I haven't done either race (despite growing up in Florida), but FL70.3 always seemed pretty... less than ideal. Haines City isn't really a destination I'd want to visit by any stretch of the imagination. Daytona is certainly dumpy, but racing on the track would seem to be a pretty bad ass experience.

I'd vote Challenge because (1) I want there to be more competition against Ironman and (2) the quality of race seems to be much higher. FL70.3 isn't a premier 70.3 (i.e., St. George).

They need to bring back Miami 70.3.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Agree on all fronts, primarily the competition to Ironman. To be clear, I have way less beef with Ironman than most it would seem, but in choosing between 70.3 Des Moines at the end of June and the PTO supported Rev3 Williamsburg, we're going to Williamsburg. That's kind of pro specific, but the more people choose alternatives over Ironman, the more Ironman has to offer to keep their registrations high. Everyone wins.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

Have not done Haines City, but did Daytona in December.

The courses are complete opposites. Daytona is flat and fast. The only elevation change is going over a couple of overpasses on the bike course. If you're looking for an "experience" and the "wow" factor, it's worth doing Daytona. Kind of a bucket list type of race. I can only imagine it's even more-so in a non-pandemic year.

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Team Saunders on YouTube

Haines City!!. Done HC three times, Daytona two times. Daytona is a pack fest on the bike. Track riding is short then onto concrete road with breaks across every 20' or so.

Ironman breaks packs up better, tougher course, loved the hills.

For a PR, Daytona since you can save your legs for the run.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

I don't know if this is Challenge-specific, but the winning AG times seem significantly faster at Challenge than a comparable Ironman 70.3... bike packs?

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

According to my Garmin 935, Challenge Daytona course was significantly short on all three legs last year. Good for over 7 minutes if you believe the distances the watch recorded.

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Darren
https://www.strava.com/athletes/12385497

Haven't done Haines but did Daytona this past December.

Swim was fine ample warmup time if you read the athlete guide. My watch showed basically right at 1.2 miles. (Suunto)

The packs in the track were horrible and there was confusion about when to exit. Saw a few guys not even do a full lap (were supposed to do 2.5 laps). After the track there are a few turns and an over pass but then it's pretty much miles of straight and flat until the turn around and then again straight and flat until you get close to the race track. Im towards the back of the middle of the pack so I didn't see much drafting.

The run is basically all out in the sun and it got brutal for me being from the north east. But I got to say it was pretty darn cool running on the race track.

This was probably the second coolest running venue I've run at the first being running the Disney world Marathon and running through all the parks before they opened/just as they were opening.

I stayed at the Daytona hotel which is where all the pros were basically put up. So I bumped into quote a few of the pros over the weekend and was able to chat up for a few moments here and there which was cool. Daytona beach as a town is ok and I'm sure with a family in tow we probably would have stayed out at a resort in the beach not in town.

If it wasn't in our anniversary weekend this year, I'd return to race it again. Hoping it's a week later next year.

I live in Tampa and have not done Daytona but a lot of my friends have. There were a lot of complaints about lack of enforcement over doing the correct number of bike laps before exiting the track, and charges that the results were hosed up by people who shorted it. I also read a lot of complaints about drafting at Challenge Daytona and even more at Challenge Miami. Other than the bike issue, most people seemed happy with the rest of the event.

Complaints about Haines City tend to revolve around the difficulty of the swim course and the challenge of a hot/hilly run. Central Florida can get pretty warm in Dec but shouldn't be as bad as April. Wasn't Daytona pretty cold last year??

By this New Englander's standards it was beautiful/perfect on the bike and hot on the run and into the afternoon. By Floridian standards it might have been freezing though with the thin blood you guys down there have.

I think the AM for the sprint/pro race was considerably chillier than the AM for the half. The afternoon was perfect for me but I also left my family where the high was in the upper 30s/low 40s that weekend. I don't think I wore pants all week until I got to the airport at home and out them on before venturing to my car.

I did my first middle-distance there this year; the concrete roads were a lot faster than my training on asphalt. I heard stories about bike packs but didn't see any myself. And yes, even at just three laps, that ride around Daytona is pretty awesome.

Daytona was amazing.

The support the instructions wow factor

Close up inter action with the pros and more. They hung around for hours the day before the race

I didn’t see the bike packs Nothing even close to how bad IM bike packs are

The draft packs at Daytona were brutal. There’s not a single hill on the course so nothing to break it up. 70.3 Florida is a somewhat hilly course so they got broken up much better.