70’s which is pretty nice for late September!
Bike Course: The Giant Acorn Olympic bike course is a lollypop course that is 24.6 miles long. With a left turn out of the park athletes have great pavement and traverse much of the first part of the Kinetic Half bike course. The pavement is great and the terrain is varied as you traverse rural country roads. The course has a great elevation mix and will soon become one of the most popular in the series. Click here to view the route and elevation (932.1 ft).
Run Course: The Olympic run course is the same as the Sprint course, it’s just 2 loops. There is a large hill at the beginning coming out of T2 but it levels off for the middle section of the course. There is a large down hill towards the finish line where athletes will start their second lap of the run. On your second pass athletes will veer 15 degrees into the finishing chute. The course is heavily shaded, well supported and entirely run on asphalt. Click here to view the route and elevation (327.8 ft).
Do the Double: Would you like to race both days of the Giant Acorn Triathlon Festival weekend? If so when you register for the 1st race you will be prompted to register for the second race saving you 20% off the highest price race!
Course MapsGiant Acorn Sprint
Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 8:00 AM
Triathlon: 750 Meter Swim (Lake); 15.5 Mile Bike (Rolling Hills); 5K Run (Rolling Hills)
Aquabike: 750 Meter Swim (Lake); 15.5 Mile Bike
Race Information
- You’ll love our swag! All athletes receive a Tri-Blend Race Shirt, Custom Race Socks and a super cool custom Finisher’s Medal. Also, don’t forget the DJ, bounce house for the kids and fabulous post race spread.
- Race categories available for this race are Age Group, Aquabike, Relay Teams, Clydesdale, Athena, Military, Collegiate and Novice (No Awards). All categories are scored 3 deep.
- All Kinetic Multisports races are USA Triathlon sanctioned events. Click HERE for a brief description of common USAT racing rules and how you can avoid getting a penalty in this event.
- All Kinetic Multisports race registrations are non-refundable. There are however options for race registration insurance and a one time deferral. Visit our FAQ’s for more details.
- Are you new to the sport of triathlon and a bit nervous? Check out our training page so we can get you connected with a coach, club or training group to get you to the finish line.
- All registered athletes will receive an email on the Wednesday or Thursday before the race with all the last minute details to make your race weekend go smoothly!
- Do the Double: Would you like to race both days of the Giant Acorn Triathlon Festival weekend? If so when you register for the 1st race you will be prompted to register for the second race saving you 20% off the highest price race!
Transition Area Rules: Please note that bicycles will not be released from the transition area until the bike cut off time (2 hours from the last wave for the Sprint and 3 hours for the Olympic) or the last runner exits transition. The parking lot exits directly on to the bike and run courses and having 600 cars disgorge onto the courses creates a very unsafe situation for the remaining athletes. Thank you for your understanding and patience in this matter.
Race Policies Location Map 2022 Athlete Guide Participant list FAQs2 Options for Packet Pick Up
For the Giant Acorn Olympic
1. Date: Friday
Time: 5:00-7:00PM
Location: At the race site
Pre-Race Meeting: 6:00PM
Race Site Address:
Lake Anna State Park
6800 Lawyers Road
Spotsylvania, VA 22551
2, Date: Saturday
Time: 6:30-7:30AM
Location: At the race site
Pre-Race Meeting: 7:45am
Note: Participants must collect his/ her own event packets. Photo ID is required in order to collect event materials. NO ID = NO EVENT. Hint if you take a photo of your identification and have it on your phone that will be sufficient for ID purposes.
2 Options for Packet Pick Up
For the Giant Acorn Sprint
1. Date: Saturday
Time: 5:00-7:00PM
Location: At the race site
Pre-Race Meeting : 6PM
Race Site:
Lake Anna State Park
6800 Lawyers Road
Spotsylvania, Virginia 22551
2. Date: Sunday
Time: 6:30-7:30AM
Location: At the race site
Pre-Race Meeting: 7:45AM
Note: Participants must collect his/ her own event packets. Photo ID is required in order to collect event materials. NO ID = NO EVENT. Hint if you take a photo of your Identification with your phone that will be sufficient for ID.
Water Quality
Portions of Lake Anna have struggled with Harmful Algal Blooms in the late summer and early fall. The most recent VDH sample from the State Park (9/6/22) indicate good water quality, but an advisory is still posted. A second sample needs to be taken by the VDH to lift the advisory, but that sample is not scheduled until 10/1/22. We took an additional sample last week and the results were well within EPA limits for recreational swimming and we plan on swimming on 9/24 & 9/25. However, our 3rd party test is not sufficient to lift the advisory. Bottom line is that if we were hesitant to put our kids or ourselves in the water, we wouldn’t. We will have a duathlon option each day for athletes that are not comfortable with swimming.
To learn more about Harmful Algal Blooms, click HERE (VDH) or HERE (EPA).
To support the Lake Anna Civic Associations efforts to learn more about and mitigate these issues, click HERE.
Race Photos
See what all the excitement was all about or find race photos and videos from prior races. Feel free to download and share on social media or make a purchase to support the race photographers!
Olympic Distance SmugMug Photos / Sprint Distance SmugMug Photos / Vimeo
There are five galleries of pictures in SmugMug for the Olympic and five galleries of pictures for the Sprint.
Searching in each separate gallery using your bib number will help to find your pictures faster.
Race Comments
Be part of the great experience. Here are some comments from last year’s Giant Acorn Triathlon race.
“My race was great. It was my first time, I was nervous but the staff was informed and positive. The other racers were encouraging and supportive. It was an awesome experience.“
bib# – 72
“The race director did an excellent job dealing with the early morning fog delay. From my experience this is a fairly rare and unexpected issue to come up. While it was a royal pain having to wait it out the RD did a great job keeping us up to date and making the right call to do the swim when everyone could be safe! Kudos to the RD!!“
bib# – 186
“It was my 3rd year doing Giant Acorn, and it is awesome each and every time!“
bib# – 154
Thank you for making this event your first triathlon! There are many more people like yourself who will be racing this type of event for the first time. Please note that we no longer have a Novice category/division. We now start all of our races with a time trial start (One at a time) so you can start the race where you feel most comfortable. We do however have what we call a nervous swimmer swim cap. If you are nervous about the swim make sure to ask for the nervous swimmers cap at packet pick up.
USA Triathlon requires each triathlete to either have a current membership or purchase a 1-day license. The 1-day license must be purchased when you register. The cost of a 1-day license is $15, an annul membership is $50 for adults and $10 for kids under 18.
Below are links to additional information that you will want to review before race weekend.
Kinetic Multisports Partners
Located in Herndon, Va., Abrams Landau Ltd., concentrates on several specific areas of personal injury law, including workers’ compensation, and other on-the-job injuries. Additionally, we advocate for those injured in car accidents, at airports and other public premises, and while participating in amateur sports and fitness activities. Abrams Landau Ltd., has been representing clients up and down the East Coast since 2000.
Volunteers are the lifeblood of any successful event.
If you would like to volunteer for this race just fill out the form below and we will put you to work!
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Affiliated Charities
The Special Operations Warrior Foundation provides full scholarship grants and educational and family counseling to the surviving children of special operations personnel who die in operational or training missions and immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations personnel and their families. Please consider making a donation during the registration process. You can also make a donation via their website by clicking HERE.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is a watershed protection agency that fights to keep the water we swim in clean. Please consider making a donation to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation during the registration process. Tri-Blend
Cotton T-Shirt
Custom Race Socks
Custom Finisher Medal