Mont Tremblant.

This is a tough question since all of them differ quite a bit based on the few attributes you listed, but of the IMs I've completed (Florida, Canada, CDA, St. George, and Madison), I would go with Madison.

It has some of the best crowds out of any event's I have participated in, the course is fun and challenging, and the logistics are pretty simple. You also cannot beat the helix!

St. George actually had my favorite course, but unfortunately WTC cut it to a half. Canada is spectacular as well, but since the change to Challenge, the spectator support has virtually disappeared.

Ditto.

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

Hard to beat Whistler if you're looking for perfect race weather, spectators (maybe not spectators), logistics, etc.

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"Sweep the leg...Do you have a problem with that?" - John Kreese

what's the helix ??

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tim nicholls

I have done IMCDA, IMTX, IMWI, IMAZ, IMCanada both courses.

Best family friendly would be IMAZ. They get to see you many times during the day.
Best race course would be the Penticton (original IMCanada) course but the city of Penticton destroyed that event. Kind of a ghost town race now.
Best challenging course with a wonderful venue would be IM Wisconson. The people are all over the course, every turn more support and cheering. (I am racing this again next year)
Best pre race town. toss up IMTX and IMCanada (Whistler).
Course that kicked my ass and I am determined to do a gain. IMTX

Order I want to do them again.

IMWI
IMTX
IMCDA(purely cost)
IMAZ
IMCanada (Whistler)

Why limit to North America?

x2.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

My experiences are IMMT, IMLP, and IMWI.

I would vote IMMT by far and away as the best race venue. Love the pedestrian village, especially from a logistics POV. Park your car on arrival and that's it, no need to get back into it until u leave. Family can see you at multiple points and also retreat back to their hotel at times. Course is awesome. About 6,000' elevation gain and pretty smooth roads. Run is hilly at the start and end of each loop but manageable otherwise. 10/10 in my book.

Imlp is a sentimental favorite, however not as much for the family to do there and there is a fair amount of price gouging in the rentals in my opinion. Not to say IMMT is cheap, just didn't feel so gouged.

IMWI has cheaper lodging. Didn't like much about that race, especially the quality of the roads. I do agree the run at IMWI is very well supported though.

IMMT by far, in my useless opinion =)

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Founder of THE TRIATHLON COLLECTIVE (Closed Facebook Group). A SBR discussion group without the white noise/trolling!

IMLT

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

With or without power cranks?

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Founder of THE TRIATHLON COLLECTIVE (Closed Facebook Group). A SBR discussion group without the white noise/trolling!

Tremblant

With the new date it'll be hard to beat IMLOU


Yes, I am being serious.

Shall see. :o)

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

tremblant, madison, lou in that order...

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Check out my website/blog: http://www.macheetri.com
Infinit Ambassador: Use INFINIT-P29DC for $5.00 off

I'm originally from Georgia, so there may be a tiny bit of bias but Louisville is fantastic. Perhaps the best finish line party outside of Kona and with the new date, the temperature should be great.

http://www.coeursports.com/...sville-course-review

x200 on IMMT. Can't wait to race there again. I have IMLPx3, IMFLx1 and IMMD soon and IMMT takes the cake hands down. I feel bad not giving to to IMLP but it is what it is.

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Head Coach Grn Mchn Multisports Coaching, LLC
http://www.grnmchnmultisports.com

I think one think to ask would be- for you the athlete's perspective only? Or are you concerned about a non racing partner plus or minus kids and trying to pass it off as a family vacation?

x2.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Of the ones I have done, I would rate them in this order

1. Whistler 20
2. Tremblant 18
3. Penticton 16
4. Placid 16
5. Texas 13

Can't comment on Florida, Arizona, Madison, Louisville as I have never done them. No disrespect to Texas....it is an awesome race and I plan to go back. There are just things that resort races offer that urban races cannot match. If you take triathlon out of the picture, how many people will go to vacation in Houston over Whistler? By the way, I am getting on a plane in 3 hours to go to Houston and I see all the good aspects of that place too. If you put an IM in suburb of Chicago or Toronto, they would not rate above 15 on a scale of 20. They just won't because of where they are.

Could you expand a little bit on what makes Louisville so great? It's drivable for me, and I fall into the camp of avoiding it in the heat, but considering it in October. I don't really know anything about it and there's nothing breathtaking that I see about the course so just looking for some more info. Thanks.

This is such an intensely personal question, and oddly enough the points you mentioned are somewhat conflicting.

IMMoo has by far the best fan support imaginable on all three sports. Coming out of the water the helix is lined with cheering fans; they bus people out to the bike course where they line the hills; and the run snakes through Madison up and down State St then finishing around the capital. But logistics suck base on where start is vs where hotels are, and the roads were just god-awful for the bike, parts weren't even paved!

Penticton could have been the best of both worlds, but lack of hotels near the course start, combined with their absurd price gouging meant we stayed 20min away which meant logicists sucked. I would never have done it again for that reason alone.

IMMT nailed it, but I wonder how long that's going to be viable. It is so easy to get here (close to Montreal and Ottawa). Lots of condos for rent making week long stays ideal. Not only were we a 5min walk to transition, they turned the whole thing into a massive party. Friends and family enjoyed the experience as much if not more than the athletes. I fear that next year condo prices will double and more people will be pushed out of the village, where logistically things get real bad real fast. The more successful/popular the race the worse things will get.

IMMT nailed it, but I wonder how long that's going to be viable. It is so easy to get here (close to Montreal and Ottawa). Lots of condos for rent making week long stays ideal. Not only were we a 5min walk to transition, they turned the whole thing into a massive party. Friends and family enjoyed the experience as much if not more than the athletes. I fear that next year condo prices will double and more people will be pushed out of the village, where logistically things get real bad real fast. The more successful/popular the race the worse things will get.


IMMT was my 1st IM and it was an unbelievable experience. I had 12 family members with me and we stayed about 10 minutes from the Pedestrian Village in a rented house. We had no problems driving in every day to the Village and finding parking. It's much cheaper to stay out of the pedestrian village if you're a big group and really is no problem getting around the town - no traffic at all. Even on race day, my family used the shuttles to go to different viewing points on the course and this worked great! I highly recommend IMMT for anyone thinking of doing an IM.

I had friends and family drive in from Ottawa to spectate. Because of problems at previous races I was really concerned they were going to spend hours in traffic and have to shell out hundreds for parking.

Nope. It couldn't have been easier for them (with small childred) to follow the massive signs directing them to the massive parking lot where they were loaded onto busses and dropped off right where they wanted to be. The whole thing was just so well throught out from start to finish.

But let's not forget that weather is highly variable. IMMoo suffers the same problem where it could be 100 and sunny one year, then 55 and rainy the next. Lake Tahoe and Lake Placid also suffer the same fate. Penticton will always have the same weather year after year after year with zero chance of rain. Do you choose the devil you know or the devil you don't?