2012 Planning Lake Stevens or Boise 70.3

I'm in the exact same boat - I posted the same question on the "Iron Distance Training Talk" forum and got a couple of good responses.

From reading race reports and reviews, my impression is that Boise is a better venue for spectators/family, but it will be difficult to train for such an early season race if next Spring is anything like this year's - and I hear the swim was very cold.

Lake Stevens sounds like it has a more challenging bike course, but the extra month of warm weather training and a nice warm lake sounds appealing.

One reason I'm leaning towards Boise is that 2012 is the last year of their contract with WTC and could be the last one - although most of what I read indicates it will likely be renewed.

I've done Boise twice (also live here). It's an awesome race. The swim was incredibly cold this year, but that was a bit of a fluke. The weather is always interesting, this year's was nearly perfect though. The course isn't terribly hard, a couple of moderate climbs and a lot of rolling hills. The run is as flat as it could possibly be around the greenbelt which is awesome. The finish is downtown which is pretty cool and the crowds are very supportive. I highly recommend it.

Edit: I should add being from Boise, normal water temps for us are low 60's. This year's swim was around 52. So I consider low 60's to be great swimming temps and  a lot of people consider that freezing.

I'm going to Boise.

The Lake Stevens race is on the same weekend as the STP and I plan to do that in 2012.