How full is Wildflower’s Lake?
Throughout triathlon's history one event stands out as the early season test for pro and age-group racers alike. Wildflower Triathlon is the sport's Paris Roubaix. No race taking place in the first half of the year approached Wildflower for sheer size.
This event towered, with 7,500 athletes and 15,000 to 20,000 attendees, all in, coming to camp and race over a 3- or 4-day multisport version of Woodstock or Burning Man. The race is still ongoing but it's had a run of bad luck in recent years, mostly related to California's drought. How is the venue's body of water, Lake San Antonio, doing?
The Wildflower Triathlon is returning, make no mistake, and will take place just under 6 weeks from now, on the last day of April and the first day of May.
The rains over the Winter, and El Nino kicking in late, have added water to the reservoir. The lake is still filling from the last rain several days ago, rising several inches per day. The depth of the lake is about 65 feet as of this writing. The elevation above sea level is 665 feet. This is about 9 feet higher than on the same date last year. The image above is of the lake 2 days ago. The image below is the lake just before last year's Wildflower race.
What this means for the race: athletes will have a solid ramp start, all concrete, so no landing mat with carpet needed.
This isn't the first time in Wildflower's history the lake has been at this level. Race years 1991 and 1992 were similar to now, and the race was conducted the same way then as now, with the swim occurring in the Harris Creek area of the lake (pictured above in both images). The lake currently covers about 714 acres, or about 1.1 square miles.
What is the lake level in normal circumstances? The crest of the spillway of Lake San Antonio sits at 780 feet above sea level, and in typical full years the lake surface is 760 or 770 feet above sea level. How long does it take the lake to recover from drought years? On March 1, 1991 the lake level was 657 feet and 1 month later it had risen to 684 feet – the lake has the ability to fill quickly. By race day in 1993 Lake San Antonio's surface was 735 feet above sea level.
The lake, when full, is 16 miles long. At its current level the lake is 5.7 miles long and is about 65 feet deep.
