I wonder why they changed the run course. I enjoyed it last year. On mapmyrun, it looks like you climb slowly from 950 ft @ mile 2.75 to 1100 ft @ mile 5.50, then bomb down the hill to the turnaround. Coming back, it's a 150 ft climb with 8-9% max grade for under a half mile, then a steady decline back into town. Looks like a doosie but a quick finish.

Is the elevation chart just incorrect? Is the course map correct?

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The course map looks correct, however, the elevation map is definitely wrong. When I mapped this year run course I got 967 feet (295 m) of elevation gain or about 2-1/2 times the elevation gain shown on the posted elevation map.

Ok just curious. Wouldn't be the first time an elevation profile was incorrect.

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lol looking at Google Maps that's a ski hill. I actually vaguely remember there being one around there.

Oh well. I've got two weeks to train on our local ski hill here. Maybe I should start doing that. I didn't pay attention and assumed the run was similar to last year.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

Here's the bad boy: https://www.strava.com/segments/5187061

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

If the email is correct, they emailed us a few months back with the updated run course which is different then what’s online. According to it we don’t actually run this far, we turn around where there’s the loop in the road just before.

I remember getting that e-mail. I believe that run course was later updated to the one currently on the Ironman website.

It would be nice to know which is the actual course as the one in the athlete guide has the “ski hill” which is at the turnaround. It will be a killer , we ran it yesterday not fun !

He's a decent elevation profile from Strava. Hill looks nasty!

https://www.strava.com/routes/19733444

Not sure why people keep to support Ironman events with this type of lackadaisical organization.

This has been a sold out event for weeks and a key tourism driver for the Muskoka region.

Maps should be updated and finalized by Ironman before registration even opens for an event costing upwards of $300. Sure it's easy enough to map a route on Strava but that's not the point.

Athletes deserve better in this era of FOMO tiered registration pricing.

You obviously have never tried to wrangle a permit out of an Ontario jurisdiction.

Between NIMBYism and the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) taking their sweet time you're sometimes happy to have a finalized course 2-3 weeks before your event, which you have been working on for a year or more. And I think a high-profile, big race will only give longer delays, not shorter.

And whining about the $300 is getting old. People have been doing that here since at least when I signed up in 2010.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

Same elevation over double the distance of Horror Hill on Wilmot Line. So bad, but not overly nasty.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

The bike and run elevation profiles have been removed from the Ironman site. Hopefully the correct profiles will be posted soon.

This... it would be easy to post a map early, but it likely would be revised multiple times as you go through the necessary negotiations with the municipalities and and police to get it sorted, and then may change further if there's active construction on the course... At many other Ontario events, there are course changes week of, or even on race morning, when you finally get approvals, or you notice construction making the planned course unsafe... Because of the value for tourism, there's no risk of the race not happening, it's just where exactly the course goes... There's been more volatility on the course since the central venue moved into huntsville proper, from the Deerhurst, because there's more residents/businesses in play to whine about access being blocked...

https://triathlonmagazine.ca/...-muskoka-run-course/

Decent summary. Not overly nasty, reminds me a bit of 2017 Worlds in Chattanooga, although a bit more spread out. Chattanooga was back to back, twice (in town, about 2/3 into each loop), this seems a bit more spread out. I'm more worried about the lack of shade - forecast predicts a very sunny day, although not "that" hot (26C / 79F).

Thank you for posting. Hopefully the race organisers will not skimp on aid stations including ice. Hilly or flat, hot or cool, the run is still going to suck hairy donkey balls.

Given the hot/sunny days and warm nights this week, I think I will be packing a swimskin along with sleeved and sleeveless wetsuits. I roasted in the swim last year in a full wetsuit when the water temperature squeaked under the wetsuit threshold. If it's anywhere close this year I'm going with a sleeveless wetsuit.

Does anyone know where the water temp is at these days? This spring was much cooler and wet than last year, so I suspect it is lower that last year even with the past week or so of warm temperatures.

someone posted this in the facebook group..not sure about temperature...



"Water has mega warmed up. Swam at camp kitchen into fairy today at 5:30 am and had to let water into my wetsuit it was so warm! Enjoy sunday! It'll be gorgeous!"

I drove the run course today.... People aren”t going to be happy with the change. Shitty road surface, the course takes you out into the middle of nowhere, and yeah it’s hilly. I’d rather have the run back to Deerhurst!

Suck it up, buttercup. It's Muskoka. Of course it's going to be hilly.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

I was a naysayer in my previous post...

The run wasn’t too bad... Yes, hilly. Road conditions weren’t great, but were they weren’t great there wasn’t (almost no existent) traffic, so you could find good road to run on. Two negatives though... you are literally running to nowhere, nothing scenic, no crowd support... and running with traffic once you come back on to the road back to town, extremely tight with traffic.

The biggest plus was the ample aid stations, there were a lot! And running back into town was all downhill.


This was my forth straight year racing here. I’m definitely coming back for my fifth!

Well, running back into town was almost all downhill. Agree on the other comments. That run is now boring as all heck. Once out of town, it's all mental focus and very little distractions (and shade) for that matter. That could have been ugly if the run took place two days earlier. It's certainly reverting back to the run of earlier years which was much more challenging. That hill at 13K is no joke (down or up). Logistically, this run course is likely much easier on the local town folk, so I would expect they will continue with this for a while. I must say, running back into town was strange. There was absolutely no room for runners to be running both ways in the "runners lane" as one cop called it. So I found myself dodging incoming runners and cars. Congrats to all finishers. That course is legit....even if for some odd reason they pulled the bike turnaround point about 750m closer. This year I had it at 88.3K? Hard to mess up a 90K out and back where there is lot's of road to make it bang on.