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Ironman Vichy

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  • 08-07-2019 7:42pm
    #1
    zico10
    Registered Users Posts: 1,839 ✭✭✭


    Has anybody around these parts done this race? I want to ask about the practicalities around it. Is accommodation plentiful/cheapish? Anybody ever get the ferry to France and drive to Vichy, or know of anybody who did?

    Thanks


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    #2
    peter kern
    Registered Users Posts: 3,359 ✭✭✭peter kern


    zico10 wrote: »
    Has anybody around these parts done this race? I want to ask about the practicalities around it. Is accommodation plentiful/cheapish? Anybody ever get the ferry to France and drive to Vichy, or know of anybody who did?

    Thanks
    Kind of ironman Austria pricing
    But if.you go by car you could stay a bit away and it would be cheaper.

    Prone to non wetsuit swim


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    #3
    MojoMaker
    Registered Users Posts: 4,539 ✭✭✭MojoMaker


    I did the half 4 years ago Alan. Drove off the ferry from Cherbourg, made Vichy about 10pm. Stayed in a small pension with no a/c but only €50 per night incl breakfast, and was about half a click from the lake and a 15 min walk to race HQ (or take the ferry).

    Run course is nice, pancake flat and decent support. Swim was very warm from memory - probably just on the limit for wetsuits - didn't enjoy it.

    Try Bjorn - he did it last year I think.


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    #4
    zico10
    Registered Users Posts: 1,839 ✭✭✭zico10


    MojoMaker wrote: »
    I did the half 4 years ago Alan. Drove off the ferry from Cherbourg, made Vichy about 10pm. Stayed in a small pension with no a/c but only €50 per night incl breakfast, and was about half a click from the lake and a 15 min walk to race HQ (or take the ferry).

    Run course is nice, pancake flat and decent support. Swim was very warm from memory - probably just on the limit for wetsuits - didn't enjoy it.

    Try Bjorn - he did it last year I think.

    Thanks. I'm pretty sure I communicated to you before about this race, but can't find any trace of our conversation. It sounds very doable really. The 70.3 you did was on the same day as the full, right? I see the full is three laps for the bike and four for the run. I can imagine things getting very busy. Did you find this to be the case?


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    #5
    Ribs1234
    Registered Users Posts: 75 ✭✭Ribs1234


    As good a time as any for a first post.

    Firstly, thanks to all the information that has been posted here over the last couple of years - it spurred me on to entering my first IM at, you guessed it, Vichy in 7 weeks.

    Zico, the 70.3 is on the Saturday and the full on Sunday so no congestion on the course. Your lap count is correct.
    With the 70.3 the Saturday night accommodation in Vichy itself is fairly booked but I did see some stuff available this morning. I think 11 July is last chance for those deferring so some more things might appear in the next couple of days. 50 places left for the IM I hear


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    #6
    MojoMaker
    Registered Users Posts: 4,539 ✭✭✭MojoMaker


    zico10 wrote: »
    Thanks. I'm pretty sure I communicated to you before about this race, but can't find any trace of our conversation. It sounds very doable really. The 70.3 you did was on the same day as the full, right? I see the full is three laps for the bike and four for the run. I can imagine things getting very busy. Did you find this to be the case?

    As Ribs says above, half was on Sat and full on Sunday so no cross-over. In 2015 the bike course was a single 93K loop but this may have changed. if you're hearing 3 loops for the full.

    Run course is 10.5K aye.

    I think we spoke after a swim session somewhere - I'll go back through my Booking.com records and see if I can find the place I stayed in - basic but comfortable.


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    #7
    Ribs1234
    Registered Users Posts: 75 ✭✭Ribs1234


    New bike course this year that is a good bit hillier.
    A 12km stretch that looks quick after leaving the town (and its short sharp climb to a church in the first 2 km). At St Yorre (the spring water place) left turn onto a 4km climb of about 5% average, and a twisty descent to join the laps at 22km crossing a narrow bridge. 3 laps with a climb out of the feed station that starts steep but levels out and rolling countryside to the highest point on the lap (another feed station there). Then back down with a lovely stretch through the valley). Watch out for the windmill hill style but at the cemetery only 3km from the finish in a blind right turn - that will catch lots out

    The run is very fast with a new path being laid on the transition side of the river, only hills being the little slopes onto the bridges, and only difficulty likely to be the exposure to sunshine if early in the day


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