OK, whats the hardest 70.3 race out there? Elephant Man at Elephant Butte Lake in NM did New Mexicos first 70.3 race yesterday and it was f’n brutal. Swim was OK, bike was windy with a modest 2700ft climbing, the run was 92oF, no breeze, totally exposed with no shade and 1700ft climbing with loads of hills in the last half.
Afterwards there were plenty of folks saying it was the hardest long course distance they’ve done.
And before anyone calls me a pussy and just HTFU, yeah, I’m a pussy and should have just nutted up…WAHHHH…
But the toughest three I’ve done was a flat, hot, humid one in Korea called the DMZ half, a flat hot one in Singapore, and the China 70.3 a few years ago. Nothing fancy, just hot as hell.
“Hard” is defined by a lot of dimensions. Course difficulty is the dominant one, of course, but there are others: heat, humidity, wind, road conditions, swim conditions.
For the half-iron distance, SavageMan owns the course difficulty category, at least for the bike and at least for courses that don’t start at the bottom and end at the top of a mountain. In fact, we’ve had a money-back guarantee on this for 5 years now and no one has ever requested their refund:
“The SavageMan 70.0 Triathlon bike course is the most beautiful and most savage triathlon bike course in the world, guaranteed. If, after finishing the SavageMan 70.0 Triathlon, you feel you have previously completed a similar distance race that is more scenic and more savage, race management will refund your entry fee complete with a profound apology.”
Now, on the other difficulty dimensions, though, SavageMan ranks pretty low. Temps are usually cool and conducive to racing (2011 was downright cold), winds typically low, road conditions excellent (Westernport Wall aside), and swim smooth and fast. The run is certainly very hard, but definitely not on par with the bike course. All told, very few of those who do SavageMan wish it were harder, although a few crazies every year request an iron distance to be added.
You can listen to Chris McDonald compare SavageMan to Auburn’s “World’s Toughest Half” here, as he has won both. It’s worth noting that Chris won SavageMan in 2007, before Killer Miller was added to the bike course, so he hasn’t really had the proper SavageMan experience… http://savagemantri.org/Testimonials.html
As a veteran of 25+ half marathons, 10 marathons, 2 IMs, and now six 70.3s, I would put the Elephant Man run course as the hardest run course of any of them. It didn’t help that it was hot and dry. However the elevation change was in all the wrong ways. Very steep uphills, to include one involving switchbacks. Steep enough downhills you barely notice them. Lots of sandy sections, with hundreds of yards of uphill soft sand. Aid stations with just water and gatorade (with one or two stations actually keeping either cold), averaging 1.5 miles apart. And the longest drawn out elevation gain from miles 10-12, when you’re totally spent.
Nothing particularly wild about the bike course, especially after Branson the previous weekend, but I guess the prolonged 15 mile climb out to the turnaround took enough out of me that I was spent on the run. Also of note, locale is at 4.5-5k elevation, so anyone coming from lower might find that challenging as well.
One other thing of note, only 71 starters for the 70.3 course (there’s also an olympic distance) and 63 finishers, with 17 of those needing 7+ hours myself included. Needless to say it was pretty deserted out there, which added to the mental challenge.
Clay Mosley, who won the long course elephantman race and has won a $hit load of races, said it was the hardest 1/2 iron he has ever done. That aside, the venue is great, the event is exceptionally run with great courses and good competition. I would encourage anyone to come spend a weekend a the “Butte” and enjoy one of the best races New Mexico has to offer - not to mention a splendid litle kids tri on saturday (my daughter was 2nd in her AG!). The Park allows racers to camp right on the beach a few steps from the start of the swim and it is a fairly festive atmosphere . Some claim that the oly course is one of the hardest in the country, but IMO the Atomicman Duathlon is much harder ; )
You should have mentioned that he was a Pan Am cycling medalist for context.
I did the Elephant Man international tri last year. That course will destroy the weak cyclist. Between the rollers, the steep climbs and the wind, it’s no picnic. Not to mention the run has a few killer hills. But to start the day off nice it’s a long 300m straight up an 8% sand hill to get from the water to T1 that helps soften the legs up.
that race almost makes me wish I was still racing.
Among others, I’ve done Buffalo Springs and Silverman (Half and Full). The swim at Silverman when it was in Lake Mead was pretty tough a couple of times when the wind came up, but otherwise a swim is a swim. The water at Elephant Butte is certainly cleaner than Buffalo Springs. The Silverman bike course is tougher than Buffalo Springs. The Elephant Man bike was a little easier than Buffalo Springs. The Elephant Man run was definitely the most challenging half marathon I’ve done, with or without a swim and bike before the run. Constant hills, sandy trail sections, and hot. The aid stations for the run were adequate, although some ice for the drinks would have been nice. I drank more water/gatorade/coke on yesterday’s run than I have ever done in any other race I’ve been in. Given the organization and support of the small community there, this is a great race, a good challenge, and lot of fun.
You can listen to Chris McDonald compare SavageMan to Auburn’s “World’s Toughest Half” here, as he has won both. It’s worth noting that Chris won SavageMan in 2007, before Killer Miller was added to the bike course, so he hasn’t really had the proper SavageMan experience… http://savagemantri.org/Testimonials.html]
Scrambling up the scree practically on all fours on that year’s run course more than made up for it, imho.
glad you took that with the humor that was intended! I know the usual post race banter but this was quite a brutal course - come along and have a go next year and we’ll be able to shoot the 5hit about how hard it was together!
