I loved this race when it was Rev3 (although, of course, the same good people are involved). I liked it a little less with the IM-brand devotees descending en mass (count the calf tattoos). Would prefer to have the old Timberman as IM 70.3 / Rev3 OOB dual option, but that ship sounds like it has sailed.

We will see how OOB reacts to this in the future. The victims of traffic may have been other tourists. A lot of locals seemed to be on their front lawns in a good mood. Cops were cool (a lot of easy OT). I have to believe the participant surge was good for town business.

Critiques of the race:

-- I hate these time trial starts. It's one thing in a full, where people get spread out and head-to-head racing is less common, but it was impossible to gauge where you were relative to competitors. I know that means you have to run as hard as possible against an imaginary competitor, but that sucks. AG starts should be the norm in a 70.3.

-- the swim seemed longer than on the old course at this event. Was it a little over 1.2?

-- they fixed the old short distance problem of the bike course. Great, relatively easy course.

-- really like running on the hard packed dirt of the rail trail. I was worried before the race it would get very crowded. Was that a problem for people?

-- I thought we were promised pier fries at the finish? That's the local delicacy, lobster excepted.

If anyone from WTC is reading this, kudos to your Rev3 partners for doing a great job. Keep them in the mix

I tracked 2,093 meters on my swim with a fairly straight line (started early, not much crowd to deal with). I just took a quick sample of people I 'swam with' on Strava and see many records between 2,050m and 2,100m so I would bet it was a bit long.

regarding run crowd: Yes. I didn't experience this too much being closer to the front but my fiance who was doing her first 70.3 and came on to the run later felt the crowd was really annoying. She is a runner primarily so she had to do a lot of people dodging on the grassier left side of the trail.

I didn't hear about the pier fries but now I am disappointed, too.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Results aren't up yet -- strange. Any idea when they might be?

I use sportstats website to copy down results. Seems there have been some DQs already as I was 20th AG yesterday and am now 19th (yay?)

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

I thought this was a really great race overall.

as mentioned, you loose the head to head racing within your age group with the self seeding rolling start (Why mark your calf age then?) But,

it seemed on the beach waiting area were a number of teams and groups lining up to start together, thereby
racing against each other. That was cool .

The bike course was well controlled, with lots of turns, very clear for Maine roads, I live here btw.

The trail run part was awesome, but might have been brutal in higher/normal humidity conditions, thru the wetlands,estuary.

I miss Timberman too.

Agreed. Maine was my first WTC managed 70.3 event. I was actually starting to feel a little guilty on the bike course seeing all the backed up traffic. They did a great job however considering the race was sold out and there was such a huge number of athletes on the course. I had no problem with the "general" rolling start, but I'm a MOPer. I can see how faster athletes would prefer (at minimum) grouping by AG (swim caps), even if it's rolling within that group. It was crowded out there, but not annoyingly so. Bike course was flat and fast. Run course WAS great, esp on those shady trail sections. A little crowded and harder to pass people, but doable. I'm probably gonna try Lake Placid or Syracuse next because I think ocean swimming is not my strength. I got pretty seasick coming out of the water. If you passed a guy sitting in a fold up chair looking like he was gonna blow chunks before heading to T1, that was me :) Was not prepared for that. How do you train for ocean swimming if you don't live near an ocean ? :)

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"The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

Does anyone have any idea if this race will be back in 2018?

I have to agree with an AG start. It becomes a race in name only with a time trial start unless age groups are started as a time trial, but at that point why bother. The beach was big enough for an AG start.

My garmin had the swim at 2409yds (2202m). I swim fairly straight as evidenced on my garmin. My wife's garmin had 2390 yds (2185m).

Well done race. I wish the finish and transition were a little closer together.

I'll join the chorus that wishes Timberman was not dead. I looked forward to Timberman every year.

M35-39 slots were taken by #3, #12 (me) and #13

I had a fantastic race. I was a little slower that I had hoped on the bike course by about 5 minutes. I rode a 2:29 and was hoping for more like 2:25 or better.

The swim format was my only real complaint. I got in the water early to get myself acclimated to the cold water. I never mind cold water races, but getting my face wet first is important. After that it doesn't matter. By the time I was done getting a quick warmup in I looked up at the beach and the line was practically all the way back to the Waves hotel. Ugh. So I lined up in back. Consequently I started near the very end of the race. I typically swim 28-30 minutes for a HIM and I got totally jammed up by slow moving traffic in the water. I ended up out of the water in 33 minutes, so that was frustrating. I feel like I should have just been a bit rude and cut the line somewhere near the front so I could get some clearer water to swim in.

However, f they lined us all up by expected swim finish seeding, then I bet the drafting at the front of the race would have been atrocious. I don't know what the answer here is. I can see pros and cons of setting up the swim both ways. Doing it this way made for a less fair race for the front of the pack. Anyone lined up early had a clearer shot at the course than anyone lined up in the back. But then anyone at the back who is fast then had a ton of people to slingshot past as they rode. I swam through and over a ton of people, then easily passed 1000 people on the bike.

I was a little worried about how crowded the run trail would end up being since it's really not that wide, but much to my surprise it was perfectly fine. There was next to no congestion on the run course and there was plenty of room for people to pass in both directions. Turned out to be a complete non-issue.

All that said, this was a fantastic race. Rev3 did an absolutely amazing job running this as an Ironman 70.3. Everything that they did that was in their control went perfectly, and as someone who has done this race many times in the past, and has done many Rev3 races in general this felt just like a larger M-dot branded version of what they always do. (The start format was forced on them by Ironman, that wasn't their choice)

Congrats on your slot. That was indeed a mega long line at the swim start. No problem for me cause I'm a slowish swimmer, but certainally not ideal for fast swimmers. That was the first race I've ever done with a general rolling start (e.g. no swim cap color / AG groupings) . Does anyone know if they do general starts at all IM managed events?

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"The first virtue in a soldier is endurance of fatigue; courage is only the second virtue."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

It varies by venue. Ironman is trying to do everything they can to make the swim as safe as possible as well as reduce drafting on the bike course. It's a very difficult proposition to do both.

Some IM races go with wave starts (Raleigh 70.3 and I believe the full at Tremblant for example are wave start races). Others have a rolling start format seeded by expected swim time (Lake Placid). IM Louisville in the past was set up like Maine was with a first come, first served line up. I believe IMLou is changing this year to a seed-by-time format. I am glad as I am racing Lou this year and really didn't like this first come first served format.

I don't mean to necessarily direct this as a reply to you g_lev, but a question to anyone in general, what is the point of a first come, first served rolling start? My understanding is that races are switching from AG wave starts, or mass starts, to rolling starts based on predicted swim time. And that this is for safety reasons. If the rolling start isn't going to be based on swim time, why not just use an AG wave start? Then we can go back to racing our AG and knowing where we are in relation to each other.
I'm ok with the time-based rolling start (even though based on my relative swim and bike times it makes for a crowded bike course for me), but if it is going to be a free-for-all I'd rather it be an AG wave free-for-all. Just wondering if there is some benefit to this format that I'm not realizing.

The benefit, as I was told, seems to be that it spreads the bike course out a bit. With everyone coming out of the order in a little more random order, the faster people mixed with slower people, you get less drafting and congestion on the bike course.

Having just experienced this type of start, I am not buying it. I think a wave start by age group really would have been the best compromise here. There isn't a perfect way to start any race. There will always be some disadvantages, but in general I think doing a "mass start by division" (IE waves based on age group) is really the best way to go about it that has the least disadvantages.

And 70.3 Worlds this year will be a combo of all: Rolling start within each age group wave.

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Proud Member of Chris McDonald's 2018 Big Sexy Race Team "That which doesn't kill me, will only make me stronger"
Blog-Twitter-Instagram-Race Reports - 2018 Races: IM Florida 70.3, IM Raleigh 70.3, IM 70.3 World Championships - South Africa, IM North Carolina 70.3

Yep. And I have NO idea how that is going to work. I am skeptical but I am willing to reserve judgement until I see it for myself.

Congrats on the slot, g_lev!

On the swim, I agree, the signs would have been helpful, first time i've done an IM without these signs (where it was a rolling start), however what I was confused about is why people in the middle/back of the swim line were giving a shit about this "line" thing. I slipped into the front about 10 minutes prior to the start, maybe 30-40 people back and no one said anything or complained. Others filled in as well even less than 5 minutes to start. Guess the ones up front understood the unwritten rules?

Btw, I was aiming for 2:33 on the bike and got 2:36 with more power than my BBS plan said. Not sure what happened there.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

I thought the race was pretty well run and is a cool town to do a race in. I'd agree, the looks on the faces of some of the people working (bars/restaurants) seemed surprise at how busy they were. I asked a couple of bartenders/etc why that was and they said it wasn't really a noticeable influx when it wasn't WTC. Despite that, the people were great and accommodating.

The swim was cold, and the start was a little funky, but no big deal.

The first half of the bike was pretty fair, back half was insanely fast. More turns than I'd like, but had no issues with being pointed in the wrong direction and felt safe from police/volunteers controlling traffic. I can't speak to the traffic backing up as I was on the course relatively early, but my friend that was more MOP said they had to navigate around cars.

Run was beautiful and fast. Only issue here is when the trail splits into one lane each way, wasn't marked well and lots of people were confused, can only imagine how much more congested it was later in the day.

Overall, good venue, people were fantastic. Most everything is walkable, Chattanooga-ish. For those of you who live in Maine, it's a wonderful place and thanks for the hospitality, should be proud. Oh and the weather, y'all are spoiled, it was amazing (and chilly for this Texan).

I should point out that in the first timers briefing (i went because it was my fiance's first 70.3) they made it crystal clear that everyone should seed themselves according to swim speed. Nothing about "get in line" because frankly, that is a stupid way to think about the swim start.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

It will. Get in early if interested, it'll probably sell out again.

This is different than what I heard from the race director himself

What did they say about it at the regular athlete briefing? I didn't attend one. I am wondering if the guy who did the first timers was different from whoever did the regular briefings. I can't understand why they would tell first timers to seed by speed but not tell everyone else either nothing or something different like 'first come first served'

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

All I can tell you is the guy who did the first timer briefing is the same person I talked to. (I know the whole production team personally). I am not sure why there would be a different answer, but I specifically had that discussion with the race director about this outside any of the briefings.

Same. I went to the regular athlete briefing on Friday afternoon and heard "first come, first serve." I mean, how could we enter the water based on swim speed if there weren't those nice signs identifying expected swim times? I am a MOP swimmer and usually spend the first half of the bike passing people so I had planned to hop in line early, but my need for the portapotties changed all that and I ended up hopping in towards the back. I found the bike course very crowded, it was impossible not to be in the 6-bike length draft zone. It was probably the most crowded I've ever seen a HIM bike course.