I did Tempe 70.3 last week and we exited at the same spot. I would say it's about 200M or so, you run on grass and then sidewalk. T1 times were in the 4min range. It's not bad.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

Looks like the distance to go facing the sun has increased right?

1/4mi to t1 and yes longer into the sun

any idea why they made this change to the course?

My guess is the time trial start.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Too many complaints about the stairs. Also water level is up so the would almost all be underwater. That’s what I was told.

I measured it with my garmin last week before the 70.3... it is .23miles.

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Team Zoot

BTW, just in case you want to see how they did the swim start last weekend at the 70.3 there here is a little video. For the first 20 mins or so they only did 1 person ever 5 seconds (vs. the 5 x 5 secs they have been doing at other races.) I seeded with the 30min group and I think it took about 9 mins before I got to the front of the line and started. I think in the end this really spread out the front of the race, super open swim and the fast guys weren't bunched up on the bike. It sounds like eventually they started letting 2 or 3 people go per 5 seconds (otherwise they would have had people starting their swim mid morning.) This was certainly better than all the previous times I have done the full IMAZ and had to use the stairs.

Here you go:

https://instagram.com/p/BpPvzxClMeO/

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Team Zoot

You will have a lot of sun unless you start early. I did the 70.3 and started pretty early and had about 5-7 minutes into the sun and with tinted goggles it was bright. Those starting 20 minutes after me would have had 3/4 of a mile into the sun.

Agree, I started very early last weekend in the 70.3 and the final turn buoy on the long leg was a challenge to spot... it was just a shadow in the sunrise. The good new is the you can just spot off the wall on your left and the bridges help, so there's plenty of things out there to give you some relative position.

One other thing to remember is that swim start is about 600-700 yards from transition so plan your morning accordingly and bring some throw away slippers for the walk. The new start staging area is wide open so a much better setup then the staring chute they used by the stairs in the past.

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Team Zoot

Lastly... not sure about the plans for the full but there was no swim warm up race morning (logistically I think it would have just been a challenge to get people in/out of the water.) Not sure the plans for the Full in a few weeks(which I know didn't have a warm up 2 years ago either) but it is a good idea to check race weekend. I don't see why they could add to awful stairs back over by transition and add a swim warm up area over by transition since that part of the lake is no longer part of the swim course.

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Team Zoot

From what I heard, too many injuries on the stairs and LifeTime owned them but no longer have an office in Phoenix.

The transition from swim to bike was either over grass or sidewalk and was well marked. I initially was not a fan of this but after competing in the half, I think this was a good move. And I was never was a fan of the stairs in the first place. So yea, unfortunately, more time swimming into the sun.

According to the Event Schedule, there will be a practice swim. I am sure it will be clearly marked and easy to get in and out of the water.