I have done the 70.3 a few times.

70.3 worlds in 2014 was pretty bad and they got a lot of flack for it.

I know that since, they have put more marshalls on the course including "undercover" marshals that are on bikes. I have a friend that was part of this group in 2016. I think Triathlon Quebec tries.

Last few times I was the first wave to go out so got to see the entire field on my way back from the turn around. No huge packs, but a very long line of people definitely less than 12m.

The hillier course will tend to break things up a little more but there will always be people that will try to draft

I like the idea of "undercover" marshals. Hadn't heard of that before.

I'm also doing the 70.3 this year as a warm up and to preview the course, so hope to get some idea of the race dynamics. It's good to hear that Triathlon Quebec is at least trying to keep things under control.

The IMMT course does not lend particularly well to drafting due to the incessant hills. Triathlon Québec is also doing a fair job of catching and penalizing entire packs by boxing them between pairs of motorcycles. Undercover cyclists are present.

However the new "no passing zone" in the fast Duplessis downhill section is a complete disaster; huge, tight packs will form at the end of the zone and it takes a while to stretch (I find the situation more dangerous than the problem they were trying to solve). This is just a small section though, don't let it deter you.

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- The Architect -
"If you don't die executing my training plan this year you'll be much faster" -- My coach

I hope google translate works on this

http://www.triathlonquebec.org/...teurs/escouade-velo/

They mention patrolling of 70.3 and the full

Raced last year and don't remember there being much of an issue. There were fewer athletes in the race than in a lot of these others, which surely helped. The first half of a lot of Ironman races can be sort of bunched up, but the big hills at the end of the first loop here really broke things up. I'm a faster swimmer/cyclist so my experience might be different but I didn't really have much of an issue last year, and don't remember seeing packs like we are seeing from Texas.

Not in 2016, then again, the weather was really shit.

Saw a few folks tucked in behind catching rides, but it was the exception versus the norm.

The best IM race I have done in regards to drafting enforcement. The highway section was a bit windy last year. The draft marshals were on bikes with radios.

I raced in 2015 and am doing IMMT again this year. I wouldn't worry about it on this course.

From what I saw:

• At least one sizable pack did form but the hills keep everyone more honest. I remember getting swallowed by one and spat out the back on the first loop and spending a bit of time hanging around at legal distance. This was around the 35-50k part where the hills aren't as bad. I then repassed the group on the next major hill (the big one on hwy 117) and never saw another draft pack again.
  
• The undercover marshals did a wonderful job catching everyone. I didn't notice the marshall until I got beside him (on the hill as I was passing) and asked why he was wearing a rather large radio. Other than the radio and being on a road bike, you'd have never known the difference between him and another competitor. At the top of the hill, I saw at least 10 riders stopped at the penalty tent.

Bike time was 5:39 for reference.

I did the full last year and coming out of the water pretty early on and having a decent bike I can say the front of the race was free of drafting. The course has a few out and back type sections so between that and 2 loops of the bike course I saw lots of folks out on course--didn't notice any big packs. I definitely did notice officials on the bike course-they seemed to be doing a pretty good job of being visible.

I would say based on the videos and comments from yesterday that IMMT is NOTHING like that!!

Thanks for the info everyone. I like hills and I despise packs, so it’s sounding like IMMT was a good call.

I agree with previous posters - raced it in 2016 in shitty weather but I can definitely not recall seeing any drafting and definitely no packs.

You're going to love it, have a great time.

+1, have been there every year, amazing venue. And no, no large packs of riders.

Did it last year. There are tons of marshals on motorcycles discouraging cheating. I saw 2 guys up ahead of me get ticketed. Seems like the exact opposite of what happened in a Texas yesterday.

It's great to read the responses here (and your original question)--IMMT is the only IM branded race I've done and part of the choice to do it was for the course and challenge. It seems like many folks pick a race for the opposite reason-fastest course they can find and don't care about safety, cheating or location. You'll enjoy IMMT for being a honest race that's well marshaled.