Postponed two weeks in 2015 due to a hurricane. 2016 had the swim cancelled (the swim was transferred to the run).

Other than that it seems to go off well. I have done it twice and enjoyed it both times. Great race. Neat town that gets behind the event.

Only struggle is finding housing. There are very few hotel rooms available in the area. AirBnB, etc is your best option.

I've raced IM Maryland, Eagleman (same location), and Ironman Louisville.

IM Maryland is flat and fast. As mentioned, accommodations are a problem. Most people stay 20-30 minutes away from the race. I found this takes away from the atmosphere compared to a race like Tremblant or Placid. But on race day the community does really get behind the race and do a great job supporting it. I raced in 2016 with the flooding. They had to shorten the bike to 160k and cancel the swim.

As an overall race experience I think Ironman Louisville is better. It's a more interesting course, and I find the race week vibe is better than Maryland, but still short of Tremblant or Placid. The one thing that I found to be a BIG negative was congestion with cars on the course on the second lap of the bike. There are a lot of care from the inside of the loop that end up on course trying to get outside the loop.

Agree about the race and town, I really enjoyed it except for the last five miles of the run lol.

On housing, I just bit the bullet and paid for the Hyatt and it was nice.

I did it a few years ago and there was virtually no wind, which made it a very fast course. The bike is completely flat so be prepared to stay in aero for the entire time. As others have said and from what I have heard, the weather can be a problem though with very high winds.

For accommodation I went for the cheap option and stayed at America's Best Value Inn. Not the most amazing hotel, but it was all I needed. Was about 3,4 miles from the race site, next to Walmart so I could stock up on food and they also had a shuttle on race morning.

have done it 2x, nice course and town.

Not much to do there for the family and finding housing can be a pain and expensive,

Wait to look for housing until about 68 weeks before as stuff will show up on airbnb

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Yellowfin Endurance Coaching and Bike Fits
USAT Level 1, USAC Level 3

As someone who has done Maryland & Louisville (2x) I vote Louisville without a doubt. As mentioned before, course & vibe better at Louisville & housing is a struggle at Maryland.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Signed up for Maryland this year. Looking at some AirBNB in Easton or St. Michaels which looks to be maybe 30 minutes away. Is it easy getting in and out of Cambridge on race day. My kids and parents will be coming down. They tend to watch the swim and bike start then head back to wherever we are staying to relax before they come back to watch the run

Getting into & out of Cambridge on race day is not a problem. **I** just personally hate having that extra drive to deal with on race day. You may be different. I've done 5 IMs & Maryland was the only one where I had to crank my car on race day.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Curious what race you think will be cancelled in July?

July 2020. Look at the original post.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I love a good necro thread. Didn’t IM cancel IMMD forever?

Nope. They cancelled Louisville forever.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Replying to last post

We were finally able to transfer from IM Wales to IMMD for 2021 (I hope to do Wales in 2022 if and when things are closer to normal). I have a room booked in the Comfort Inn which is not ideal but it's in town. Normally we stay in AirB&Bs whether it's in Texas or France or wherever for a race. We've been lucky and have had great accommodations for races all over.

I just looked again at AirB&B and one place just came up close to the start/finish lines. But it's a small apartment over a garage and super pricey. Looks like they jack up the price for the IM races. Kitchen doesn't have a full oven or range, just a microwave and toaster oven. And it looks a bit depressing (we have stayed in uber nice places so this is a bummer). I won't book it. $500 a night and with taxes and fees & cleaning expense it's close to $3K for 5 nights. I've paid much more in Denmark and France and have gotten very nice apartments. But sorry, not paying that for Maryland. I'll continue to wait and look around.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

The best accommodation is the Hyatt which also has bus service in the morning to the race. but it is very expensive. if you are coming with family/kids I think its worth it, but really depend on your budget
Otherwise there's usually reasonable motels 30 minutes drive distance and as noted above there's no issue getting into town in the morning and parking close to start/finish.
Assuming you get up to eat at 4am anyway and can't get back to sleep, its really not a big deal.

I did try the Hyatt but was booked. No kids but we do like to have a kitchen as I have dietary restrictions and like to cook my own meals before a race. It's not the end of the world if we have to stay at the Comfort Inn. We'll figure things out. But I will be on the look out for openings.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

Cambridge, MD is not equipped to provide lodging for a sold out Eagleman or IMMD. It’s not near a good sized community (IMAZ, IMTX, IM Chatt, IMWI), or tourist destination (IMLP, IMMT, IMFL). It’s just a town on a peninsula with no through traffic. Economically, the race makes a positive difference for the area, so they play ball with WTC. You have to deal with lodging options that pretty much suck for one reason or another. That’s why it is the least popular NA race, despite being within driving distance of tens of millions of people.

Unless your family really wants to watch you race, keep them home. There is nothing to do in the area.

Plenty of parking near the race site, though, if you arrive when transition opens.

 

When it was local and ChesapeakeMan, you could camp out at the high school overnight. Family and friends could hang out there, play on the fields, and watch you loop through multiple times. There was a good pizza place just down the road, and great seafood on the way out. Much of that charm has been lost for tri, but there's a great TT usually held there twice a year.

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No coasting in running and no crying in baseball

My daughter goes to George Washington U and it's within driving distance from home so we plan to hit the race for a couple of days then hit up DC.

Yeah I know about most of this and it makes sense. It was never my first choice mostly due to the accommodation issues. I'm just grateful to be able to do an IM in 2021 where I can drive (9 hrs ugh). IMLP and IMMT were awesome being able to stay where we would walk to and from the swim start and finish lines. But IMLP and IMMT were both sold out when I asked to transfer. And no one is sure those two races will go off (hope they do).

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

How about renting a camper / mobile home?? Are there any places close by to set up???

my experience with the Hyatt is that people book in advance (since its free), but then two weeks before the race there are a lot of cancellations.
I would not bet on it, so definitely get other accommodations, but it is very likely rooms will free up there just before the race.
This was my experience with the Hyatt three times I race there.

Don't forget Salisbury, which is east of Cambridge - it's a little further away than Easton or St. Mike's, but it's a bigger (and college) town, so has greater selection of rooms, especially more reliable chains.

I just booked a very nice house right on the water on Hoopers Island (upper Island). The host said it's a 30 minute drive to the race venue. Beautiful house and only $280/night. I'm happy to have a nice place with full kitchen, AC, good Wifi and plenty of room. And the ocean (bay) is right across the street. We booked an extra couple nights to enjoy the area. I told my husband we should bring our blow up SUPs since we'll be driving to this race.

The property next to us is also rented out on AirB&B. It looks like they have two places and a tad cheaper than our place:

Cambridge · Stays · Airbnb

ETA: the place above is actually a guest house but still looks like a good housing option for IMMD

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

I noticed this is no longer available which means another triathlete(s) booked it! Yay! Feel free to PM me anytime now or closer to the IM just to say hi or touch base.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.