Athletes and Spectators Bolton Ironman 70.3

I’ve put together this message to help spectators and athletes next Sunday.

First here is a timing guide (estimated a lot) to help

A few people are gathering at our house in the morning so we can all travel to Pennington Flash in convoy.

My suggestion is:-

4.45am - Leave (sorry it’s really early)

5.15am - Arrive after 10 mins walk to the swim start

30 mins to prep bike/nutrition/loo visit etc

15 mins to battle with the wetsuit

6.00am - into the Swim Pens

I’m estimating the swim starts between 6.15am and 7.00am

Estimated time frame for bike starts 7.00am to 8.00am (it’s a long gap due to seeded start)

Where we are parking, you can leave anytime without road closure issues.

People are shooting back into Bolton Town centre to pitch out on the bike turn around point (near transition 2 at Queens Park perhaps).

Estimated time for our athletes to get to CNR/Beaumont junction between 9.15am and 10.30am

Estimated time to Bolton Town Centre between 9.30am to 10.50am

This is followed by another loop along CNR and back to bike finish 10.45am to 12.45pm

The run is then a 2 lap affair around Bolton Town Centre / Queens Park and CNR

The max cross points on the run are on Deansgate near the old bus station.

Part 2

Athletes guide

I’d strongly recommend you download the Athletes Guide https://cdn1.sportngin.com/attachments/document/3f5e-3206371/2024_Bolton_athlete_guide_17.06.2024.pdf

Here is a summary of important points:-

Athletes registration 9am-6pm Friday or 8am-3.00pm Saturday. I would strongly recommend Friday as the Expo will have more items to buy (specifically the event T-shirts and Hoodies). Expo on the Sunday after the race usually has some bargains. Registration and Expo in the old BHS building opposite the town hall(was in 2023).

T1 Bike / Blue Bag Drop - Saturday 9.00am - 5.00pm (Pennington Flash)

T2 Run Kit / Red Bag Drop - Friday 10.00am - 6.00pm or Saturday 8.30am - 4.00pm (Queens Park)

It would be good if we all tried to meet at Pennington Flash at say 10.30am on the Saturday so we can discuss the Transition system on the day.

Blue Bag (Bike) is for your bike stuff. It will have for example your helmet, shoes, race belt, race number, gloves, nutrition, socks, glasses etc

Red Bag (Run) is for your running kit. Trainers, hat, glasses, nutrition, socks etc.

White bag is for anything you turn up in at the start which you want transferring to Queens Park for you. That’s dropped on race morning at Pennington Flash

Top Tip. Lay your kit out in the 3 piles and photograph it. Once you’ve dropped the bags off you naturally start doubting what you put in - this takes the stress away.