Race report of the Ironman 70.3 World Championship 2020 course in Taupo, New Zealand. My tips and details of the course, Taupo and New Zealand.
On 7 December 2019, I raced the Ironman 70.3 World Champs 2020 course in Taupo, New Zealand. I raced in a time of 4:44:25 and was the first female age grouper across the line. The organisers used the race as a practice run for the real thing at the end of November 2020. We had road closures, big expo tents and an all-round smoothly run race.
I raced in the Ironman 70.3 World Champs 2019 in Nice and, coming from New Zealand, found it really useful to read reviews of the course before competing. I'm hoping I can repay the favour and help out other athletes from across the globe by writing a review of the course in New Zealand!
“I'm hoping I can repay the favour and help out other athletes from across the globe by writing a review of the course in New Zealand!”
The Swim
The swim is AMAZING - a clear freshwater lake where you can see the bottom the whole time. Plus, if you're like me and swallow loads of water while swimming, you'll come out hydrated and ready to bike!
The water is normally 16-18 degrees so will always be wetsuit legal.
The swim was a wave start where 6 athletes entered the water every 5 seconds. The course still became quite congested and I spent a lot of time swimming through the other age categories that started before me. Each age category is held in a holding pen before being let into 3 lanes to the swim start. There wasn't much of a sorting process and the fastest option for self-seeding was 35 minutes. So fast swimmers should push to the front asap!
The course distance is really accurate. After consulting Strava, my friends distances were 1.93km, 2.0km, 1.95km and 1.95km. I swam 1.93km and this included some movement around other age groupers.
The course is 175m out from the shore, 775m down the lake front, 50m towards the shore, 775m back to the start and out of the water swimming in an anti-clockwise direction.
T1
T1 has always been a bit of a nightmare, and it still is, but not as bad as previous years - they changed the route for the world champs. It's a 700m run along mostly concrete, and then up onto a field where the bikes are racked. There are mats on the concrete but only enough for single file. I found that I had to run on the concrete because a few slower people would block the path.
About 1/3 of T1 is up a steep hill, so it gets your heart rate up. One of the pro's, Hayden Wilde (an elite ITU NZ athlete) took his wetsuit off straight out of the water and carryied it through T1 - not sure if I would do this but maybe something to think about if you think you would benefit from running without a wetsuit.
My total T1 time was 5:30, but that included putting on my bike shoes since I am yet to master to flying mount/I'm too scared to try lol. The pro's were about a minute faster through transition.
The Bike
The bike is a pretty fast, flat(ish) out and back course.
There is a small hill at the beginning. Strava says 112m elevation. The segment is here: https://www.strava.com/segments/22208626. Once you get to the top of that, it's mainly downhill for about 10km and you can go fast through this section. After that, it's mainly flat/slightly downhill until the turn around.
The hill out of town that you went down at the start is the main hill in the course (about 170m elevation) and coupled with a headwind it can be a real momentum stopper so make sure you conserve enough energy to get back into town.
Once you get back up the hill into town you go down a really steep hill that turns into a right hand turn onto the main road. It's marked with loads of exclamation marks and volunteers telling you to slow because of the TIGHT turn at the bottom. About 500m with around -10% elevation.
My two key tips for the bike are:
The chip on New Zealand roads is rough, so this knocks your speed! The course is a heavy truck route, so if you bike slightly inside the outer road markings it's smoothest there.
THERE WILL PROBABLY BE A HEAD WIND ON THE WAY BACK. For our race, the weather said there would be a head wind going out and a tail wind on the way back. This was wrong, and true to form, we had a headwind on the way home. The way back is slightly uphill and coupled with a head wind, not a fun time if you didn't pace yourself properly.
Next on the agenda is WHEELS. Loads of people use a disk so if you like using one, then the course suits them! I used 50mm rims, but only because they were the only wheels I had at the time. I would go for 60/88 if I did the race again (because I get worried about wind lol, and I also wouldn't probably be fast enough for a disk).
My wheel sponsor, Negative Split carbon (@nscarbon), hires out wheels for a really good price, or you could purchase them because they are also a really good price in general! So get in touch with them, and see if they can sort you out if you need some! Their website is https://www.nscarbon.com. Use my code EMILYMCN for 7% off!
The Run
The run course is heaps of fun (maybe... as much as it can be). Three laps, through the crowd of people who gather down the lake front and through the main street in Taupo. There are heaps of people who cheer you on, which picks up your spirits if you've taken a trip to the hurt locker.
On the Ironman website it describes the run as "flat". I definitely would not describe the run as flat. It has one pretty decent hill which you notice 6 times (2 x per lap (one out, one back, and there are 3 laps). My watch said 90m of elevation, which isn't crazy but also isn't "flat".
Weather
The temperature is normally warm around the end of November/start of December. It's the start of our summer. On race day the temperature was a high of 25 degrees, and I think this will be similar for the World Champs. The humidity is way lower and it doesn't feel as hot - the heat comes from the sun rather than the air.
“...on the note of NZ summer... wear sunscreen at least 30SPF!! The sun WILL burn you within 20 minutes as there is a hole in the ozone layer above us."
The World Champs in Nice were the same temperature "technically" but felt WAY hotter. NZ has a different type of heat, especially in the early summer. And on the note of NZ summer... wear sunscreen at least 30SPF!! The sun WILL burn you within 20 minutes as there is a hole in the ozone layer above us.
My fav sunscreen that stays on through the water and sweat, is Skinnies: https://skinnies.co.nz. They have every day tubes and higher protection performance sunscreen.
Getting to Taupo
If you’re flying into New Zealand from overseas then you will fly into either Auckland (our biggest city and airport) or Wellington. Once in New Zealand, you could take a short flight to Taupo from either Wellington or Auckland. The travel time to Taupo by car from Auckland is about 3 hours 30 minutes and the travel time from Wellington to Taupo by car is about 4 hours 45 minutes. If you drive from Auckland you could drive the Taupo 70.3 bike course on your way into Taupo (Reporoa to Taupo) and it would only add about 20 minutes to your commute. We drive on the left-hand side of the road!
What to do in and around Taupo
Food options. New Zealand has an awesome café culture. After the Taupo 70.3 the cafes are full of athletes and spectators. One of the best and most popular is called Storehouse. Would definitely recommend and flat white and a treat here.
There are lots of other food places down by the lake front, which offer classic pub meals and more dinner options.
Other activities in and around Taupo are:
The Huka Falls, which is a huge waterfall and is definitely worth a visit. About a 10 minute drive from Taupo.
Bulli Point - a rock jump about 20 minutes down from Taupo along SH1.
Hole in One Taupo - hitting golf balls onto targets in the lake. It's down the end of the swim course and you can see golf balls in the bottom of the lake.
A little further away is Rotorua (an hour drive). There are two amazing lakes (Blue and Green Lake) with a trail for running/walking around the edge. There are also hot pools (natural hot rivers, or man-made pools you pay to go into using the natural springs) and geothermal walks. It smells like eggs because of all the sulfur. If you're wearing silver, you should take it off or it will tarnish.
This picture is from Kerosene Creek, which is a natural (free!) hot water pool in Rotorua. Location: 28km south of Rotorua. Take State Highway 5 and then drive about 2km down Old Walotapu Road.
Other races
If you want to do some other races while in New Zealand, we have plenty as the World Champs is the first big race of our season.
Some races to think about are:
Rotorua Suffer (normally 2 weeks after the world champs) - a challenging course but incredible scenery.
Tauranga Half in the beginning of January. A flat and fast course along the beach front of Tauranga (white sands, surf beach that's also amazing).
Challenge Wanaka in the beginning of February. In the South Island but my favourite middle-distance race because of the scenery.
There are loads of other local races, which you can easily find through a google search!
What to do in New Zealand
If you like beaches, you should go up North to the beaches around the Coromandel.
If you like scenery and are staying for a while, Queenstown, Wanaka and Central Otago in the South Island are AMAZING and you really cannot beat them.
Thanks for reading! Let me know any comments, questions, feedback - would love to hear from you!
Thank you so so much for this review! I am thinking of trying to do the 70.3 in Taupo March 23 and this has helped me heaps!! Greetings from Switzerland!
Really appreciate the report, I was in Nice WC for my 2nd 70.3 and the reports helped me a lot to know what was coming.... This is equally useful. AFAIK race now confirmed dec10/dec11 2022