70.3 St Polten or Elesenor

mattsurf · Joined: 28 Sep 2016 Posts: 852 Location: Zug, Switzerland

Having decided over Christmas that I would target IM 70.3 Switzerland as my attempt to qualify for Nice, I was shocked to see yesterday that it is sold out (I don't think that it sold out last year) - so clearly my fabulous review of last years race has attracted hundreds of people to enter early

I have looked at the calendar and narrowed my choice to IM 70.3 St Polten, which has the advantage of being a reasonable driving distance for me, or KMD IRONMAN 70.3 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP ELSINORE, which has 100 slots for Nice.

Looking at the bike couse, St Polten has almost twice the climbing, however, it seems to be flatish, with a couple of significant climbs, while Denmark is constantly up and down

Any experience of either of these races

mattsurf · Joined: 28 Sep 2016 Posts: 852 Location: Zug, Switzerland

Entered St Polten

At the end of the day the convenience of driving made the difference

Now need to lose 10kg, cycle to work whenever possible, get to the pool a couple of mornings per week, in addition to tri club swim coaching

Jorgan · Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2019 2:53 pm Post subject:

You won't regret it! Swim & Bike in St Polten are awesome. I used to drive there from Erding. Best bike course I've done, loads of variety & scenery.

Competition for Nice slots in Euro events will be ridiculous anyway.
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mattsurf · Joined: 28 Sep 2016 Posts: 852 Location: Zug, Switzerland

I decided on St Polten for 2 reasons: firstly it looks like a fantastic event, I like the idea of cycling down the A33, the stretch along the Danube looks good, and I enjoy a good climb. Secondly it is manageable by car, this significantly reduces cost and time

Nice qualifying time looks like sub 4:35-4:40, which is probably 10-15 mins out of range, but who knows, if I really get my weight down, cycle to work at every opportunity (snowing here too much at the moment), and get into the pool more often..... and if it is cold and miserable on the day, that will play to my strengths

Hopefully I will get some cold lake swims in Zurich ahead of the event, water temps will be similar. I am going on Friday to ride parts of the course in the afternoon, especially the first descent, which I hear is a bit tricky.

Jorgan · Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:49 am Post subject: