IM UK or IM Korea?

Triathlon Forum
1

UMUK: is there a shuttle service that provides transportation to Sherborne form London? is it easy to get around without a car? Where to stay?
IM Korea: Where to stay? shuttles from airport to race site? Need a car??

I would be traveling solo and worry about all the logistics. Any advice on either race would be greatly appreciated.

2

UMUK: is there a shuttle service that provides transportation to Sherborne form London? is it easy to get around without a car? Where to stay?

I don’t know of a shuttle service, but there is an hourly direct train that goes to/from London Waterloo station (takes around 2:30) they will take bikes (but not during rush hour in London), but you may need to book the bike due to limited space.

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrains

If its for this year I think virtually everywhere to stay in the area is fully booked up. This year I’m staying at The Eastbury Hotel which is probably the closest to the race site. Sherborne isn’t a big town so there are limited places to stay.

http://www.theeastburyhotel.co.uk/

Public transport is generally pretty good, but things may get awkward if you want to travel with your bike as most buses won’t take them.

3

I’d go for Korea without doubt. IMUK is hard to get to and not as well organised as the other IM’s I’ve done.

The Ironman village/Expo is also very poor. It’s like when your town has an open air market or something. If you are coming from abroad I would aviod it.

4

Though the weather would be similar for both !!

5

UMUK: is there a shuttle service that provides transportation to Sherborne form London? is it easy to get around without a car? Where to stay?
IM Korea: Where to stay? shuttles from airport to race site? Need a car??

I would be traveling solo and worry about all the logistics. Any advice on either race would be greatly appreciated.

Here is what I sent someone who previously asked about Korea :

  1. Travel
    The shuttle flights down to Jeju are operated by a cartel of two airlines. They run every half hour and are cheap and superbly organised but you cannot book online and my travel agent had problems with the software. However, I could not believe the reception I got at Gimpo airport; some official guy spots me wheeling a bike box across the check-in area, comes over to get me, pushes everyone else out of the queue and bumps me onto the next flight, then rushes me through security and personally puts my bike on the plane (I saw him wheeling it across the tarmac). You don’t get that at Heathrow, I can tell you.
  2. Jungmun Beach
    The area is a holiday zone for Koreans. English is not spoken apart from in the top hotels. You cannot obtain western food apart from snacks etc in the petrol stations. The local supermarket is OK but if you are fussy about food, take your own. You cannot get Western TV or newspapers. If you eat out, expect to share your meal with the local wildlife and expect the food to be horrible. The exception is the Hyatt which is superb (I got to know someone who was staying there - he had broadband in his super-spacious luxury room so could get radio etc. There is, and I cannot stress this enough, NOTHING to do in the area. I would NEVER go there on vacation or take family. Your mobile phone will not work in Korea.
  3. Climate
    Like Singapore - very hot and humid. I went out “running” a week before the race and had 160bpm walking uphill. The race takes place in typhoon season so we got a LOT of rain last year. I was confined to the room for days on end. See comments above.
  4. Organisation
    Chaotic. At best. But it all came together on the day and the volounteers are really good. No loss of enthusiasm as the day wore on. On the day every junction had a police marshall and the roads were fully closed.
  5. Cycling on the island.
    One of the nicest places I have ever ridden. The road surfaces are immaculate and the scenery is great. The traffic is very light and exceptionally considerate. But it’s hard to be out for long because you sweat so much.
  6. The bike course
    Rolling. The profile is wrong - there is no long steep hill. I went up in 39x25 and was fine. The back end of the bike course is a bit boring. Last year the feed stations were every 15km regardless of where that was - one was at an 80km/h section of the course which made taking a bottle “interesting”.
  7. The run course
    Very rolling. The run is, in fact, brutal. There is precious little shade and it’s out and back on a hilly main road.
  8. The swim course
    The swim was cancelled. The swim audience is very very weak so they need protecting. It would have been OK in Australia or the UK or the US. The run up to transition if relevant is steep. There is always a risk of swim cancellation at that time of year.

Overall, race day is superbly organised, but staying on the island is no fun at all. It looks on paper like an easy Kona slot, and to be honest, it is an easy Kona slot if you cope with the climate and get your nutrition right. I was prevented from acclimatising by the weather (being stuck indoors) and made a schoolboy nutrition blunder by not taking any salt tablets on the day. I was probably already depeted on the start line after doing so much sweating and water drinking all week.

Would I go again? Yes. I’d acclimatise in the region (Singapore or somewhere) then fly out for the few days either side of the race and stay at the Hyatt.

Hope it helps

6

someone just pointed out by PM that I didn’t answer the question.

There are shuttle buses from the airport to the hotels at Jungmun. You need to get taxis to registration (at the football stadium) and back from the finish. There are, however, loads of taxis and they are cheap. And the drivers take your wheels out for you when you’re tired!

I was nervous about the whole logistics thing but it really couldn’t have been easier. The taxi drivers won’t speak any English tho, so best to get the hotel concierge to tell them where you want to go!