Perhaps I should have been clearer.

The 'open' roads as I termed them are well away from any high risk area, they are currently open for full access, they are part of the existing / modified course and they have race day permits and warning signs already in place. Just add loops / turn arounds on these roads and a line of cones / barriers to separate the directions of travel.

The only changes I can see are A) use of additional cones / barriers and B) relocation or additional timing mats.

WD :-)

Edit for stupid spelling ... lol

It's amazing how people think it's easy to just re-route 2,000+ competitors another 17 miles on a bike. The planning and preparation that goes into something like this is incredible, and obviously aside from making money the race organizers have participant safety at the forefront of their mind. There are legal requirements, discussions with police, marshals, logistics, insurance and probably many more things to think about. Imagine the brand impact of a multi-million dollar company putting it's customers at risk, and serious risk. It's a f*cking wild-fire. Ironman wouldn't take this route unless it was necessary, I'm sure they don't want the negative publicity but those who have entered have to be able to race in safe environment.

If they do cut the swim that would be a real-shame and Ironman should be offering deferrals or refunds etc..

The best part of this is that the same moaning police would be in absolute uproar if Ironman didn't make these calls and they had to ride through fire and air pollution and all turned into green monsters from the algae...

I think people's gripes aren't about it being changed for safety, but the fact that it's now short.

Certainly from the people I have spoken too anyway - I guess other opinions may vary :-)

WD :-)

Hopefully this prompts a push to move the race away from Bolton. It's a pretty grim route in a very grim part of the UK. It really doesn't have a lot going for it.

Thanks mate, some of us live there ... lol

WD :-)

I'm sure there are nice bits, same as everywhere lol.
Not many people would put it forward as a spot to showcase what the UK has to offer though!

I'm sure that is true, but it isn't as straightforward as just rerouting racers. Even making a circuit or other would be tough just because of the sheer number of competitors. I don't begrudge people being disappointed but the lack of understanding of just how difficult a race organization is from people on the IM UK Facebook page is nuts.

PS - I spent many a weekend toiling away in the Rivington, Belmont area, it ain't a bad place at all :)

One guy on the fb page was going on about how he had written to his local MP and the Daily Mail. I kid you not.

The rerouted course looks great, I'll be racing and am thoroughly looking forward to the scenery round there.

I exchanged a brief message with one of the people staffing the customer support, it sounds like they'd been taking a lot of hammer from these people. Those guys have my sympathy, tough day at the office after lots of hard work battling against nature.

The swim looks very likely to go ahead as planned.

Having done the race a couple of times most of the bike course is pretty crap: looks like some of the best bits have been removed due to the forced changes.

Must admit the race now doesn't appeal to me specifically due to the roads making up the bike route and I've chosen to go elsewhere the last few years.

The lake is good and so is the run through Bolton though.

I have really ambivalent feelings about cancellations/changes/etc.

I have been to cancelled/shortened races where they knowingly rolled the dice on short odds. The data is there. If part of your access from transition to the bulk of one of your courses is literally flooded and underwater 60 days out of the year, you have a 16% percent chance of failure BEFORE you factor in the more unpredictable acts of nature like lightning/forest fires/algea/extreme heat. That's just downright silly and deserves ire and pitchforks. That race has changed hands twice since then.

Then again, I've been to shortened races due to weather where they turned up the music and chipped in an extra slice of pizza and an extra beer afterwards instead of the "one slice and a beer" per tear off from your bib. It was everything they could do on the day, in the moment. Sure, it cost them. But not doing what they could would cost them even more the next year when nobody shows up. This RD, around here is absolutely adored by locals.

They should have 'customer service' plans in place. For 1 week out. 4 days out. And "on the day". It can't be a token. Sure, a beer and a slice seems like a token...but scale-wise, that's a lot for this race. When I worked in radio, ads for "$2 off your next purchase" or "5% discount" is not enough to draw people in. You have to give them something of value to get them in the door. And once you have them in the door, it's up to you to make them come back and spend more.

I don't know what the offer should be. Something other than a t-shirt. But, I'm OK with it not being full refunds. I'm good with closer to the t-shirt in most cases. But not an actual t-shirt. I have plenty of those.

In the registration process, if you say "This is what you get if we cancel....a t-shirt/an extra beer/partial deferral/partial refund..."
It's a done deal. We've agreed to that.
Signing up with "In the event of cancellation/shortening, Spalding, you'll get nothing and like it!"....it's really REALLY poor optics from a customer service angle.