I was lucky to get a slot =)

Unfortunately all of my friends missed it.
So have to rethink my travel plans to get there.

Definitely not the best race to plan as a group because it's so hard to get a slot.

I guess there are a lot of people in the same situation.

Yeah, was hoping for atleast one more so we could drive down there.
Looking at taking the plane now and probably staying in Nurmburg.

Do you have any travelplans yet or any tips on where to stay?

It will be my first time in Roth and I have not made any research on where to stay.
I will be driving down there as it's only ~ 475 km for me. I guess having the car with me will leave me flexible with places to stay in the area but I'd like to stay as close to the race site as possible.

Nice, that was plan also. Have the car to move around even if I wanted to live nearby.
But it's a long drive from Sweden by myself to Roth.

Guess all the places nearby will be booked soon also.

Where are you from?

I'm in. Email address was copied and pasted ready to go!

UK based, although decieded on my transport or accomodation yet!

I'm from Luxembourg and I am really happy there is such a legendary race within a convenient distance.

I've had quite some trouble getting my bike on the plane for IM Nice this year that's why I'm glad I found a something close.
IM Sweden would have been 2nd choice but that's definitely too far to drive.

Do you have any travel plans yet or any tips on where to stay?[/quote]
Nuremberg is easy to fly into, a lot of athletes use Munich as well. Last week we stayed at Holiday Inn Express in Schwabach.
The hotel was about 20 minute drive into Roth. The atmosphere of the hotel is nice, and they provide a good breakfast with
variety.

The race does require that you rent a car, as the logistics of getting around are challenging.

Luxtri: Cool, can imagen you were happy to get a spot then =)
If you youre planning to go to Sweden 2017 send me a message, if i'm doing Kalmar then I could pick
you up and drive you down to Kalmar if i'm going ther anyway. I live next to Stockholm Airport.
Or if you just want advice to get there easiest way.

Im thinking about doing IM Kalmar 2016 also (kind of promised my girlfriend a trip there, since she has studied there she wanted to visit Kalmar and her friends there)
but a little tight with just a month apart. Then i'll do it 2017.



Dirtbag: Thanks, will look that up =)

How far in advance did you book your hotel room?

At 3 months out the hotel was already sold out. We were put on the wait list, and about 1 month later there was a cancellation, and
we had a confirmed room.

Having just got back from Roth this past weekend I can share my experiences with the logistics and just some thoughts as a spectator. (I didn't race, my wife did, so I can't tell you much about the race itself).

We flew from Philadelphia to Frankfurt on Monday evening 7/6, then hopped a short flight to Nuremberg (Tuesday AM at this point). We got a rental car. We got a room at the Nuremburg Hilton which is right on the edge of town. This hotel was excellent - staff was friendly and spoke English. We spent a couple of days acclimating and just checking out Nuremberg. This hotel is literally across the street from a large forest with dirt roads/trails so it made for some great running grounds for me since I still needed to do my runs and such. It is also a short walk to the S2 train line that takes you straight into old-city Nuremberg and even Roth on the same line. Roth literally has only two "guest houses". No hotels.

Roth was about a 25 minute drive from that hotel and the area was pretty easy to navigate. Even easier if you get an international data plan for your smartphone and let the GPS tell you where to go. Took about 45 minutes on the train (and 5.50eu one way) the one time we opted to use the train to get there. I don't think the train would have worked logistically for race morning. A car was pretty much required at least for the race.

On Thursday we started checking things out in Roth. Pre-drove the very well-marked bike course on Friday after checking into the race. The expo was impressive. There is a fantastic 50m outdoor pool right in Roth that they only charge 3.80eu for a day pass so I got some swim training in myself.

Saturday was for bike and gear drop-off.

On race day we left the hotel at 4:15 and got parked (through the typical race morning traffic) by 5:00. The parking area was about a half-mile from T1 but was an easy walk. Once the race started I played spectator and watched the swim from the bridge, then made my way to Solarberg to join the massive crowd there. Being a spectator at this race was a pretty special experience. While I would love to race it some day, I have to say I really enjoyed being a part of the crowd for this one. After seeing my wife through her first lap up Solarberg, I walked back to my car and drove it to Roth (about 6 miles away) and parked in town. They set things up nicely so that you can get your car out of T1 and not get near the race course. Finding parking in Roth was a challenge but not impossible.

The finish line is in a 10k-seat stadium. Pretty impressive how it is set up. One thing to note - they require you to get your bike and gear out of T2 that night. They don't want it left there until Monday AM like you are used to in the US. Also of note is that the race has a 15hr limit, not 17, so if you are on the slower side of things take this into consideration. The course is fair, however. It is not flat, nor is is really "hilly". Bike course is two loops. There is one climb of actual significance and a few shorter climbs, all done twice. Solarberg, as famous as it is, is really just a bump.

New for 2015 was a penalty 1km lap you had to run for drafting. If you were caught drafting, officials pulled you over and marked your bib. Two marks maximum before a DQ, and for each mark you got you had to run a 1km loop around T2. Reports say there were only half the number of drafting penalties given out.

In! I live in Hawaii. Not sure if that made things easier. Exactly 12 hrs behind. Hit refresh a few times at 9:59, the page came up, hit chrome auto fill, punched send and was confirmed in 10 sec. I wasn't aware that it sold out in one min until this morning.
Can we keep the discussion about hotels going? What's the absolute best place I can stay to get the full Roth experience?

I'm in too, but the girlfriend missed it. She mistyped her e-mail address for the second line and by the time she had gone back and corrected it the race had sold out. Crazy! It must have taken me about 15 seconds - as with others, I had my details on auto fill and so it was as quick as possible. There is a video on the Challenge Roth Facebook page of them opening registration and the numbers ticking up! Hotels wise I have had a quick look and there is nothing in Roth itself unless you want to pay £7000 for 4 nights in a guest house. A hire car and a hotel on the outskirts seems the best option.

Decided a couple hours before registration to not try... lots of other bucket list races to get done. Congrats to all who got in, it's a real special race.

Well, I went a slightly different route to get in, BUT I'M IN. I booked a package (from the US) with Race Quest travel that includes a reserved slot. I didn't want to have to battle in the few seconds trying to register at 3 am today. It was worth peace of mind to eliminate this morning chaos, plus there are some nice perks of the travel package (hotel, on site mechanic at hotel, transfers, etc) that should be worth it for me and wife. Also my coach knows the owners and says they are awesome folks to work with...so I pulled the trigger that way.

I managed to get in this morning UK time.

I also raced this year and absolutely loved the course and atmosphere that I had to try and get back for more. My wife and I stayed in Nuremberg as well and found it very handy for travelling back and forth to Roth.

Coming from Scotland I found the heat during the run a little tough and had to nurse some major cramps throughout the last 15km of the marathon but still managed a PB of 10 hours 50 minutes.

Can't wait to do it all again next year.

Anyone interested in renting a room from a family in Roth can PM me for the contact information of the family we stayed with this year. The house has two extra rooms. It worked out very well, kept us close to the action, saved tons of driving, let us see more of Roth and made race day, before and after easy.

We went as a group this year through RaceQuest travel. They did a great job and we got our entries through them (they partnered with two other companies to be part of Challenge Tours at Roth). I was very pleased with it overall.

Great option for folks wanting to race together but not have to risk the instantaneous registration.

I'm in. Got a hotel outside of town. But wanting to see who wants to share a house/apartment to keep costs down if possible.

Can you PM me the host's info?

Thanks

Very good summary. I raced this year and agree with nearly everything, except that the 1km penalty loop was at about km28. I saw a guy coming back from the loop, he clearly was not very happy...

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Francois-Xavier Li @FrancoisLi
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." George Bernard Shaw
http://www.swimrunfrance.fr
http://www.worldofswimrun.com

Oops - my mistake. Figured it was near T2, but I guess I didn't know that for certain :)

Thanks for the info =)
Looks like that will be the option.
Even if im not that keen to drive around.

As spectator (my girlfriend will probably join me) is there anything to se do during the day in Roth
or do you know if its possible to get to solarhill without car?

Thanks for sharing your experiences. Can't wait to get carried up Solarer Berg by the massive crowd and entering the stadium around the finish line.

I am very glad to see that their drafting penalties prevent some drafting.