I tried poking around on the Ironman website and couldn’t find the info I was looking for.
Arizona will be my first full Ironman race, so I’m not super sure how all of the logistics work. With the race on Sunday, does anybody know (or have experience) with when Athlete Check-in and Bike Check-in would be? Last year I think bike’s were on Saturday, but I’m not sure about athlete/packet pickup?
Just trying to figure out when I would need accommodations for?
Thanks!
Jake
I’m also doing Arizona this year but I’ve done 6 full IMs and the process is generally the same.
For Sunday races, check in starts on Thursday morning and goes until Friday afternoon (usually around 5pm). There is no check in on Saturday so plan accordingly as IM will usually never bend the rules on this. Bike and bag check in (bike/run bag) is on Saturday. Times vary by race but you usually have 3-4 hours to drop off your bike/bags…
Like Trigirl said, the bike/bag check-in is Saturday. The time that you can check your bike in is allotted based on your race number which you’ll get closer to the race. Also, pre-swimming the course is restricted to a relatively short window on Saturday, typically about 1.5 hours as I recall. No swimming at the site at any other time. Plan for it because it often takes some time to actually get into the water and if you aren’t staying right near Ironman Village, you can plan out your logistics appropriately.
Especially for your first time at a particular race, I recommend arriving as early as you can to mitigate stress, to give yourself plenty of time to scope out the course and to ensure that you have time to enjoy the surrounding areas without tiring yourself out.
One thing to note about AZ—riding the bike course pre-race kinda sucks. It’s busy with traffic and has narrow shoulders for a good part of it. Not super safe.
You won’t be allowed in the lake for a test swim until Saturday.
The run course mostly is through pedestrian concrete paths along the lake. Nothing special about that.
In other words, you won’t get much out of arriving an extra day or two early to scope the course.
I also don’t find the climate that extreme at that time of year
Last year I drove there on Thursday night, but in the years prior I drove there on Friday and made it in time before the pickup closed. It depends on your level of risk tolerance.