Ironman Chattanooga : Official Thread (Page 7)

Not sure if all IM 140.6 events are the same or not as IMLOU was my first this year. For IMLOU, athlete check-in was Thursday and Friday (you had to be checked in by 5PM Friday or you aren't racing). The practice swim was from 8A-10A on Saturday morning. That was the only practice swim time available and I assume Chatt will be similar since it is a river swim. I arrived early Friday afternoon and left Monday morning.

hey guys,

I am looking for a hotel like many others on this board. The only thing "available" through the IM site is the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel which is technically downtown but it look like it will be quite a walk to the waterfront and transition areas where I assume a lot of the action will take place. There are a lot of hotels available on Shallowford Rd which appears to be a 5-15 minute drive depending on where the actual hotel is located. For those that are from the area I have a few questions. Is this too far to really want to stay for the event unless I have no choice? If I have to drive into the city for activities is parking reasonable or is it a complete nighmare? The price of the outside hotels is nice but if I am going to pay $20 a day in parking to drive into the city it makes no sense.

I understand I can be put in a few waiting lists and may still do this but I would like to have something booked ASAP for some peace of mind.

The Waterfront "race site" is not at AT&T field. It's at Ross's Landing which is right next to the Aquarium on Chestnut and Riverfront Pkwy. AT&T field is the next block over. I have not seen any info yet as to the location of race headquarters, check-in, etc.

Oh, OK. That just looks like a nice big area. Do you think Ross Landing is big enought for 2,000 triathlete's bikes?

That was the first thing my husband said... "how are they going to fit all of those people in that space?" There were about 1000 at Waterfront. It wasn't crowded at all, but I don't see how they will fit twice as many. Of course they could utilize the greenway on the other side of Riverside Dr instead of or in addition to. That would make a long runway of transition but would probably work better than cramming 2000 spaces into the small park area.

I think Ross Landing lawn site (where Waterfront was) will be big enough to house all the bikes. Waterfront wasn't crowded, but you also had everyone's transition gear in there as well. That will be eliminated for the IM and will be in the baggies. So I think that they can cram all those bikes in there. The interesting thing will be where are the change tents going to go?

I don't think the Choo Choo will be prohibitively far away. During the normal days there are electric shuttles that run downtown from there for free. Race morning not sure.
I imagine the expo / registration being at either the Marriott convention center or the Chattanoogan for size purposes (prob Marriott) which is close to Choo choo.

Do you not think it is possible that they will use that AT&T field to give room for the tents and all the bikes and such? If memory servers (and it seldom does) isn't that where they had extra parking for the Waterfront tri?

It think the Choo Choo would be a fine place to stay IF you have someone with you that can drive you to the race site on race morning. I will be flying solo so needed a place I could walk to the starting line on race morning. Uh.....hmmm, hope they have busses like the Waterfront to take us up river. :-)

So right now there are 22 BTers that have this race listed.

Members who are scheduled to race: Chris.1333, cjkelly0729, daudm00, el bu'ho, emferg, exnavydoc, Higgy71, jlo382, jmkizer, Jseminary, katiefrog15, kenj, leapdog, leechj, morsebj, onealec, Paitley, parrj, Rogillio, runswithcrazydog, rwekin, WoodrowCall


I think there are some people who have posted in this thread that do not show up on the above list. If you want to add it, go to:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/Races/link-details.aspx?id=54139

Then click "Add this race to my races" and that will add you to the list and add this race to your training log.

I don't remember any use of AT&T field by Waterfront. Perhaps the tents will go on the greenway between the river and Riverfront Dr (where the Waterfront finish area is). Maybe finish will be in front of Aquarium instead or perhaps across the river at Coolidge park where there is a lot more room. All speculation of course.

ETA: Looked at the run course map on mapmyrun... it does indicate ending in front of Aquarium.

Edited by runswithcrazydog 2013-10-02 11:06 AM

Hello everyone! I'm in for 2014. IMChoo will be my 4th IM (providing I get through IMTX next May first) I am looking to change up my training plans. It seems like a lot of the athletes on here are using plans other than the plans on the BT site. Be Iron Fit seems like the most popular. Does this plan have some sort of file that can be uploaded to this site or do you have to follow along in the book and enter workouts manually into the site ? I have used the BT Advanced IM plan in the past and like the flexibility of moving workouts when needed and being able to visualize the entire training schedule at once. I was wondering if I would lose that feature if I used the IronFit plan or Endurance nation etc.

Very cool! This is gonna be an awesome race. I feel priveleged and fortunate to get in on the inagural race!

I'd agree that ATT field probably not an option. There is a strip of land there between river and road at top of steps that is where all expo tents were for Waterfront tri. This could be the change area indeed. Didn't think of that. And added myself to the list, thanks for reminder.

I don't know the area but this looks like it makes sense.





Attachments
----------------
transition.png (817KB - 39 downloads)

The map shown for the swim course is not at all to scale.

Rover24, The area you have marked as change tents is where transition was for Waterfront. The swim exit you have drawn is on a boat dock and not the stairs that are used. The stairs are actually on the right side of that block of grass next to the outward point. It would make sense to use some of the Riverfront parking lot for bikes as you have indicated, but that eats up a lot of parking area which is very limited. Really... this stuff doesn't matter much. They will hammer out the details and then we'll know what is going where. This might give you a different perspective.





Attachments
----------------
Chatanooga21.jpg (153KB - 16 downloads)

I agree it doesn't matter....but it's kind fun to speculate. :-)

Is AT&T field that baseball field? I was just thinking 'field' like an empty field.

Yes AT&T field is the baseball field. The grassy areas are Riverfront Park and the road along the river is Riverfront Pkwy which becomes Riverside Dr (I think as you pass under the Walnut St pedestrian bridge). It's a pretty good run distance from the water into AT&T field so I sure hope that isn't transition, LOL. I think, as someone mentioned earlier, that without "gear" and fully utilizing all of the grassy area they could get 2000 bikes in the Waterfront transition area. I was looking at a photo and there was a wide unused space around the perimeter of the transition boundaries. If they put changing tents on the greenway just above the water, that would make for a short run in and out. I vote for that. After climbing two flights of stairs out of the water, we should get a run break!

Edited by runswithcrazydog 2013-10-02 6:30 PM

I second that motion. :-)

I second that motion. :-)

i'm the same - its about a 10 hour drive for me from southern MD - I'm going to do Thursday down, and then either Mon/Tuesday back - not sure yet - that will depend on job, leave time available etc...but i'm doing similar for B2B this year - heading down on Thursday, but we are driving back on Sunday (since my friend has to work on Monday, and i'm undecided if im' going to take the day off or not yet)

I love all the speculation! Crazy things is, we have all this worked out ;-)

The expo/IM Village will take place in the grassy area where the Waterfront Tri has transition. We will also put some tents on the other side of the road, maybe even on the pier. The banquet will be at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Our transition will be in the parking lot to the west of that area. Change tents will be on the east end of that lot as you enter transition. The finish will be in front of the Aquarium on Broad, just before you hit Aquarium Way.

Brian

Brian is da man! Thanks for the inside infomation. Are you with the local tri club in Chattanooga?