Embrunman is over the Izoard right?
That’s the one! It’s a challenge just to get to Embrun in the first place. Combine that with the climbing and the heat and it’s lethal. But the most scenic race I have ever done. I have attempted it 3 times and only completed once.
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Iron distance? How’s the run?
Sorry…got called away. Yes, it is Iron distance although the bike is actually 115 miles. The run is very hilly and is now three loops. You go through the centre of Embrun on each loop. A fantastic race!
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Have finished 2 of the 3, binned post-bike at Bolton last year. I’d go with swim, Bolton easiest, Wales hardest; bike really depends so much on the weather, in 2013 Lanza bike would rank easier than the other two, last year Lanza’s wind was ridiculously bad but that being said I’d put Bolton last year as more difficult, mainly down to the poor road surface and relative constant up and down but the downs tend to end on corners making it more difficult to carry speed, there were a lot of foil-wrapped cyclists on corners; runs - between Lanza and Wales, Lanza is easiest by a distance for me.
The bike section downhill parts are judged here by someone who now has slight confidence issues with steep downhill into corners due to a bit of an accident in 2015.
Overall I’d say Lanza easiest then Bolton, then Tenby
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I suppose however trying to describe any Ironman as “easy” isn’t quite correct…!
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Depends what you’re comparing it to 
ave finished 2 of the 3, binned post-bike at Bolton last year. I’d go with swim, Bolton easiest, Wales…
Why did you not finish…?
Injury?
stomach issues and a couple of punctures and a general feeling of screw this
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That was a rough 4 hours that run …
Be a bit easier for me this year.
They’re all hard if you go fast enough.
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Date is May 22nd.
My other half is a teacher, her half term not until May 28th. So sadly I don’t see it floating for me next year.
Being limited to school holidays does make race selection challenging. Don’t really fancy the idea of a solo trip, did that once to Budapest and it kind of sucked.
Tell me about it! I did toy with the idea of seeing if I could fly out Friday evening for Lanza and flying back Sunday night. It’s just a non-starter.
Out and back to a Euro race in a weekend is no fun imho, too much logistic & too little time. I’d want a week minimum for Lanza & would want to go with other people I think
This is what has always put me off. Using a 7 day (uk-uk) timeframe for Lanza, I’ve just never gotten my head around how the family can have a good holiday and me have a good race. It would be different with older kids.
I’ve never been there but that run in Lanza looks really boring. No shade and dodging sock and sandal Euros ambling across the course, eating ice cream. Is it really like that?
Absolutely. Proper pacing and they should all be equally tough in theory…!
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I’m happy with the out and back course and lack of shade and the general public are usually pretty respectful of the runners and very supportive the longer the day goes on
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Yeah maybe it’s the camera angles. It always looks like you’re running through some kind of souvenir shop tourist hell.
Completely agree for a full, in terms of trying to use no leave over a weekend. Flying back Sunday night would be horrendous, if its even feasible when you factor in bike collection, packing up, check in time, etc. Let alone a medium haul flight to somewhere like Lanza.
For a Sunday race though, Friday morning and back Monday daytime is pretty doable. Near Europe is pretty easy. I only took the Friday and Monday off for my first euro ironman, and felt like I had loads of time. But that was only a short hop flight. Even for a Saturday 70.3 in Bahrain, I was back at work on Monday morning.
I did one race like this, Budapest, out Friday afternoon, back Sunday evening. Personally I wouldn’t do that again- too much travel for too little playtime. Nearly missed registration, which was a little stressful, and didn’t get to see much of what looked like a really interesting city.