Ironman Wisconsin

Location	Madison, Wisconsin
Race website	Website link
Time of year held	September
Approx Athlete Numbers	2300
Does it typically sell out?	Yes
One word description for the event	Hilly; phenomenal
Good for first iron distance race?	Yes

Tips for overseas athletes getting to the venue:

Madison is pretty easy to get to, with direct airport.
Can also fly into Chicago (2.5hr dirve) and Milwaukee (1.5hr drive).
Madison has tons of hotel rooms so finding a place to stay at any budget is easy.
If you stay downtown near the race venue you probably don't need a car as everything is walkable.
If you stay off-site, plan on renting a car.

One word description for the swim	Crowded; great
Single or multi-lap course?	single
Typically wetsuit-legal?	Yes
Swim course description	Lake, mass start

Swim tips

Don't start too close to the shore. The first turn is very crowded.
Swim is deep water start in Lake Monona - Swim is one big loop, with a mass start, and an extremely wide start line. This makes for a very civilized swim despite the mass start.
Because the start line is so wide, and you can start inside the buoy line if you want, you can get clean water virtually from the beginning if you choose.
Wetsuit legal, very comfortable water, using around 21*C.

One word description for the bike	Hilly; epic
GPS map link for the bike course	Ride with gps
Video link for the bike course	YouTube
Single or multi-lap course?	2 laps

Bike Course description

It’s beautiful. Lots of hills so pacing is very important
Bike course is a lollipop shape, with a 16mile "stick" from the start out to a 40 mile "loop," which is completed twice before returning to transition on the stick.
Bike course is everything you could ask for - challenging, incredibly well supported, interesting.
There are a few big hills, but the signature of the IM WI bike course is the endless terrain changes. You are never doing the same thing for more than a few minutes at a time. This is often why it's described as the most difficult course in the North American circuit - it requires discipline to stay to your plan, don't blitz the uphills, or you'll pay for it. It's a wonderful, wonderful bike course.

Bike Course tips

It's good to know where the hills are and the tricky turns.
See the "loop" part of the course (or study the GPS/video files) so you can understand the continuous variation in terrain and conditions you'll face.

One word description for the run	Loud; fun
GPS map link for the run course	Ride with gps
Video link for the run course	YouTube
Single or multi-lap course?	2 laps

Run course description

There are tons of fans cheering.
So much fun. Start at the Capitol, run down state street with the crowds 5-6 deep just cheering and yelling. Go through campus, through the University of Wisconsin football stadium, over to a dirt path section right on the lake, and weave your way through the open lake path, eventually turning around and making your way back to campus. Some rolling hills, one big hill in the middle of campus, several flatter sections.
All in all it's interesting, well supported with fans along most of the course, and just fun.

Run course tips

Walk up observatory hill. It long and steep and will jack your HR.
Do some hill running during your training so you're ready for the rolling sections.
Soak it all in and enjoy the support.

Tips for supporters get the most out of watching the event?

Go to a hill on the bike course. There are tons of crazy fans there.
Several great views along the run course, and the downtown transition/finish line area is a lot of fun, with restaurants, activities, crowd support.

Great places to eat:

Best bike or tri shop in town:

Machinery Row Bicycles is 1km from transition, and has everything you could possibly need.

Best pick for accommodation:

Downtown - Hilton is 0.5km from Finish line. It can be $$$, so if cost is a concern look for any of the numerous hotels in Madison.
The West side of town has a lot of options.

Best things for the kids to do:

Cool things to do after the race:

Any warnings that people should know about before entering:

Weather is usually Sunny with highs of 20degC-27degC, but it can get cold in the morning, it can rain, it can be windy. Prepare for any condition.

General tips:

Best thing about this race:

Crowd support.
The bike course and the crowd support.
Madison is a unique place, it has the major university in the state (UW) and the State government. It's educated, clean, low unemployment, with a plethora of services, entertainment, activities, and restaurants in much larger proportion vs. typical towns of this size. It's small enough to be friendly and welcoming, yet world class with features. And the crowd support is phenomenal, there are ~75k supporters every year. It's a college town atmosphere at Ironman!

Anything negative about this race:

No - if you find anything negative about this race - that's a YOU problem, not a race problem. With the demise of IM Canada - Penticton, IM WI is one of the two remaining truly iconic races in North America (along with IM LP).

Have you done this race?

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Thank you to the following people who have contributed content to this page: Kyle Lehenbauer; Scott Rice