MadTownTRI wrote:
Why don't you think the venue couldn't handle the #s? Not being snarky, just curious.
My N=1, I started in the last AG wave (25-29), swam through previous waves (got a little congested) and rode through more waves with a decent bike split. At no point did I feel unduly inconvenienced by the numbers on the course. Went 3 wide only very rarely on the bike, but most of the riding was pretty clean. Way better than most of the sprint races I do in terms of bike course congestion back home.
Most of the riding gave us a full lane of traffic + shoulder, plenty of room IMO. Never felt like I had to make aggressive or near center-line passes.
Coming from Madison, where the inconvenience is all on 2 lane country roads for our races, I was in awe that the Wilmington/ Wrightsville Beach community puts up with basically shutting down a pair of major highways for a 70.3 race and the ensuing traffic headache that creates. If anything threatens the future of the race, I would think it would be the NIMBYism and the headache of the bike course on a Saturday morning
No one would accuse the IMNC 70.3 race of being "grassroots," but I guess I'm okay with that. It's the first WTC branded 70.3 race I have done, as I have done several local 70.3s in the Wisconsin area. I talked to some folks that weekend who did the race in the old B2B days, said there was more of an athlete amenity focus. Better swag (pajama pants), better post-race food, better atmosphere, better "experience" overall.
What I can say is that the WTC production value is higher than a lot of the races I have done previously, and that it was well-executed start to finish. At the end of the day, I got a safe course, mostly closed to traffic, and a chance to mix it up with a bunch of other people in a cool city.
Stunning swim venue setting, meh (but really fast) bike course, and a really solid run course. Loved that the run wasn't multi-loop or any BS like that. Will definitely consider this one again.
First of all, I'm betting that the new routing of the bike course across town was a huge improvement over that stretch that used the coned-off LEFT lane of an Interstate, but I do still worry about the congestion of that many people in an additional drawbridge crossing.
The biggest concerns about WTC numbers at that venue hinge on T2, and swim start logistics. I heard that in 2016, T2 was an absolute cluster. Did you at least not have gravel in T2 this year? And shuttling athletes to the swim start, while workable for the half, is really a deal-breaker for putting on a WTC-sized full there. Last year they tried to run full-sized buses from T1 to start, but still had to drop off almost a mile short because, unlike the trolleys, those buses couldn't turn around near the full start.
I'm still very curious as to what happened with the two outlying counties and how much that contributed to the full being deep-sixed.