I had a couple calls about folks worried the swim would be cancelled, but I think it went off as planned?? Lots of signs the week before warning of pollution. It is just a stone throw away from Tijuana, and if the currents are going north, can bring a lot of the untreated shit from that town...

I didnt even know they moved it south until a friend called me about the water.. Too bad, I like oceanside and the surrounding area, and you will almost never get bad water there, except for surf sometimes(and that is not bad, but good!!))

I was there cheering. It was low tide, so lots of running before you actually started to swim. Water was calm and surf was probably 2-2.5ft.

There was almost no wind on the Strand, it was a 4 loop course, and the Silverstrand is notorious for strong wind, on you can see the splits only had about 1mph difference between each direction. A bit of wind came by later in the morning, so people that started the bike later probably struggled a bit more.

Run course was changed, this year they extended the running on sand/trail portion to 8 miles. We are going through a heatwave so it was a warm one, temps were around 86-88F around noon. Fully exposed all freaking morning, zero cloud coverage.

The beach had been closed since 9/6 because of the sewage from TJ, but I heard on Saturday afternoon that they were going to be opening it up the next day and sure enough they did. The waves were smaller than last year and I only duck dived 2 or 3 times. The bike was more on the Strand than last year as you didn't come all the way back into town for each loop, just on the last loop which means a faster bike. The wind was pretty normal for the day, coming off the ocean. This is typical amount of wind, from the typical direction, just not much headwind or tailwind, but there was wind. The run was significantly tougher than last year as there were a lot of transitions from hard sand to soft sand which made it tough to get into a rhythm.

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

Lots of pink eye

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I raced Superfrog Sunday and thought it was a fantastic race. Travelled far for the race and it was well worth it. I cannot recommend this race highly enough. Great location with a very nice hotel right next to the start. Lots of good restaurants in town. Imperial Beach is a nice little beach town. The race itself was extremely challenging. Run course on and off sand in the heat made for a unique and memorable race. Two loop ocean swim starting next to the pier was cool. Scenic flat bike course that was four loops. Bike course never felt congested to me and I did not see any drafting.

Reports were water was glassy compared to years prior. The beach run is pretty lame as there are real nice roads they can use in IB, this race has potential. Easy to grab WC slots (high price and tough run detered many). I am mad as I did a grass roots 70.3 across the bay a month ago that has calm water which is cleaner, yet they cancelled the swim there.. wtf

Glad you enjoyed it Jon!

I agree, I saw no drafting this year. Also I only saw one flat.

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The first time man split the atom was when the atom tried to hold Jens Voigt's wheel, but cracked.

I did this race in 2018 and this year. I love it and will try to keep going back.

The swim was much easier than 2018. You could tell it was low tide. I agree with the comment above that you only had to duck 1-2 times per lap. Last year I remember ducking 3-5 times per lap. Also, the waves were much smaller than last year.

The bike was very similar. The comment above is accurate that the course was slightly changed. You spent more time on the Strand and did not have to come back in to town. The bike was a little less spectator friendly, but probably a faster course. Low winds. No more than 10mph and definitely not steady.

The run was much tougher than 2018. There was less running on the sand this year than last. However, last year much of the beach running was on hard sand. This year, very little was on the hard sand due to tides and a slight change of course. Also, you got kicked out on some trail. It seemed like a nice break at first and I can see why the event organizer would put this on the course. You baked out there though. No breeze. My heart rate jumped out on the trail. I also had the run course about .25 miles too long. If you look at the run times, they are all slow. My run was about 14 minutes slower than last year coming in with better fitness. I felt like my execution on the run was good; it was just a really tough course. It's Superfrog though! Expect tough sand running.

Great experience. Loved it.

What hotel did you stay at? Any recommendations? Thinking of this one for 2020.

Stayed at the Pier South resort. Really nice hotel with very large rooms with balconies. Could see the run from our balcony. 40 second walk from hotel to transition area and hotel is also right on the beach where the swim starts. Little blurb about it even in last months outside magazine. I highly recommend this race and this hotel.

Thank you! I’ve only been there once so I only know about Hotel del Coronado 👍🏻