I like this race a lot. Of course its 10 miles from home for me which really helps. But the event organizers do an outstanding job, I have heard a lot of experienced athletes say that MiTi is run better than WTC races.

Yeah the roads suck. One of my least favorite things about Michigan. I run at least 25mm tires on all my bikes which helps. TBH I am about to try and jam some 28mm tires on my tri bike, I think it will pay off on all the chipseal.

I have raced the 70.3 and Olympic distances at this race and enjoyed both.

I'm thinking about doing this race next year. I live up in Ludington, what are your thoughts on the full distance?

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Gone with the wind

Instagram: palmtreestriathlon

I've heard a lot of experienced athletes denigrate WTC races at every opportunity(often right here on ST). I would take such comments with a grain of salt.

It seems like a stretch to call a race with <100 finishers comparable to a race with 2500+ finishers. The race Sunday was shortened to a half because of incoming weather. WTC would be getting shredded here if the same happened at one of their races.

I haven't done MiTi but I have done Grand Rapids. Same race company. They definitely know how to put on a good race. The value you get racing with them is amazing. It still feels like a big Mdot race but at much less cost. I will be back at GR next year. The competition is really awesome. I don't think the road surface was any worse at Grand Rapids than it was at Steelhead. I liked both and I just anticipate you won't get amazingly smooth road anywhere in Michigan.

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/23685202

As mentioned above, the full was cut to a half before the race started. The forecast had a lot of nasty stuff in it, and I think they wanted to make sure the full-distance athletes had a good chance to complete their event as it was the ultra-distance national championship race. They still started the full-distance athletes at 7am, they were racing only against the athletes that registered for the full.

In 2015 the race was shut down around noon for lightning overhead. In 2016 the race was wet.

This year, the weather did not get as bad as predicted, but it did get wet for a while. I definitely saw lightning in the distance but it was opposite the direction of the bike course, so I assume the RD and officials were able to clear that and let the event continue.

So, this race has had a lot of random weather issues.

I raced the 70.3 back in 2017. I really like low-key events like MiTi. As others mentioned, the roads were a bit rough then. It was also my first experience with multi-lap run courses, which it turns out that I really like, particularly in smaller events where the chances of you running by yourself get's pretty high. I also liked having lots of Oly runners to use a rabbits.

Not sure if they had it again this year, but the mist tent they had at the finish like was glorious. The stop at Arcadia Brewing on the way home was very nice too.

That said, I'm not sure I'd ever do the full. On the 70.3 bike, I remember riding mostly by myself and can only imagine how lonely it would be on the 2nd bike loop and I imagine it'd be even worse on the laps 3 and 4 of the run course.

It might be nitpicking on the price, but as far as independents go, it does seem to be priced towards the higher side. For reference, I'm racing Storm the Fort half this weekend; I paid $120, but could have been as cheap at $80 had I registered earlier.

I had expected the full to be the USAT National Ultra next year and planned to do it then (race conflict this year). But after one year, USAT moved the NC to Great Floridian, so probably won’t do it in 2020.

Not a knock at Great Floridian, but anyone know why the NC was moved after only one year? Seems odd to have all long course NC events in Florida.

Yea we drove up from VA for the full and were pretty bummed when they shortened it. And then I got nervous they were going to pull us off about halfway through my run with the thunder, lightning, and aid station tent blowing into the trees.