Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga

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The Race: Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga

Check-In

This year, Ironman Chattanooga 70.3 was held on Sunday, May 18th. We began our journey to Chattanooga from Columbia, SC on Friday, May 16th. We arrived in Chattanooga at approximately 2:30 PM, giving us just enough time to park, check-in, and prepare for the 3 PM Athlete briefing. During the check-in process, the athletes were provided with their timing chip, packet with their bib number, swim caps, bookbag, and shirt. Going to the athlete meeting at this time was significantly less crowded than what we saw on Saturday. After the athlete meeting, we explored the Ironman Village and the Ironman Store.

Bike check-in began at 9:30 AM on Saturday, May 17th. It was super smooth since all the check in process had been done. 

Quick Tips: 

• The shirts that were provided at check-in ran small. The athletes that were normally a size L t-shirt needed an XL. We found this to be the case with shirts in the Ironman store as well. 
• The shirts in the ironman store, specific to this race (with the athletes names on them), sold out quickly. We did not purchase on Friday and by the time we went back mid day on Saturday, most sizes were sold out for the men. 
• At the end of the race, they provide you with an Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga “Finisher” hat. We purchased a hat the day before, not realizing the athletes would be given one, along with their medal. 

Race Day

For the athlete 

This race day looked a little bit different due to the swim being canceled. Mildly stressful, since the athletes “flow” was thrown off. The race started an hour later than originally planned and was a time trial start on the bike. It’s weird having your socks and bike shoes on, standing around in line as the volunteers usher you to the start line. The athletes were released by bib number sequentially (at check in, you were assigned a bib number based on how quickly you felt that you could finish the bike). Though it was as organized as it could be, it made for a crowded bike course. 

For the spectator

Prior to coming to the event, we registered our TriClub, TriFit Physical Therapy & Performance. This provided us with access to the TriClub Village where we were able to set up a tent, chairs, have food, etc to be able to wait on our athletes and watch the race. The TriClub area is positioned right on the water. It was easily accessible to bathrooms, transition, and the finish line! For rules and regulations for the TriClub area, click here.

We stayed in a hotel that was easily walkable to the race area. However, the city of Chattanooga has quite a few public lots (paid parking) that were easily accessible - we never struggled with parking throughout our trip. 

This was a great race to spectate! For anyone that hasn’t experienced a time trial start- they get them out QUICKLY. If you think you have an estimated time that your athlete will be out of the transition area - get there earlier. We missed 2 out of 3 of our athletes due to them being released much faster than anticipated. 

Once our athletes were returning on the bike, we were able to see them enter transition. After they entered transition, we positioned ourselves on the riverwalk to see the first part of their run. After a little bit of time passed, we walked up to The Hunter Museum of American Artwhere there is a small bridge that looks over the Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge. We were easily able to see our athletes run by. They do two loops over this bridge, however if you stay to watch the second loop, you may not beat them to the finish line. We chose to only watch loop one, then head over to the finish line to watch them finish the race. We were able to find a spot, close to the finish to watch them complete the race! 

If you know me, you know that I am always going to know where the bathroom is (The Iron Throne tour, if you will?). Ironman did a great job of having plenty of accessible porta potties in the area. However, if you aren’t a porta potty lover (because who is?) I was pleased with the amount of public bathrooms that were available. One set of public bathrooms are conveniently located on the campus of the Chattanooga Aquarium, directly across from Ironman Village. Though a little hidden, these bathrooms were easily accessible and very clean. 

Where to Stay

There are several options for hotels in the area. We chose to stay at the DoubleTree by Hilton Downtown Chattanooga. This was a property that had an Ironman block with a rate of $211 per night. The hotel is approximately 0.4 miles from the race area. It was an easy walk where we felt that we could go back and forth, to and from the hotel as needed. Hampton Inn is also right next door. The Courtyard Chattanooga-Downtown is the closest hotel that we found. You can actually see Ironman Village from the front door! 

Where to Eat

We enjoyed every meal that we had in Chattanooga and I can’t always say that about everywhere that we travel! The first night, we enjoyed dinner at Totto Sushi & Grill, recommended to us by Chattanooga locals (thanks Aimee & Zachary!). We are always looking for good ice cream and we found that at Clumpies Ice Cream Co. I recommend getting a “Freeze” with Cherry Limeade Sorbet + Sprite. For brunch the next day, we attempted to go to Milk & Honey, however the wait was over an hour. It was about 10:30 AM, so if that is a spot that you really want to try, I recommend going EARLY. Because Milk & Honey had quite the wait, we found ourselves at Big Bad Breakfast. Though this was not the initial spot we were headed to, it was a great alternative and somewhere that I would eat again. We tried the Big Bad Skillet, Biscuit Crumble, and a stack of pancakes; it was all delicious. The night before the race, we settled on another restaurant recommended by a Tennessee native (thanks Hannah!), City Cafe Diner. By this point, we had a full crew of 10 people. The Diner was large enough to seat everyone and had a large selection on the menu - everyone left full! For dessert, they had a wide variety of cakes- the Oreo Cheesecake was by far my favorite! 

Adventure

Chattanooga definitely had plenty to keep you entertained. Part of our crew made a stop at Rock City and felt like it was well worth the short drive out of town. We also went to the Tennessee Aquarium. Though it has a price tag of $39.95 per ticket for adults (kids 4 and under are free), it was well worth it- we spent over two hours there! If you need more budget friendly options, The City of Chattanooga has several public park areas. In front of the aquarium, there are water features that children can play in, as well as a playground at Ross’s Landing. 

If you are from the East Coast and have never tried Swig, there are two in the area. We chose to try the one in For Oglethorpe, GA on the way home. The “Shark Attack” was worth the small detour off of the interstate. 

Weather/Packing

Thankfully, the weather was beautiful while we were there as we had heard that they had quite the rainy week in the days leading up to the race. We were comfortable in short sleeve shirts and shorts- definitely bring your walking shoes! 

Overall, we really enjoyed our time in Chattanooga. Though we have been to two other 70.3 races, this was our first “Ironman” event. We look forward to continuing our travels one race at a time!