Had a great ride and run today on the Ironbull Wausau Short Course Triathlon, and thought I’d give my opinion of the course.

Starting out at Bluegill park in the heart of Rib Mountain, the ride climbs a bit back out towards Rib Mountain Road. Crossing through this heavily traffic area can take a bit if you hit it at the wrong time, so it is best to start your ride early.

Once past Rib Mountain Dr, it’s a really nice ride through a quiet neighborhood, back out across NN and down a little bike path. The crossing again, can take a little time.

From this point, you’ll jump onto 17th, taking that north for quite awhile. To be honest this was my least favorite part, just due to the amount of traffic. Again, getting out for an early ride is the best bet here. There’s a pretty decent climb next to The Plaza hotel, and then you’ll get some great speed heading down the other side.

North of Bridge St, the traffic lightens quite a bit, and once you’re up to U the course really starts to get fun. The ride through Westwood and around the hospital has some great climbs, and that area was quite fun.

Heading back South towards the start/finish, there’s a bike path that you can hop on too, allowing even more separation from traffic. Heading down R is a great little ride, and once under the tunnel, and onto the bike path heading back North may have been my favorite part. I’ve run this bit many times, and you do need to look out for runners / walkers, but it is quite beautiful through there.

From the trail, you get back onto Oriole and then it’s a quick crossing of Rib Mountain Dr again, then back to transition.

The run was quite nice, well marked double loop through the park. Picturesque and shaded throughout. It was really nice running next to the lake for the majority of the run. Look for the orange tape on trees for where to go. There are a number of Ironbull signs throughout as well, easy to follow.

I hope you’ll give the course and race a chance, you can sign up at Ironbull’s website.

Thank you to Chris P. for riding with me and helping with some drone photography!