Apart from the swim being cancelled (understandably), interested to hear reviews of the race from people who participated today.
Run was challenging, very few people ran all the uphill & the downhill was tricky on tired legs. As the heat built up the aid stations were just close enough, but if I did it again I’d consider trying to carry water at certain parts.
Bike was good, some bumpy stuff but a lot of nice flat areas to work. Only annoying part was a 5-minute stretch of single file / no over taking.
Overall I think it was a pretty good race, but it will be interesting to see how it goes next year assuming a swim is possible.
Toughest 70.3 run I’ve done. I raced STG this year and I was 5 minutes faster in Utah. The uphills in Waco were steep, and the descents were also steep and difficult to build speed on. I didn’t do much course recon, I figured it was going to be flat and along the river, so that played a role for me. I went into STG with a very specific run course “strategyâ€
Venue was great really. The bike was fast with good traffic control. A little bumpy in some places, but good. The bike was a time trial start by 2 people - every 2 seconds and lined up by bib number. It was 9:30 something when i finally started, so the run was hot and very hard (for me at least). My garmin shows 653 feet of climbing - steep ups and downs, and a two looper, so we got to do the hills twice.
Apart from the swim being cancelled (understandably), interested to hear reviews of the race from people who participated today.
Why was swim canned?
Tons of rain over the last few weeks have the Brazos river up and with a good current. According to IM, the current was too strong for the kayak safety crew
Just got home from the race, which was my second 70.3. Overall a very well done event. The venue was great and parking was easy. Plenty of parking lots and street parking within a 5-10 minute walk to transition.
Volunteers were fantastic, Waco seemed very welcoming, and logistically things seemed to work well. My only complaint about the event organizers was with how the swim was handled. On Friday, Ironman announced that the swim was going to happen, despite the crazy fast flowing river. I don’t see how they even thought it would be possible, but regardless they should have just told the truth - they will TRY to do the swim but will make a final call on Saturday. They certainly knew the odds were against them. Not a huge deal in the end and I wasn’t that workep about it, like many were.
The bike course was mostly good. There were some long stretches that were pretty bumpy, but I run wide rims, wide tires, and cee gees pads, so it wan’t too bad. I counted at least 5 people that had flats, but that may be normal for a 70.3? I saw one girl who crashed into a barb wire fence and was being help to remove her from the wiring. It was an almost straight section of road, so I don’t blame the course for that.
The run was mostly shaded but the hilly section was pretty brutal. There was around a mile stretch with around 6 big hills that almost everyone had to walk. With it being a two loop course, we got to experience that twice.
As above really.
- The town went all out to welcome us. Exceptional
- IM village great, loads of vendors etc.
- Bicycle World really went above and beyond as the title sponsor.
- The location is great. Parked my car Friday night and never got back in it until I came home tonight.
- I expected the bike course to be ‘worse’ due to all the turns. It wasn’t. It was great and fast. Enjoyed it. Starky did a 1:58 bike…
- I did not expect the hills to be as tough as they were. Ran up all of them, but knees took a beating on the downhills.
- They made sure the bike course was full length even though a section of the planned route was flooded. They added the distance back in.
- Finish line was great
Go do it. It’s night and day compared to the event it replaced in Austin.
Dan
Toughest 70.3 run I’ve done. I raced STG this year and I was 5 minutes faster in Utah. The uphills in Waco were steep, and the descents were also steep and difficult to build speed on. I didn’t do much course recon, I figured it was going to be flat and along the river, so that played a role for me. I went into STG with a very specific run course “strategyâ€
In my opinion, STG has a more difficult run. I did both this year and there’s no escaping the sun in Utah. Cameron park, while steep and hilly, is at least 50% shaded. I definitely power walked up a good chunk of the hills, and I agree that the descents are a little too steep to really knock out a good pace.
The bike was really nice (and flat) and I thought the pavement was above average. The organizers did a good job getting everyone out on the bike fairly quickly and I saw an official at least 4 times. The two no passing zones kind of sucked, but they were only there due to the flooding of the bike course. The fact that the organizers found an alternative course quickly to make sure the bike wasn’t short was worth those two sections.
The volunteers were awesome. There seemed to be swarms of bees at all the run aid stations, but that didn’t deter any of the volunteers from handing out sticky, sugary drinks - props to them. Overall I thought it was very well run and organized. If I lived in Texas, I’d do the race again. Since I don’t, I don’t feel the need to go back.
Wish the swim wasn’t cancelled, but that it wasn’t safe to hold it.
All my athletes have echoed the above, fantastic event, so much better than austin 70.3
Tons of rain over the last few weeks have the Brazos river up and with a good current. According to IM, the current was too strong for the kayak safety crew
That’s an understatement! 
Its basically been raining since August across the entire state. We’ve gone from 80% of the state in drought conditions (as of 1 September) to 93% in a NO DROUGHT condition in 7 weeks across the entire state. DFW alone has received more rain since 1 September (25 inches) than it from Jan to September (22 inches).
The only remaining area of drought is the VERY FAR west portion of the state out by El Paso (south of New Mexico).
The lake I live on, is 10 feet above the normal full-pool. Its been that way for over a week. Last I heard the US Army Corp of Engineers hadn’t opened the water gates because they are still waiting for downstream waters to receed. Same story for all the other lakes in the area. Its not quite as bad as it has been upstream in Kansas and Missouri…but, if it rains much more, we will get there. The basin(s) is(are) full.
So, yeah…we’ve had a wee bit of rain.
Last thing I’ll add is that there wasn’t any food on site, such as food trucks. However, there are several restaurants maybe a 5 minute walk from Ironman Village.
Did anyone stay at the Hilton, which was right next to the Village? If so, what was the nightly rate.
Was a little disappointed in the cancelled swim decision but it is what it is. The bike course was on par for what you would expect in long course race. The chip seal wasn’t as bad as some are leading on. The run was an awesome & challenging course.
Hey Mike,
I really enjoyed Waco this last weekend. The swim being cancelled sucked but it was the correct call. On Friday they said it was going to be a point to point swim but that still would have been sketchy. There was LOGS floating down the river at that point still haha and no way to tell what was built up under the surface.
The TT bike start was fun, first time I have done that in a race and added a new dynamic to it. I will say 1.) it caused me to bike a bit harder than I planned trying to break away from the mass group of riders in the beginning 2.) there was a ton of drafting going on with zero marshals, at least where I was in relation to the rest of the race. The road quality seemed rough to me, but nothing crazy still managed a 2:19 split.
The run was great, a handful of steep hills but they were all pretty short and all in the shade from what I can recall. I think SG 70.3 run course is harder… hills are longer and there is zero shade on that course. The aid stations were spaced well this weekend, and lots of people yelling along the course was fun. 1:29 run split. All in all I think we will go back next year.
I wish I would have had a price list and inventory list from Bicycle World… they had some KILLER deals on NOS Cervelo and Felt bikes and wheels. Note-to-self will be to bring more bike money next time.
I can’t remember the name, but we walked a few blocks from race central, and found a little Italian Restaurant for one of the best carb load meals I’ve ever had. And… we were the only ones in there! It put Olive Garden to shame, and gave me plenty left to take back to my motel, for a snack later in the evening.
Well run and extremely informed. No mysteries, always knew where to go and what to do next. The wooden planked bridge finish was cool, and the candy bar lady at the finish line was awesome.
Everything was accurate as described above. I did enjoy the race. I checked in around 2PM on Saturday and back packs were out. A guy in front of me took the very last bag. Some folks were given back packs from different races. Volunteers took bib numbers and I was told they will be mailed. We will see. I also heard complaints regarding t-shirts and hats were out of stock so early. People were eager to spend, but Ironman didn’t know how to make some money.
I thought the race went extremely well for an inaugural event, especially considering all the changes that had to be made due to weather related issues. They rerouted almost 10 miles of the bike course and about a mile of the run course and none of it felt comprised from the changes. Losing the swim was a shame, but I can’t say I blame them. The TT start worked surprisingly well from where I was in the 2600’s, although for podium contenders I could see how it would suck when part of the AG gets low bib numbers for AWA and such and is starting 1,000’s of spots ahead, with considerably cooler temperatures and less crowding.
All the aid stations I went through were functioning really well and always had what I was asking for, even by the second loop on the run course.
Downtown Waco had plenty of free parking within a few minutes walk. We got there during pretty peak hours on Saturday and Sunday morning and never had to walk more than 3-4 blocks to get to transition/Ironman Village.
I wish I would have had a price list and inventory list from Bicycle World… they had some KILLER deals on NOS Cervelo and Felt bikes and wheels. Note-to-self will be to bring more bike money next time.
They had the 2018 Giant Trinity Advanced Pro’s for super cheap as well. The Pro 2 was $1999 and the Pro 1 was $3200. I definitely would have bought a bike on the spot if I was in the market for a new tri bike.
It put Olive Garden to shame
Whoa whoa whoa. Easy there.
It put Olive Garden to shame
Whoa whoa whoa. Easy there.
I looked it up. It was Portofinos, and was maybe 3 blocks from the Athletes village. I’ve been doing Olive Garden for years before big races, and this little place in Waco was the real deal. Right down to the Italian cook and waiter bitching at each other in Italian. Prices were comparable. Serving sizes were BIG, and all the bread we wanted.
https://www.facebook.com/Portofinos-of-Waco-152556148124554/