Syracuse 70.3

Agree 100% about the water being freezing during its first year.   It was RIDICULOUS!  It was so cold that four of my toes turned white and lost all feeling, but this years race being so much earlier should help with that?  Also agree about the average difficulty of the bike course.  I saw a bunch of people walking their bike up the one major climb, but with proper gearing and training it's not that big of a problem. 

My recollection is that it did not sell out either of the last two years.  I thoroughly enjoyed the race and am planning on doing it again this year.

Advice: train on the hills, both biking and running.

Syr 70.3 has changed a bunch since the first race a few years ago.  There is a recent thread in the main forum about the bike course that may be helpful to you as well.  

First of all, the race is now in June.  It was initially in September.  (Btw, whoever thought a tri in upstate NY in mid-September made sense needs to check the weather.)  Wetsuit legal, it should be, but now that the race is mid-summer, it might be a race day decision.  

The bike course is hilly, especially for the first 10ish miles.  First half has some good amount of climbing, the back half is generally downhill.  See the other thread.

The run course is a double loop with a pretty steep hill in the middle of each lap. I haven't driven the run course, so I can't give you any further color on it.  

As for selling out...it's been open for a while for the past few years.  Syr doesn't sell out that fast, though this is the 2nd year that the race has been held in June, so perhaps this year will be different.  But I don't think its sold out right now.  

Traffic in the morning getting to the race can be quite tough.  There is a 2 lane road that leads to the park, and it can be slow going in the AM.

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions.

I raced Syracuse the first year and really liked it.  The water was cold but not terrible and once you were going it was fine.  If I recall correctly, this led to some fast swim times.  The bike is not bad at all.  The hill from mile 2 to 11 is gradual.  If you pace up it properly it is really no problem.  The rest of the bike ride is very enjoyable.  In fact, I particularly remember having a huge smile on my face towards the end of the bike.  It was fast, rolling terrain with some curves in the road that led to a great feeling while in the aero position.  The run completely changed so I cannot comment on that.  I did like the run, downhill, into the city.  Who wouldnt.  The only negative that occured is that they ran out of some types of foods for a while.  I am not the fastest but finished in 6 hrs and was hungry and only got a roll and fruit.  And, as the last post indicated the ride into the park in the morning gets backed up.  Some folks were dangerously close to missing the start.  I believe they even postponed the start for a short bit.  I will try Syracuse again this year I think.   Overall, nice race. 

I have done the race 3 times. Bike course is unchanged and is not the hardest or easiest in the USA. Plenty of climbing and long slow decents with maybe 2 steep but short climbs.

Warning about the run course which was new last year. I would say about 90% of the field was walking the hill on the 2nd lap. Elite runners ate up the hills and did quite well, but run training for the hills is essential. I do not think the elevation profile for the run course on the website is correct.

Swim is great in a nice little lake with generally no waves. It was close to no wetsuit this past June, felt almost too warm for some. I liked it with my sleeveless. But last June was like record warmth, so this should almost always be wetsuit legal. The water was chilly 3 or 4 weeks before we got so much June heat last year.

Race is well run and a very scenic course. I'll be making my 4th attempt at it this summer. GL!

Here is the run profile.

http://youtu.be/qLZ6XXblLJI