2024 Louisville 70.3 - course / venue review

Triathlon Forum
1

Having participated in the first 70.3 Louisville, i thought I’d share a course / venue review.

IM Village / event logistics - well organized and thought out. Ease of access with plenty of parking, hotels, etc.

Swim - my garmin measured 1,923m, and although this is a down river swim; IMO, on this day, if there was a current it was over powered by wind generated surface chop. My reasoning is that with comparable swim fitness, this was my slowest of 18 - 70.3 swim splits, by more than a minute. Maybe it’s just me tho.

T1 - my garmin measured 570m. Transition is straight forward and well thought out.

Bike - my garmin measured 91.45 km’s. IMO, this is a wonderful bike course with something for everyone. Not overly technical, plenty of opportunity to take advantage some downhills (my max speed was 72.8 k/hr), and I figure 75 - 80 % really good riding surface. Intersections were very well policed and I only noticed a handful, or so, of cars on course and, for all but one, were very accommodating and friendly.

T2 - my garmin measured 500m. It is well thought out.

Run - my gamin measured 21.05m. The course map says 570 feet of gain, my altimeter is not functioning on my garmin so I can’t confirm either way, but it is hard for me to believe that was only 570 feet of gain. Having said that, this is a very honest run course, the first and last 5 km’s are exposed, straight forward with generally consistent slope; while the middle 10 km’s are very well shaded, with constant winding and undulating roads (and small amounts of trail) and with plenty of elevation gain. Aid stations are perfectly located, well stocked and full of volunteers (when I was at them).

In speaking with a dozen or so participants after the race, there were three prevailing comments…

  1. why don’t people seed themselves correctly for the swim.
  2. any drafting that was noted was seen to be people on roadies.
  3. the last mile of the run course could use a major overhaul.

For my money, this is a fantastic venue, well put together, and on this day a good test of fitness. I think in a different year, the current assist and the heat could be a major factor.

2

My wife and her team did this race.

I have a few feelings on this race, but I went off for a run when they went on the bike. I ran the same road that bike leg takes place on, so I got to see the front of the race come through… the drafting I witnessed was rather bold, gentlemen.

3

Was there as well and generally agree with the assessment. It was a fun day with great volunteers and I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable the course was and the overall production value.

4

Have you done the original IMLOU course? If so, how did this differ?

5

yes, in 2014 and 2017.

swim start for the 70.3 is about 400m further up river, the full swim included about 1,200 m upstream around the island before turning downstream. swim exit same.

Transition area same, but run and bike access points were quite different.

bike is quite similar, minus some riding into the residential areas, and obviously the 70.3 was only one loop of the lollipop course.

run is very not same, not sure it could be more different.

finish line is the same awesome 4th street live experience.

6

I agree with your assessment.

If there was a current on the swim, I didn’t feel it … but I definitely felt the waves once we cleared the protected channel. My swim time was 30-40 sec. slower than a few weeks ago at 70.3 Ohio, which was calmer water and wetsuit legal. I’m a front swimmer, so thankfully didn’t have to deal with the seeding issues. (Glad the algae bloom wasn’t an issue)

Bike course was nice. Roads were smooth with a few exceptions … one was on the decent on Rt. 393 on the way to LaGrange, but was able to avoid the rough pavement. I was at the front out of the water and saw a few people who passed me in the penalty tents but didn’t personally see the drafting (or other infraction).

Run course was tough through the hilly section of the park (miles 5-8). Glad it didn’t get as hot during the race as it did the day before when it was in the 90s. The last mile with the 180 turn and hill wasn’t great, but the finish line on Fourth Street Live with the big screen was very cool.

Would definitely recommend this race/venue … they did a great job.

7

Louisville is just a fantastic place to race. I did the full in 2017, and signed up for this as soon as it opened.

Agree with most of your assessments - my swim also came in just shy of 2k meters, and there was zero downstream current. I think a lot of people expected this to be a fast swim, and were surprised that it wasn’t.

They did need to make the start corrals more accessible. I walked up, got there around 6:35, and they were jammed, with no way to get in. I had a very nice man help me vault the fence to get into the correct seeding section for me. I was not the only one who hopped the fence to do this.

Bike - if you’ve done the full before, it’s mostly the same course. You turn in LaGrange and take a straight road to go back out to 42. This course skipped Ballard (bastard hill) rd/all the roads/neighborhoods after that, and It was pretty straightforward. The drafting was absolutely out of control. There were multiple pace lines/groups riding together. I have seen a lot of complaints about this. As for the safety of the course, I know at least two people got hit by cars, which is completely inexcusable. And for the love of everything, why have so many people become allergic to calling out ‘on your left’? The course was crowded in a lot of spots. I had close calls with three different people who damn near brushed elbows with me that I had no idea were coming up.

I will completely disagree with T2. It was bullshit. If you did the full, you likely remember you went down the road in front of transition, turned right, and got to the corner for bike dismount. This time? You dismounted on River Rd, ran down a long sidewalk, then ran around the entire back of transition. It was stupidly long. A guy next to me grumbled that he hoped this was counting toward the 13.1. Most people said their overall distance measured out to be 72-ish miles, and I’m assuming a lot of that extra was from the 2 transitions. T2 was the worst.

Run course - it was hard. The amount of hills were no joke. The volunteers were freaking amazing. Finishing at 4th St. Live is awesome.

Overall would recommend.

8

Seems like the bike course played very differently around you and there was far too much crappy happening…… I’m always interested in hearing how the course played for everyone; this is one of the reasons why i love triathlon is because even on the same day the conditions can be very different for people.

And, yes T1 and T2 were long, and for sure I initially had similar thoughts as you’ve mentioned about T2, but I rationalized the why of it all and to me it made tonnes of sense and i found peace …. Plus, for me, with it being downhill and mostly on grass my legs seemed to really enjoy the lap around…

People getting hit by cars, good grief, that’s brutal.

9

I agree that it was a slow swim. Swimming into a headwind was not helping one bit.

The bike course felt pretty fast for how hilly it was, but my average speed didn’t show that it was fast. I was pretty happy with the course itself. Not too happy that there was traffic allowed on the course, but I didn’t have any personal problems.

The run course in my opinion was brutal. For starters, I was running on a bad foot (I don’t know if I have a stress fracture or neuroma), but the hills were no joke. I was not expecting that. The last 1.5 miles was really brutal in my opinion as well. It was my first time in Louisville and I was like “holy crap when will I get off this main strip and see the finish line??”

Overall, I think it was a typical midwest course. Rolling hills and humid weather. I had a bad race but I could see myself coming back in the future. I’d race this over Des Moines any day.