RacesOhio
Urban amenities meet rural Midwestern charm.
Delaware, Ohio offers athletes looking for a low-key IRONMAN 70.3 the perfect mix of urban amenities and rural Midwestern charm. Its downtown shopping district, including the Delaware Commons pedestrian mall and downtown Delaware, contains an increasing number of large retail stores and restaurants.
The IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio triathlon begins with a single-loop, 1.2-mile swim in the calm waters of Delaware Lake. Athletes will then embark on a flat and fast 56-mile bike course that includes a few technical sections along the way. The course will wind through Delaware, Marion and Morrow counties before returning to Transition 2, located at Ohio Wesleyan University’s Selby Stadium. Finally, athletes will take on a double-loop, 13.1-mile run course with gently rolling hills. The course offers scenic country views and an amazing finish in front of Selby Stadium.
In many ways the quintessential American university town, Delaware, located less than 30 miles north of the capital city of Columbus, offers bookstores, a historical cinema, coffee shops, organic food stores, and many restaurants. Downtown stores meet almost any need. There are hardware stores, bookstores, a cycling shop, a candy shop, a fair trade shop, and gourmet gift shops. Delaware residents support a popular farmer’s market, professional theaters, the Ballet Met, the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Opera Columbus, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Delaware Community Chorus, and many theater opportunities. The city also hosts one of the main flea markets in the area every Sunday afternoon, and is also famous for The Little Brown Jug, an internationally known horse race which is part of the Triple Crown of harness racing. IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio will offer age-group qualifying slots for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.
Interesting that it ended up in Delaware. Was it because of its vicinity to a lake while avoiding Columbus suburban traffic? I wonder if any other Ohio towns were contacted by IM about making a bid.
Congrats to my home state for finally landing a long-distance WTC event. I hope the potential interest regarding this race will help other multisport events in Ohio, especially those who have been there for us for many years.
Interesting that it ended up in Delaware. Was it because of its vicinity to a lake while avoiding Columbus suburban traffic? I wonder if any other Ohio towns were contacted by IM about making a bid.
Congrats to my home state for finally landing a long-distance WTC event.
no idea. but i’ve done a few hfp races and they’re fine for what they are.
but if you’re looking for them to really put together a race like you’d expect from a wtc or a challenge race, i’m not convinced they can do that.
Glad to see this finally confirmed… looks like I found my fall race!
You think Aug 21 is fall?
It’s in the second half of my triathlon season, and I typically refer to those races as “fall” events.
no idea. but i’ve done a few hfp races and they’re fine for what they are.
but if you’re looking for them to really put together a race like you’d expect from a wtc or a challenge race, i’m not convinced they can do that.
Pretty sure they were the race director for Challenge New Albany. I’ve done a few of their races, and I think they’ve been pretty good for mid-sized events. I do think they have contributed quite a bit to the growth of the triathlon community in Ohio.
bmeer and johnnybefit, i just returned to the great state of ohio from raleigh. i started triathlon in raleigh, where we had plenty of open water swim spots.
where do you guys swim in columbus? i know of alum creek. i live relatively close to buckeye lake, its a shame its broken. can i swim in hoover reservoir?
Challenge NA wasn’t the best put on event. there’s a thread on here somewhere about it. i did the race and others they put on.
they do a fine job with little to mid-sized races. i just don’t think they will have the quality you’d expect with a race from wtc or challenge. i think there’s a reason that race in new albany lasted only one year.
can’t swim at hoover.
alum creek. there’s a lake out by granville. you can park and walk over to the quarry at runaway bay apts–just don’t park at the apts you can get towed.