Antwerp 70.3

mloc123

This may end up being a thread all to myself..

Anyone on here done this race before?

Oryx

Did it last year.

mloc123

Oryx wrote: »

Did it last year.

oooh, excellant. Questions for you if thats okay. Bike route, whats the road surface like? Over on tritalk they said the road is fairly 'pitted' but still rolls fast. How did you find the wind, all the reports I have read said its usally windy... Irish windy or soft european windy?

Did you find the swim fast?

trihead

I did it also a few years ago.

swim - was wetsuit but remember being very warm in it. I'm nearly sure its a man made lake so tends to heat up a bit. Well sighted buoys - fine really.

T1 and t2 are in different parts of the city so so extra planning is involved. Our hotel was fairly central so we cycled down - cycle lanes everywhere and there have underground cycle lanes under the motorway to cross over as you will have to get across for swim /t1.

bike - it was very wet the year i did it which made it dangerous in places. You have to cross 20 - 30 approx tram tracks crossing. They had some carpets on these but still a bit of a pain. Wind - you might get on some of the course but will get the benefit too and the way round. Course is a bit boring for a while as you go thru the shipping area but you reach the countryside after a while which is scenic.

Overall -- great race - run is right thru the centre of town. make sure you visit some of the bars afterwards

Oryx

I didn't mind the road surface. It was good overall. You do have to cross quite a few rail tracks, and the last few kms in the city is over cobble locking. They changed the route last year to a triple loop through an industrial estate so if that is still the case its very dull and boring. We had very high winds last year and as I'm not a strong cyclist I found it tough but everyone seemed to lose time. It was 'blow over the safety barriers' windy, nothing soft about it!

My swim is never fast and it was only one of two HIMs I've done but yes it was the faster of the two.

The run is fun through the city but if laps wreck your head its 3 loops. Great atmosphere for the finish, big crowds and fuss.

Oryx

They took out the country bit trihead mentions because so many came off on those tracks. Hence the boring route through the shipping area three times.