Our standards do vary for a perfect venue but the six best I have found anywhere in the world are:
Sylvania Triathlon near Toledo, Ohio.
Maumee Bay Triathlon also near Toledo, Ohio on Lake Erie.
Laguna Phuket Triathlon on Phuket Island, Thailand.
SuperSEAL Triathlon, Coronado, California.
Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon, San Francisco, California.
St. Croix 70.3 Triathlon, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Those three events have excellent organization, fast courses that are well monitored and scenic venues in the case of Maumee Bay, St. Croix, Alcatraz, Super SEAL and Laguna Phuket. Of all the races I have done, these are my six of my favorites.
Are we allowed to switch up the order of the legs? If so, I’ve always thought this would be pretty cool with a 1 mile swim, 4.1 mile run, 18 mile bike ending with a 1500’ climb up Mt. Cadillac.
(Note: There is a Run-Bike-Kayak race out of this transition area each Fall that is pretty fun.)
I recently went to eat dinner with my gf at her parents’ friend’s “house”. They have at least 4 miles of perfectly paved driveway, a few miles of shaded trails, too much parking, space for an Ironman transition area and a rather large pond. I immediately thought duathlon before I even saw the pond.
55 miles of carriage trails and you’ve got the run on the WHITNEY FARM ROAD?! Not a bad place to run per se but it’s no Eagle Lake.
I bet Tigerchick would be there!
Yeah least I’m not a tourist
The island would make a fantastic place for a HIM or an IM - except the park rules about racing. You could still do something with Echo Lake, maybe ride the perimeter of the island, use the marathon course. But think of how cool it would be to have the Loop Road (and Cadillac of course) as part of a long distance tri course!
You’ve got to get Sargent Drive in there of course, and ride down Cottage Street and Main Street in Northeast, and I wouldn’t want to miss that corner in Southwest that you turn and can see how pretty the pier is.
I got into triathlon because a local sprint used FL 399 for their bike course, and it was like ‘It would be so awesome to ride that road when it was closed to cars’ It may not have much of an elevation change, but you can get wicked crosswinds. The road got wiped out by Ivan in 2004 and again by Dennis in 2005, but they’re getting more and more of it finally fixed all the time.
I think all venue’s are great and yea some do have better roads or nicer weather. I think what makes a great venue is the volunteers and the people of the town hosting the race. The venue is just part of the challenge.
I’m such a hick a didn’t realize that there are many cities with populations over One Million. I try to stay at least an hour away from any city over 250,000.
By far my favorite race venue was escape from Alcatraz. The entire race has incredible views. Plus weather is usually pleasant. I had a horrible cold that day and still really, really enjoyed. Plus there is a lot for kids and/or significant other to do.
I really want to start trying some other races like Alcatraz.
The swim is in a man-made, inland lake, the bike is on nice, utterly flat, surrounding country roads and the run is on a multi-use, paved asphalt path inside the park. In the final mile of the race you do a lap of the lake you swam in.
Also, the Sylvania Triathlon in Sylvania, Ohio. another board-flat one, inland man-made lake swim, great run course. Great race production.
There is also a slice of “Americana” about these races. They are authentic, small-ish and low key. Triathletes do them. They are the grass roots of the sport.
Another epic and pristine course is Laguna Phuket Triathlon in Thailand. The course is very tough as is the weather- hot and humid, but the beach you run down onto at the end of the run before entering the Banyan Tree Resort is absolutely amazing.
I’ve always thought Steve Brown, the race promoter for the Iceman Cometh Mountain Bike Challenge, should host an Olympic distance tri in Traverse City during the summer. It could go huge. The city is nice, the water is beautiful and there is adequate hotel and guest infrastructure to take care of a lot of athletes.
I know one race promotion company (at least) has had events in Traverse City and there are more scheduled for the venue but the big one I saw was a fall event. Weather could be iffy in Traverse City in the fall.
Our standards do vary for a perfect venue but the six best I have found anywhere in the world are:
Sylvania Triathlon near Toledo, Ohio.
Maumee Bay Triathlon also near Toledo, Ohio on Lake Erie.
Laguna Phuket Triathlon on Phuket Island, Thailand.
SuperSEAL Triathlon, Coronado, California.
Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon, San Francisco, California.
St. Croix 70.3 Triathlon, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Those three events have excellent organization, fast courses that are well monitored and scenic venues in the case of Maumee Bay, St. Croix, Alcatraz, Super SEAL and Laguna Phuket. Of all the races I have done, these are my six of my favorites.
Is Laguna Phuket that good? What made it so? I am debating heading out there this year and sitting on the fence right now; any info is appreciated
