I know that the wetsuit cut off is a water temperature of over 78 degrees. Is that decision carved in stone or is it up to the discretion of the race director? There’ll be a record number of swimmers at Mirror lake this Sunday, and probably quite a few first timers who never thought they’d be swimming the course without the aid of a wetsuit. I don’t know the current temperature of Mirror Lake, but given this summer’s current heat wave, it’s got to be getting pretty warm.
Well, I hope that’s not the case. But it is what it is. Anyone local know the water temp?
Since the event has started 6 years ago 1999, there were wetsuits every race. Wetsuits are going to be allowed temperatures drop a lot in mountains during the night so don’t worry!!! It could be a different story for the women pro-field.
I was also there on the weekend of the 4th of July and water temperature was low 70’s. The weather at that time was a lot warmer high 80’s and low 90’s.
from the IM website:
SWIM COURSE - 2.4 Miles (2 loops)
The two loop swim takes place in Mirror Lake, a calm, pristine lake right in the heart of Lake Placid. It is an excellent spectator course. The water temperature is typically in the high 60s to low 70s. Wetsuits **will **be allowed
They will likely used the “patented” Ironman North America thermometer. If neccessary, an unknown guy will drop a bag of ice cubes in the lake at the point that they will measure temps.
All kidding aside, I seriously doubt that Mr. Fraser will entertain a mass start with 2000 dudes without built in life jackets (aka wetsuit).
If you plan to have a strong race and not get dehydrated in the swim and blow on the bike-run, I would strongly encourage people to get a sleeveless wetsuits. At the Peterborough half Ironman, the same patented thermometer was in use. Pretty well everyone in a long sleeve (90% of the field) cooked on the swim (whether they knew it or not) and paid the price in the second half of the scorching bike and during the entire shadeless run. I made the error of going with my LS suit in search of speed (and really cooked 100m into the swim alone), but for LP I am going sleeveless.
Dev