Hopefully it will be a good day for racing in Clermont today.

Since it's race day and if anybody is interested, you can signup for the 2016 for only 150 dollars this weekend.

https://runsignup.com/.../FL/Clermont/GFTXXVI

Anyone do The Great Floridian today??? How was the weather, was it wetsuit legal, was it windy, etc??? Is the run course still one 5-ish mile out-and-back, then three 7-mile loops around the lake???

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Hardest and hilliest GFT bike course ever, windy and hot. Wetsuit legal but felt like a long swim. Run course is 3 laps on bike path, flat run. A out and back east of transition followed by an out and back to the west of transition x 3.

No real time link to results? I thought this was 2015.

You're treading on thin ice though if you say "hardest ever", unless you've done all 25 GFTs, since it seems to me that the half and full iron races there are always very hilly and windy, though i will readily admit that the temperature has varied a lot over the years. In any case, it is a consid harder race than most people from outside the area are ever expecting, since everyone thinks Florida is all flat. Thanks for the update:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I've done the GTT 6 times and lived a year on the bike course in Montverde. When I first did this race in 1996, the bike had a hilly loop followed by a flatter loop. The last time I.did it before today in 2013, it was 3 hilly loops but much easier then this configuration. As far as I know, this is the first time that the course included the wall 3 times, Buckhill rd 3 times and Sugarloaf 3 times plus each and every other hill 3 times.each. I.haven't looked at.my computer for elevation data was a lot. BTW, Joe Bonness agreed with me that this is the toughest version they have ever used for the GFT. He also stated that this is the toughest Iron distance bike course in North America that he has ever done. He's done some racing too...

Honestly this type of course is gonna scare people from coming back to the GFT again.

Today was brutal. Warm, windy, hilly. Which hill is The Wall? And Buckhill Road is just horrible!

Very proud that I finished 13h19m.

The wall is that hill after that first traffic circle on hwy 455.

OK, well, it does sound extremely hilly, and def that Bonness guy has been around a bunch. Congrats for surviving, and tell Fred he needs to tone it down a bit:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Oh, man, that was brutal. Honestly, Buckhill was much worse than Sugarloaf. I dreafed Buckhill the third loop.

Garmin had total climbing of 6690 feet.

Will add my thoughts later this week.

I'm glad that my front derailleur worked today. Spent a lot of time in small ring and still burned too many matches.

Swim seemed long to me. Would be interested to hear from someone that wore a garmin. No big deal really. I'm just curious. A lot of swims are short and people never complain about that.

Bike was hard. Sugarloaf isn't that bad. I train in Clermont every spring so there were no surprises except that f'n hill in town. Once around this course is hard. Three times was very very very hard. The blustery wind added to the challenge, although had we had the winds we had in Clermont on Thursday and Friday it would have been much worse!

Run was pretty hot on the first loop, but the breeze made it feel not too bad. After that I thought it was fine, and I came from a cold climate 2 days before the race. No comparison at all to the heat on Alii!

If you're looking for a low key race that is a significant challenge, this is highly recommended. Next year you will have a choice of 1/3, 2/3, or full. If you sign up today (Sunday), pricing is $50, $100, and $150. In the world of $750 races, this is an incredible value.

General comments
- Don't go to GFT expecting an "Ironman" race experience. You will be disappointed.
- Pasta dinner needs work.
- Some run aid stations under-resourced, and in some cases somewhat unresponsive. In fairness others were very good. Minimal trainining required so volunteers have some idea what they are supposed to do.
- The timing system sucked and I understand crashed during the race. The morning after I still don't know my time or placing. This is a reflection on the timing company and not Sommer Sports, who I'm sure pays a lot of money for this service. This shit never happens to Sportstats. Just sayin'.

Cheers!

I thought Sommer Sports did their own timing? Agree on the issues, still no times posted anywhere that I can find for any of the race distances, aquabike, 1/3 , or full.

So True, lots and lots of shifting. I thought the Wall was the toughest climb for me, Sugarloaf was longer, but I swear the Wall seemed steeper.

There was a guy on cruches, one leg (missing right leg above the knee). Anyone know if he finished?

He did finish the 1/3 GFT. Very impressive! Not sure what his time was. I couldn't imagine riding those.hills.with only 1 leg.

http://sommersports.com/...lon-XXV-Race-Results

They finally have results online. There are some serious glitches in the splits. I've never seen race results so jacked up?!?!

Thanks. So am I reading that right, there were 152 finishers and 130 DNF's?

Reading back to the first few pages of this thread, many of the suggestions to save this race focused on flattening it out and making it a little more friendly to the beginner and/or "average" athlete and not focus on it being so tough and attracting only the most hardened. Seems like they may have gone the opposite direction with the new course and having to hit all the big climbs 3X.

Bike times are wrong.... I would love to accept credit for a 25mph ride of 4h25m,but just can't.

To Dominion above, I get what you are saying, but tough races draw in other places. But those other races have more stuff happening in and around the race. GFT just doesn't. So if someone is signing up for this race for the pre-race expo and extracurricular 'stuff', this ain't the race for that person. (I mentioned earlier that Sommer Sports needs to correct that though, but I will say that I don't know what it takes to pull it off.... Perhaps that is the best they can do?)

Volunteer race support was great for me. There was one lady (volunteer) the back end of the run, she was a black lady and I was just dying to thank her on my last turnaround, but she wasn't there. She was out there almost the whole day.

The bunny rabbit volunteers on the bike (1st aid station) were great... Really all the bike aid station volunteers were great. Guys @ top of Sugarloaf on my 3rd loop were just great too.

Also, there was a guy who looked like a REALLY fit Santa Claus. Bit white bushy beard. Was walking a bit on run. Anyone know if he finished? Was probably high on leaderboard

 
Sommer Sports also does timing for other races in southern Florida (not sure how large of a region?) and other race companies. I've been to several races timed by them and, well ... I've never been particularly impressed by their timing and posting of results. Often I've just written it off as race directors not wanting to pay for enough timing mats in order to do it right (e.g. not having one as athletes enter a swim corral to make sure that people are starting in the right wave, not at turn-arounds, etc). I thought hey, this race is their premier event. They'll have their best people working it and make sure they do it right! Well ... they still managed to have some serious problems. Even results at the site seemed to take forever to get posted (and contained errors still).

I did the 1/3 distance race (well, most of it). And the actual racing itself was good. I enjoyed the bike and think I would have enjoyed the run if I hadn't dropped out due to an injury (and no, I didn't go down the finish shoot to turn in my chip). I thought the bike course was challenging and being a coastal Florida flatlander loved the variety that the hills give. All the volunteers and staff that I came across were super friendly and went out of their way to lend a hand if needed.

But the logistics side of things I felt was a little lacking. It wasn't anything big, just a bunch of smaller things that I felt that after running a race for 25 years they would have worked out by now. Each individual thing just seems like a stupid thing to complain about.

So, like I think someone else said, if you're just looking for a fun, challenging race to do and it doesn't matter that it's a "spectacle", then this is a great race and a lot of fun. It might have been the most laid back, friendly group of athletes racing that I've ever seen at a race. If you're looking for a huge crowd and the utmost polish on everything (or results in a "reasonable" time), you might want to look elsewhere. And like someone said, if you register today it's only $50/100/150 for the 1/3, 2/3, full race next year.

This. Still not sure why the triple Olympic distance has not developed as a stepping stone to Ironman Distance... or replaced it for a growing group of IM veterans who may find that the "Nice Distance" (ashame that WTC jacked that legendary race) satisfies their needs. Heck, I went to Redman specifically to qualify for a rare opportunity to race at a triathlon distance likely to become an Olympic Event! Maybe Challenge should put on their thinking caps! The number of first-timers doing IMFL and IMAZ may provide a pretty large pool of individuals looking for perhaps the best training experience available leading up to their first Ironman. Personally, I appreciate the opportunity to use the millions of yards that I have swam over the past five decades ;-)

So, looks like 200 out of 258 finished. My times are still jacked up for the bike (bike + T2). Hope it gets corrected soon.

i did the GFT this past weekend and it was my first ever 140.6. i did not have any false ideas that this was going to be easy. i read the course description and did some research on the web about the race. i knew what i was getting into and while in that final loop on the run, thought i was stupid for ever wanting to do this. after a day of rest the body is recovering nicely and the thoughts of how bad it was is already starting to fade i think this was a great race, volunteers where great for the most part (probably better than i realize when your miserable nothing seems right). i had a great time and the experience didn't scared me off. i may not be back next year but i will be back. also having done IM florida 70.3 this year florida can surprise you on these races. you have to pick your battles when you race these kind of races. if you want an all flat race stick to sprint races where the race promoters have less distance to cover and can logistically keep the course flatter.