They’ve had races like that now for what 4-5 years now of AG only. IM dictates which races have Pro M, Pro W, both Pro fields, AG only.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

There are some that think Bolton might be on life-support now they've changed the bike course to a very hilly/dangerous one; luckily it was dry yesterday. We'll see. Not that it was a fast course before.

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29 years and counting

My initial thought would be that IM races suffer when they are tough. But that doesn't explain why Tenby is so popular really.

Don't follow the logic.
It sells out each year.

Yes 2018 was a 'fest with the cut down 97 mile bike leg (fheck me who knew peat based moors can burn in summer... well everyone who lives within 50 miles of them..
Except the organisers it seemed).

The new course is hillier. But dangerous ? I don't follow that. Why do folks think its dangerous ?
(I recognise some people can't handle a bike. But they need to take some personal responsibility, and not just expect a drag strip straight 112 miles)

So as someone who completed this 2 days ago (in top 100 overall)

That bike was significantly harder than lanzarote. Hard climbs and technical descents that prevented you from carrying any speed with a slow road surface to boot.

Run was hilly too.

Anyone wants a chellenge go for it next year - you wont be disappointed. If you want to just complete a first IM - maybe look elsewhere. I imagine the dnf rate is high

I completed on Sunday also (not in the top 100, but top 30%).
The bike course is hard, and whilst I was fortunate enough to not see any accidents, I saw quite a few close calls from people not respecting the descents/over-estimating their bike-handling skill.
But, we’ve know about the course change for months. I’m not sure they need to reduce the climbing, as we can all train for that, but perhaps look at ways to reduce the number of tight, steep, twisting descents on poor road surfaces.
I’ve read that the DNF rate was around 17%.

I DNF'd - took some of Pennington Flash on board during the swim and paid the price for it later on.

Lost count of how many ambulances I saw on the course - I think the total drop out rate was upwards of 30% (Just under 2000 competing with 570 DNF's from what I gather).

Road surface was awful - some sections could have been resurfaced for the money they spent on neon paint! And I dread to think what those cobbles would have been like if it had been wet.

Still, at least my day didn't end with a trip to A&E - I heard one girl needed the air ambulance...

I also DNF'd on Sunday, my first one in 8 full distance starts. I had GI issues on the bike which slowed my bike leg down to the point that I decided to pull the plug. I have completed Lanzarote twice and Wales three times, but I have to say that this bike was the hardest/worst. The condition of the road surface in some parts was diabolical, almost to the point of being embarrassing. I saw a couple of crashes on the bike, one guy who crashed right in front of me looked like he hurt his ribs quite bad from the landing and position he ended up in. Luckily there was an ambulance close by. I won't be competing at Bolton again even though it is my 'local' Ironman.

Sounds like my experience - pulled the plug after lap 1. Although I did convince myself I could carry on and rode past T2 before giving myself a reality check and stopping at the next aid station.

Gutted - the turn out for the run was fantastic and would have loved to have been a part of it...

iam interested, are you blaming your dnf on the poor roads causing you GI distress ?

or are you saying the roads are not suitable for well trained athletes to do a triathlon on , or are you saying you dont pay an entrance fee premium to the brand for such road surface ?

Not sure what caused my GI issues, but they started about 40 miles into the bike. I had also been dealing with Plantar Faciitis, but couldn’t get a refund on my race entry or deferral to next year, so decided to race about 6/7 weeks out. Once I realised my race was almost going backwards due to toilet stops I decided not to aggravate my PF further by going through the motions of the run.
My issues with the bike course are down to quality of road surface not volume of climbing. This is my home county, and if you are inviting ‘the world’ in, you would like to think the local councils would be wanting the local area represented in the best possible light. I don’t know this for sure, but I would imagine using the smaller ‘B’ roads eases the grief from local residents if the main roads are kept open. Lanzarote has shown you can have a hard bike that is still world class. Bolton has turned into a hard race that is second class (in my opinion).

It’s interesting to read the comments on this as I live very close too and train on the course (For swim, bike and run - I also did the event on the old course in 2016).

My GF was hoping to do it this year but we decided for her not to commit after training on the new course (she wouldn’t have had enough margin for the bike cut off). On the old course she would have been fine. She’s defo on it next year ... ;-)

Based on my GF’s stats and riding ability on both new and old courses, the new course costs her approx 60 mins. The weaker the biker the more the new course penalises them. I think coach cox calculates the average difference at 30 mins based on this years stats.

Someone my GF follows rode 19mph at outlaw 1/2 but was under 14mph on this years IM course ...

The biggest difference that the new course made was it punished the unprepared i.e. those that had no idea what they were up against or didn’t have the advantage of local knowledge of the roads / surfaces / potholes etc.

That’s not a dig at anyone on this thread but my conclusion based on what I witnessed on sheep houses. I spectated there just after the turning up past the church. There was a high number of people that stopped after they cleared the bulk of the spectators and held onto the church wall (this was the first lap). The first question I asked all of them is did they know the course and only one of them said yes. The reason for asking was it was a dumb place to stop as it’s narrow and steep so it’s difficult to start again and 50 meters up the road it widens and levels as it goes around the reservoir giving them a breather before the final push over the top. I managed to encourage them all to walk to the top and hop back on after the church. One lady was already covered in puke, one guy was in absolute disbelief that it was only the first loop. Everyone that stopped there on the first loop was broke, you could see it in their faces and I very much doubt any made it around the second loop, some even saying they weren’t even going to attempt it ... :-(

It is a crap bike route and it is crap surfaces, but a simple reci ride (even in a car) would have prepared the people I spoke to much better :-(

(*edit* To define ‘crap’ lol. It’s crap as in it doesn’t flow or allow you to get in a nice rhythm. If you want to get your head down, stare at your stem all day and just hammer it out, look elsewhere ... Yes the surfaces are crap, but so are a lot of the UK rural roads, is it even possible to do 112 in the UK without riding some crap roads ... ?)

For anyone that took part in the event either finishing it or not, I hope you enjoyed the support we gave around the course :-)

Anyhow, nowt up with penny flash, I drink some weekly throughout open water season and have done for five years - it’s actually quite clear at the moment, especially compared to last year !

WD :-)

If the organisers and local council can't sort out a decent bike course this race will cease or go elsewhere (every year there's speculation it will relocate).
Having done it in 2014 and 15 the course then was a real mish mash of good and bad bits: the road surfaces even then worse than the usual UK standard.
It seems this nnew bike course is just shit.
Having been to Frankfurt and Lanza now I'll never go back to Bolton to do this event as it is now: shame because the swim and run are good and the local support spot on.
People will pay and enter events with a tough bike course (LZ, Wales) but not because of the crap route and shocking road conditions.
Did they go past that purple dildo this year?

See the posts above Bob!

The guy who ended-up winning, Brian Fogarty, also didn't have much positive to say on the bike course in podcast back in June.

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29 years and counting

I dont think the route was crap - some of it was beautiful and it really strung the field out. Drafting just wasnt really possible. Both of which are good things. Yeh it was bumpy at times but thats part of the fun (although the pave seemed a little cruel)

The local support on the run was brilliant people really got involved and it had a real party atmosphere.

Swim was reet nothing more to add on that

I would do it again without a doubt - i just think people need to be aware that the bike is hard and technical - if you arent a good bike handler this is not for you.

I have clarified my use of the word ‘crap’ in my post above lol.

WD :-)

The show loop over the cobbles turned out to be a bit pointless as both times I rode over it there was no-one about, apart from a few of the local scrotes on scooters.

I quite enjoyed my swim, even though the water was "questionable"

Did they change the bike course for 2021?
For some reason, it seemed to me that I saw another route with 1600m of total elevation....

Iike this edit:-

" *edit* To define ‘crap’ lol. It’s crap as in it doesn’t flow or allow you to get in a nice rhythm. If you want to get your head down, stare at your stem all day and just hammer it out, look elsewhere ... Yes the surfaces are crap, but so are a lot of the UK rural roads, is it even possible to do 112 in the UK without riding some crap roads ... ?) "

I find it hard to find 1 mile in England where the road surface isn't crap. Never mind 112 !


To answer the last Q about the course. I believe from my aging memory that the route was changed for 2020 (which obvs didn't happen) and assume that will be the new course for 2021. Part of it is now the opposite way to previous years.

It's now 3 laps too not 2 and has lost about 650ft (200m) climbing