Since doing my first IMC in 2002 as a local and again in 2012, my goal was to do it every ten years. I'll be 42 in 2022 and you can bet that I'll be back training if Penticton gets IMC back. If its some half course relay wave start challenge thing, count me out.

I'm all in favor of making IMC Penticton great again! lol

Did Penticton twice. Have not done Whistler.

I'd love to see IM back in Penticton! Loved the single loop courses, the resort town feel, the loooong beach. Not wild about the 1 week forced accommodation at inflated prices, but it wasn't a deal breaker for me.

I want a race near the end of the summer. Penticton was perfect for that. Whistler doesn't give me as much time to train. If it went back to Penticton I would assume it would be on the same weekend as Whistler now, so I'd probably never choose it over Mont Tremblant or Wisconsin.

Hope they release the venue sooner than later... got to fly from AUS for it and organize a wedding over there just after...

Whistler as a resort is absolutely ahead of Penticton and is certainly more convenient for folks flying in however the town itself has never embraced Ironman like Penticton did - in fact when asking Whistler locals what they think of it they generally don't care or regard it as a PITA. One of them told me "we've had the olympics you know so ironman is irrelevant". In Whistler it is only one of several summer events and is highly disruptive to locals (think Crankworks, Tough Mudder etc that are significantly larger then IMC). You could argue both ways on the course (i hate whistler personally but loved penticton) ...my take on it is if it went back to Penticton in 2018 (as rumored by a local pro), it would sell out in a heart beat....the following years would probably experience a decline similar to what we are seeing in the rest of the sport.

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The decision should be made in time for IMC 2017, as that's normally when registration opens for the following year.

I've done both Penticton and Whistler and would prefer to see it go back to Penticton - love the single-loop courses!

Maybe we can get SlowTwitch to do a poll on this...?

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So true. I did IMC this summer and everyone hated us. Might be a strong word but they genuinely disliked us being around because we are such a burden on the town, mainly the roads in and out of Whistler.

I'll be sure to urge my family to spend as little money as possible in their town when we go for the race next year.

Interesting perspective. I did the race in 2014 and didn't get that sense at all. Maybe the novelty has worn off. Absolutely beautiful course, though.

I'm genuinely surprised. Did you have locals come up and give you a hard time?

I'm headed back for my 3rd go at IMC this year, and I have not had anything but positive experiences there. I'm close enough I can drive up for training weekends in May and June, and as I said, only found open arms in terms of hospitality.

It seems like there is a festival or event in Whistler every weekend. Aside from the road closures, I'd have thought we'd be just a small blip on their radar.

This made me laugh... we're talking about Canada, not the US. Everyone was very polite and I had a great experience but when you actually talk to them and ask what they think of the event, they unanimously said we were a burden on the city.

With that said, I had the same feeling as the comment a couple up... "I'm such a burden as I spend money in your bike shop, grocery store and restaurant that thrives off of tourists."

But honestly, no one was rude, they just don't care for the event.

I can see how they might not care for the event in terms of the required logistics.

To be honest I never asked people what they thought of the event, they just seemed happy to take my money :)

Fixed that. ;-)

My experience in 15 and 16 could not be anymore different. I met locals all over the place and got nothing good feedback. In Pemberton, the local I spoke to there was more excited for the race than I was. Just one data point, and I am sure many people don't like their drive's interrupted by a race, but really, there was very few real problems for locals, and those on the road early on a Sunday are few.

Jack

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x2 on what Jack said. I did Whistler 2014 and 2015. I did Penticon 91, 92, 94,95, 97, 2008.

I basically gave up on Penticton after 97 with the crazy drafting and the silly over priced lodging. My wife basically said she would never go back there again. Nice town one or twice, but was not interested to spend a week there again. Whistler on the other hand, my family would go back for a week every year for the rest of our lives with or without tri. We can say the same thing about Mont Tremblant. In both Whistler and Tremblant, the local communities understand that events make their world go around and on the balance have very positive things to say about IM week. They are used to having world cups in skiing, freestyle, boarding, Jazz fests etc....pretty well something every weekend, but it seem they like the triathlon crowd in the village. The shut down of roads on race day is a PITA for both communities, but most that I spoke to were OK with that 1x per year (in Tremblant it is 2x per year).

People who think Ironman coming back to Penticton will sell out instantly have no clue. Most athletes don't care about classic courses. They are just following the Mdot logo.....so when the MDot logo goes back to Penticton, its up against Boulder, Cour d'Alene, IM California etc etc....its going to be "just another IM". Nothing special for the rank and file athlete.

For me personally after going back in 2008 and dealing with ANOTHER DRAFT FEST ALL THE WAY DOWN TO OSOYOOS, not really "that interested" even though it was the place I did my first IM. Would much rather go back to Whistler.

this.
i have done both.

my family would go, and we do go for a week each summer regardless if there is a race. lots to do for everyone in whistler.

Swim faster and you won't notice the draft-fest. ;-)

Both times I did the race I had fairly clean roads until Osoyoos and making the turn towards Richter. It wasn't till then that the draft packs started catching me. By then it didn't matter much as things broke up on Richter anyways.

I know what what you're gonna say. Of course it matters because they had any easier ride for the 45ish miles, they'll overall ride faster and be more rested for the run. I'm a realist though and know that for me it doesn't matter because it doesn't impact my KQ at all because that's never going to happen anyways.

Just giving you a hard time about the swim. :-)

I wonder what impact airbnb would have on the inflated prices and hard to get accommodations Ironman weekend in Penticton.

LOL, in 2008, I swam around 1:02, and transitioned around 2 min and beat all the pelotons out. I basically rode solo down Osoyoos and 2K before got engulfed by a 50 person peloton. Then rode through them and dropped all those jokers going up Richter (AND YES I OVERBIKED RICHTER) and stayed ahead of all those guys....paid the price on the run and probably got beaten by all 50 drafters!!!!

Is there any substantiation to this rumor as it clearly make no logical sense. "Well some guy said it might be moving" is just made up nonsense.

Yes, IMC has been shedding numbers since the first year in 2013. Moving it back to Penticton just hastens its demise. It's harder to travel to, it's more expensive (certainly when comparing quality of lodging), there's less to do, etc. Once again, I'm not saying Penticton is some shithole that should never be seen or visited. It's clearly not that. It's just not Whistler.

IMC-Whistler numbers are down for four main reasons:

1. The course is tough. Probably the hardest IM and 70.3 bike courses in North America. The run course is no joke either. People don't do hard courses over and over. The hills at Whistler scare the shit out of people.

2. More races. There were 7 Ironman races in North America in 2009, excluding Kona. I think there were 16 last year.

3. WTC cannibalizing itself having most of their IM's in a narrow 3-4 month window. East coasters are more than likely choosing one of the races closer to home. West coast doesn't have near the population numbers as the east coast.

4. Downturn in the tri market.

If the race were in Penticton the numbers would look worse. This talk about moving it back to Penticton is just silly.

Personally, I had zero interest in doing IMC when it was in Penticton. 2017 will be the third time I will have raced in Whistler in the five years it will have been there. Did the full in 2013 and 2014. Back to do the 70.3 next year.

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All that stuff in bold basically summarizes the thread. Triathletes have proven they don't care about classic courses. Moving back to classic venues will do nothing. Proof that triathletes don't care about Penticton is how quickly we abandoned the place when Challenge came into town. Some in Penticton throught they were bigger than IM, but Canada/USA is not Germany and while IM left Roth and Roth flourished (eventually) there is a massive population of loyal Germans to draw from. Penticton is literally in the middle of nowhere and without the Mdot logo and road to Kona, people are not willing to make the trek over (rightly or wrongly). Now moving Mdot back to Penticton does not automatically grow it because it is competing with Cour d'Alene, Arizona, Boulder, California and as GMAN said a gazillion east coast options for east coasters and there are barely any athletes left to encourage newbies to go race in Penticton, since literally no one has done IM Penticton since 2012.

I edited my numbering. :-)

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I'm the exact opposite. I've got less than zero interest in Whistler. Yet, if they bring back the old Penticton course I might be tempted out of IM retirement. Did it twice - 2010 and 2012.

At this juncture in my "career" there are few races that I'm interested in. Roth, Penticton and Kona being on the very short list. I've already done two of them twice and had a chance to do the other (Roth) next year but it didn't fit into my life calendar for 2017 so I missed that opportunity.