Never been to Muncie, but have been to Racine and Rhode Island.

As a tourist - Rhode Island won hands down. Scenery was nicer, days after the event there was alot more to do / places to visit. Spent alot of time out by the coast, can't remember the name of the area now, but heaps of MASSIVE houses, yachts, and quaint little fishing towns. AWESOME lobster rolls.

But from an athletes persepctive the logistics of Rhode Island , and the course itself aren't the best. May of changed since we were there 2 years ago, but you started out by the coast and hence T1 and T2 are different locations. T1 was a bastard to get to the morning of the race too as we stayed up near Providence, had to drive down to the start and then there was 1 really thin road down to T1 that every man and his dog were trying to drive down to get close to the start.

Parking the day before - where you have to go register, right in the city centre, another f@cking nightmare...seem to remember it cost me an arm and a leg....although not the 30 euros I was charged for an hour at the Frankfurt IM race hotel last year...that was crazy expensive!


Where as Racine is a pretty easy event in terms of getting out and seeing the course before hand, and accom close to the race etc.

Racine would be a 'faster' course too I'd say. Although the roads are pretty bumpy in both.

I personally liked Racine, as I'm 'into' agriculture and farming, and there was lots for me to look at there. But I can imagine it would be a bit boring for some and no where near as much to do as Providence.

If it were me - I'd be going to Muncie....but that's cos I've not been there before (so not alot of help to you sorry!)

I did Muncie in 09 when it was the Endurathon (not Mdot). Great race surrounding a lake just a few miles from Muncie itself. If its not million degrees or piss pouring rain, you'll probably set a bike/run PR.

Tourist destination? No. Great race? Hells yes.

the water at Muncie was so hot last year that I wanted to vomit

I've only done Muncie, and I did it last year. Diclaimer - I'm from Indiana, graduated from Purdue, and got out as soon as I could. I did not marry a relative (at least not a close realtive).

It was hot. Very hot. Like dangerous hot. The swim was not wetsuit legal (I think the lake temp was around 82 that morning). Air temp at the start was in the 70's, the finish was in the mid 90's.

The swim is in a lake, out, across, and back. Basic fair.

The bike is an out and back with a loop at the end. Essentially flat. Very fast bike, and closed to all traffic - you are out there by yourself. Only course of any type where I have seen this. No shade what so ever.

Run is rolling hills with little shade. Out and back. You run around the lake, so there isn't much to look at. Pretty boring.

If you are looking for a destination race Muncie is not that race in my opinion. Muncie is a college town (Ball State) and is pretty dead in the summer. On a map it looks like Indy is not very far away, but Indiana is big and flat. Very well organized, supported, and coordinated, but then so all the WTC races I've been in.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

I've only been to Muncie and Racine and both of these races are very nice. Muncie is small town and the venue is out in the country. Racine is a city with the venue on Lake Michigan. Muncie - small island lake - Racine - Lake Michigan - Muncie - flat bike course on very nice roads - Racine - flat bike course on rural roads - Muncie - out and back run with some rollers - Racine - run along the lake through nice nighborhoods with some hills.

Racine is close to filling up, so if you want to do Racine, you should sign up soon!

Z

Do you want to swim in a Cess Pool? Then skip Rhode Island.

No reason this should not be an ocean swim, especially with the poor water quality of the pond. I think RI is charging for their shuttle bus as well.

The RI course is changed from 2 years ago. While I agree that the tourism opportunities in the area are good, there are sections of the course that are sub-par. Furthermore, the race is logistically difficult due to the point-to-point setup (multiple transition areas, busses to the start, etc...). I have heard very good things about Racine and personally that would be my choice of the three you listed. Also, look into some of the Rev3 races.

The Muncie Endurathon was one of my favs, but I can't speak to it now that it's run by the name I will not speak. For that reason alone I would never go back.

Since all 3 are of the same flavor I can only say Muncie was a drag strip course, was amongst the best run races ever and way too much fun post race. Hopefully the RD didn't whore his course out with too many entrants so it's a draft debacle, but he may have lost some of that autonomy with 'the other guys'.

Thanks all. Looks like Muncie is the winner!

Start looking for a room for Muncie before you register. The race probably won't sell out, hotels will. At least the ones less than an hour away.

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"...the street finds its own uses for things"

Muncie! There are plenty of hotels within a half an hour. The ones in Muncie are getting pretty full but check Daleville, Anderson, Richmond and New Castle, all about 30 minutes from the race site.

I would also give a serious look the Rev3 Wisconsin Dells. Should be an awesome Race

I have heard some pretty awful things about Rhode Island 70.3.

Awful swim, awful bike, awful run - and that is from people who typically are way to happy and upbeat on life. And not the awful as in hard awful, but awful as in I don't want to to do this race again awful.

I would vote for Timberman in August. Great race, and the logistics were better last year because of fewer participants due to the age group nationals being the same weekend. Race course is fair and the swim is in a really nice lake, very clean. Race is well organized and the crowd along the run course is very enthusiastic. If you can get to NH that weekend I would highly recommend it.