2025 IM70.3 World Championships Race Report by Joanne

On race morning, Madame Ocean and Mister Wind declared that they did not appreciate that the 2025 World Championship bike course was drawing all the attention.  They decided to show what Mother Nature can do to enhance the whole race experience! 

Here is my race report for the 70.3 World Championships in Marbella, Spain on November 8, 2025. 

Getting Ready

Knowing that this race was going to be a special challenge for me, I did my best to prepare for any eventual conditions I might encounter in Spain.  Never having been to Spain before, I relied on the course descriptions, pictures and videos of the area.  I knew there was an ocean swim, a very hilly bike ride and a flattish run, which suited my strengths. 

Although I rode hilly routes outside as much as possible at my summer place and Gatineau Park, I was also able to practice the bike course on Rouvy. But late in the game, they announced a special “treat” for us:  there would be additional climbing by introducing a detour on the way up the mountain through Ojen (a small, picturesque community nestled in the mountainside).  This detour added another 500 meters or so of climbing. 

I didn’t neglect swimming or running either by increasing time in open water until my last OW swim on October 6, and adding the Army Run Half Marathon and 9 RunRun 15k to my plan. 

Getting There

I knew the importance of early planning for travel with a bike from the previous championship races I’ve been to, and like the one in New Zealand, I had to modify my flights so I could travel with my bike.  However, that worked out fine and everything arrived with me when we landed in Malaga. 

We spent a couple of relaxing days in Malaga before driving to our condo in the heart of Marbella.  Gosh, who knew the streets would be so narrow and that drivers would be so risky! I could write a whole report on traffic, but I won’t do that here 😊

Accommodation

We scored a beautiful condo just 7k from the race start – which sounds really convenient, but that 7k is a direct line along the coast from Marbella to Puerto Banus – Ironman Village.  Easy to get to on the bike – but requires sand removal from the chain rings and chain.  Minor. 

Lots of restaurants and grocery stores within walking distance and with a full kitchen, it was fabulous to be able to eat what I wanted/needed and I was especially delighted to find that they had tons of sweet potatoes available. 

Athlete Check-In and Ironman Village

I checked in on Wednesday without a hitch – no line-up at all with one side for each women and men.  Got another packsack…. I’d ridden my bike to get to the village, so I was able to spend some time looking at the transition zones to get a feel for them.

The Village was huge – much larger than any Championship race I’ve been to. 

I didn’t spend any time looking at merch but did check out the transition zone areas but they were not set up at that point in time.

Equipment and Physical Prep

The most stressful part of a trip like this is making sure the bike is as smooth as it is at home – I put the bike together and did have difficulty setting the derailleur at the right angle, but thanks to a YouTube video, I was able to adjust it and the bike seemed ready to roll… but I had marginal use of only one brake.  My brakes require a “bleed” after most flights – and that is beyond my comfort zone.   I contacted a Trek shop and asked if the tech would do a fix, and though he previously refused to put my bike together, he agreed to fix the brakes because he didn’t have to spend time on the bike build.  Within hours I got the bike back and everything was as it should be.  Yahoo!!

While the bike was in the shop for those few hours, hubby and a friend from Ottawa and I did a racecourse drive to see what the hype was all about.  Holy Hannah!  The Ojen section was YIKES and coming back from the turnaround to go back down to the village was relentless.  So even though I was only able to get a couple of flat bike rides prior to the race, I knew that I would be well-rested for the bike ride. 

I got in the water about four times before the race, but one of those times was just to practice getting in and more importantly, getting out.  The waves can really push you around – I was constantly staggering getting out, so had to get used to reclaiming my balance. 

I did run a few times with a couple of little pick-ups, but nothing outlandish.  I trained with lots of clothes on back home in the month leading up to the race, so the heat wasn’t a big factor for me.  I did appreciate the AC for a few hours in the evening, though. 

Adjusting to the time change was difficult for me. I often woke up in the middle of the night and had a hard time getting back to sleep.  But by day 5 of the trip, I slept really well every second night.  I napped when I felt like it.

RACE DAY

Okay, so just a couple of hours sleep the night before the big day, but two nights before, a big, long sleep.  I was ok. 

My pre-arranged cab was a no-show, but I was lucky enough to be invited to jump in with another athlete to get to the village.  She was from Calgary, so it was really nice to meet someone from Canada. 

The streets were blocked off every which way.  Access to normal routes were out of the question, but our driver was amazing and only took about 25 minutes to get us to the Village.  My start was not till 8:27, so 6:30 was a decent time to arrive. 

The transition zone was buzzing, and I got to my bike to get my drinks ready – I didn’t see any water anywhere, so I was happy I’d premixed my carb drinks.  I wanted to pump up my front tire and had to wait a few minutes to get that done. 

We didn’t have access to our bike bag or run bag on race morning, so didn’t have to worry about that.  I got my chews and bars installed in my bike pouch.  I was ready to walk down to the swim start, ten minutes away from the bike transition. 

This was confusing – barricades all over the place and access to the swim start was only through one of the channels. 

I won’t say anything about the porta potties because they were gag-worthy, but you can read all about it on Facebook. 

At the swim start, it was equally confusing with access only through certain barricades.  I was getting my steps!

Got in my suit and put my morning bag in the cart – they were lugging them back to the Village by pulling large carts, by hand!

I was with all the other yellow caps, and the nice thing about being in this age group is how friendly everyone is.  I guess we all appreciate the guts it took to get to the race in the first place. 

The Swim

This is where the wind and sea conspired to make sure the athletes knew that anything can be a special challenge on race day.  The swells were magnificent – not the chop type we get at Britannia Beach, but big swells.  It was very hard and very exciting at the same time.  I wore my neoprene cap, and was glad about that because they reported the water temp as 17.5 – didn’t swallow any water either. 

Sighting was a bit of a challenge because of the sun, but there were lots of people ahead of me to follow.  The wind and waves were pushing me away from the straight buoy lines, and I had to muscle to get back with the pack at least four times.  I tried speeding up my stroke cadence, and that helped. 

After what seemed like a long time, I was finally climbing out of the water.  It was a slow time, but I didn’t care.  I did it! And looking at the swim times for others, I guess everyone found the swim swells and wind a challenge.

I looked for the showers they said they had but didn’t see them so just grabbed my bag to get ready for the bike ride.

The Bike Ride

I felt great!

I didn’t realize how much climbing there was just to get out of town, but there it was.  Getting to Ojen required a lot of small chain ring and gears to get up to that point, but it was not too bad and not building up the lactic acid like I thought it would be.  It really was that some of the hills were extremely long and some were steep and then some were long with steep pitches added just for laughs. 

However, the wind.  Headwind and cross wind.  I could have used an extra ten or fifteen pounds to deal with the cross wind.  I wobbled like nobody’s business, and so did many of the other athletes on the course.  Yes, some seemed to glide by careening downhill like it was a piece of cake.  Gotta work on this, but my time in the GPark did help with some of the long downhill stretches. 

My triceps, erectors and core were letting me know that downhills also require a certain strength – something else I will keep working on. 

Overall, I would pass people going up the hills and some would pass me on the downhills.  But I did manage to pass quite a few folks on the downhills as well – it was a very difficult bike course and I am positively chuffed with what I accomplished.  Everyone seems to have a different count for elevation gained, but Ironman said it was over 1800 meters of climbing, and I believe them.

I can’t leave this section without talking about the fuel – I followed the plan:  ate and drank at times I planned.  I mean, I ate everything in my pouch and drank all my bottles.  I tried to use one of the bottles they were handing out, but they were too big for my bike frame.  Damn.  I grabbed a plain water bottle and had a sip and spray, but overall, I had my full bullet in front plus two bottles on the frame.  My mouth was dry, but I wasn’t sure if that was because I had my mouth open going downhill, or if I was thirsty. 

The Run

The transition zone to drop off the bike was a large underground parking garage.  It was so dark in there but there were nice volunteers to help direct you.  And even though they said we would not have a valet, once you got to your spot, volunteers did take the bike from you to rack it.  That was so nice. 

I changed and checked the tape on my foot – looked good, so changed socks and wanted to find a bathroom – gag. 

Off I went.  I knew I took longer in the bike transition. 

I checked my pace and thought that I would have to keep the pace down if I wanted to make it upright to the end – but I felt so good.  I had extra gels and a smallish handheld bladder to fill with electrolyte or water.  At the first station, I filled it with electrolyte and drank water at the other stations till my little handheld ran out.  I think I filled it three or four times.  That meant stopping a bit, but no more than one minute or so. 

I had a gel every 30 minutes and I grabbed banana chunks and two oranges slices along the way too. 

First half of the run really motivated me – I felt great.  Nothing hurt and though I was much slower than many of the runners, I knew I was running on the same course as the best age groupers in the world, so I was happy. 

When we got to the part where we must run around two little lighthouses on a breaker, I thought it was boring, but it was only about a total of 2k – then a loop back to the second lap. 

The second lap was fine, and though I was slowing a bit to eat/drink at the stations, I still felt strong.  When I once again got to the lighthouse loops, I really want to walk a bit but bargained with myself that I would run 5 minutes and then walk fast for one minute – then I would run 4 minutes and then walk a minute.  By the time I did that, I was back on the big loop and the crowds were cheering me on by name so I had not choice but to run as fast as I could!  Finally, I reached the Finish zone and that was it!! I couldn’t believe I had the run I did after the bike ride.  Proud is an understatement. 

The Finish Line

Volunteers gathered me up and gave me a medal, hat, towel and even a big hug, which was so appreciated.  I sat in the recovery tent for a few minutes and called hubby to let him know I would take a few minutes to recover and then would go gather my gear before heading back to the condo. 

Had a wonderful dinner out and then a solid sleep.  No waking up in the middle of the night!

Till next time.