This is from Ironmanlive:
Just like Ironman Austria, the bike course here at Ironman South Africa is made up of three 60km loops. There’s a scenic bit along water, too.
That is where the similarities end!
The bike ride on Sunday will not feature any “see-how-close-Jurgen-can-be-to-four-hour” type rides. While the course is “relatively” flat, the high winds and rough roads make it far from fast.
After coming out of T2, the athletes ride along the beach for a few kilometres before making a left turn inland. The athletes would be wise to warm themselves up through the initial flat kilometres along the water – right after that left turn is a fairly sizeable hill!
The bike course goes inland at this point on a long out-and-back section. There’s one screaming descent along that stretch, which isn’t a bad thing considering that on the way back, the cyclists make a right turn just at the bottom of the hill and head back towards the coastline.
There are a number of hills before the athletes get to Marine Drive a 20km stretch of that follows the coast line. Usually there’s a tailwind along this stretch, but for the last couple of days the winds have been coming directly off the water, so it’s been a tough ride!
Rolling hills … wind … hot conditions … sounds like a perfect course for Natascha Badmann!
Badmann told us today, though, that the first time she rode the course, it took her two-and-a-half hours … to do one loop!
While she will no-doubt go much faster on Sunday (a 7:30 bike split isn’t likely from the five-time Kona champion!), Badmann is the first to admit that this is a tough course!
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