Any comments on this race? I am considering 2-3 different races around Sept/Oct and have not heard much on this race. Well, one thing I did hear was that it is somewhat hilly, which is good. Hilly in Florida? seems odd.
Any comments, positive or negative, would be appreciated. Course, organization, hotels in the area, spectator friendly (for the girlfriend), water quality/temp. etc… anything else that pops to mind…
Real quick. Great race, great support, great water stops (every mile on the run). Run at the same time as the GFT IM. Very organized. Swim is flat and fast in a clean lake. Water is rust colored due to the cypress trees. Bike is hilly and WILL take its toll. Famous hill is Sugarloaf Mountain. 1/4 mile very steep. I think its like 8% grade or more?? Yes, its hilly for Florida. Run starts with hills, Hospital Hill, OUCH…its long. After 5 miles its around the lake and flat.
I 've done this race 3 times!
I did the full last year and I’m coming back this year. It’s a decent bike course. The hills are short rollers though 2 of them are steep and long enough to make you work a little. If you’re trained for hills (or have a triple chainring) you’ll hardly notice. The pavement is good over most of the course although there was one nasty stretch maybe 10 - 15 miles into the ride.
Larry
I have to agree with Larry that it is a good race, but the pavement is not very good for maybe the first half of the bike. Amazingly the bike hills are comparable to Lake Placid. They are tough. Make sure you have some decent gears.
I don’t know about clean water. You won’t be able to see your hand in front of you.
The wildcard is the weather. Expect heat, but you can get a cool day in Central Florida in late October. We sure didn’t last year.
Overall it is a good atmosphere and recommended.
the swim is flat? good, i hate those hilly swims (jk)
I’m coming down there to do that one for the first time and I am pumped-up. I have heard great things about it and hear it is a good challenge compaired to the flat beach type races.
Although I doubt I need much more challenge since st. Anthony’s left me wasted! Seriously, I hope the jump up to the 1/2 isn’t as tough as the jump up to Oly. from sprint distances.
Art - You’ve finally come around! A couple of years ago you sneared at these Central Florida hills. 
For newcomers, a 12-25 or 12-27 is great gearing for this course. The hills are tough, mostly because they are steep, not necessarily long. Buck hill, plural really, is the longest stretch, comprised of 3 steep buggers back to back, probably 1.5 miles long. I would highly recommend spinning up these hills as they hit you throughout the course, including the dreaded Sugraloaf at about mile 40 and change. Still never ceases to amaze me how many people walk their bikes up this hill (don’t do it!). I won’t ring my cowbell if you do. The road quality is fair for 1/3, average for 1/3 and very good for 1/3. Expect wind. A 20 MPH avg. bike split on this course would be considered very good. I was 2 MPH slower on this course compared to Gulf Coast, with identical conditioning, if that puts some perspective on the speed.
The run is tough at the begining as you run up the backside of Hospital Hill. I use the word “run” loosely as almost everyone walks it. The swim is perfect. The water is not dirty at all. It is a very clean lake, but the water has a tea-like color because of the tannin from the cyprus trees. It’s good that it’s dark so you don’t freak when you see the big gators (just kidding - they don’t eat much).
Overall this is a quality event. I have raced it, trained it and volunteered it. It’s a party all around. Enjoy.
I think my comments two years ago were about the full IM course. At that point they had hills in the first half, but it was flat as a pancake for the second half. Now they do two loops on the hills. That makes it much tougher.
I was very surprised by how slow my bike split was in the half IM last year. I wasn’t having a good day, but still the bike split was the same as my Lake Placid split at the half way point in last years Lake Placid monsoon.
One of the best things about the race is that it doesn’t fill up. You can decide a couple of weeks ahead of the race to do it instead of one year. I will decide after Lake Placid whether I will do it this year.