I haven't done Mountains to Main Street so can't compare, but Rev3 Knoxville is probably my favourite half distance course. I was a bit sad Knoxville is a female pro only race because I have kicked off my season there 4 of the last 5 or 6 years now.

I found the river swim with about 1/3rd into the current and 2/3 with the current is a touch faster than what I swim with no current help. The bike course is rolling enough that you are always engaged but you can still ride a fast time, and with most of the course lined by trees they shields you from any wind that might be out there. The run is challenging especially the middle 10k, but it is through a quite neighbourhood with very little traffic.

Nobody could have done M2M as this is the inaugural year.

Local living in Greenville and signed up for M2M.

the swim is going to be beautiful. Lake Keowee is awesome.

The first 1/2 of the bike is going to be solid. Some pretty strong climbs. The last 1/2-1/4 definitely settles down and turns into more rollers.

The run is net downhill and finishes almost in the heart of downtown Greenville.

I have not done rev 3 Knox...so I can't comment on that.

FWIW, if you are looking for a race to PR, M2M will not be it. The bike is hilly and almost 58 miles.

I'm partial as I'm local to M2M. Greenville is an absolutely fantastic town, and there should be tons to do in town. Feel free to shoot me a message if you decide to look into M2M and have any questions.

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Merge Multisport Founder & Head Coach
USAT Level 2 - Short & Long Course
Ironman Certified
Brevard, NC

I didn't realize it was the first. But I went with it actually. Closer for me to drive there and it looks nice.

Chatt 70.3 is the same weekend. It is also the last weekend before the end of the school year for many kids, with the resultant activities. Hey Set-up, move M2M to end of April for 2017 and I am in.

I looked at Chatt but it's full already. And I like supporting small races especially when they try something different. M2M is point to point. Can be a pain but it's often fun.

Setup doesnt own this one. The decided a little bit last minute to put it all together. Could have flipped the switch a little sooner. Lots of people had already signed up for chatty.

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Merge Multisport Founder & Head Coach
USAT Level 2 - Short & Long Course
Ironman Certified
Brevard, NC

Knoxville.

Knoxville is an amazing course. Tough, fair and a little bit of everything. I raced it 4 years in a row, by far my favorite.

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Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

I vote Knoxville (only because I enjoy the city). I'm currently considering the Oly distance for my first race back!

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USAT Level II- Ironman U Certified Coach

The run course is different this year, taking out that tough middle portion

Knoxville 70.3 was my first of that distance and I did it in 2014, I enjoyed it quite a bit. Swim was typical swim for me, very little current so there wasn't much of a difference in my time compared to a lake swim. Bike course is a lot of rollers with a few big climbs and fast descents, run course was pretty decent, IIRC it started fast and then got hilly and slow and then got fast again. I will say that I much prefer Greenville to Knoxville though, such a clean and fun city!

Here's another vote for Greenville/M2MS over Knoxville/Rev3.

I did Knoxville last year (when it was Challenge). It was ok (pretty much as described above), but nothing that moved the needle enough for me to want to come back.

I'm planning on Greenville next year if they have it again.

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Proud Member of Chris McDonald's 2018 Big Sexy Race Team "That which doesn't kill me, will only make me stronger"
Blog-Twitter-Instagram-Race Reports - 2018 Races: IM Florida 70.3, IM Raleigh 70.3, IM 70.3 World Championships - South Africa, IM North Carolina 70.3

Is M2M USAT sanctioned?

This event is a USA Triathlon sanctioned event :-)

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Merge Multisport Founder & Head Coach
USAT Level 2 - Short & Long Course
Ironman Certified
Brevard, NC

Thanks. I looked it up on the USAT calendar and didn't see it listed. Looks like a fun course. Now I have another excuse to come back to Greenville for another visit.

100% positive it is sanctioned. You can use M2M35 for a $35 discount through the end of the month.

I'm sure there will be another one if you miss that. Shoot me a message if you want.

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Merge Multisport Founder & Head Coach
USAT Level 2 - Short & Long Course
Ironman Certified
Brevard, NC

M2M is put on by Setup Events, who does a great job with their races. It's the same outfit that put on Beach 2 Battleship before WTC came in, and they put on plenty of shorter races throughout the Carolinas.

Other factors being equal I would have picked M2M over Knox even when Knox was still an option.

having not ridden the course, can I get away with a standard 12-25 cassette ?

I'm riding 54/39 up front and an 11x27. If you have a 36 up front, I'd say the 25 is fine...but I have no idea of your cycling capabilities. This is a pretty hilly course. You might want a 27 or 28. Feel free to PM me.

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Merge Multisport Founder & Head Coach
USAT Level 2 - Short & Long Course
Ironman Certified
Brevard, NC

I did Knoxville last year (Olympic distance) and would never do the race again. Bike course is too dangerous with several spots of real bad road on downhills including a couple railroad track crossings that were not covered and super dangerous (saw several people with flats after apparently trying to bunnyhop them). Worst part was the course was inaccurately marked (arrows actually pointing the wrong way) causing a large number of us to go several miles off course. Afterward the organizers tried to blame that on another group that was marking the road for a race the next day but the two colors of the wrong pointing arrows were the exact same as the two colors of the rest of the course markings and looked exactly the same. Really shabby. Would have felt a lot better if they had taken responsibility for their mistake but the truth is there are a lot of better races and race organizations (endurance sports management, team magic, etc) in the area this time of year. I will be heading over to race Memphis in May this year instead. Might try Mountains to Main Street next year.

Good choice! That area has some great (hilly) riding.

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Suffer Well.

Actually I was there at Knoxville last year, and those "bad" markings were by a different group, and were spray painted, where Rev3 used tape for all of their markings. Also the painted ones were green and pink, where Rev3 was Yellow and Pink, so yes pink was the same, but green was not a color they used.

I saw people go the wrong way, but honestly I had no idea why they were doing it because the markings were totally different (a circle with an arrow, instead of just a taped arrow) and the race map specifically showed going straight (Also drove the course the day before to check it out).

I will concede that their were some sections of bad road and the tracks were interesting. I guess the tracks did not bother me, since I ride over tracks almost every time I go outside for a ride, but I can see where they would cause issues.