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Hilly 70.3's - which ones in US for my research/comparison?

David FlintDavid Flint
in Racing Forum 🏎

Hi, doing the UK70.3 in June as A-race - I enter & then find out its known as one of the hardest 70.3's on the circuit!

Looking to soak-up some RR / race reports from within the Haus of similar toughie middle-distance events (ie. you suggest similar events & I'll do the search to find the reports on here), especially given my general lack of knowledge of races out there. In general:

- Bike: hilly : Total Elevation 5735ft (or 1748m) some 56 climbs in the 2 lap course on twisty & narrow country roads; most of the hills are short (say 1-2mins max) with 2 longer draggy ones per lap. Looks like there's a few 'dead-corners' and course apparently a nightmare if wet.

- Run: again hilly and mixed terrain climb out of T2 - seen the video of last years race & much of it seemed to be on grass,trails & again undulating country roads.

From a quick search on EN 3.0 - Wildflower sounds similar, any other info worth a look?

Have listened to the podcast on riding a hilly course etc - the techy/hilly nature of the bike course kinda plays into my hands in some respects being an ex-MTB'er plus the short/repetitive hills are fairly typical of all my training pre-multisport - I know its gonna be quite a tactical race (tactical for me, competition aint a consideration) for pacing & saving my legs for my weakest discipline, the tough run.

So, overall as much research as I can do within the Haus all helps - thanks for reading! (have read Rich's Wildflower reports & analysis, cool info!)

Thanks!

Dave

PS, found a pic of bike course profile:

 

 

 

 

Comments

  • manconamancona
    Kansas 70.3 is actually quite hilly. There are a few decent climbs (2-5 min type), lots of rollers as well.

    http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ks/lawrence/691556916
    http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ks/lawrence/812123682435922770

    I known Oceanside has a pretty though bike course as well.

    I don't think any of these compare to how you describe UK70.3.
  • mattsullmattsull

    I know St. Croix 70.3 has "The Beast" to climb. I'm not sure about the entire course. I think both the bike and run are hilly.

  • Nemo BrauchNemo Brauch
    Savageman (Savage, MD) and Mountaineer Half (Morgantown WV) come to mind.
  • mattsullmattsull

    Auburn World's Toughest Half. Some people here have done it. Carrie Chavez, I believe.

    www.auburntriathlon.com/longcourse/...ndex.shtml

  • NortonNorton
    Timberman and Mooseman.
  • manconamancona
    Dave, IM70.3 UK looks like a great race for anyone following the EN race execution guidence and particularly for someone light and strong on the bike!

    Just flatten the course out, stick to your target watts and you will come off the bike in much better shape then your competion. This looks like a race were you could see multiple people walking the run and talking about how great their bike split was.
  • David FlintDavid Flint
    Thanks for the input folks - I'll be back at RR time for more advice, I have no doubt!

    @Matt - yep, should be an EN'ers dream course! Had a quick glance at last years results and struggled to find anyone that negative split the bike, certainly no age-groupers I could see.

    The video of the race is online somewhere I believe, I'll put the link up nearer the race perhaps - good shots of Bjorn Andersson overshooting a corner(!) and Phil Graves motoring up an incline still in the aerobars & passing Bayliss & Cartmell who were both out the saddle! (doubt he was spinning a 28t sprocket either....).

    Dave
  • Chris GChris G
    I think that Harriman is the nastiest that I have done. The winning time there is usually right around 5 hours. However the really cool thing about the way that we race here in the house [smart and with power] is it really does not matter how hilly the course is, it just takes a little longer.
  • absmomabsmom
    Dave, I know you said "US", but I did Muskoka last year. I thought it was super hilly if you want to add that into your reasearch as well.
  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    In terms of the endless succession of short, steep hills implied in the data and the profile, the two courses that come to mind are the hilly sections of both IM Coeur d'Alene and IM Wisconsin. Both contain a confined section of about 24 miles with about 2100' of climbing (according to my altimeter). Double that is 4200/48 miles.

  • David FlintDavid Flint
    Thanks for the quality responses Haus - I'll post back with my thoughts & of course the RR - confident that EN strategies will set me up very well for this course.
  • HayesSanbornHayesSanborn

     I thought this website was pretty cool....I don't read German but I understand profiles 

     

    http://trimes.org/gpxparcours-ironman/

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