Ironman 70.3 Durban

[Garfield2010]

So here is my story:-

 

As per usual I only did 3 sessions in a swimming pool since Sun City Ultra.  As you know us cats hate water.  Looking back I should have spent one of those sessions in a washing machine.

 

Swim was awesome.  The Saturday at warm-up I realised that it would be a challenge getting out.  My hopes of using the sand bank was destroyed by high tide on Sunday morning.  I was however lucky and got out fine.  I really enjoyed the increased markers on the route which made me swim straight for a change.  The going out was chaotic.  Partially body surfed a massive wave but then it went pear shaped and it was sand everywhere and I nearly drowned. 

 

Fortunately my fur gave me extra buoyancy and I managed to recover. 

 

Cycling course was incredible.  I was lucky in some ways as I had very little traffic for some reason and rode most of the bike leg on my own.  There was one big pack in front and behind me and I remained lost in the middle somewhere.  Incredible road surface and enough climbs to keep it honest although it is nowhere near East London or PE.

 

The run was also fun as is any new route.  Crowds was incredible and the weather was perfect.  I will be doing this race for sure next year.

 

05h12 is a new PB by far so I am super happy.

[TYWALK]

Were all the World Cham slots taken on Sunday ?

 

and does anyone know how many there were for each age group ?

 

Quite interested to see how far they rolled down.

[dracs]

If I look at various STrava activities, the bike course registered anywhere from 614 metres to 1130 metres....I thought Strava would have the definitive response but clearly it does not. I agree it felt less than the 949 I recorded though

I recorded 622m - seems about right.

[dracs]

Squeaked under 6 hours which was a PB for me so chuffed with that.

 

Otherwise, things I liked:

fast bike course incl the road surface

no bunkers hill

being able to find my bike at check out

guider buoys on swim

 

things I didn't like / liked less than EL and PE:

Durban hardly noticed that there was an IM event on (not the same vibe around town before during and after as you get in PE and slummies)

Linked to this point, supporters mostly confined to area around transition (presumably mostly family and friends). Support on route limited

I bumped into a young dude wondering slowly across the athletes on the run and had a couple of other near-misses

Drafting was much worse than anything I have seen in EL. I reckon the rolling start led to a greater concentration of cyclists (contrary to what it was supposed to do). On top of that the flat route means you don't have the hills to naturally break things up

 

That may sound negative, but I still really enjoyed it and I think they can improve on some of this for next year.