I’m in. I live in South Georgia, three hours below Augusta. This is my first half IM in 15 years. I’m partly looking forward, partly dreading it. Mostly I’m glad to be done training in the oppressive heat we e had this summer. It bothers me more than it used to. I’m two weeks away from turning 51.

RP

Was on the east coast ready to race but ended up getting covid at the beginning of the week. Second year in a row Augusta has been called off for me the week of.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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Mika really showed Jackson and Lionel how it's done today. Paula looking like she'll be able to hold of Tamara. Nice finish for couples.com influencer Ari Klau coming in 5th.

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Mika:Fastest swim,fastest bike,fastest run....In his words winning "comfortably". A great show.

Yup. Another race where the combo of Lionel and Trevor together can't put time into Jackson. Kind of surprising to me even after last week. Jackson has some serious bike legs (or that Ventum is just unbeatably fast).

Great result for Ari indeed. Still a best of the rest but looks like he had a much better bike especially. He should be really happy with that.

Also, sounds like half a dozen guys took a wrong turn early into the bike. Not necessarily podium threats but might have changed the top 10 dynamics.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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I wonder if Lionel is riding slower because he’s focused on working with Trevor instead of just going balls out.

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Let food be thy medicine...

LS had a meet and greet before/during awards and the line stayed constant. No matter what people think of him or his fans I think everyone could agree that he is a consummate in person ambassador for the sport.

Would be great if more pros did that at races. So many of them are personable and I think people want to get to know them.

Tamara and Paula rode on my bus to swim start and I’m not sure anyone recognized Tamara. It’s unfortunate bc she seems like a really good person and is a fantastic athlete. Crazy to think the 2nd place finisher went unnoticed before the race.

Mentioned this in previous post but yes Lionel is great with fans. I met him last week in Michigan.

Tamara is the sweetest. She had prerace meal at same restaurant as me. I chatted with her while she was waiting a for table with her dad. So nice and genuine. She asked me to repeat my name to make sure she got it right.

Yeah, I talked to one of those guys after the race. He was saying that they rode 140kms on the bike. They had no idea they were going the wrong way cause they kept seeing cop cars while they were riding thinking they were stopping traffic for them. it was only after they merged back with the amateurs near the end that they realized they'd gone the wrong way.

The race itself was harder than the time I did it in 2017 with the run course being actually long. Still a really fun race.

I'm surprised participants keep dropping for this race. I might not be coming back because I don't like the new setup. I know they tried to avoid the train, but it caused less spectator friendly run course, long T1 and not so flat run. Not sure if it's worth 2,000 mile drive. Chattanooga 70.3 had 2889 finisher this year and I had a blast there. Energy is just not there anymore in Augusta. It was kinda meh.

Finishers according to tracker.
2018: 2,739
2019: 2,550
2020: -
2021: 2,286
2022: 1,882
2023: 1,800

It wouldn't wholly explain the decrease, but I honestly think the fact that there are a few "faster" swims out there now might be contributing to less interest in this race. I personally really dislike this trend of finding the fastest swims possible, but with Oregon being an overall faster course and Maine having a much faster swim, it will pull some of those who actually seek that out.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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That combined with North Carolina being just a few weeks later and Augusta being known for how hot is it. I actually enjoyed the new course. It was a tougher course than the old one for sure. And the out and back was a mental challenge. I'm pretty sure the river was barely moving too. I'll be back again.

It seems like I was the only person really enjoyed the out and back during the run. It was very therapeutic for me. No need to worry about turns and what not. Watching people running on the other side motivated me too. Anyway, I might do Waco 70.3 instead. It's only 3 weeks apart and no need to drive 2000 miles.

You’re certainly in the minority from most of the athletes I’ve talked to. I’ve raced Augusta 5 times and this run was lifeless in comparison to the previous 4 years. The hills didn’t bother me and I enjoyed the river walk portion of the run, but that out and back to the old transition doesn’t need to be in the route next year. Honestly, the entire run course needs a major overhaul.

I thoroughly enjoyed the new race start from the stadium and the fact that it incorporates two states. Transition was a huge improvement over the field from years past. The bike is very fair with just enough elevation to mix it up. The run though…oof. And honestly I wouldn’t mind changing it up a bit if you didn’t strip the best part of Augusta which is the spectator support. Years past there were people EVERYWHERE. You didn’t have time to think about how bad you were hurting because there was so much encouragement. I would always be amazed by how fast the run seemed to go by because of the energy from the crowd. This year felt like a long training run and there just happened to be a lot more runners along my training route.

I’m optimistic they’ll change the run for next year based on what I’ve read on the Facebook group. Might be back for my 6th next year, not sure.

I hated the new course. The swim as mentioned felt stagnant. My practice swim Friday night was faster. It's like it was throttled down to nothing on race day and others mentioned the same.

T1 was too long and the steepness of the back end wasn't good for jacking HR way up off a swim.

The run had some crazy steep hills. Enough to totally disrupt rhythm. Hot weather makes it damn tough.

The bike I'd say is the hardest IM 70.3 bike in the eastern US. 2,100' over 25 miles. 10 flat, 25 hilly, and 15 flat. I'd prefer the elevation spread better across the distance like Chatty which is tough but not totally condensed.

I also had 10 hours of travel time. I need to start thinking about it more. It's a huge factor. I felt rested, but in hindsight it was my undoing. My next race will be Muncie 70.3 which is 2.5 hours from home. Way less impact for me.

Damn how easy does a race need to be for you to be satisfied?

While not raging the river was still motoring. Not as fast as years past but still a solid clip.

Stop referring to the levee as a hill. It’s not a hill, barely an incline. There was ~200 feet of total elevation on the run which makes this one of the flattest runs in NA. That’s pretty close to the two of the flattest 70.3 courses in Eagleman and Gulf Coast which have 120-140 total run elevation. While most of that did come in short bursts the levee takes 15 seconds to run up.

This is not a hilly bike course, even for the east coast. VA was massively more elevation but it’s on hold for the next few years at least. Remaining 2023 and 2024 east coast races with more elevation include Western Mass, Tremblant, Pennsylvania, Chatt, Maine & Musselman.

Yikes! Sounds like you should be doing duathlons. If a downstream current swim with a wetsuit is your idea of a swim that doesn’t assist you enough you may want to consider a different sport. It’s bad enough that is those conditions 73 plus degree water and air temps from 65-90 degrees that we were even allowed to wear wetsuits is a joke. Triathlons are supposed to be challenging not easy. I am personally tired of hearing all the pansies complaining about tough conditions in this sport. That’s what you’re signing up for so stop whining.

My pool swim was equal to my race swim. I swam a few seconds faster per hundred on the practice swim Friday night dicking off, so the flow was even less on Sunday.

I talked to a guy that said it was shit flow post race. Swam 27m last year and 28m this year, despite being a much stronger swimmer this year in his opinion.

Others shared the opinion that the swim was pretty flat.

Sorry, but I did the run both years and was almost 10m faster last year despite being way fitter in 2023. Numbers don't lie.

The grades of those hills were pretty substantial. It was enough to break rhythm for me. Sorry I felt it differently than you.

The bike...2,100' in 25 miles. Yeah, it's tough. If you were one of those rampantly drafting the final 15 miles then you probably had a huge benefit there. Everyone was drafting the piss out of it. I dropped off a pack only to bridge back by end of race. No doubt cost me as my HR was spiked the final 15 miles, whereas those a holes just sat in and enjoyed the free ride. During that stretch I saw a shadow behind me and realized some chick was an inch off my wheel with nobody in view in front or behind. I had to yell at her to get off my wheel. Never saw her again. A lot of people cheated their asses off and got a nice little benefit that I didn't get.

Overall in hindsight, I was bagged race day from travel. I didn't realize it, but it was my undoing and instead of a PR, I was 15m slower this year. I'm proud of the effort, but already have different races picked for 2024.

I also raced with a broken bone spur in my elbow that I got removed in surgery four days after the race. The weakness from it didn't help my swim. I'm glad to be recovering and ready to resume normal activities again in six months.

I'm not bitching. As many said, there was little to no flow. It's just a fact.

In addition I raced with a broken bone floating in my elbow joint. The pain and weakness can only be understood by someone that knows. Not to mention, it was impinging my elbow joint making a huge snapping noise on full extension.

I underwent surgery four days later to vacuum out bone fragments, sand down the jagged edge from which the tendon attaches, detach my triceps head, and re-insert the triceps with anchors drilled into the bone.

But yeah, I'm a huge pussy that needs to HTFU...Next time before you pop off to someone you don't know please shut your ignorant pie hole. It would spare me from typing this damn message one handed as I sit here in a full arm cast.

You're clueless about the bike too. Condensed elevation versus total. I've done some of the others you mention and favor them over Augusta as the elevation is evenly distributed through the distance, unlike Augusta.

I have no issue with comparing year to year and saying both the flow rate was slower and the run more challenging. It’s a new course and totally OK to say it was more challenging year over year.

My qualm is with the Jack Kelly level of hyperbole used to describe the race. It’s still a very fast swim and while moderately steep the levee is short. Not hills, not mountains and not enormous like I’ve seen mentioned in the Augusta Facebook group (by you I believe lol since the same story was used to justify the swim analysis).

You have been pissing and spewing for several paragraphs and posts. You might want to re read your posts. I am an old lady that has done this sport since the mid eighties. You wouldn’t have lasted one race in cold ocean surf with no wetsuits. I just have a completely different perspective than the new dumbed down generation of so called triathletes.

Dude you called it the most challenging bike course on the east coast. I can understand your point about total vs condensed but this isn’t even close to the most difficult bike course on the east coast so slow down with the exaggerations. (It’s also not close to the easiest to be clear)

Ive swam 2 hours plus in 47F water alone many times even with sleet coming down while getting out. Nice try though.