The young, small brother of the big IM on Hawaii goes all the way on quite crowded highways, where most of the time only one lane is closed for the race. This means, that you have hard time finding a space, where you can ride without being forced to draft. The course is flat and fast, yes, but due to the fact that 95% of the age groupers ride in huge pulks, the race is even faster - be prepared to be 10-15min quicker than on any other non-drafting course.
This year (2009) the swim was moved from the Gulf of Mexico into the quiet Clearwater Bay which is protected by the Clearwater Beach peninsula from the open Gulf. This was necessary, as the Hurricane Ida was passing through the region, making it impossible to swim in the open ocean/Gulf.
The run course passes 2 times the Clearwater Bay bridge, where you have to expect a significant incline to be mastered, but as the rest of the course is completely flat, run times are quite fast as well.
If you are one of those who like to ride and run in front of huge spectator crowds, you will be disappointed. Only in the start/finish area you'll see a fair amount of people (mostly relatives of the athletes), the rest of the course is totaly empty. But on the bike, you'll have plenty of company due to the big groups drafting together.
In general the race is well organized and the goodie bag is really nice (great sun glasses this year). When finishing, you get a very nice medal a towel and inconventially a finisher cap instead of a finisher shirt.
Further information at
http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/worldchampionship70.3Tour map and elevation profile
Minimum height -1 m
Maximum height 34 m
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mblanarik |
Comments
Easiest way to reach Clearwater is to fly to Tampa and then cross over on the "60" to the city.
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mblanarik |
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