I had some athletes do Salem 70.3 the swim current and flat bike do help older men and women a lot compared to other course like Victoria 70.3 and Oceanside .
The swim e.g a 42 min swimmer did 22:00 at Salem. No stress vs a 28 swimmer doing 18 no stress.
That’s 10 min gained to the front swimmer without getting fatigued vs a proper swim.
Second the bike is super fast with little effort on the climbs required ( no over reaching )
E.g a few clients that do 3:00-3:20 in Victoria do 2:40- 3:00 and run much better do to much fresher systems and no big spikes and climbs that lead to build on tense before the run.
So a Victoria 70.3 finisher of
S 40, B 3:20 R 2:20
Goes in Salem
S22 , B 3:00 , R 2:00
6:20 vs a 5:22
Where a young fast guy goes Victoria
4:20
Salem 3:59 .
Advantage middle packer no matter the age but it is age handicapped now .