My understanding is that the course is still being developed and is not expected to follow previous Taupo 70.3 courses... not sure what the options are in the area but I'm expecting to see more hills feature in the Worlds course.

Interesting. I guess I will wait to make my schedule until I see more then. I was thinking about just doing the 2 local flat and fast course. AC 70.3 and Eagleman 70.3

Yep, new course and will be WAY more hilly than the old one. I accidentally rode what is really the only practical alternate loop when I made a wrong turn on a training ride for the Ironman last year (that used the 'old' route x2). Will be intersting to see what bikes/wheels people use.

One great plus is that it'll be through some stunning scenery, especially compared to the fairly boring Broadlands Road.

But definitely get working on hill riding.

I don’t know the exact course but done the ironman in Taupo several times.

Two things I can assure you of.
1. The road surface is extremely rough and bumpy. You will certainly get off the bike sore. Have everything tightened well. Don’t use rear bottle holders, because stuff will bounce out.
2. The water will be cold. Ice cream headache cold. You’ll be fine after 300 to 400 mtrs.

Having said that, New Zealand is bloody beautiful. If you can I urge you to drive the South Island. Its much Nicer than the north island. Its beauty Is incredible.

If you are just going to do a hit and run race, it really would be a shame.

If possible flying home, visit Noosa in Australia. You can fly from nz to Brisbane or the Gold Coast.

Noosa is like tri heaven for Australians.

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Anyone hiring investment/banking professionals down under?

While you're at it, 11 years of HR covering bankers, I know how to make their lives miserable so hire me too

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Yeah the trend has been to make course a bit more difficult then normal venue course (thus why maps aren't posted yet) although I was disappointed to see that the run in Nice was the same flat loops. Not sure if it just wasn't practical to head east for some hills but I would be curious to see if they continue that trend of just making the bike harder.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

I'll add corporate strategy professional to the list!

I think we are slowly building a consulting firm.

Every firm needs a sales professional. Consider that position filled.

Marketing and web dev here.

So who's our suck...I mean, investor/owner?

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Cold swim even in their summer?

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Let food be thy medicine...

Well it's in spring, or rather very start of summer. And because the lake is filled from the surrounding mountains that will still have snow on the peaks, is partly snow melt. So, yup won't be tropical or as warm as the sea, but shouldn't be too bad assuming the air temp is OK.

Bike course has to change as rules state it can't be out and back. And that means they have no choice but to turn into a loop, and that means hills as there is no other option. They may also want to do this to make it challenging, but there is no choice in any case.

As mentioned above, then road surface is rough, and yes there are often a lot of 'bits' that fall off. My bar extensions did have a habbit of coming loose until I used locktight. Adding some tape to your spares kit lid is a sensible precaution, and personally for me then making sure you've got allen keys on you to be able to make an emergency fix is a worthwhile trade for a few grams weight.

Summer is dec jan feb. not the beginning of November.

There is snow on all the mountains around Taupo that when melts drains into lake Taupo where the swim will be.

Winter is June July August down under. I can assure you in November it will still be cold.

I’ve swum in March there at the end of summer and it was still super cold.

I personally think the swim will be shortened or canceled for the 70.3 worlds. Others don’t. We wait to see.

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Good excuse not to shave down to race weight. Keep a little extra pounds on your body and thrive in the water. I’ll be very disappointed if I travel all that way from Canada, only to race a time trial bike-run.

As others have said, the bike course will be different from IMNZ or 70.3. I understand that a full road closure is required for worlds, with the "other" lane used for media/motos/servicing/emergencies. I guess this means that it will go out on Broadlands as usual, but then cut through to come back on SH5 (Rotorua - Taupo) which is definately, um, undulating. Hopefully they'll trial this in December for 70.3 this year.

Chip seal is harsh for sure. I've snapped a bolt on my aero bars on Broadlands not that long ago, not sure if it was a result of the surface, and CO2 cartridges screwed in to behind the seat carrier tend to unwind themselves. I've not had behind the seat bottle launching myself (have used that system lots and ridden Broadlands 20+ times) but there's loads of bike spares and bottles left on the road after IMNZ... Check bolts, bottle cages, CO2 cartridges, fillings and glass eyes are tight.

As for the swim, it will be on the chilly side, but water temp totally depends on the amount of sun we get in the weeks leading up to the day. There's a Friday evening swim eah week which was fine pretty much all last summer. The snowy mountains (volcanoes) are the other end of the lake about 50km away, so if it's sunny the top water layer is usually ok. If the wind gets up though, even just for a day, this stirs up the depths which makes it colder. As PJC said, we shall see...

Granted I haven't done much swimming in Taupo for a while but used to quite regularly a few years back from October on. Had a couple of short dunks in there around November/December last year and it wasn't too bad. Sure it's chilly but never really got too cold. It's particularly bad when a Southerly comes through and chops up the lake though. That's what's going to lead to the swim being cancelled more than anything else. I think cancelling the swim just be cause the water is closed is not going to happen...of course I might be wrong though :-).

Just came down Broadlands Road over the weekend. The chip is not currently as coarse at is has been in past years, but there's certainly time to change that. I have always had behind the seat carriers and yet to lose a bottle. Very much depends of course on the carriers.

The run is unlikely to be changed much so will be pretty flat apart from a couple of gentle undulates.

I think the best you can hope for is that you don't have a southerly come through as that will dramatically lower the ambient temperatures, and that the wind holds back. October/November can be quite windy over here.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

That's because they always reseal it the week before Ironman at start of March. I remember when I flew over from UK for my first race over here and drove down there on the Wednesday before Saturday race to find that there was no road for much of it, down to the base course. Could not believe that they finished it and we raced on it on Sat. However now realise that's the routine plan.......

No way is the swim going to be cancelled as the water is too cold, however if a storm hits then the waves could prevent the safety boats / kayaks providing coverage and so in that case then it may be shortened or cancelled, but that's same of pretty much any race.

Oh, https://www.waikatoregion.govt.nz/...o-region/lake-taupo/ So you'd not really *want* to go swimming in there today, but stick a neoprene hat on and you could.

I remember that race, there was a section near the "Broadlands Airport" (static plane that moved earlier this year) that was dug up down to the road base. But they don't actually reseal the road every year, so it can be pretty variable (I live in Taupo). The chipseal has a tendancy to break up over time, and there's quite a lot of logging trucks that use Broadlands which doesn't help - although some have suggested that in hot weather the big trucks push the chips into the tarseal a bit.

I think NZTA do sort out potholes etc before events, and it will be interesting to see where the 2020 world bike course goes... SH5 road surface can be a bit variable.

But it's rough, way rougher than many places, so be prepared for that.

Swim in November may well be chilly, although I think it was in 2017 that the 70.3 swim was canned due to algal bloom (water temp of 26 degrees?).

I'm sure that Salmonsteve and others local here will post up lake/road/weather info closer to the events anyway. There's also a Faffbook group "training for IMNZ" (or something) that's a good source. The folk who live here (and have for years like steve) are probably the best source for info.

The course descriptions, but not maps have been posted on the Taupo 70.3 2019 page. Is there anyone with super sleuthing who could make a map to post on here with elevation?

https://m.ironman.com/...upo/new-in-2019.aspx

The bike course for 2019 will now take athletes from T1 onto Tongariro Street, heading south then turning left onto Rifle Range Road, right onto Tauhara Rd, slight left onto Broadlands Rd, left at Centennial Dr, to U turn around approximately 400m.
You will then head back onto Broadlands Road out towards the turnaround at Reporoa. Athletes will turn left onto Vaile Rd, right onto Homestead Rd then right back onto Broadlands Rd to the Reporoa Village turn.
The return leg will be straight along Broadlands Rd towards Miro St, where you will take a left turn, then head right onto Crown Rd, left onto Taharepa Rd, right onto Lake Terrace then right onto Tongariro St as you head into T2.

The run course for 2019 remains a three-lap course but we have taken out the hill up from Boat Harbour to the Domain.
Athletes will head out of T2 across Northern Domain, onto Story Place then left on Tongariro St, turnaround at Tamamutu St intersection, south down Tongariro St then left onto Lake Terrace. Athletes continue down Lake Terrace to the turnaround point at Manuel’s Hotel then head back to the Tamamutu turnaround via the lake front path.
At the end of the third lap, continue pass the turn before taking a left onto Northern Domain and heading to the finish line.

The text on the page you linked to matches the map on the course information page. That is essentially the same route they have used forever...I believe the only current difference is the tiny, sort-of loop on to Vaile then back to Broadlands. The elevation profile on the map will match. This is not the course they will use for Worlds. I thought I had heard it was to be tested at the 70.3 in December, but maybe they are going to wait until March? Hugely inconvenient then due to the full running concurrently, but who knows.

Something like this - https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/28938136

Little bit short as transitions not included just where you join the main road.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

The "new" course (up Rifle Range Road and the loop to the west of Broadlands) is going to be used in December I understand. I'm guessing they will see how it works before the call is made on the course for IMNZ in March.

I would also imagine that the 70.3 worlds course will turn off the new loop and on to SH5 for the run back to town, but that's just speculation.

Oh, and Broadlands Road is currently a bit of a gravel and chip fest for anyone who's over here wanting to ride the course. A few sections of re-sealing going on presently!