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I just finished Lake Placid and stayed right near the swim start. The ease and convenience of having a hotel room where I could hit T1 with a rock and could go back to my hotel between the opening of transition and the swim start was awesome.
I'm looking for a similar arrangement in Chattanooga for the 70.3. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
There are a bunch of them.
Basically, the ideal place to be is on Broad street or Chestnut street between Aquarium Way and 5th Street. I'd look into the Courtyard or Residence Inn by Marriot. Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree and Holiday Inn are also well situated. You're walking distance from the buses to swim start and the Ironman Village / transition / finish. There is also a YMCA around the corner for a pre-race swim (practice swims are not allowed at the venue).
I stayed at the Westin last year, because it looked a little nicer than the ones I mentioned above, but it was was a little further up Broad, more like a 10-15 minute walk and as a result I felt like I did more walking than I wanted to the day before the race.
provided you know it's a bus to the swim start..
Yeah Chestnut Street is what you want. We were at the Residence Inn, perfect
Edwin (4 blocks from transition). Part of Marriott Autograph collection. A bit more expensive though.
Yeah, there will not be any going "back to your room" most likely unless you're planning to start near the back of the swim. You go down, get your bike sorted near the hotels we suggested, then take the bus to swim start. It's only like a 5-10 min drive, but between the lines, time loading/unloaded the bus, the usual chaoas, etc. ends up being more like 20-30 minutes if memory serves. They have porto-potties at the swim start. The portopotty lines were quite long in 2018 (year I did Chatty 70.3) so I'd give yourself more time than normal. The good news is air temps are usually quite pleasant. I don't recall there being a swim warm-up area, as where you enter the water is a small clearing. I happened to bring some Therabands with me in my morning clothes bag so did some shoulder/arm warm ups with those and felt ready to go. It's a FAST swim.
Edit (add): It was my favorite 70.3 so far despite the run being very hot and exposed. Very spectator friendly if you have a hotel in that downtown area by the waterfront. I'm thinking of going back for the full IM next year. Good luck!
Last edited by:
wintershade: Aug 1, 19 14:56