which Ironman course is hardest

2

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  • Having looked down the list its pretty spot on in my experience.

    Its always going to be a little subjective depending on relative swim/bike/run strength, how your training adapts to certain courses etc, also weather but I cant really argue with the order at all.

    Having done Henley last weekend im not surprised to see it on a par with Coeur d'Alene which was windy and quite tough when I did it last year (but not as windy as Lanza this year) 

    Im still struggling to definitively argue whether Wales or Lanza are harder, ive had tough times and conditions at both.  The wind at Lanza this year made it more difficult than I remember it in 2007.

  • I would also think that people would view a sea swim as lovely, if it was balmy and flat. Yet the same bit of sea on a different day could have a 2 metre swell and a choppy splashy wind.

    Both options can be found at Tenby, but I've only ever swum in the millpond version.

  • seren nos wrote (see)

    That makes you a top nutter Pingu.

     

    Takes one to know one image

     

    Tbh, I'm more with Barly on the Lanza Wales debate, they're both hard in different ways.   I think what swayed me to say Wales was the harder course was because you get a 'free' 20 miles on the Lanza bike course where you're going down hill and then have a massive tail wind.  Wales, you never get a break.

    Still as Mousey did them so close together she's probably better placed to judge then.  Wales was my first so it was always going to seem tough.

  • they have chopped the hard bit out of the wales run after you did it Pingu.  we no longer need to run up to the monument......and of course they don't provide a hurricane every year..hence you will alway be able to say you did Wales on the hard yearimage

     

  • It's a shame they don't put the hurricane in any more, it was such fun that first yearimage

  • Switzerland is quite far down the list .... but it had a 25% DNF this year ... so a very subjective list I thinks

  • looking at the resulswt Will switzerland got a plus 11 the year we did in .this year it got a minus 10.00

    that shows a hell of a difference in the conditions on the day

    image

  • As far as I can make out, this list is also generated based on the Pro results? Which doesnt really work that well for races like Wales, when arguably the best in the world will not be there, because of Kona, so all performances will be "weaker" when ranked against the rest of the year, leading to a slightly inflated view of its "difficulty".

    Thats not to say I dont think Wales is tough, I'm just slagging off the method of arriving at this conclusion.

  • seems to me that they are rating pros againgst their times on other courses.......so can't take account of mechanicals etc......

    but then it says they are tweaking their methods and are open to suggestions.

    as agreed there is no direct way to compare any of them but at least it give sit a far stab

  • flyaway wrote (see)

    As far as I can make out, this list is also generated based on the Pro results? Which doesnt really work that well for races like Wales, when arguably the best in the world will not be there.

    No "arguably" about it, Flyaway. Isn't Scott Neyedli a part-time, semi-pro nowdays?

    And agreed with you, Pingu. There's not any specific hills of note in Tenby, are there? That's not the challenge, There's just no break from the unremitting, miserable, grimmness of the thing.

  • mind wiseman seems very steep the second time around....lost of people walking it the first time as well........

    but no mountains in pembrokeshire at all........never go more than a mile or so uphill before you get a down.......I would fancy Lanza if it wasn't so hot out thereimage

  • Depends on your definition of a hill STIL, Wisemans bridge ticked that box for me and Saundersfoot wasn't too bad either but where I come from anything is hill.

  • wiseman is only 16%.....not like the 20 and 25% that you can get.....but then when it comes at 108 miles into a race and go on a bit then it is more of a mountain than a molehillimage

  • seren nos wrote (see)

    mind wiseman seems very steep the second time around....lost of people walking it the first time as well........

    but no mountains in pembrokeshire at all........never go more than a mile or so uphill before you get a down.......I would fancy Lanza if it wasn't so hot out thereimage

    Come and join us at Lanza next year Seren - you know it makes sense!

  • At Lanza, between mile 50 and 72, your garmin will stop working.  Or it might as well have cos it doesn't fecking change distance for aaaaaages!!!

  • But then 72-90 is loverly image

  • Pudge...Can't afford the overseas ones at the moment.......I will only enter those I can afford.......In a few more years i will no doubt be ina better position to do themimage

  • kittenkat wrote (see)
    slowerthanilook wrote (see)

    There's just no break from the unremitting, miserable, grimmness of the thing.

    You mean it's in Wales. image


    Thats what it should say on the Severn crossing image

  • I'm not Welsh, but I would prefer to live / holiday in Tenby over Bolton! image

  • Oi! No slagging off Wales please. However hard that course is or isn't... it's BEAUTIFUL not grim at all image

  • very true Hope.It is indeed a beautiful part of the country.cycling through one of the national parksimage

  • IMW is definitely the hardest race I've done and in a different league to Outlaw. The year Pingu and I did it the weather was extreme, also the run course included an extra pretty big hill (up past the lifeboat station) which has now been taken out. 

    The thing is, they're all hard. It's a long way innit?! 

    I personally wouldn't seek out hard courses. I only did Wales because I'm Welsh and love that area. 

    Each different IM has its own challenges I think. 

     

  • If it wasn't such a bugger to get to I would be back in Tenby lots. Fantastic place, just a crap 7 hour drive away!

  • IM Wales is a fantastic bike course very scenic, i did the first one two i remember the night before at Pendean Sands listenkng to the sea roaring and our caravan rocking all over the place and thinking WTF the actual weather on the day was nice IIRC?image

  • Nice RGM....on the freshwater section on the first loop where you go down by the cove.i was being blown across the road into the right hand ditch........it blew all the sand across the road....i was holding onto my handlebars for dearlife after every gap in the hedgeimage

  • funkin said, "oooh the course is going to be beautiful"...good boy.

    I think ironman has taken over our life...ah well, there's worse ways to see the world.

  • I did im regensburg in 2011 - bike 5:30.  Went hard but on an reletivley easy course

     2011 -did IM wales in the hurricane year.  6:30 bike.  Wales in a tough year is hard.  

    2012 -im lanza in a good year after 6 months of good training.  6:02.  So faster than lanza.... but in my race report i remember saying that on haria i had had enough.... Lanza was just hard.

     

     

    2013 - lanza in a hard windy year -5:50.  Went hard and breezed it.

     

    2013 outlaw 5:06

     

     

    So training helps.  The more you do the easier it feels.

     

    I found lanza harder, but its quicker than wales.  But then i was pushing in lanza as opposed to going well /steady around wales.

     

     

    Lanza walesregensburgfrankfurtoutlaw   re the bike anyway image

     

     

    Oh i loved outlaw with no wind - not easy but very quick image

  • I did im regensburg in 2011 - bike 5:30.  Went hard but on an reletivley easy course

     2011 -did IM wales in the hurricane year.  6:30 bike.  Wales in a tough year is hard.  

    2012 -im lanza in a good year after 6 months of good training.  6:02.  So faster than lanza.... but in my race report i remember saying that on haria i had had enough.... Lanza was just hard.

     

     

    2013 - lanza in a hard windy year -5:50.  Went hard and breezed it.

     

    2013 outlaw 5:06

     

     

    So training helps.  The more you do the easier it feels.

     

    I found lanza harder, but its quicker than wales.  But then i was pushing in lanza as opposed to going well /steady around wales.

     

     

    Lanza walesregensburgfrankfurtoutlaw   re the bike anyway image

     

     

    Oh i loved outlaw with no wind - not easy but very quick image

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