The NC Tri scene is pretty great actually. Look up the North Carolina Triathlon Series (NCTS). Wilmington is flat but some good places to ride. You’ll be driving a few hours to some races though.

There was a plan to build a really impressive triathlon center in the area but I heard it got scrapped. The TrtSports shop closed there also.

New Bern is more low key than wilm will be. NB will be 50 mins from beach and wilm will be 15 mins or less.

Wilm has better more active tri scene and has an semi-international airport while NB’s airport is totally small regional based.

NB is on the river/sound and very beautiful city. It was the capital of NC way way long time ago in colonial days. Ok sorry for history lesson.

I’m sure NB does have a tri scene but I’m guessing more hit or miss.

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

Thanks so much for the information. In my search I’ve gathered the same feelings about both. We’ll visit and see what we like the most about both. Going into semi-retirement and want to give my wife as much decision making freedom she wants. Any information is appreciated.

There really is not much to New Bern. The downtown has been renovated and there is some small nice areas but a lot of bad areas also. I think I would lean toward Wilmington. Traffic can be bad in certain areas of Wilmington but you would learn to avoid them certain times of the day. Wilmington has several sprint triathlons as well as the 70.3. You would need to drive at least a couple of hours to race any triathlons living in New Bern. Both areas can be affected by hurricanes.

Wilmington has a much more active tri scene. Several OWS events are also in the area https://setupevents.com/...vents&series=sss and a lot of running events.

New Bern is an hour or so from Beaufort which may have a race of it's own soon. https://fsseries.com/event/crystalcoasttri/.

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Janyne