list of independent Ironmans

peter kern · 14-06-2018 2:05pm #1

since a few people asked where to find the non mc donalds or starbucks races.

my first reference point is always here

https://www.k226.com/events/events.aspx#K226

if you go there around October you should have the 2019 schedule.

its surely does not have all of them but a good deal

I am pretty sure the frenchman or the toursman were found somewhere else

Most likely i googled XXL tritahlon france ( thats how they call their ironmans )

the ones i have done or know of

schloss Moritzburg

https://schlosstriathlon.de/
( close to dresden germany) was my first ever Ironman ( and bloody hell it could have been 20 years ago )
no doubt dresden is one of the most beautiful cities you can see and the setting of the race is a bit like lough cutra with a nice castle as a backdrop . I also remember a shady run ( had a look race seems to be small those days).

the ones that are really high on the must to do list

http://www.embrunman.com/en/

are embrunman its just a total classic. it mixes a tough course with one of the best price purses in europe and usually has quite a deep field. certainly the most competitive Ironman of the difficult ones.

personally i have no idea why people line up for norseman when this is the real race ( well i know why 1 race spends money into prize money the other into marketing ) and i am not saying the norseman is not a fantastic race and of course way way cheaper overall.

http://www.triathlonvitoria.com/
this one is a classic I have never been to but this town lives for that race the race finishes at the plaza mayor ( central main place) and the run atmosphere is one of the very best in europe
every so often it gets warm , temps like roth. a nice city.good course and good field ( good price money )

my personal favorite

is the frenchman

http://frenchmantriathlon.com/
if you enter just now its 249 euro and its the first of june

its a point to point swim and the start is at a massively wide sandy beach and you finish in a marina. like the embrunman and IM nice one of the very few courses with an 180 bike loop .

500 people on an 180 k course thats just perfection ( they do a oly distance race and a fantastic kids race the day after its a great location an hour for bordeaux airport ( bordeaux is an amazing city ) and you can go wine tasting in the medoc bordeaux area. great finish line great after race food aid stations every 20 k ( and the volunteers are tottaly on the ball ) professionally organised yet with a real family atmosphere . this is for people that like a quieter place if you were to spend a vacation there you would want to spned maybe 3 days at race location and then move to bordeaux. there is 5 or so restaurants directly at the finishline so you can eat while looking at the finish line . its a pure race with a very good atmosphere and the focus is firstly to produce a top race and the atmosphere is very chilled . this year there were 5 lads from triangle tri club there ( they were more on vacation lol so i wonder how they liked the race flat fast french is their tag line ( race briefing is a mix of french and english and its the funniest race briefing you will ever listen too )

Toursman ( or tours'nman)

http://toursnman.com/fr/index.php
if I was more into specatcle than racing this race would place very high ( iam sure they have to increse their prices) but at least in 2017 this is 100% the winner where you get the most bug for your money ) ie at least Ironman quality in everything ( and i think better ) for 40% of the price. the only thing not ironman leve would be roads are not closed but ( like the frenchman) it felt like they were closed

tours is a nice city not to big not to small there is direct flight to dublin and its just under 10 k from the airport to race venue.

what i love about the toursman and the frechman is that most people finish the race with their family i think thats such a great think and the people really enjoy that

cologne tri this is the one i am a bit sad about its a very good race but it strugges with the luck of support of the town its one of the best swim venues ( like outlaw chi man its in a rowing lake ie you can not get lost in that swim you just cant). the bike is solid and you pass the Dome 8 times on bike and 8 times on the run and each time its just impressive . I like the race and its a great one if your supporters like to go shopping as the shopping streett is like 2 k from the finish line its gets some mixed reviews for slower people ie 13 hours plus. becasue of the lack of support its not the best value race at the same time flight to cologne are super cheap and hotel prices are reasonable. its a split transtion ( something i am not to keen on but they manage it very well) with plenty of buses from t2 finishline in the city centre to the rowing lake from 4.30am to 11.45 pm on race day

if you are thinking about a race this year than i guess elbaman has to be high on your list ( quite possibly the last time they will run it this year ) all the people who i know that have done the race love it its a fantastic location and elba is a trully stuning Island challenging enough course with some outstanding views one of the top locations with a very well organiced race.

of course we cant miss the hardman apart from its" pricemoney " I love the race , no bull**** and just a fantastic course. and i think the best post race breakfast you will ever get. once you have done that race you are an real Ironman , as this is most likely the closest race to the spirit of the very first fewironman race on hawaii ( to me its one of the must do races

the ostseeman
ostseeman.de on my scedule this year

in the very north of germany, frenchman style with a very passionate race director , people rave aobut it .
sea swim and flat bike and run and never too hot on race day.

is held in a small enough place but gets very good spectator numbers.

and i guess last but not least the outlaw in the uk there is a reason why this race sells out quicker than the branded races in the uk

others

there is the balatonman in september ( one forum member has done the half i think)
and of course there is outlaw tha manges to sell out quicker than the 2 ironman races in the uk. and that says a lot

there is one in sweden that starts at midnight laponia so thats a bit different in the midnightsun

some of the websites are not in english but if you write you will usualy get info like the balatonman i recently send them and email and they replied very kindly in english.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi · 14-06-2018 2:38pm

You have sold the Frenchman to me

RacoonQueen · 14-06-2018 3:46pm

Sound. Thanks Peter!

peter kern · 14-06-2018 4:56pm

Brian Rancid Motorist wrote: »

You have sold the Frenchman to me

that would be fantastic, i think any race organicer that produces a full ironman race as a sole race on the day on a one loop bike course totally deserves the support .

there is apartments or townhouses 50- 200 meter from the finish line . transition and registrattion , or a campsite with bungalows and a heated pool, 700 or so meter from the finish line.

PWEI · 19-06-2018 2:20pm

Hi Peter. Would it be feasible to get the ferry to the Frenchman?
Did you have to take your bike on the plane?

peter kern · 20-06-2018 10:59am

PWEI wrote: »

Hi Peter. Would it be feasible to get the ferry to the Frenchman?
Did you have to take your bike on the plane?

It would be a 600 k drive from cheerbourg but you would pass nice places suche as rennes ( great cathedral) nantes , la rochelle ( a great stopover place and one of my favorite places in France
So if you were to plan a vacation, Yes. just to go to the race I guess no.

And flying into bordeaux from Cork or dublin the easiest.

Ups and yes I always take bike on the plane
I do not do connection flights and would never go through heathrow and Charles de gaule. And as funny as it may sounds if any chance I fly Ryanair. Its just so much less hassle than with airlingus. and recently I learned why, boeings are so much easier to load than airbus.

About 100 k from frenchman race are the highest sanddunnes in Europe, not to be missed.

PWEI · 20-06-2018 7:00pm

peter kern wrote: »

It would be a 600 k drive from cheerbourg but you would pass nice places suche as rennes ( great cathedral) nantes , la rochelle ( a great stopover place and one of my favorite places in France
So if you were to plan a vacation, Yes. just to go to the race I guess no.

And flying into bordeaux from Cork or dublin the easiest.

Ups and yes I always take bike on the plane
I do not do connection flights and would never go through heathrow and Charles de gaule. And as funny as it may sounds if any chance I fly Ryanair. Its just so much less hassle than with airlingus. and recently I learned why, boeings are so much easier to load than airbus.

About 100 k from frenchman race are the highest sanddunnes in Europe, not to be missed.

Thanks for that.

So driving would only be feasible if you were making a proper holiday out of it.

I wouldn't be too keen on taking a bike on a plane as I'm not very mechanical & I'd imagine you'd have to remove your pedals, handlebars & Seat Post.

peter kern · 21-06-2018 8:59pm

i guess it depends there was a polish guy who drove down wed and thursday and home sat night so it can obviously be done .

it would be a 7 hour drive from the port to race location .

so i cant answer the question for you ( for me as somebody that never really sits in a car it would not work without a stopover)

the car has the great advantage you can bring wine home lol.

tours would be a 4 hour drive from the port

and hardman the easiest.

re bike packing thats another can of worms maybe in another thread.
but if your inseam is less then 34 inch ( 33 should just work for dublin x ray machine) you can get away not removing stuff apart from wheels with the right bag.

and if larger you could still check in but then you have to plan anohter 30 min at the airport as you have somebody to check it manually.

for instance ( and no under no circumstnaces would i pay that money lol ) and i saw it receny 2nd hand for 50 euro .

https://www.bikeinn.com/bike/sci-con-bike-bag-aero-confort-triathlon/121023/p?utm_source=google_products&utm_medium=merchant&id_producte=485927&country=ie&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlezir4zl2wIVqLftCh3kmwpBEAQYAiABEgJy7fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

peter kern · 03-01-2019 12:57pm

just a quick update

as many might have noticed triathlon vitoria is now an IM branded event and not indipendent anymore. its a pity in my mind but while it might get a bit more of a starbuks flavour now i still think this will be one of the best run courses out there .
still a bit sad as this was one of the great indipendent ironman races.
but it is now the only race that has been itu longcourse world champs , challenge race for 1 year and an ironman branded race.

cologne triathlon weekend will be 4 120 30 k this year and not a full
at the moment not aware of any other changes if anybody has some other infos i would be interested to hear.

RacoonQueen · 03-01-2019 3:01pm

What sort of entry fee was Vitoria before Ironman took over?

peter kern · 03-01-2019 8:53pm

i think 370 including active or whatever fees.

peter kern · 14-01-2019 11:33am

https://www.facebook.com/TriNorthAfrica/

this is certainly a bit different . first edition seems to have worked well. in my mind that would be a perfect location for a late october or early november race ( edit i see those times dont work due to being the time of sandstorms ) and there is just nothing nicer in the world than running around sand dunnes.

price money was 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 euro ... i see 5 finsiher for the full

there is also half an oly .

peter kern · 02-09-2019 11:07am

since i cant seem to edit the original post unfortunatley the cologe triathlon weekend was cancelled one ! day before race weeked.
so needless to say i would recommend to be careful at the moment to enter the race for 2020 .
not a great thing to happen it was one of the biggest tri weekends in terms of partcipants. many people will tell you different things ( many way off the mark) but the most relaible sourse i would find is that it came to this as the city of cologne was not supportive of the race and the race organicer to be said not the easiert to deal with added with fed eration issues.
i guess most likley outcome here is the organicer will be insolvent as i cant see how you can pay back 3500 or so entries when you had many expenses before the race.
its a pity and i have to be honest while i did say i my first comment iam a bit sad about that race , i did not see that comming at all.
so obviously at present not recommended ( at the same time i hope it can recover)

MojoMaker · 02-09-2019 11:45pm

Heading to Natureman in a few weeks. Will report back with impressions after.

peter kern · 03-09-2019 6:17pm

one off the gold nuggets.
could not think off a better "mittle distance" late season race. what a location and a serious race.

peter kern · 24-01-2020 10:44am

MojoMaker wrote: »

Heading to Natureman in a few weeks. Will report back with impressions after.

how did that race go ?

MojoMaker · 10-12-2020 8:54pm

Totally missed this post Peter.

My new favourite race! Nice anti-clockwise swim in a mountain lake, challenging and visually appealing bike course with plenty of climbing thourgh the Gorges du Verdon, and one of the most interesting run courses I can remember from any race, anywhere in the world - including one section where you're on hands and knees climbing a solid rock fall and another section running around a lakeshore beach.

Post-race village was good quality, at least as good as you'd find at a Challenge event. Usable hoodies and gilets in the pre-race goody bag, depending on gender. If I was to nit pick, I'd say the merchant count was pretty low, so if you wanted to stock up on some interesting Tri gear there was very little choice - compared to Alpe d'Huez at least.

This is a race you could put into your calendar every year - like The Lost Sheep, but with beautiful weather. It's about a 90 minute drive from Nice airport, so pretty easy to reach for an Irish competitor. Late season timing means accommodation is pretty cheap in the area as well, and once you're done with the race you have some brilliant biking roads and mountain villages to explore at your leisure.

peter kern · 12-12-2020 4:26pm

good stuff and its of course a fab location i experienced one of the coolest thunder and lighehtings over the canyon. some of the most memoralbe travelling pics.

and on the whole i think france produces the best tri races in europe. i have always been extremly impressed by the orgainisation ,good vibes and post race food .

list of independent Ironmans

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