Steelhead vs Timberman

I can only speak to the Steelhead. Its in a family friendly town with quite a bit to do, nice beaches and good restaurants down town. Parking is plentiful with about 3/4 mile walk to transition if you don't want to take shuttle busses. The swim is the wild card, it's been cancelled twice in the past ten years because of rough conditions. The bike is not bad, its low rolling hills most of the way, about half is on a state highway which is pretty smooth, the rest is county roads which are bumpy in spots. The run is okay, it has some residential mixed with the Whirlpool corp. HQ. There's one big hill you have to hit twice but otherwise not too difficult. Hope this helps.

I signed up for Timberman but was unable to race due to injury. Whichever race you pick should not stress you, so pick one that is easier travel and that your family will enjoy if they are going with you. As for which one is better, I'd say Timberman course will be much better training for Chatt as opposed to Steelhead.

Steelhead is about 2 hours more driving (10hrs vs 8 - but I do long car trips on a frequent basis) - but I have family in MI that I could maybe see, vice Timberman - but most of my racing is done solo since majority of my family lives overseas