I'll be there. Almost riding distance from my place.

Same place as Finlandia Hihto XC ski races? Would love to go!!!

Yep, the same city.

This will be so cool!!
(And also warm.. its mid summer.. :) )

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I was pretty stoked to see this! If my wife can travel at that time (work) I will definitely sign up - good opportunity to look up some relatives too. If not, then IM France or Canada are in my crosshairs.

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Kiwami NA Racing Team

Oh man, that's my kind of race!

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

I'm thinking about this one too.

An afternoon start is something I can really enjoy.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Is it feasible to stay in Helsinki? With the late start seems like it would be ok, or would this be too much of a hike?

It's a bit more than one hour drive from Helsinki. So I guess ok if you you have a car.

Why would I be in Finland without a car?

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Sounds like you're a Finn, or at least in the area. Can you recommend anywhere to rent a racing bike (doesn't need to be a tri-bike)?
I quite fancy using Lahti as a starting place for a week or two around the Baltics, but would rather not bring my bike all around with me.
Cheers!

Bonus 4 pm start is like a sleep in to 8 am with a 10 am Eastern Time start....in other words, none of the usual jetlag associated with doing a Euro race going from North America and effectively having to do the entire race in your REM sleep period (if you had to travel there later)!!! I have written off 2017 for racing (it's another rehab year) so hoping for 2018!!! This looks super interesting....my only trip to Finland was 1 day in and out of Nokia with a morning run in Helsinki :-(

Afternoon start is a game changer for me! Wish I could make the trip.

Challenge has a 70.3 in Iceland, and except for the water temp I wonder if it's at all similar. Both are beautiful countries well worth visiting.

$ for TZ in Australia/Sydney Asia/Tokyo Asia/Shanghai Asia/Kolkata Europe/Moscow Europe/Helsinki Europe/London UTC America/Sao_Paulo America/New_York America/Los_Angeles Pacific/Honolulu ; do printf "%20s %s\n" ${TZ} "$( TZ=${TZ} date -r 1497870000 '+%H:%M %Z' )"; done

Code

No problem, it's only a 50min train ride from the center of Helsinki and 2.5km (1.5miles) from the Lahti railway station to the swim start. Trains for Lahti every hour:
https://www.vr.fi/cs/vr/en/frontpage

Temperatures that time of the year probably between 15 and 25C and yes, the afternoon start is perfect. Sunrise at 4am and sunset at 11pm, with plenty of light an hour before/after.

These guys seems to be at a lot of the local tri races, I'd assume they'll rent you a bike.
http://www.velo-oxygen.fi/contacts/

I'm planning on registering tomorrow. Looking at hotel options and there's not much going on in Lahti. I will need space for me, my wife, and my son (who will be 13 next year). Those tiny ass rooms and beds aren't looking good.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I'm registered.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Thank you.
Blimey, it's a funny old language!

 J.R.R. Tolkien (about the Finnish language):
"like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me." :-)

A 1000 registered during the first day, just on their FB.

I know you have previously and briefly touched on this but what's your opinion on staying in Lahti? Doesn't seem to be a lot of hotel options. Trying to figure out of I just want to stay the couple of days surrounding the race (night before and night of) and spend the rest of the time in Helsinki. Or would it make sense to stay out near the airport in Vantaa during those couple of days?

We plan to spend a couple of weeks total over there. Week in Finland and a week in Sweden.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I'd personally be fine with (and would prefer) staying in downtown Helsinki, it's still close to the airport, close to the ferries to Sweden, close to a lot more stuff to do/see, a lot more hotels to choose from, but you obviously have to factor in the train rides (or renting a car) on race day. Can you do the bike checkin on Saturday is probably the first question to ask. I assume you can, but don't really know.

The locals probably would prefer if you bring your money to Lahti though :-)

Trust me... I wouldn't mind throwing some money at Lahti. I might book two rooms the night before and night of the race in Lahti. It doesn't look like any of the hotels in Lahti would comfortably sleep three people in one room. A couple of the hotels look nice but the rooms and beds are tiny. I was looking at the Sokos Lahden Seurahuone in Lahti as a possibility. I would prefer not to schlep back and forth for bike check-in and race day.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

If you're going to Sweden anyway, I would keep an eye on when the ITU tri is scheduled in 2018. It used to be in the beginning of July, but is at the end of August in 2017. That might be a temporary change though. Last year they had the ITU race on Saturday and an olympic for the regular guys on Sunday. Both in downtown Stockholm. That would be a cool combo, Lahti half/watch ITU/Stockholm olympic.
http://stockholm.triathlon.org/

Have you checked out Airbnb? I just had a look for the dates around the race and there's at least some flats available during that period (29.6. - 1.7.) within 1 km radius of the start / finish line. Of course you're missing out on room service but that's never great here in Finland anyway ;)

If you put "Sibeliustalo, Lahti" into Google Maps you can see the exact location of the race center and then have a look for a flat in the same area.

Thank you. I will check that out.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Turns out it was actually the other way around, last year was the exception. Well. Would have been good.

The GMAN wrote:

Doesn't seem to be a lot of hotel options.

When the FIS Nordic Ski World Championships took place in Lahti earlier in the year, some lodging options were listed on their site. Judging by the distances, everything assumes access to a rental car. And if so, maybe just rent an RV? No idea if there's any suitable parking in the city on the race day, though.
Regardless of lodging, make sure you get to experience sauna and ideally on a lake shore. If you do end up spending time in Helsinki, definitely visit Löyly and Allas :)

I just signed up too!! Traveling over from Canada's capital with the young family on first visit to that part of the world . Gonna be awesome!
Oh ..and If you are by chance racing in the M50-54 remember you can still back out with a 50% refund . Pussy

I'll be 48 in 2018 so you're lucky. ;-)

Our first trip to that side of the world too. Been all over North America, most of the Caribbean, Hawaii, Central and South America, Japan, but never over to Europe.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Actually, I've got ZERO business trash'talkin anyone let alone a guy who by looks of your sig line races all over AND on the best gear to boot!..lol. The harsh reality is I haven't done a tri -let alone a 70.3 -since 2008 when the kids showed up on the scene. I don't even own a tri bike anymore so this trip is gonna cost me!!.
I was pretty fast at one point waay back in the day so if I can get in a solid year of training and drop 20:) ...hopefully the muscle memory kicks in and I don't finish last in my AG and shame my 8 and 10 yrold kids in the process..lol

I've always had to expend a little more effort to find suitable accommodations in Europe when I travel with my wife and daughter. Typically there are some family rooms and occasionally I find a "triple" which consists of a double bed and single bed. Regardless, I am trying to get to all Nordic countries (3 down, 2 to go) so this 70.3 is definitely on my radar for the future.

The ITU Age Group, Long Course Triathlon World Championship will be 14 July 2018 at Middlefart, Denmark if my sources are correct. That race has been on my radar for awhile but I just learned that Haugesund 70.3 Norway (2 July 2017) will become IRONMAN Haugesund on 1 July 2018. No more 70.3 in Norway. I will still race USAT Long Course Nats this November but now I have to rethink which race I would rather do.

I've barely raced the last four years and barely trained either. A combination of medical issues and not giving a shit. I was once kind of fast too. Hopefully I can get some of that back the second half of this year. I've had a shit ton of work trips and I still have another six more weeks away from home from July 23 - Sept 1. So very doubtful I'm able to do Augusta. :-(

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I wondered about doubling down with 70.3 Lahti and then 70.3 Jönköping a week later!

Challenge Tonsberg is a half in august easy drive from Oslo. It is a nice race

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

Thanks but I actually need a full IM in 2018 to maintain Kona Legacy currency (#13), and the August date doesn't work for my wife. We also want to see Bergen and would probably fly there from the U.S. via Iceland.

The thought crossed my mind too.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

can you share any intel on the bike and run course? what are we looking at here....Hilly....moderately hilly ? ( In other words I'm wondering (currently) as a fatBastard how much weight I need to drop over the next 12 months:)

Sounds like a great plan.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I am already well into planning. It's the travel that costs me an arm and a leg. Ironman would be cheap if I only raced the closest event (IM Florida)! Ha.

I don't think the routes have been published yet, but I've seen the following places west of Lahti been mentioned, Hollola-Messilä-Sairakkala-Kärkölä-Vesala. Mapping that out in RWGPS gives an altitude of about +50 - +150m. Rolling hills. Run is along the shores of the Vesijärvi lake, should be fairly flat then.

Appreciate it ..thanks

Paul,
I know you've done some destination racing. What the hell should I do about my bike? We plan on being over in Scandinavia for two or three weeks and I don't particularly want to schlep my bike all around Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway if I can help it. I think we are going to take ferries between each country so that makes it a bit easier than dealing with airlines but it looks like my brother might be joining us so that's two bike cases to schlep around.

First world problems for sure. What do I do with my $13,000 bike while I'm on my $13,000 vacation? Nevertheless, problems I have, :-)

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Bob - my recommendation would be to design your trip into a loop that starts/ends at Helsinki, or the next stop after Helsinki. Then put your bike into long term storage at the airport (or central train station) at that stop. For example, next summer, I am going to do the stopover deal with Icelandic Air on my way back from Norway to see some things we missed on our trip last year. Keflavik Airport does not have baggage storage but there is a service right outside of the airport that will take my bike so I don't have to haul it hotel to hotel while I drive around. On my next trip back to Switzerland, I'm going to leave my bike in the central train station at Zurich after the race and then train around the country and pick it up on my way back to the airport.

If I were you, I would check on the storage at Copenhagen Airport leave it there, then take the train to Stockholm. Fly from there to Oslo. Ferry from Oslo back to Copenhagen. If you stay in the city centers you don't even need a car to see the sites. Pick up the bike when you get back to Copenhagen airport and fly home. I like to stay at the airport hotels the night before returning home, especially if it is an early morning flight. We stayed at the Copenhagen Hilton on our way back from IM Sweden. You don't even walk outside to get to the airport. I did the same thing earlier this month at Manchester Airport, England...we had breakfast in the hotel and walked into the airport without going outside.

Be sure to post a detailed RR on the race next summer cause I want the deets. Next to England, my wife prefers the Nordic countries of Europe best. Remember this: Scandinavia = Norway + Sweden + Denmark. Nordic Countries = Scandinavia + Iceland + Finland

My brother is definitely coming on this trip so we are going to have two bikes to schlep around.

What are rental vehicles like over in Finland? Can we get a vehicle big enough to carry two bikes between Helsinki and Lahti?

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Several car rentals at the airport, filter by ’Parking and Traffic’:
https://www.finavia.fi/...ki-airport/services/
You should be able to find a SUV or Minivan.

In! #Destinationracing now. Campeche early season. Flying with three kids 12,15,18 from London via atlanta with a few of us from TriCoachGeorgia.

Staying via nirvana hotels in Lahti and still figuring bike travel. Rented in Europe before and it’s not as easy at 61cm frame and morphological tall mess. One woman and man in 40-44 one in 50-54, and one woman in 25-29 I think.

Hollar if you want to chat private. Will post RR. Look forward to seeing y’all there and getting a taste of Finland, “the country id quite like to be” -Monty python

Bike course on Strava: "IRONMAN 70.3 Finland official" Strava segment by "Nokian Tyres IRONMAN 70.3 Finland´s PR manager Kalle Kotiranta and Finnish age grouper time trialist Janne Elkala" (via FB post by the organizers.)

Apparently there is a course preview scheduled for next Saturday (May 19th); register here by Wednesday May 16th (30 € fee.)

So how was the race? I bailed for a couple of reasons.

I posted this in another thread regarding Jonkoping:

The longer version is I’m not racing that or Lahti this past weekend. Main reason was cost of flights. I could not find flights cheaper than $2,000 per ticket and I needed to buy four. I’m not hurting for money or anything but on principle alone I wasn’t paying $8,000 just to get there. Then I had two weeks of hotels, food, entertainment, etc. Second reason for no Jonkoping was that my wife found out she had to be at a work meeting on Monday the 9th. So I would have missed Jonkoping anyway.

I also had a bike crash about six weeks ago which would have knocked me out of both races anyway. I couldn’t run for four weeks and I still can’t bike or swim because of damage to my hand, elbow, and shoulder.

So we did a cruise to Alaska last week and I am currently typing this from my hotel room in Whistler, where we are staying for week two of the vacation. So some lemonade out of lemons.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One