Club News

The inaugural running of Ironman 70.3 Valencia took place on 21st April 2024. John Culleton, Jack Dineen and I represented Limerick Tri.

Valencia is a beautiful city, a real mixture of historic buildings and fantastic modern architecture.  Easy to get around with dedicated cycle lanes, the metro or just walking.

The finish area is located beside the famous Museum of Arts and Sciences, an unreal collection of ultra modern buildings standing in a collection of azure blue pools. Getting to the finish line requires a two lap run through the ribbon park that runs around the old centre of the city. A mixture of open stretches, statues, pools, bridges, grass and thankfully, some shady trees to give some relief from the sun.  Of course the obligatory Ironman tease at the end of the first lap that brings you to the side of the Science Museum, runs you parallel to the finish carpet before turning you back for a second lap.

Transition 2, at the end of the park must be one of the longest transitions I have seen – over 500m end to end. Valencia is a two transition race, T2 in the park, T1 at the Marina about 1.5km away. Registration and the Ironman merchandise area is beside T1. Again, spread out with a good walk between registration (number and tshirt) and the Ironman store (Race bag) which seemed unnecessary.

The race starts at the marina, with a jump or dive start from the pontoon. The swim is a single loop – a left turn takes you up the channel towards the sea, a U-turn brings you back and then a bit of a confusing number of buoys and turns brings you back to shore.  The water was clean, warm and relatively smooth – an easy swim for a first timer or less confident swimmer.

Out of the water and through T1, the bike course heads off out of town along the coast.  A number of speed bumps in the first few km, meant a good number of bottles went flying.  I lost one of mine but a helpful volunteer collected and brought it up the road to me after I stopped.  The course heads out of town into the countryside, but only after a circuitous tour of a few industrial estates, presumably to make up the distance.  Out in the country, the scenery is beautiful as the course gradually climbs up towards a small village.  The hill is mostly steady and not difficult. The last 500m is a bit of a drag, but after turning at the aid station at the top it’s a pleasurable descent for the next 10-15km through winding forests.  A trip around back lanes out near the airport, another industrial estate and then it’s back into town to T2.

For me this was 70.3 number 10. I had one DNF in Swansea in 2022 when my Di2 failed at 8k. This race was nearly a DNS when the Uber I had booked cancelled 5 minutes before pickup. Luckily after about 15 minutes of trying various taxi apps, one picked me up and the race was on!  Talking to others this seemed to not be an isolated incident.  I was staying too far away to walk. In future I would stay closer just in case!!

My swim was steady, a few clashes around buoys but generally I was able to find clear water.  Coming back towards the start, the buoys and turns got confusing and I had to double back a couple of times – I thought I had studied the course, not well enough it seemed. Transition was smooth, but pretty crowded around the changing areas so I grabbed my stuff and moved outside.

The bike went well, keeping it steady, saving for the run.  I had to stop a couple of times as my saddle kept tilting forward throwing me too much on to the tri bars. Other than that pretty uneventful.  I passed a couple of crashes where people had underestimated the tightness of the downhill bends.

Through T2, the first part of the run is to head along the length of the transition area and back before entering the park.  My run started better than expected; had staying steady on the bike helped?  I had torn my calf at Christmas and after several attempts to return too early, I had to eventually take a 7 week gap from running. So, about 5k in, the lack of endurance running caught up with me as well as the heat and the wheels fell off a bit. Finishing became the goal and I just plugged away, enjoying the sun and surroundings.

Finishing, after a long layoff was the primary goal, enjoy the race, number 2 and a decent time number 3. 6h 32m was a bit off what I’d hoped for but you can only do what the day allows. So, in the words of Meatloaf, “two out of three aint bad.”

Valencia as a location is great, easy to get around (most of the time!), beautiful scenery, both old and new, and great weather in April. The airport is about 15mins from the city making travel easy too. The race was well organised, even if locations were a bit spread out. The course, nothing difficult and for the most part very scenic.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. As a first attempt at 70.3 or for more seasoned triathletes it has a lot to offer as a course (challenging but not tough) in a spectacular location.

April 2025 anyone??

Paul