Ironman 70.3 Turkey
Members Race Review
<< back to race reviews

Reviewer:  Hatem Elsafty
Race Name: Ironman 70.3 Turkey
Age Group: 40-44
Location: Antalya
Date: November 3^rd, 2019
Website link:  https://www.ironman.com/im703-turkey
Triathlon Experience:  Experienced, this was my 11^th 70.3 race.

Highlights

• Nicest and easiest bike route ever
• Nothing to buy from the expo, so be prepared
• Egyptian team organised a team hoodie for more than 80 athletes with athlete names, which was really nice. 
• Downtown Antalya has so many things to do, so make sure you have time after the race

Rationale for Choosing this Race

I chose this race because my lifelong friend, who I finally convinced to join the triathlon activity thought this is the easiest event Egyptians can do (from travel and visa perspective) so I couldn’t miss the chance. 33 athletes from Qatar (mainly from Qatari athletes) but also included Carla Coetzee from the Club

Travel to the Race

Never fly Pegasus again, although looks cheapest even with their super flex class 😊, they always charge more on taking your bike from Turkey to Doha, and they don’t handle bike bags well! Also, another very important tip. Antalya airport drop the bags off from the international terminal, while you most probably fly from Istanbul (so you wait for your bags in the domestic terminal and they never show) please make sure you go and wait for your luggage at international terminal. Strangely no information or anyone to share this information. Many waited for hours not knowing where their luggage is.

Egyptian Team

 Pre-Race

I practiced the swim in the open sea and prepared all the gear. Packed my wrong wetsuit though. Wished that it was going to be non-wetsuit, but it ended up optional. 

All Egyptians participating in the race had made one hoodie and t-shirt. This made it very easy to recognize each other, participating in the country parade before the race was really one of the highlights of the race 

RACE DAY

Getting to the start line

Walking to there as the hotel was close by since I stayed in hotel supported by the event. 

Swim Leg

Lot of waves during the swim. My advice that you must practice open sea swimming in waves to be able to do this one right. 

sightseeing in Antalya with Oflat

T1 

Was long run from swim end to T1, I had good time getting my bike out. Total time 5:25

Bike Leg

The flatest bike course ever. It was simply the easiest. I completed total bike in 2:42:06 (my fasted bike leg ever, even when I am much more prepared and trained), which is very fast compared to my preparness level. I enjoyed the speed so went as fast as I could. I had my elctrolytes with me, but one bottle was not enough, as it was warm temperature (I assume 27 degrees) and for sure you will need more salt tablets with you.

T2

T2 is in completely different location than T1. So dropped the bike with one of the volunteers and went to start running. Again good time for me: 2:55

Run Leg

Very nice 4 loops running course inside the mall and the theme park. 50% shaded. I started well, but due to fast bike and limited electrolytes and I started having cramps every 5 min. I did my worst half marathon ever, while I was heading for easily 5:45, I finished my 21k in 2:48:43 (while I was planning less than 2 hours) with. 6:17 overall time. 

Finish Line / Finisher Area

Last one to finish from TriClub and most of the Egyptians, My friend beat me☹ he passed me at the running part. Although I was much faster than him in the swim and bike legs.

Evaluation of my race

Very nice race, very nice bike route, very nice weather, and nice city to explore. I would totally recommend, especially if you want to have a BP.

Post race

Enjoyed visiting the downtown of Antalya and going for boat trip, visiting the oldtown, doing some nice shopping for the family. There are amazing restaurants especially fish food ones. 

Evaluation of Race Organization

Average race organizing, as it was poor expo and little support on the course.

Recommendations/Lessons Learned

Make sure you have all your nutrition and bike gadgets. Make sure you book a nice close by hotel (stay at one of the recommended ones) this will make it much easier for you to do all the warmups and check in etc, and T1 and T2 and expo were quite far distant from each other. So you definitely will need a place well located between these three areas.

Sharing hoodies and t-shirts with big team, makes a big nicer atmosphere, and triclub should always try to organize race specific hoodies 😊

Post race fun


my time overall