So, travelling is a big part of my life; why not combine with tri right?
So, excluding triathlons of the USA, what are some races that are great race courses and in a great location???
I think Triathlete did an article a long while back on races round the world to do.
Phuket - is amazing, it’s 1.8k swim, 55k ride, 15k run. Ride is through the island and breathtaking, heat’s a killer! There are also some up and coming races in Asia - Bali, Vietnam and so on.
Noosa - scenery…and not just the Aussie chics! Port McQuaire 1/2 is meant to be good too.
Roth and Nice. Some other European races tie in better with the Tour.
Ibiza - I think it’s a long course race, but wild place to visit.
Anyone else know of others?
Ill tell you a good one NOT to do…The shrimpman in rockypoint Mexico.
Noosa tri in Australia - absolutely amazing. It’s a week’s worth of events from a run/swim/run to an ocean swim to one of the world’s biggest tris in a stunning location. Seriously you can’t beat it.
I went down for last year’s race and will be going again this year - www.usmevents.com.au.
Todd
the only thing you have to watch for in noosa is the turds… in the 05 race a female pro got her body clock wrong, was on the start line and needed a dump and the only place was in the sea.
IM Brasil
IM New Zealand
Two of my favorite races anywhere.
I’d also like to do the Lisbon Tri and the old IM France (Gerdarmere).
clm
Pucon 70.3 and IMC.
Oh c’mon. Now who hasn’t done that at one time or…er, wait. Well, I’m not going to say that I’ve never seen it but wow. That’s bad because the swim’s in that lagoon…
Noosa is the best event to go to and party in the sun.There are way too many people in the Oly race for it to be fun.Go down,do the Ocean swim race and then get drunk with the party animals like 90% of everyone else in Noosa that weekend.
Ill tell you a good one NOT to do…The shrimpman in rockypoint Mexico.
is that a race for little people?
Yeah - well, there is that. I was fortunate enough to be very early in the day so I didn’t have to deal with the crowds. But I did enjoy the after party. I realized at that race how different it is to race is Aus where you have an after party and can be shooting pool with someone before realizing that it’s Macca or Walton, etc. Totally different vibe than in the states.
How about Mooloolaba? I got to do that one in 2005. I thought that was a pretty cool setup as well with the 1000m ocean swim that same week as well. Or Byron Bay? Fun, end of season and great festive atmosphere and lots of easygoing people.
Yeah man Byron Bay rocks for the end of season race in May .Now that place is a party.With all the dirty backpackers around if you can't get lucky there you may as well just give up!!
it is a race for the “little people” that must be why it sucked so much…that and being robbed by the cops, having the cars broken into, having them change the course in the middle of the race… and some darned mexican handing me a 40 oz full of Water, which I gladly accepted thinking it was full of beerarific goodness halfway through the 8k run…NOW THAT REALLY PISSED ME OFF>!!!
Don’t forget some of the small, local triathlons in many areas. I used to live in Germany and did 3-4 triathlons a year. A lot of the local races have some great scenery and are great courses. The Rhein-Ahr triathlon has a swim in the Rhein river where you jump off the back of a barge to start(downstream, natch) followed by a bike ride that doesn’t have a flat spot that I can remember. There is also the Koblenzer triathlon in Koblenz (Jurgen Zack’s home race).
The absolute best I.M.O: Laguna Phuket, Thailand.
I’ve done the Nice Triathlon which is now sort of Ironman France. You can do a 70.3 race down the coast in Monaco. Exotic locales with breathtaking scenery. It will stay with you the rest of your life.
I very much enjoyed Ironman Ironman New Zealand but there is something a bit odd about flying halfway 'round the world and getting off the plane to find everyone speaking english.
Ill tell you a good one NOT to do…The shrimpman in rockypoint Mexico.
First time I have heard of that triathlon. For anyone interested in doing triathlons in México you can choose an event organized by asdeporte.com (organizer of most of the events of National Circuit). There is very little chance that they will dissapoint you.
Sergio
Tom, Phuket is a great race but in Dec 05 I think there was about 600 ‘ish’ race entrants, and last year 1000+ - the swim was a real shit fight! It remains a great race but I am not sure whether they will limit the entrants or revise the start proceedure.
Copious amounts of Tiger Beer makes it a great race too!!!
My wife and I are very seriously thinking of Phuket this year. What else is there to do besides the race? Is it a worthwhile vacation? How big a pain will it be travelling with my bike and my wife’s bike?
I’ll add a recommendation: IM South Africa or the new 70.3 South Africa. Great vacation and Triangle Sports puts on great events (I’ve done Austria and South Africa and they were both really fantastic.)
Jon, Phuket has a lot of golf courses - there are many other beatuiful islands in the area too, Krabi, Koh Phi Phi that have diving, Chang Mai Northern Thaliand (I think!) is good too - getting to PHK opens you up to other destinations in Asia, Hong Kong, Singapore, KL, Lang Kwai and so on…never had a problem with travelling from Hong Kong to Phuket or other races in Asia, you will probably need to show a copy of your race entry confirmation when you buy your ticket but generally the Airlines are good.
Really all depends on time and what you like doing, or want to see!
Phuket is brilliant, just get hill fit for the bike first. IM WA is also brilliant, and possibly any race in NZ or Aus would be worth it. More so perhaps the non-WTC races as you get a great ‘local’ feel - nothing like Vegemite sandwiches at aid stations. Brilliant!
Noosa, aside from the blind mullet issue noted above, is an amazing weekend with swim events, a cycling criterium as well as the tri.
Challenge Wanaka looks very interesting as well, and apart from being a bit small was given good reviews. Think the Ironmantalk guys are big supporters of that one.
Bintan (a ferry ride from Singapore) does a great race in May/June, Olympic distance.
We’ll see what the Singapore 70.3 is like.
Did I mention that Australia/NZ racing is brilliant?
I like the word brilliant, it is not used enough…