davem

Just some clarity on the cut offs as some info seems a little conflicting. Last year I was at the transition entrance as a voluteer (injury kept me out of the race), so witnessed the practice first hand. The cut off for the bike is the difficult one. You get cut off at the swim time plus the bike time from your own wave start. Effectively there is a seperate cutoff for each wave. Your race number is checked and you are allowed into transition or not. They are well organised and you cannot slip through. You are not allowed to continue the race if you have not made the cutoff. There were many tears. It was heartbreaking to watch these athletes having busted a gut in the most horrific conditions last year being pulled off the course. It is not called Ironman for nothing.

Hi GrantC Ian does have cycling shoes and the bike does have clipless pedals. The bike was a surprise so he didn't have his shoes with him. I put on some normal flat pedals so he could get home. He has changed to the proper pedals now. Cheers Dave

Hi all A big thank you to Garfield 2010 aka Hannes. A few weeks ago Garfield offered a Raleigh RC3000 bike as a donation to a needy individual. Two months previously, my parents gardener, Ian Mabaso, was knocked off his bike cycling to work. Ian is not your typical commuter, he loves a road bike, lycra and helmet and looks just like most hubbers on his commute. Amazing he was trapped under the vehicle, but was remarkably uninjured. His bike and helmet were in pieces. My mum came home to find him sitting on the drive, rather bruised and scraped, tearful and very upset that his bike was in pieces. I offered Garfield some money for the bike, but he insisted that it was a donation. Last week we got the bike to Durban and gave it to Ian. He is absolutely delighted. He also has a new helmet, and a flashing red light to make him more visible in the early hours of the morning. Thank you Garfield. Dave

Cradle is no problem. There are so any people around on a Saturday. There are so many places to ride from. If you come up Beyers Naude, the easiest to get to is Riverstone Lodge (just before Avianto). Very bike friendly, seem to be putting a lot more effort into the breakfasts as well.

8 bar, 72kg Are the guys doing higher pressure not using tubbies. I think you get a Gatorskin tubbie.

Will be there.

Mmmm sore feet.. you need to watch this. My link

On getting lapped at IMSA. It was really cool when the 1st Lady lead vehicle rolled past me, followed shortly by multiple World Champion Chrissie. Gave her a big shout. Great memory for me.

Hi CCT Grant Well done on coming on here and engaging with the athletes. Also the free entry into Roth or other event is a great gesture. Having done two IMSA, when the CCT announcement was made, I was really excited. I ultimately chose not to do CCT for the following reasons: 1. The swim course is extemely daunting and I believe the field will spread out very significantly right at the beginning. 2. The very tough planned single lap cycle course will spread the field out over a very significant distance, likely close to 100km. (A six hour cycle at IMSA means you get lapped by the top Pros ie 60km spread) A relatively small field over this distance will mean that it is likely that an athlete would be out of sight of all other athletes at times. 3. This would make marshalling very thin on the ground, and place a greater degree of self reliance on the competitor if something went wrong. 4. Technical support would be a less accessible due to the large spread. 5. The wind factor makes all of the above 10x more concerning. It increases the probability of not finishing dramatically. 6. Spectator value to family and friends is dramatically reduced due to single lap bike and run. (Start, T1, T2, Finish vs 11 times on IMSA course. Spectator support is a major motivator, not seeing anyone for probably 180km would be emotionally tough.) In my evaluation, the event would have be too high risk of not finishing, likely unenjoyable for myself except in the most hardcore self-challenging mindset, and completely boring for my partner who thoroughly enjoys supporting me at events. On the bright side, a successful event would probably be rated as one of the most challenging and quite likely the most scenic on the planet. In formulating your plans for next year, may I suggest steering away from the ultimate grand Challenge for the elite athletes, and move towards a race which is more enjoyable, less risky and more spectator friendly for us Middle of the Packers who actually make the race possible for the Pros. Given this years failure, before you will get cash out of me next year, I will expect to see a copy of the CT City Council's approval published on the website. I hope this helps towards getting next year off the ground.

Money back plus free entry to Challenge Roth, one of the best Iron distance events on the planet. They are now starting to put some money where their mouth is. No meaningful apology is pretty lousy of them.

aj are we twins? Did a 5:50 in 2010, broke my shoulder so couldn't do 2011. Haha. Parallel universe or something?

Further thoughts to you guys: Challenge is an international brand of significant financial muscle. Their press release reads like it was written by a lawyer to minimise fallout and put a positive spin on this. Any lawyers have an idea on what Challenge's obligations are? The event has not been cancelled by something beyond their control. They have actively misrepresented what they are selling which has resulted in consequential loss for those who have taken up the offer. This will have significant consequence to the Challenge brand in SA and around the world.

Your Garmin probably uses barometric pressure to measure change in altitude. The calculation is distorted by the sampling rate (ie every 10s, 30s etc), and other causes of change in pressure, weather system moving across which results in increase or decrease in pressure to the whole area, change in temperature which also results in change in pressure. I get an ascent and descent (normally quite different) in a spinning class on my Suunto. I did 3000m of ascent and descent at the BSG Energade this last weekend. The swimming really screws up the altitude readings. Rather rely on something which uses maps as its calculation base.

Really sorry for you guys who trained so hard and committed so much cash to this. Hopefully you can come out OK. The cancellation is not really surprising. When I first viewed the course, it seemed pretty impractical to do rolling road closure over a 180km loop for what was likely to be a smallish field. The field would be stretched out so far by the difficulty of the course that you may be out of sight of other competitors. I envisioned riding along the Peninsula in the wind with not another bike in sight, a gust and you are in the mountain or in the sea. Not particularly safe. A multi lap course which kept the athletes in contact would have been a far more practical idea. In the end a grand plan but perhaps a little too grand.

Please redo the video with some slowmo repeats.

Do the hippos at Heia sing anthemic 80's rock songs?

When? Website? "running 2 laps of a 21km" sounds like 42km to me.

Is that so its easier to pee on the bike?

Garfield, sounds like you starting WWT. What kit do you wear, so I can be on the other side. The run did seem shorter, swim was apparently a few meters shorter too.

Hi Garfield If this is for Challenge CT, don't swap now. Challenge is 2000m odd of climbing. You probably going to be out the bars quite a bit anyway. One of the biggest adaptations to make when switching over is the building of the neck muscles. Depending on road quality, the little corrugations in the road put huge strain on the back of your neck. Which takes a month or two to get used to. As said above, you do use your leg muscles differently which also needs to be trained. Once you have made the change, the difference is significant, not only to your cycle but also to your run.

Can you guys post the details for SBR, sounds great. Where is it exactly? Cost to get in? Hours open? Route? Any other vital info? Thanks.

The non financial issues might also be a significant factor with the Gautrain decision. Not having to drive, spend x hours staring at the bumper ahead, far less risk of accident, reliability of being at work on time (lets hope), opportunity to do something else (work, read a book, play on thehub!), shorter commute time (maybe)

I think the challenge I face with this personally is that the event is structured in such a way to be an expensive and time consuming event. Registration closes at 10h00 so must be there probably by 9h00. Start 13h15. Bike check out after 17h00. Ironman check outs are very slow as you have to hand back the chip. So really I can't practically make it a single day event. Accommodation costs, food costs, house sitter or putting the dogs in kennels Fri, Sat and Sun (very few kennels allow collection on Sun). Time off work to drop and collect. Awards ceremony with likely an entry cost for my partner. (The R300 at Ironman is galling for what you actually get). My little 2h30 Swim Bike Run now requires a family weekend expedition which makes it very difficult for me personally to participate both from a time and cost perspective. This event is structured in such a way that excludes me. It is not practical to do this as a one day event. I feel a little miffed after being so excited about having another event to participate in. That said, I like Paul Wolff and his extremely well run events. I love Ironman and 70.3. They are incredible. There is no doubt that the particpants will have a fantastic time and probably get fair value for the money they spend. Unfortunately its unlikely that I will be one of them, which is very disappointing.

Hi rudi I couldn't agree more. I was just putting the info up for people to talk about. Trying to be impartial. For the exact reasons you give, I probably won't do the event myself. It will be a verrrry long day to drive up from Joburg and back the same day, particularly if the awards presentation is worthwhile going to (and I have paid for it in my entry). Although my initial reaction to the price was quite negative, I see what the organisers are trying to achieve. It is a different type of event. Whether there is enough demand to make it successful remains to be seen. When I look at the Roodeplaat BSG, the overwhelming support and vibe with 1000 competitors made it a great day and yes, it cost very little. How many of those thousand will go? Ironman SA has always put on amazing events. I don't know whether their vision for this will meet with mass approval. If they only get 200 competitors, then they will probably change their approach. What it does create is a gap for the Troisport Tri Series to fill or a BSG Olympic distance (hint hint). If fact it makes them look very reasonably priced. We do need more Olympic distance events. The fact that people are so upset about the entry fee indicates there is great demand for the event distance but there is a limit in the current economic climate.

The 5150 website is up www.5150.co.za Very good website. So much better than the really poor Ironman SA site (www.triangle.cc) The event actually looks really good. It will be a very different experience to the BSG series or Troisport series. More of a full weekend event, compared to the "be home by lunch" of the other events. The entry fee of R800 is actually only going to be a small part of the costs for the weekend. Unfortunately the website does not give details of any race pack goodies included or of the awards function (particularly costs). One of the silly costs of Ironman is the R300 for your partner to attend the awards ceremony. Hopefully not the same here.