My gf and I will be racing NC 70.3 this year. Logically, it would make more sense to stay downtown (close to T2 and the finish), but it would be nice (I think) to be able to wake up and hang out on the beach for post-race day or two. How bad is that drive, especially on race morning? Or would we have more fun staying downtown closer to bars/restaurants for post-race celebration?
Stay where you want. There is a bus that takes participants from downtown to T1 starting at 5am. Then another bus will take you from T1 to the swim start. There is no bus to take you back to the T1 area after the race. Traffic is light at 4:30am.