I raced and enjoyed it. Only my 2nd 70.3, first was Musselman last year with sand raking volunteer that led to no swim times for a bunch of people. So nothing like that happened. There was a lot of traffic into Swim/T1 in the morning to make note of. Shuttle should have taken 30 min and took an hour to get there. There was a lot of talk about the bike course and hills and there was 1 big climb and 2 shorter climbs. Many people were changing cassettes leading up to the race and I almost did out of fear, but I did fine on 11-25. First 20 miles were flat and fast. Then there were rollers but could carry speed. It had a bit of everything. Run was all on PSU campus and again, people after the race were talking about how hilly it was but I think at that point a small incline feels like a hill. Ended around 50ft gain per mile on the run. Hope that helps. Just main things I remember from the day. I would recommend it but not likely a PR course.

Thanks Rob G for your assessment. I've done IM Wisconsin and love the atmosphere of racing on a college campus. Running in another Big Ten stadium, I'm most likely in for next year!

I raced it this year and for an inaugural race, they did fairly well. I was on the second shuttle from the stadium and experienced no issues. Those that tried to drive to T1 in the morning definitely had trouble and spectators had trouble getting back to town in time to watch their loved ones start the run as the first shuttle did not leave until 10 am.

Swim was normal and T1 worked well. It took a lot of time to get 2000+ swimmers in the water.

Bike was a fair challenge of a course. Similar in profile to Timberman or St George from my experience. I thought it was very scenic and a lot of crowd support through all the towns and Amish families hanging out along the farm roads. Added to the charm. The biggest climb was only about 11 mins long.

Run course was also fair and was enjoyable with all the crowd support through campus. Tons of places for family to see you multiple times. There were a couple of annoying twists and turns to provide photo ops. Of course, finishing in the stadium was a nice novelty. They painted the IM logo on the grass instead of having the red carpet… again, novelty.

I heard the post race food was amazing but I didn’t part take. Parking your vehicle next to T2 was an added bonus but retrieving your bike and getting out was a little congested.

They probably learned a lot so I am guessing year 2 will be much better. Highly recommend it!!

Great race. Maybe my favorite bike course ever-- back roads through small towns with people in their yards (including the Amish) spectating and cheering. And the Beaver Stadium finish was super cool. Expect a challenging race- likely to be hot and humid, possibility of non wetsuit swim, and a challenging bike course into a run with enough elevation to hurt if you aren't feeling great.

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Coach of TriForce Triathlon Team

Swim course is a nice reservoir, bike course is a nice change from most Mdot courses with two hills that split up groups, run course is a bit silly with twists and turns.

Only complaint is PSU fans are like a cult and are on overdrive anywhere near the stadium.

Just adding my voice to this but it's just an echo of what everyone else said.

Super well organized. Parking at T2 and catching a bus to T1 was smooth and flawless.

Great swim. Good clean water and easy sighting. Challenging, but not super hard bike course that wound around the various hilly terrain. The big climb at mile 40 wasn't terrible and kinda fun with everyone bunched up and chatting. I enjoyed the run around campus - a bit hilly but not terribly so.

Ending at the stadium was really cool. I am not a PSU person, and I had never been to that stadium, so that was my first time in it. I was kinda tickled that the first time I was ever there, I ran in through the entrance tunnel and out onto the field. Kinda fun.

I would happily do this race again.

I did hear that those who chose to try parking at T1 had a bit of trouble with traffic. But as far as I can tell that was the only "glitch" of any significance that day