We posed a question to the Total Intensity Coaches: What are your Top Five “Must-Do Triathlons?”
Each coach came up with their own lists, so it’s important to note that when we all created our lists, we didn’t know what the other coaches were going to pick as their top-fives. The only caveat to our rankings was to NOT include Ironman Hawaii – that one is a given, so we weren’t going to include the obvious.
The Honorable Mention events were in our first installment.
Ironman Wisconsin was ranked as #4
Challenge Roth was ranked as #3
American Triple T was ranked as #2
and the #1 ranked must-do event was unanimous.
All of our coaches agreed that it had to be…
Wildflower Long Course
Jenni’s Take: (Ranked #1)
This race is known as the Woodstock of Triathlon. It’s a must-do for every triathlete! The weekend is filled with a fun, party atmosphere while you tackle one of the most challenging half-ironman distance courses out there. Most people camp out as part of the fun, as you are about 45 miles away from any town.
The swim is the easy part, in Lake San Antonio. Be sure you have your bike in the right gear because you start uphill immediately out of transition and after winding your way through the crowd you climb Beach Hill, which you may be re-naming by the time you get to the top! After that, it’s up and down till you get out of the park and well on your way. You’ll enjoy a flat section for a few miles where the winds will challenge you instead. The challenge isn’t over as you make a turn onto Nasty Grade beginning at mile 41 and tackle yet another long climb.
If the climb up Nasty Grade doesn’t challenge your legs, the miles of hills and trails on the run certainly will. Just when you think it’s about to get easier, you hit the pit at mile 9 of the run and run down, down, down, to mile 10, then turn around and climb out of it. If that doesn’t trash your legs, the steep ¾ mile descent down Lynch Hill to the finish line will set your quads on fire!
John’s Take (Ranked #1)
The Woodstock of Triathlon is the real deal. Wildflower drips with the history and grassroots of the sport. When you see the Champion’s Stairs you will see past winners and icons of triathlon. DeBoom, Lessing, Fuhr, Moss, Potts, Newby Fraser, McCormack, Lindquist, Badmann, Molina have all won here. Wildflower is made up of a half Ironman distance race on Saturday and an Olympic distance on Sunday.
Virtually everyone racing is camping out. People begin arriving into the campgrounds early in the week and by the time Friday rolls around, tents are side by side for as far as you can see. Nothing better than hanging out with your best triathlon buddies, and about 6,000 other triathletes, for a weekend of camping and racing.
As far as the race is concerned, the long course has a nice mile long climb up Beach Hill in the first couple miles of the bike and continues to have more moderate climbing over the next 40 miles. But at mile 40, things get serious when you encounter Nasty Grade, a 3 mile climb that only gets steeper as you go, maxing out at over 12% for the last half mile. The rest of the ride includes a few more climbs to take a little bit more energy out of your legs. Once back to the lake, the run, which is primarily on trails, a very tough climb at mile 4 and at mile 9 you descend for a mile into “the Pit” before turning around and having to grind back up a hill before finishing the day with a quad busting mile run down Lynch Hill. The finish line is well worth the effort of the day.
You’ll definitely feel tested once they hang your medal around your neck!
Tom’s Take (Ranked #1)
The Wildflower triathlon festival is the longest running of its kind where most of the greats of the sport have raced at one time or the other.
From the boat ramp at the swim start to Nasty Grade on the bike to the leg busting climb (for most a walk) at mile 4 on the run – the 70.3 tests your fitness, your race strategy and your mental toughness like no other race. Throw in the heat and the wind and you have a lethal cocktail that leave many athletes walking by mile 7. This race won’t even let you enjoy the last mile as the leg jarring descent heightens all the soreness gathered in a day of racing around lake San Antonio.
The camping venue makes it feel more like a rock concert – a truly unique vibe for a triathlon.
For those who want an added test – it’s possible to do Wilderflower2. If you don’t feel like celebrating your 70.3 finish – you can race the Olympic distance on Sunday where the 10k feels like a walk in the park compared to the ½ marathon from the day before.
Please leave your own comments below and let us know what your must-do races are!
