Now it is IM Santa Rosa. Full and Half, but different times of the year. Different course also, but same general area.

Sort of. It now lives on with only segments of the bike course overlapping the older Vineman course. New name is Santa Rosa IM and 70.3. Still a two transition race with the swim moved from Guernville Johnson Beach to Sonoma Lake. T2 is in downtown Santa Rosa with the run course out and back to the west along Santa Rosa Creek.

Since the last Vineman race in 2016 the Santa Rosa events have swapped back and forth between May and July for the IM/70.3. The 70.3 bike course has probably been consistent year to year, but the full IM bike and maybe run have changed around a few times. There was some conflict with crossing the new light rail train tracks in Santa Rosa that the organizer worked around. Lots of complaints about shitty asphalt when the roads for Vineman had almost all received rehabed asphalt work.

I've raced both the old and new 70.3's. I kind of enjoyed the old T2 at the school and running the winery roads. The creek run definitely has more shade and is cooler than what Vineman used to throw at you.

Is the new run as "flat" as the old run?
The year I did Vineman, the river was so shallow your hand scraped the bottom.
I bummed that old races are going away.
I assume B2B has gone away?
And now it seems Ironman is taking aim at Redman.
I hope independent IMs can survive.

I think IM tried to keep Vineman as original as possible and it was just tough logistically and they moved it to a town close by to try to still keep the same elements but make it easier to stage an event for a crowd. The first year Ironman had the race I did it and had a blast. I flew out from GA and it was great seeing parts of CA I usually wouldn't see. At the same time, the day before the race I was trying to check my bike in as soon as possible then drop my t2 bag off at the school. I think I was up 1st thing in the morning doing shake-out workouts and moving constantly until 2 pm when I finished dropping gear off. It was a traffic nightmare trying to get in and out of the town T1 was in. When they announced that the race was moving to Santa Rosa, I told other friends from GA that I thought they'd enjoy it more because it would be easier on them logistically.

 

I see on the Facebook page that this is the last year for the full.

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Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

I gather that IM taking over made it much tougher logistically than when it was independent. I can see where the course would not lend itself to 2000 participants.

It was a cool race when it was small. I went solo yet was able to easily hitch a ride back to T1 to get my car.

What do you guys think will be replacing it?

I'm guessing they bring back Oceanside full, hoping for Tahoe though

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Tough Times Don't Last, Tough People Do.

The race in it's original format had no problem handling 2000 athletes. In 2016 the Ironman Vineman (using the actual Vineman Course) started over 1800+ athletes and using a rolling start there were no issues. The roads used for the current version (minus the last 18 miles and early mile) are common with the Vineman races.

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Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com

Sorry to disappoint you but it will be neither of those venues, it will be a "new" venue ;-)

Cheers,

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Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com

Dave, I don't think the course had any issues, but for not being local, it was tough logistically. I guess most point to point races are though. It just seemed the town T1 was setup in had traffic issues for bike drop off the day before and on race morning. That wouldn't have stopped me from doing it again. Just when I went to downtown Santa Rosa I thought that would make it "better".