For those of you who are signed-up for this year’s IM CDA you may have heard the rumors that there is a course change. Rumors were that the run course was for sure changed while the bike course wasn’t for sure going to be changed. Well, after a few emails to WTC I finally got an official reply: only the run course is being changed this year. For the run you no longer head out towards the west to Dike Road when you exit transition and when starting the second lap. Instead, you head east straight out of transition and the turnaround to begin the second lap is at the Ford car (as stated by WTC) at the intersection of NW BLVD and Lakeside Ave. In addition, the far turnaround for each lap is now a mile further out which means you get to completely up and partially down the backside of the huge hill that you get to do on the bike course. Get some hill training in! I’ve attached a map that WTC has provided of the course (http://www.ironmancda.com/course.php) and made changes to it of what the new course looks like compared to the old course. WTC says they will update the IM CDA website soon.
One last thing… rumors are also out there that the bike course is being totally revamped for next year. WTC wouldn’t respond to my questions about that.
That hill at the turn around is gonna be tough, but this is probably a good change as the run course kind of got mucked up near transition. I think it is a good change.
Agreed! Running by the transition area was a game of dodging people going the other way on one side and then dodging people entering the course from transition on the other all on a sidewalk that can barely fit two across.
Put me down for liking the old course. Loved that little out and back and the extra two times through the craziness of the transition and family and friends. Wasn’t exactly difficult to dodge people and the distraction more than made up for it. Also not excited about the entire hill twice. In the end though, it’s always a great race.
One last thing… rumors are also out there that the bike course is being totally revamped for next year. WTC wouldn’t respond to my questions about that
Great … probably back to Post Falls and laps around the dog race track like before!
Hopefully not… the rumors are that you would head south towards the CDA casino. It would be very interesting to see them shut down I95 and deal with all of the angry drivers. Start practing your ducking skills for flying garbage!
I agree. I love training on hills and love running them in races. I also love to hear people bitch about them in races. As my grandpa used to say “It puts hair on your chest”
The front side (as coming from CDA) is definitely steeper than the backside. You can’t see the top from the bottom due to the curve in the trail and also there is a false flat. The backside is indeed more gradual the only trick is that you never actually flatten out before turning around and heading back uphill. That will provide a bit of a shock on the legs.
