I wasn't there for ironman but I visited not too long ago after I graduated from college. My advice would be:

Rent a portable wifi. They are cheap and a life saver. Rent before hand. Alternatively you can find a sim card and pre pay for a specific time. This will give you unlimited data during your stay. It is a life saver. You can check out kiosks at the airport or go to any cellphone outlet (there's tons)

With regard to culture, I loved Korea. I thought it was amazing, even better than japan imo. The people are much more open and communicate with you. Just be respectful and you will meet some amazing people. Also I hope you like spicy food.

Edit: I meant rent portable WiFi not gps. You will get unlimited WiFi all over the country with them. They are very good and a life saver.

Getting lost and dealing with language barriers is a fun part of travelling.

Do it.

I hadn't thought about portable wifi. Great idea, thanks

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My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

haven't driven in Korea in a little while but it's a very easy country to get around. Map and basic route planning should be enough vs. GPS. As others said though, wifi hotspot and phone rental at the airport are good ideas. Google maps works over there IIRC.

Where are you flying in to, and where is the race? The bus and train systems in Korea are *amazing*. I've taken the bus to many a local race there back in the day.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

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If you go - talk shi* about north korea...because why not

I raced Gurye when it was a 70.3, not sure how much changed from that course to the IM, not sure if they double looped it or what.

If you find that it was just 2x loops of the 70.3 course, happy to provide insight.

As for Korea in general, happy to help as well. I lived out there from 2007-2009 and then again from late 2010-2012. Then was back to race there in 2015 & 2016, at Incheon, Gurye and Chungju. In 2015 I had borrowed a friends car and drove a good chunk of the country. Waze worked really well there, and is what I would recommend. The one thing to be really cautious about is the speed cameras they have, but Waze typically gives you a heads up on them. Traffic is pretty unpredictable, and from my experiences trying to head North or any direction heading towards Seoul, is generally a bad idea on a Sunday afternoon/evening.

Public transportation is really good and relatively inexpensive. You can usually find someone that can speak English, and when in doubt, finding a kid is the best bet as they are usually happy to practice their english and speak to foreigners.

Let me know if there is anything else you would like insight on.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

Awesome info, thanks. I've bookmarked this thread and will swing back to it for more questions once I start planning next year.

As far as the trains (tickets machine, destination, etc), do they have stuff in English? I was in Beijing earlier this year and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. The train station name was written in English and ticket machine was in English. I assumed that it had to do with the Olympics... can I assume it's the same way in Korea? The IM Korea's website says that English is limited in the areas around the race site. Are the street signs, train stations, etc written in English once you leave Seoul?

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My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

Will be flying into Seoul. Race is in Guyre. The IM has a service to pick you up at the airport and drop you off at the race site on the cheap. I'm leaning heavily toward renting a car to see more of the country and interact more with locals.

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My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

I get to Seoul/Korea once a year for work. Generally english is spoken but quite limited especially when you get into taxis. Uber is not legal in Korea and it cost US$120 to get from the airport to the city center via Uber. So always use normal taxis which are quite affordable. Don't remember ever taking the subway which exists and runs well in Seoul
Food is great there especially if you are a meat eater!!! Enjoy

Check this race report/course review and photo gallery:

http://www.asiatri.com/2017/09/ironman-gurye-race-review/

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I'm based in Taiwan for the past 17 years. Have lived in Korea. Have not raced in Korea.

My friends who did the full ironman too an individual were not happy with the race. Complaints ranged from no choices in food as the race is held in a very rural location, volunteers on the course whom they couldn't communicate with at all, and several race-related issues. I think the food thing is an attraction for some, negative for others. Race volunteers...yep..that's racing in a foreign country. The race organization...I'm not sure. The organizers did post on their fb page something to the effect of they worked hard, things did not all go well, and they will try to better for next year.

IM Taiwan in October...guaranteed heat and pain show!

I raced!

My first IM and I loved it!

Only complaints were over transportation which they have vowed to improve drastically next year. Food was a bit hit and miss, but I stumbled across a tea shop in Sandong that make lovely Club Sandwiches and ate them 3/4 days running!

Loved the course, no issues at all. Good swim location - water a touch cold but not shocking to the system. Swim course was well marked and easy to navigate.

Bike was great - a few climbs but nothing significant. Total elevation around 1200m. Great scenery, but I didn't look around much - my first ever 180km ride, so I cursed a lot! Rode past Sandong first thing, so saw my family early in the race and left them to get some rest until the run.

Run was nice and compact, saw my family 3 or 4 times which was a bonus. No issues with the course.

I chose it for the lake swim, single Transition and generally flat bike course. I loved the area - very remote and scenic with some very warm and hospitable people. Given the few options in Asia, I will likely return next year.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

Logistics-wise it was fairly straight-forward. I flew in to Seoul from Hong Kong, spent night at an airport hotel before getting the 10:00am from the airport direct to Gurye. It's about a 4 hour drive and they dropped off right to our hotel (around 8km from transition, which was about 1km from the race expo/finish line). (We left on Monday afternoon and it was the same deal - bus direct from hotel to airport).

From then on there was bus transport laid on between hotel and race expo for registration and welcome dinner, plus transition for swim practice on the Saturday and return from bike check in.

As I said, transportation was probably the worst part, but they admit they got it wrong and will do better next year.

On the course, aid stations were well stocked with the usual fare. Race drink was Pocari which I train with so that was ideal for me. Honey Stingers were the gel they used - not my thing though.

Climate was perfect for me - probably 18-28 on race day. Cool in the morning of course and warm on the bike but we had some cloud cover so I wasn't burnt too badly (forgot sunscreen and didn't notice it being offered at swim exit).

As I said, I loved the race and will be back. Not a lot of IM choice in Asia - don't fancy the heat and hills of Langkawi and Subic and the split transition in Taiwan (plus the heat) also puts me off. There is also a new 70.3 in Jeju in July - nice warm up too.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

Registration for 2018 opens today, and I think this will fill up much faster this year now that it's a known quantity, and assuming there are no new IMs in Asia next year. Taiwan was a furnace, as will be Langkawi and Subic, so Gurye is a good option.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

Did anyone here do the 2018 Gurye race this month?

I'm considering it for next year, but I'm a bit concerned by a few things:
- There was no live athlete info when I tried to check it during the race (and after)
- No race updates during the race
- No social media updates since June this year

At one point I wasn't even sure if the race was actually happening or not.

I know these things aren't critical to a successful race, so I'd like to hear any positive (or negative) experiences from athletes this year.

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http://www.howesgreg.com

Interesting as I remember checking the results via the app as the race was going on, and don't remember any issues. Like you said, all of those points shouldn't be of concern to you in terms of how well the race is ran. Although the race is locally licensed by the Korean race organizers, the IM Asia staff still has a strong presence there and ensures the race is a success.

I haven't heard anything bad about the race from the few people that I know that did it. I just wish they would bring back a few 70.3's with pro fields as I always enjoy getting back to Korea. Just seems the locals are never that excited about the 70.3 distance and are more much interested in racing the IM distance.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

I was checking on the web site, rather than the app - maybe that's why?

Agreed about it not being important for the race itself, but it could be indicative of how well-organized a race is.

The course looks great for me, and living in SW Japan it's just a short hop for me, so it's a very strong contender for my next race!

Thanks!

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http://www.howesgreg.com

Yeah, that could be? I can see where you are coming from on that, but it's not uncommon for many well established IM races to have tracking issues as well, so not sure I would ever hold that as a reason not to do a race.

I had a great time at Gurye 70.3 when I did it back in 2015 and think if you are living in Asia it is a great choice. Not sure how many more years the contract is for, but seems that it has had some success with getting higher registration numbers, so I would keep an eye on it when it opens or if it has already as I believe it sold out this year.

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-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM

Great info - thanks!

When I checked out of curiosity in probably June this year, it had already sold out.

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http://www.howesgreg.com

My daughters school teacher snagged a kona spot for next year.
She didn’t do anything special.
Loved it.
Agree coverage was poor.

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I raced, again!

Transportation was much better this year and they changed the registration/finish line area, which I liked (in the main stadium in Gurye).

I loved the race again, and taking 40mins off last year's time also helped!

My family didn't join me this year, but they tracked me okay and didn't report any issues with the tracker.

All in all, a great race - I'll be back again next year for sure!

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces

Thanks for the extra info. I'm feeling more confident about the race now!

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http://www.howesgreg.com

I did the race.


1. Expect to find no restaurants open after 7 PM :)


2. Communications was quite lacking, even at the race site. However, if you send them an email with a question, they'll reply promptly.


3. The athletes check-in and the transition area is about 7 miles apart. Depending on who you ask and when you ask, you get a different answer as to whether you can bring you bike on the bus before/after the race. The finish line is 7 miles from where your bike is. Some bus driver would say, no, no bikes. Some would say 2 bikes per bus. Some just let all bikes on :) I asked at the athletes briefing whether we could bring our bikes onto the bus after the race to get back to the finish line. The official answer was no, but I was able to bring my bike on the bus. You could bike there to rack you bike, but really can't do that after the race due to darkness.


3. On course food and after race food was horrendous.


4. The bike course was completely closed to cars, so that was great.


5. Run course has some nice scenery.


6. Swim course was lined with a rope for the entire 2.4 miles, so it's very hard to swim off course. You just swim next to it.


7. You don't need a car there. You can take advantage of their airport shuttle service. You ride on a bus while all the bikes had their own truck. I was dropped off at a hotel that was not on their official list of hotels, which was nice. If you are going to take the bus back to the airport, make sure you know when and where it is. Confirm with a lot of different people ahead of time. I was told something at the airport and it worked out completely different at the race site. I ended up taking a train back to the airport.


8. They have an Ironman kiosk at the Icheon airport. You can go there for any questions you need to know about transportation logistics.


9. The people, both at the race site and in Korea in general, are some of the nicest people that I've ever encountered anywhere. Strangers will go out of their way to help you with anything and everything.


10. I wouldn't do this race again, mostly because there is absolutely nothing going on in Gurye. If you have family, you have limited options for them, especially if you don't rent a car.

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My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

I agree that food was one of the biggest challenges, along with language of course. I was a bit better prepared this year and I bought enough snacks/bars with me, so didn't have so many issues. I was up in Masan area this year, and although the restaurants closed early, it was more like 8pm up there.

Split transition/finish line adds a bit more to the logistics. Pre-race, the biggest issue for me was bike check in and I bit the bullet and rode my bike there. Post-race, I gave myself a bit more time this year, so left on the Tuesday. Picking up the bike on Monday was pretty straight forward, no issues putting it on the bus. As I said earlier, transport was a lot better this year, not perfect, but I didn't have an issue getting around, or to and from Busan airport.

After-race food is something I rarely touch, but I stumbled upon the soup guy, and had three cups of that. Other food looked like hot dogs which I don't touch at the best of times.

Gurye doesn't have much to do besides being a hiking destination, but it's scenic, cool climate, good air and as has been said, lovely, helpful people.

Being in Asia, I really don't fancy the heat and hills of the other IMs, so I'll probably head back again next year.

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My race site: https://racesandplaces.wixsite.com/racesandplaces