I didn’t see much talk about it except for how the pros did, I think on this forum people only post if they have a problem or to give a a race report. This was my first time to New Zealand but my 14th ironman and I just wanted to say what a great event and experience it was, travel from the west coast of the US was easy and my spectator wife even loved the whole thing, so I wanted to recommend it highly
Shhh! Don’t tell everyone or they’ll all want to come here! And once you come here you won’t want to leave.
This is definitely on my wish list…
This was my first ironman, so I don’t really have much to compare it to. Overall I’d say it was a great event, a lovely place to visit also. The swim was nice, the mass start wasn’t as hectic as I’d been expecting. The first part of the bike was very cold, with strong wind on the return legs - it was an out and back, two laps. The road isn’t all that smooth, but having ridden it a few days earlier, this wasn’t a big surprise. The one and only issue I had with the event was with a peloton forming at the front with a lot of blatant cheating, riders checking over their shoulder constantly for the draft marshall, then dropping back as the motorbike appeared. I kept my 10m distance and watched it all happening whilst listening to other riders shout “cheats” (amongst other things) as they were coming the other direction! It’s easy to say they were only cheating themselves, but after pushing yourself hard for the first 130km or so, working to catch the lead group, then to find they are just cheating drafting into a strong headwind - is all a bit demotivating.
The run was the best part of the whole event for me, being my weakest discipline, having a huge amount of spectator support and a great route running out along the main road by the coast, then back along a smaller path next to the bay. Having travelled around NZ, I’d say I’ll probably add Challenge Wanaka to the list, simply due to the location.
I’ll be traveling from the US also. Can you share a few of your best practices and trip itinerary. Did you ship bike in box, and if so, where did you have it reassembled? Did you fly into Auckland then drive to Taupo? If so, and stops/sightseeing on the way? Anything in Taupo logistically that we need to be prepared for? Hotel locations?
My wife and I are registered already for 2015, so we are planning our trip. We’ll be in NZ for a week before the race, and then a week after, so we are planning some North island tourist activities, and then fly to the south island (Queenstown and Glaciers) to see some areas there also?
What were the things that surprised you about the trip that we need to be prepared for? We traveled to Cairns last year, so this is not our first long trip. Just trying to learn NZ.
We flew into Auckland and then drove to Taupo, I took my bike in hard shell box, and rented a SUV and hauled the box in it after we left Taupo, we didn’t go to the South Island. I like to stay near the water so we stayed in one of the many hotels on the lake, but is was a 1.5 km walk to the race center, but a 3 minute drive. I felt like we just scratched the surface of exploring, we of course did glow-worm caves and Hobbiton movie set, but then we spent the rest of the trip on the east cape- my wife took like 2000 photos. We only had 2 weeks we didn’t try to see lots- but there is so much we didn’t see that we are going back also.
I met some people on the plane who we’re spending some time in the Auckland are before heading down to Taupo- which in retrospect makes sense there is a lot north of Auckland to see(Bay of Islands for example). We drove to Taupo right after landing-so we were too tired to do a lot of stopping on the drive
Shhh! Don’t tell everyone or they’ll all want to come here! And once you come here you won’t want to leave.
Case in point…I’m in for IMNZ number 10 in 2015. 