Two things everyone knows (or should) when they choose this race:

1. good chance for severe weather;
2. gauranteed drafting.

caveat emptor

Yes, also a substantial chance of water on the course, due to the chances for weather as mentioned, the very long lying nature of the course, and the surrounding water.

Don't be surprised if you end up with "water features" on the bike and/or run courses. This happened often when it was Chessieman.

They should move it back to the 3rd weekend in September. Last year and this year on this weekend bad weather. The two times I have raced this race Chesapeakeman 2004 IM Maryland 2014 the weather was acceptable. Ironmans are supposed to be tough but, high winds and torrential rains are bad.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

I'm not too worried about the rain, but the wind and such will make it really difficult with potential chilling if the temperature isn't high enough. I hope i've got the right gear. Anyone else worried about this? If so what are you planning to wear for the bike/run???

^^^This... if it's not an Ironman brand, I don't think 99% of those doing it will be there anyway.

Just got back from Blackwater. Maple Dam Road is under serious water. Had to turn my car around. Don't see how they can do this unless they expect people to walk their bikes.

From a friend today during their "pre-ride"






ETA: youtube vs Imgur gif

I was slated to do an open water swim in Lewes, DE (on Delaware Bay about 1.5 hours NE of Cambridge) tomorrow. It just got cancelled. Very high winds, lots of flooding, an 80% chance of morning thunderstorms. Here's hoping things are better in Cambridge. If it goes I'll be working the disco run station way out in that abandoned development.

Yup. That's some potent Kool-aid.

My vid: https://twitter.com/...s/781931335023681536

Wear your rubbers people!

Wouldn't the flooding of the roads go down quickly as tide goes out?

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New Training/Racing Log - http://www.earthdaykid.com/blog --- Old Training/Racing Log - http://colinlaughery.blogspot.com

I did Chesepeakman in '10 and '11. In '10 on the second loop there was a few spots with water on the road and one spot is was quite deep maybe 6-10 inches for maybe a 1/4 of a mile right after a bridge. It was so odd and there was no option to avoid the water, I just went through. Strange that a road would get submerged on a regular basis and that is acceptable to the local area.

Didn't this also get cancelled last year, its first year?

Yep, it was the week of the hurricane that postponed IMMD.

What are we supposed to do on the section that's like a foot deep?

Not that I didn't believe the video, but wanted to see it for real... driving Maple Dam Road now. No clue how to handle this. Very long stretches of deep water, completely covering the road. Will IM address this?

i think they will finally address this. 2 years in a row? a lot of people are not going to be able to go back down to race again. mostly deferrals i bet (if they allow it).

looks like a pretty shitty situation. i know how they feel, i was there last year.

here's hoping they move it back to sept (but they prob don't want to compete with imchoo).

john

Does that mean you think they may cancel or postpone?

I doubt they're gonna cancel the whole thing just a lot of road is flooded most of it is shallow or has dry spots but there is like ~.5mi that's literally a foot under water on the bike. Like honestly how am I gonna get my bike through that? Did anybody drive it too? Like I think it's impossible to bike through. The swim is another story.

I talked to the lead official at bike check-in. Whether to run the race or not isn't his call, but he said the WTC people are motivated to make this happen. The flooding has a lot to do with where the tides are. Low Tide is at 11:25, high tide is at 5:17 pm. In other words, if you start riding at 8am, and do so for six hours, you will ride right through the low half of the tide cycle. He said the road crews would be out sweeping early this morning.

Expect an interesting day, at least.

This was just on twitter:

Thank you for posting this, Erin!
Breathing easier now.

I am cursed. I lost 18 or so miles from IMTX and now 8 miles in MD! Good to see they are working hard to make this race happen.