I live less than 2.5 hours driving distance from the Austin race site and I wouldn't recommend traveling even that far to do that race. It sucks.

No way I'd travel from Alaska to do it.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

If you like hills and wind, Cabo. If you like just wind Coz.....

Both are great races.....in big resort towns, easy travel lots of place to stay and things to do.

I've done austin and the IMCoz full. I live 90mi away from the austin race and it is barely worth the drive. Coz was beautiful. planning on IM Cabo in 2017. So I'd vote for one of those.

I did IM Cabo last year, my husband did Coz the previous year. We flew Alaska Airlines from San Diego to Cabo. They were great with bikes, and the bike fee is significantly less than United was when my husband went to Coz (plus we were able to upgrade to first class for the return flight and they counted bikes as a normal luggage item because we were in first class!) Cozumel is a giant pain to get to from the west coast, and involved red eyes and approximately 7 hours of flying time. So if you are looking for ease of getting there, Cabo is almost certainly the winner.

Course-wise, I personally didn't think the wind was too bad in Cabo last year, but I agree with the previous poster who said to choose based on whether you like wind or wind + hills.

I live in Austin and even though I love the city you would have to be crazy to do Austin over Cozumel or Cabo. From a course/destination perspective Austin isn't very exciting. And even though Cozumel or Cabo might be a bit more challenging, it would make a much better destination race.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

Haven't done any, so for what it's worth... I love Coz, been there lots. Cabo would be easier to get to, probably got direct flights on Alaska A, as noted Coz will likely be a red eye or otherwise a full "day" (with the time change) of travel.

People have mentioned the Coz full (end of Nov), but the 70.3 is in September. Even the Coz locals complain how hot and humid September is, so it won't be just wind.

Take Austin off your list. Then flip a coin.

Alrighty...I see Austin isn't getting any good reviews...so can't nix that.

Just looked and could add "Superfrog" to the list. It's in the same timeframe that works for me.

For any of you that have done Cabo, you mention wind...but how is the water? After doing NOLA in the wind...which in turn made the water NOT fun, I'm not sure I could do another swim in those conditions. That sucked (and scarred me for life).

Austin swim/run was fine.. In 20+ years of racing those were the most torn up bike roads I've ever raced. A few of the holes I couldn't believe my eyes..

I didn't think the water was bad in Cabo, and it was 2-3 days after major hurricane. The wind i didn't consider horrendous on the bike, the hills were pretty good though.

for what it's worth, Cozumel winds will only come into play for the one 9-10 mile pass up the wild side for the 70.3 unlike the 3 times on the full IM.

I live 10min away from race site and am thinking about skipping it and going to Miami this year. Cozumel and Cabo are steak and lobster. Austin is Skittles.

In the defense of the roads, there was major flooding the week before which really made it worse than it already was. I had been riding the course for months leading up to the race and the flooding made the roads considerably worse.

Still waiting for them to move it to the west side of Austin...

i do Coz half and full every year (live here) and the wind really isn't that much of an issue in the half. you only do 1 pass of the east side (usually the windy side but last year we had a tail on the east and head on the west side so go figure). one year the wind turned and we had a head both going and coming from Cedral. that was fun. (not) :)

but it is a fun race and the island shuts down for it and you'll have huge crowd support and the water is like an aquarium.

but it will be hot.

i have lived here 10 years and i find it hot.

coming from alaska you will find it very hot. but you just might fall in love...

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

The roads are bad every year. Doesn't matter which year. I did it in 2011 (the epic drought/heat/wildfire year) and the roads were total shit then.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Like others, I live here in Austin and don't do the 70.3. The swim is fine. The bike course is on terrible roads. The run course is a boring combination of the parking lot access roads in and out of the Expo center, country roads, and roads inside the park. There is one hotel within 5 miles of the race site and there is absolutely nothing else do within 10 miles of it. I'd much rather drive down to Kerrville and do the independent half iron that High Five events puts on down there. I'm actually surprised this race has survived this long.