Beach 2 Battleship Iron Distance : Official Thread (Page 13)

It's easy, my wife went to T1 in the morning with me.  I'm pretty anal about arriving early and was early as usual, but I don't remember there being any issues with parking before I headed from the car to the shuttle bus.  They park a lot of cars on the grass across from the fire station side of the building which I believe is on the west side of the city building.  You'll get a good look at the area on Friday when you drop your bike off.  Everything is an easy walk from the parking area and easy to find.  There's not a whole lot to do, besides drop your SN and T2 bags off, put your T1 bag on the rack in your numbered spot, check your tires, and put your bottles on etc.  Don't forget a porta potty stop as I don't recall there being any at the swim start but may have missed them, there's plenty just outside T1.

The wife watched me leave T1 on the bike and hung out for a little while before heading back to our rental house on the edge of downtown Wilmington.  If your not staying downtown they'll have to find parking which can be found but be warned parking enforcement is a priority to the city so feed the meters, etc.  I'm not sure what to do at the finish area and once your family is there getting back when the half participants are finishing can make getting back to Wilmington tough.  I saw plenty of half folks rolling there bikes and gear over the bridge due to the lines to get back across the river and that's not an easy walk.  It sounded better then 2008 but there were still major backups for half racers.  There's a lot of nice places to eat in Wilmington so hanging out on Water St is an option and they could watch you pass by 2 or 3 times before taking the water taxi or trolley to the finish area.  I recall there being a public restroom on the river front near Market St.

Rottie took care of the question very well BUT I'll give you another T1 option (since I was solo).  I parked in the parking lot across from the host hotel in downtown Wilmington---Set Up then provides a shuttle to T1 for athletes (so family couldn't ride that...)---got to T1 with a ton of time (was able to put nutrition on bike and check gear over and still be on the first of the shuttles to the swim start).  This might be an option if your family doesn't want to get up super early to take you to T1 for the shuttle to the swim start...  As Rottie pointed out about downtown parking---make sure you pay (there is a little computer thing you have to pay at---if you don't/forget/don't know where it is you WILL get a ticket...)---that lot across from the host hotel is great because that's where the water shuttle docks so at the end of the race my car was right where I got off the water taxi.......