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Puerto Rico 70.3
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Raced Puerto Rico 70.3 yesterday and it's a great course in a beautiful place.
Swim - ocean lagoon, some waves/current in the last 200 meters
Bike - Closed course! I was surprised how smooth the road surface was (some potholes here and there and a terrible bridge lip that wasn't marked). Mostly flat with a few hills at the beginning. I didn't see any drafting, saw the marshals out.
Run - super hilly as advertised. A changed run course year because of sand deposits at the far end from the high surf. Crowd support was crazy, music, well-stocked aid stations, a ton of volunteers, random people handing out bags of ice out of coolers along the way. Like running through a street party.

It was high surf so the ocean waves were stunning along the bike and run courses and at the finish.

Great organization. Really helped me train through the winter with this early season race as a goal.

Highly recommend!
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Re: Puerto Rico 70.3 [Upstaterun] [ In reply to ]
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I did this one in 2017. Loved it! One of my favorite 70.3s!

I was wondering why they changed the run course. Loved running out on the "microwave". It was hot but the whole run is brutally hot. Still it's an amazing run course. Epic!

Did changing the run course eliminate any hills? I remember there was a good hill on the way back after completing that hot "microwave' section along the wall.

Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.
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Re: Puerto Rico 70.3 [Upstaterun] [ In reply to ]
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Nobody got shot this year, right?

/half pink

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One
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Re: Puerto Rico 70.3 [Upstaterun] [ In reply to ]
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This is on my radar for '24, love visiting PR and it would be cool to race there. How'd you transport your bike (if you did)?
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Re: Puerto Rico 70.3 [bigskyguy76] [ In reply to ]
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bigskyguy76 wrote:
This is on my radar for '24, love visiting PR and it would be cool to race there. How'd you transport your bike (if you did)?

Racing there was amazing! I used the Bike Box Alan Aero Easy fit case. At the San Juan airport, it was easy at the taxi stand for them to wave up a van to load it in and easy at the hotel to arrange the same on the return. Tri Bike transport also does this race, I also saw some bikes being unpacked and set up (they had been shipped there) at the bike mechanic spot at the expo. Details of that I think are in the Athlete Guide as well and in the FAQ on the Ironman site.
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Re: Puerto Rico 70.3 [Triingtotrain] [ In reply to ]
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Triingtotrain wrote:
I did this one in 2017. Loved it! One of my favorite 70.3s!

I was wondering why they changed the run course. Loved running out on the "microwave". It was hot but the whole run is brutally hot. Still it's an amazing run course. Epic!

Did changing the run course eliminate any hills? I remember there was a good hill on the way back after completing that hot "microwave' section along the wall.

We talked to a guy after the race who had raced it last year, He said that far hill out by the microwave was eliminated, but then this year we had to run up the super steep hill in Old San Juan 3 times instead of 2. You can see on the revised run course map where the turn around was. . a little over 2 miles out from transition.

Yes, EPIC!
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Re: Puerto Rico 70.3 [The GMAN] [ In reply to ]
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Well, that happened in 2015 and what I read about it, the 2 athletes were not shot at, but biking by an upscale neighborhood when unfortunately, and randomly, 2 cars were going at it with each other on another street. Otherwise, the bike course is completely closed to cars.

We had thought about racing there previous to that, and to be honest, that incident was a bit of a concern, and then they have had I think 2 major hurricanes there since and we weren't sure about the state of it all, and then COVID. But, I am so glad we went this year. I have raced a lot and yesterday was one of the best race experiences ever. We talked to several who return every year.

The race site hotel is only a couple miles from Old San Juan, easy to get to and we found wonderful restaurants with great food. Lots of tourists around and we felt completely safe everywhere we were. All the people we interacted with were super friendly and welcoming.
Last edited by: Upstaterun: Mar 20, 23 12:09
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