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SA Ironman race director Paul Wolff has announced a new route for the tenth anniversary edition in Port Elizabeth on the 6th of April 2014.
The 3.8 kilometre swim will be a single lap - starting and finishing at Hobie Beach - with the turn bouys just off-shore from the harbour wall at Kings Beach.
The swim used to be a two-lap course off Hobie Beach.
The 180 kilometre cycle is being changed from a three lap course of 60-kilometres each to a two-lap course of 90 kilometres each.
The new cycle route will take competitors past Lake Farm, up to Cow's Corner and through Maitlands before returning to the beach front through Beachview, Seaview and the Wildside.
The 42.2 kilometre route for the marathon remains unchanged.
Wolff says with the maximum two-thousand competitors entered for next year, a two--lap swim would have been dangerous and too congested.
"Next year we'll have three safety zones for the swim, one at Kings Beach, one at Humewood beach and the other at Hobie," he said. "Its a much safer, fairer swim although competitiors won't have the opportunity of exiting the water and running through the crowds. Still, they'll only have to go through the waves twice, as opposed to four times which is a lot safer and a lot quicker for them." To further avoid conjestion on the swim, the pro athletes will go off at 06h30 followed by the experienced age-groupers at 06h40 and the remainder of the field at 07h00.
Wolff says psychologically - a 2-lap cycle-leg will be easier on the athletes although the added climbs will make it about 15 minutes longer for the average competitor.
"Normally if you struggling on the bike after 60ks, its not a great feeling to know you've still got two laps to go. This way, you complete one lap and know there's just the one lap to go. However, the course is going to be a little more challenging with the added climbs around Maitlands and I would estimate the average competitor will take between 15 to 20 minutes longer on the bike than in the past. Also, added to the time will be the lack of opportunity to draft - or slipstream - because the field will spread itself out more than in previous years."
Wolff says competitors will need to do a bit more training on the bike and be the true triathlete if they want to register the same times they did in previous years.
