IRONMAN 70.3 Taupo New Course

A new course has just been announced for the 2021 version of this event. Coach Rob Dallimore gives you his thoughts on the new course and a few tips to consider when training for, and racing on the new course.

They say a change is good, but with any change we have to adapt and prepare for the new challenges.

The latest changes to the IRONMAN 70.3 Taupo course will present a number of new challenges to the athletes taking on the 2021 event.  This change was forced on the Event Team due to a number of significant transformation projects in Taupo around the site of the existing race venue.  So rather than working around these works and trying to stick to the current course, the decision was made to make a significant change to the course and venue, no doubt with the intention of bringing a better product for us the athletes.  I think they've done a great job here. 

Issues with the previous course

The existing course wasn't without it's problems. 

• The transition area was a long way from the swim start and finish, which meant a long trudge to the startline in the morning and then a painful slog of a run all the way to our bikes. 
• The run from the swim to Transition area would add anywhere from 4 minutes onward, to the total race time, which made it hard to punch a fast overall time. 
• The old Broadlands Road stretch to Reporoa often attracted large bike bunches to form, and whilst in most cases this wasn't intentional, it did affect the race outcome somewhat.
• Traffic along Broadlands Road during the race, especially Milk Tankers, were always a scary prospect for us racing.  I'm sure it got a few Farmers and Truck Drivers offside with the Athletes and Event Team.
• We all remember that final pinch before the end of each run lap, up from the Marina.  If you felt pretty good 500m from the finish of each lap you were virtually guaranteed to be cramping and hobbling 100m later as you crested that hill.

So below are my first thoughts on the new course changes. 

New HQ, Transition and Finish-line

Kaimanawa Reserve is going to be the new location for the event HQ, Transition and the Finish Line.

This won't be the first time Kaimanawa Reserve has been used for Transition. Between 2002 and 2005 this was the location for T2 at IRONMAN NZ.  It's a large area of land and is a logical spot for the race transition.  Better still, this will be a much shorter run from the swim exit to T1....however there will be a short sharp hill to run up straight out of the water which will be a challenge indeed.

With the Finish Line located here you will have a slight uphill stretch for the final KM....that will make for a tough finish!

It'll be a shame to not finish along Tongariro St and passing the bars at Hot Corner, but there will still be great atmosphere at this new location.

New Swim Course

As already mentioned, the swim start will be much closer to Transition, so you won't have to hurriedly make your way to the water if you happen to be running late for the start. 

The other major difference is that after 200m from the start you will turn right, so the sun will be behind you for the first 1000m.  This will help your sighting.  As you turn to come back to the swim exit you may have some sun in your eyes, but by then it may be a bit higher in the sky and less of an issue.

I've mentioned the steep run up the hill to Transition, so be ready for this.

New Bike Course

This new bike course is quite a major change, now being two laps and having total elevation gain, and a few more corners and turn arounds than the original.  I feel this new course will actually play quite a significant role for a lot of people, and it needs to be more carefully considered in training and race plans.

I'm not sure of the exact reason for this course change, but I suspect a lot of it comes down to traffic management.  With this new course the Milk Tankers servicing the farms around Broadlands and Reporoa will most likely be able to avoid the area of Broadlands Road the race will be on, so that will no doubt ease a huge headache for everyone.

• More spectators - being a two lap course means you will be coming back into Taupo to start the next lap.  This means spectators will get to see more of the bike ride...we love this.
• Longer climbs - The infamous Heartbreak Hill from the Reporoa side up towards the Race Way will be attacked twice, but don't discount how long and taxing the climb at the start of each lap up Rifle Range road and onto Spa road will be too.
• Longer descents - What goes up must come down, and there are some very long fast descents on this course, nothing too technical although the left hander into View Road will force you to wash your speed off from one of the fastest parts of the course.  
• More elevation gain - The old bike course covered about 650m of gain.  Depending on the exact location of the turn arounds, this new course could be anywhere from 900-1000m of gain.  Yes it's hillier but it certainly isn't worth parking up your aero Tri Bike and bringing out your Roadie.  There are still plenty of long straight flat sections that aero will be a huge advantage (check the analysis below).
• Disc yes or no - This is a tough one as it comes down to the individual rider.  However according to Best Bike Split for me Trispokes front and rear are quite a bit faster than a Trispoke front and Disc rear, and a lot faster than just a Road Bike (check the analysis below).
• Potentially less chances for drafting - The extra climbing, and a few more turns will make it a bit more difficult for groups to form....hopefully.  
• In terms of training it won't change too much, you should still be working on staying in your aerobars for long stretches, and working on finding a comfortable intensity to climb at.

Keep in mind with the above predictions that they are based on my own bike, rider and equipment details.  The course I mapped out to perform this analysis has made it a bit long too (95km) as I wasn't sure of the location of the turn around points, so you can expect it to be a bit shorter than I mapped.  Also the Intensity Factor is a bit conservative for a 70.3 event.  But looking at this you still get the idea of the potential difference between the various bike set ups.

New Run Course

The 3 lap run course is pretty similar to what you've done in the previous years of this race, however the new Transition location means there are a few things to keep in mind

• Downhill Start - the first 500m of this run leg will be downhill as you head along Lake Terrace.  This will be nice to loosen the legs up, but don't let this force you into too fast of a start, and risk blowing up early.
• Uphill Finish - This isn't quite as brutal as the final climb in the old course, but it's still enough of a gradient to make it suited to someone who is strong running uphill.  So keep this in mind during your training.
• Close to the Lake to cool off - With the new finish line it's only a short walk to the Lake to cool off, which was hard to do in the old location as no one wanted to walk that far after a tough race.

Bring it on!

Here at Foot Traffic we're excited by these new changes.  It's certainly got the chatter going amongst our community and people are already strategising their race plans.

We look forward to seeing you all out there on this cool new(ish) course.