Anyone do it this year and like it ?
Anyone do it this year and like it ?
I know 4 people who did it this year.
Comments included:
the race organization was anything but truthful about the course (and
other things)
We drove the bike course on Friday before the race and we were all just laughing because it was so unbelievable!
there were no women finishers over 50.
there were a HUGE number of participants DNF’d.
there were quite a few who were allowed to continue officially with a
swim/bike time of over 5:30 (cutoff)
We (participant and official) got into a discussion about the rules and how WTC, and in this case Triangle, just do what they want.
People’s times were nearly 2 hours slower than any other 1/2 IM.
But hey, the course is pretty!
clm
Hi Cathy
Your comments are very interesting, I wonder if you’d like to elaborate, since I’m thinking of racing there next year. I looked at the bike course profile a while back and it looked brutally tough (a plus for me). So what were the untruths in relation to the course, where they with respect to the bike leg or the swim/run? Did they try to play down the difficulty of the bike maybe?
It would be cool if you want to comment further (since I know you have a lot of experience with races to know what is reasonable to expect). Seems like in this case the organisers weren’t really on the ball.
Well, hope you enjoyed your trip, if it was your first time to Monaco I’m sure you were overwhelmed by the scenery. I’d been to Nice many times before, but never further east, during Ironman Nice we went to visit friends in Monaco… I never realised the place is just built into the side of cliffs - quite spectacular !! The bike course must have been impressive (for the eyes and legs!)
Cheers
Camel
We saw the finish from about the 5 to 6 hour mark. Not many happy faces amongst either fast male finishers, first female finishers or even the cheer squad.
The ride profile looks kind of how I would expect, there is nowhere flat around there. It would have been hard with no breeze and a hot day.
The run was planned for four laps and it includes the big hill to the casino. It looked like a nice course as it was good footpath and you could hear the music for all the bits we saw. We only saw one aid station on the run and couldn’t really tell what they had, but there were sponges, hoses and cups of something. We were uncomfortably warm stadning still in the shade and the finishers were coming through all looking smashed and thirsty.
Basically, it looked like the either hills or the heat alone would have made it a tough course. Combined, it looked pretty nasty. We thought that there were still quite a few people on the course after 7.5 hours and it turns out almost 100 people finished between 7.5 and 8.5. There are bike splits over 5 hours and run splits over 3 hours. Put another way, we got tired just walking around Monaco for a few hours that day, let alone racing 
I’ve got some photos if anyone wants to see them, though I have to admit, many of them just show the cheerleaders and the prettier spectators…
Wow, post the photos if you have them please. Thanks for asking Julian- I was wondering about this too.
The comments are from my friends, not me. Sorry for the confusion.
I think the comments about the organization was a little less than truthful account of the bike course months in advance when friends were planning the trip and inquiring, and then on race day when wetsuits were allowed when the water temps were well over the temperature cutoff. But yes, the photos were stunning.
clm
Okay, gotcha, I overlooked the fact that where you said “we” it was actually your friends saying “we” !!
I see where they’re coming from, when I first heard that they were putting on the race I was thinking the course would have to have a few hills, but must say I was quite shocked when I saw the course profile after it came out (not that long before the race if I recall correctly).
Still, the course must be pretty cool (for a lightweight mountain goat like me anyway !!)
This one has got to be worth a go !!!
Hardass courses like this is what racing is all about.
Bryce.
I rode the bike course in late January and wanted to cry, literally, it was hell. I dont think the website profile does it ‘justice’ but anyone who reads up on Monaco would soon find out theres no way out that does not go up, and down, and up even more!
I would do it for the fact its in Monaco, I have run through the streets of Monaco in June and it was beautiful, I imagine during a race it would be awesome.
Ok, I put up some photos at http://www.eos-web.com/gt05/monaco/ the page might be a little slow and I only compressed the photos a little
Now, I know some of you guys are serious photographers, so I’ll point out that I was not responsible for the choice of shots or the execution.
It certianly looks pretty darn good…
There were obviously no spectators on the course.
Frank
Ok, I put up some photos at http://www.eos-web.com/gt05/monaco/ the page might be a little slow and I only compressed the photos a little
Now, I know some of you guys are serious photographers, so I’ll point out that I was not responsible for the choice of shots or the execution.
That’s weird, I’m sure I left the “Lady Moura” in the harbour down the coast in Antibes?