Grand Rapids 70.3

I did the sprint in 2017 and the Olympic distance back in 2018 but it is very similar course. I thought it was a very well run race and well supported. I was impressed with Grand Rapids.

Swim is super calm and clean. Water was somewhere in high 60s which was nice. I recommend getting a bit wide and you will have plenty of room

Transition is long and narrow but not super crowded

Bike was fairly flat for the Olympic, roads were a bit rough but that was a few years back. I’d recommend riding the course in you car to check it out.

Run is fairly flat with one incline around mile 2.5....course is well supported and traffic was no issue.

Overall, company does an amazing job. I really loved it, enough to travel from philly twice.

Let me know if have any specific questions.

Thanks.

I was more curious about the swim. I know it's in a river and was curious to see how calm it was

Super calm, I’d say more like a reservoir, the river is dammed just behind the start so the swim has little current

You won't notice any current during the swim, and the only real chop will be from other swimmers unless we have uncommonly strong winds. The biggest problem you'll have is sighting on the return portion of the swim if it is a sunny day, but that is a problem a lot of triathlons have.

They are changing the transition this year, so it won't be the long and narrow transition it used to be. It will still be a very long run from the water to the park they are using, but the bike racks will be much more spread out and you won't get run over going the opposite direction of some other race traffic. Should be a huge improvement.

The other big change is having the sprint on a different day from the olympic and half distance events, which will reduce the crowding.

It is a great race, and I've participated every year since their inception, but the packet pickup experience and the transition were positively awful for far too long, both easily among the worst I've seen. Should be a much better experience this year.

Have a great race!


Edited by MSU_Brad 2021-05-24 9:19 AM

Good morning! I haven't been on BT in awhile and thought I'd check today as I wait for a call with our medical team. I am one of the race directors and am happy to answer any of the questions you might have.

As others have said, the swim is fairly tame, although you will be swimming back into the sun so tinted goggles are a great idea. This year will be a time trial start, 2 people in the water every 5 seconds. We will have pace signs to help people self seed themselves.

Transition has moved to the soccer fields at the corner of Grand River Drive and Buttrick. It's a HUGE space so everyone should have plenty of room.

Much of the worst sections of the bike course have been repaved in the last year or two... in particular a section on Grand River and the turnaround area on Clarksville Rd for you half athletes (that section was pretty bad).

Again, feel free to drop me a line with any questions. We have a very active athlete forum on FB as well if you want to connect with other athletes and haven't already joined.

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