This is a beautiful location for a 70.3 and with lots of accommodation and things to do right in the vicinity makes it very family-friendly. The course is lovely - a sea swim in the Atlantic (prepare for rolling waves even on a calm day), a stunning bike course with amazing views and locations and a very well supported and pretty run course. It is the classic Ironman machine - well organised but constantly looking to get your money. The racing tip would be that transition is complex, but fine when you get your head around it. So definitely attend the briefing, even if you have done a lot of races. The areas for improvement would be: - there are no toilets at the start (and most people need the toilet before the start with all of the hanging around for the swim practice, lining up etc) - it is focused on men. There are no female fit T-shirts (and mine really does not fit). In the briefing there were constant remarks like: 'don't sleep with your wife, sleep with your chip', 'you won't be able to shop the merchandise during the event, so give your wife your credit card' and 'don't just follow the fellow in front'. - the finish tent with the food is lovely, but overwhelmingly hot - such that you want to get out as fast as possible as you are increasing your dehydration! - it is a crammed course, so there is no way to avoid some drafting on the bike, and everyone is doing it. If that gets to you, don't do this event

If you like participating in an event where the organizer gives a s*** about the athletes, Ironman Cascais is the perfect event for you! I did a relay in the 70.3 race in 2022 where I did the swimming and cycling part. At least that was the plan. But first of all I want to list all the good things about this event: 1. The location is great! OK, that´s it. Now about race day. You swim in a bay between all the boats. Not great, but OK. Despite the rolling start the swim was very crowded all the way. I´m an average swimmer, so I started somewhere in the middle of the pack, but it turned out, that this was way too far behind. Swimmers around me were much slower than me. Maybe that was also my mistake – certainly should have started further to the front. But with a rolling start I really did not expect that much traffic in the water. However, the traffic became much worse on the bike. I´m a much better cyclist that swimmer – and since I was not going to do the run, I was going much faster than all the athletes around me. At least I wanted to. The first 15 km of the bike course are mostly uphill. Only half of the road is closed, separated with pylons all the way. So I was trapped in a huge pack of cyclists. Drafting illegal? Pffff…. Passing? Most of the time not possible without going over to the other side of the pylons. I really did my best to be patient. But for me it felt more like a coffee ride than a race. So I admit that at some points I decided to cross the middle line to pass a few athletes (of course making sure that it is safe). After the hilly part of the course the road were a bit wider – but I didn´t get that far. After about 15 km, at the top of the hill, I changed to the big ring when my chain fell of and gut stuck between the frame and the crank. After I couldn´t get it out, I decided to give the pedal a hard push. It worked – the chain came out but was twisted. I could not continue the race – or go anywhere by bike. So I thought I wait on the side on the road. At one point there should be a car from the organizer come passing that can bring me anywhere. After a while a policemen came. I told him what happened and that I need to get back to Cascais somehow. He was talking to somebody on the phone. Since I don´t speak Portuguese I don´t know what he was talking about but was assuming he was calling for somebody to pick me up. But he didn´t say anything. Which was probably because he didn´t really speak English. After a while I asked him if somebody is coming. At that point he seemed to understand what my problem is, because he said “I thought you need ambulance”. This is weird, because we were standing there for at least 15 minutes with no sign of an ambulance. And I was doing gymnastic exercises after I was getting cold after a while. I have no idea why a) he thought I need an ambulance and b) there was no ambulance although he apparently called for one. However… he left. A few minutes later another policemen came. Well, what can I say… he also spoke no English, so it was more or less the same procedure again. After standing there for about half an hour I noticed that I have to find a way to get back to Cascais by myself. At that point I should mention that while I was standing there for half an hour during the whole time it was basically one big pack of cyclists that passed. There is absolutely no way to avoid drafting. At least the organizer was very consistent about his “we don´t care about drafting” policy. Because there was not a single race official passing all the time. What I also would like to mention is that towards the end of my waiting time up there the pack of cyclists started thinning out a bit. And then the first pro triathletes from the Ironman distance race – which started a bit later – came buy. So for the next 75 km they would have to fight their way through all those 70.3 age groupers. No comment… OK, so I started to make my way back to Cascais. The first few kilometres were mainly downhill, so most of the time I could roll down either on the closed side of the road or later on on the pavement, making sure not to be in anybody´s way. I met a few race marshals who took pictures to make sure my DNF is documented. Did anybody ask, if I need some help? Maybe in Portuguese – not sure though. Later on I had to walk most of the time. I came to a point where I could not continue my way alongside the bike course without being in the way of still competing athletes. There was a road going down on the right-hand side, but I had no idea where it would lead me to. I didn´t want to roll down, only to find out I have to walk back up all the way. So I was standing there, not really having an idea what to do. When a young marshal came over who spoke English. Yeah! He called the race organizer and said somebody will come to pick me up. Then he left again. I was waiting for quite a while (don´t know anymore how long it really was) before he came back again. He was told to make pictures to make sure my DNF is documented. This really seemed to have quite a high priority for the race organizer. However, I asked if somebody is coming to pick me up. “I really don´t know”. Well, at least he was honest. And: on his mobile phone he showed me where the right turning road was leading to. So I found out I could go down there and get back on the bike course after a while. There was another hill in between to walk up, but hey, what is bad about a little walk on a sunny Sunday in Portuese suburbs? After a while I developed a technique to sit on the top tube and push my bike forward with one foot. That was a bit faster than walking, so that´s how I made most of my way back to transition. The marshals there were kind enough to let me enter the transition zone so I could tell my friend, there´s no need to run. He still did, since he was there already and kind of prepared. So I left transition zone. At that point my body was aching from the unconventional position on the top tube, I was hungry and dehydrated. So I thought I´ll walk to the finish area to get something to eat and to drink. To get there I had to get to the other side of the street, crossing the run course. Despite other people crossing the street 20 metres up the road, the marshal refused to let me cross here. Since I was “trapped” in a corner there, I also could not go over to the place where all the other people crossed the street. So they made me walk about half a kilometre down the street until the end of the barriers where I could cross the street, then same way back to the other side where I could now cross the run course to make my way to the finish area – which also was about half a kilometre from there. I was barefoot and most of the way was on cobbles, gravel, or hot tarmac. Did I mention that I was hungry and dehydrated? But I finally made it to the finish area. It was a completely closed tent. Which means that finishing athletes could not communicate with their friends or family who had to wait for them at the backside of the tent. It was pretty warm in there, not very comfortable and the food choice was quite limited – so I heard. Because entering through the backside entry was not allowed. On the side of the tent there was an ambulance where I met a young paramedic, who spoke English “a little bit”, so he said. I told him that I was in a relay, so I could not enter the finish area through the finishline. After speaking on the phone, he quoted the race organizer with “No finish, no finish area.” I didn´t tell him that I abandoned the race so he clearly didn´t understand that I was in a relay. But this is even worse. If you participate in a race like that you don´t abandon the race, because you´re lazy. A DNF means, you got a serious problem. Obviously, the race organizer doesn´t care, if athletes who paid a lot of money for this race have any problem. This was loud and clear. At his point for a moment I was thinking about faking a collapse to get some water at least. But then luckily I found my friend´s girlfriend who got me something to eat and to drink. Maybe Ironman Cascais is an OK race if you don´t have any problems. Cascais is a nice town and the start / finish location is really beautiful. But the rest of the course really isn’t worth going there. The crowded swim between the boats, the even more crowded bike course, most of which is a boring long straight alongside the coast really aren´t that spectacular. You do a lap on the Estoril racetrack – maybe that´s nice. I don´t know, I didn´t get that far. But there are definitely races with more scenic bike courses out there. The small part of the run course through the town might be nice, but what I was told the rest of the run course really isn´t. So as long as you don´t have any masochistic tendencies, IM Cascais really isn´t a race worth travelling to.

The city is gorgeous and a great place to put out a race; however, the organization is far from perfect.

This was my 7th Ironman race - I have done few in Brazil and in Mexico.

My main negative points are:

> Swimming - poor navigation. The beach is beautiful and the scenery is amazing but it lacks signs to smooth navigation. We swim among tiny boats and early in the morning' therefore, it's hard to see too far ahead. The "Big Yellow" marks on the water were actually too small to see from far out. It was a hard navigation!

> Bike - with 2.500+ people and only 90km to cycle it is impossible to stop an athlete from drifting. At one point we have 100+ cyclists in a big peloton riding like we were all in the Tour de France. I suggest they reduce the number of athletes in the race.

> Running - Ok. So you pay big money for the registration, you travel to Portugal, you rent a hotel, you have done a hard training and they will serve you generic warm temperature Coca Cola during the race. Come on.... Serve the athletes Coca Cola or Pepsi but not the no brand Cola so you can save up some few bucks... Every single drink was warm and there was no ice... Certainly the worst running conditions I have faced in an Ironman race.

Thanks RaceCheck for giving us a voice.

As an Ironman event all was as good as expected. 

Pre race info Plenty of good videos/content from the official Facebook page along with the usual info on the Ironman page. A transition map would have been a nice addition just to avoid those on site confirmation questions to volunteers.

Travel 20/25 mins from Lisbon airport so easy got to, rush hour traffic can sometimes double that though so depending on flight times best to keep it in mind. Race registration and expo located by the beach in the town centre with race transition this year being based at the hipodrome about a 15 min walk away. Registration and racking Usual Ironman swiftness, an AWA line at racking would have been a nice bonus though. With T1 being based at the Hipodrome it was a longer than normal run from the swim exit so they offered an optional yellow bag post swim to put on trainers or the run to the hipodrome. Some did and some didn't avail of it, the run was carpeted all the way so if doing it again I'd maybe not bother with it. Race day The White bag drop is close to the swim start and beach, bags self hanged and is the same post race area so you can get access to them right away after finishing. Swim course easily navigated with well laid out regular buoys to sight. There's a short steep hill immediately after the bike mount line so be sure to be in an easy gear or do as some did and just run up it as well before mounting at the top. With the flat out and back section to start with there's a bit of unavoidable drafting while things sort themselves out, all seemed pretty calm though and everyone recognising and being aware of people around them, plenty of wide roads to give room to pass etc. Packs started to dissipate on the way back after folks settled into their race plans and once the hills started. The lap of the Estoril race circuit was a bit of a novelty to break up the ride. The KOM/QOM stage is the main hill section with fairly steep gradients at times, nothing horrendously long though so hang in there and they'll soon be over. Run course Hilly and hot! :-) The hills aren't massive but with the out and back 2 lap nature you're never too far away from the next one. That and the heat on the day made for a tough day out there for some. Regular enough and well stocked aid stations to avail of, maybe sponges at a few more would have been good. Post race buffet (so good warrants mention) Oh man, the best post race buffet I've even availed of!! A seemingly endless supply of cold coke, chocolate doughnuts, muffins, sandwiches, tuna pasta and beer I do believe! Amazing! Well deserved reward for that tough run ;-) Would definitely do the race again, only real things to improve would be: - The long run to T1, probably not much can do about that and it wasn't really that bad, gives you time to gather your thoughts post swim. - Probably not possible but doing the bike course in reverse might negate the packs forming on the out and back section as the hills would be earlier. - Inclusion of a transition map in the race info (maybe I just missed it) - Being able to rack before the race briefing would have saved 2 trips to the hipodrome

A really great event, typical Ironman razzmatazz and great organisation throughout. The venue is incredible, best sea swim ever in a safe and natural harbour. Best bike course ever, challenging hills, great coastline, small mountain, F1 track and nice villages, gorgeous. Run was a bit boring along a main road and back, twice, few nasty hills thrown in. Great event strongly recommend.

I was very impressed by how well this race was run given it was the first edition, and really suprised that it managed to sell out so the organisers certainly had their plate full having to accomodate almost 2,000 athletes with half of those first timers. 

Cascais is a beautiful and charming small town just a 25min drive from Lisbon airport, cab costs around 40 euros and would suggest you pre-book (google taxi cascais) so you don't have to line up. I stayed at an airbnb and as long as you stay in town then you're pretty much within walking distance to everywhere, including all race related venues. The food is fantastic, people very warm and friendly, quite a touristy town so no problem with English. 

Swim - not very easy to navigate, lots of boats in the bay and hard to see the buoys, and that's with very calm conditions, worth making a mental note of large landmarks inland to use as sighting targets. Australian exit a bit pointless in my view. Water temp around 20-21 so no problems, not much visibility in the water. Swim exit slippery so many thanks to volunteers helping us get out in one piece. 

Transition smooth but quite a long run on what was rough cement at times so caution is needed if you decide to run barefoot all the way to the mounting line. Bike was super fast for the first 50kms, beautiful coastal road on great road surface (apart from a few cobble sections at roundabouts). Drafting an issue but people just need to realize it's impossible to avoid with such a large number of people coming out the water at similar times, almost pointless complaining about it these days. After 50kms we entered the hilly section and soon enough we did a loop around Estoril race course which was a nice touch, still very hilly so no chance to give the legs a rest. Once out of the race course we continued climbing and entered the national park where more hills waited. Once the hill section was done with we had a nice long descent, not too technical which meant there's little need to break even if descending is not your strong point. Once on the coastal road for the last 10kms wind is usually on your back, making a very fast ride back into town. I absolutely loved the bike course, has something for everyone and the scenery is spectacular. Not a PB leg for sure but nothing to really dread either. 

On to the run which was NOT flat. There's 3 hills on each lap which means you need to go up then down 6 times in each lap. Unless mistaken, in total there were 14 climbs and 14 descents. First lap not really an issue but following such a tough bike ride the downhills especially took their toll on the quads for the second lap. Aid stations very well stocked and support amazing all throughout. Not too hot or windy, probably around 26 degrees and dry. An honest run course which if paced properly allowed for a good time. 

Food at the finish not that great and we actually had to line up for 10mins or so to get our finishers t-shirt. Having said that it's probaby one of the most nicely deisgned finisher tshirts ive received! But seriously, lining up is the last thing you want to be doing after a hard 5hrs..  Also, it may have made more sense to have the street gear bags closer to the finish tent so that you don't have to walk all the way back to transition (a 15-20min uphill walk from the finish). That would also allow people to spend a bit more time around the finish area. 

I didn't attend the post-race events so no comments there.

All in all I would definitely do this race again, the warmth of the people, the uniqueness of the course, the meditteranean climate, great food, proximity to major airport and easy logistics along with walking distance everywhere make this a really really great event. More importantly, you could really feel that the organisers pulled out all the stops to make this a special event for athletes, so I'm really looking forward to see how they can further improve on an already great race. I suspect this race will sell out fast for 2018 so dont leave til last minute. 

This is a properly challenging half Ironman race, whcih will not lend itself to a stellar PB, as the bike course has a concentrated climb over 15/20km, and the run is not the usual flat and fast. The run is quite up and down, and pace and energy sapping - just as it should be. It leaves you knowing that you have taken on a great challenge. Even the sea swim is cold and though quite flat has a little bit of a swell once you are out of the harbour area. 

The local crowd support is good, as is the set up overall - though I was disappointed not to see beer in the finishing tent - afterall the thought keeps me going through the run. Marshalling and so forth is very good, and everyone volunteering had a smile on their face. 

Highlights for me included cycling around the Estoril grand prix circuit, and the interesting ride dynamics up into the hills and trees. 

Only negative was the change in racking - moving from the Saturday to race morning, under the pretext that it was gonig to be windy. It wasnt at all windy, and I suspect Ironman were behind schedule in setting up. Though that said it was the first race in Cascais, and will always have a few teething problems...and I find racking on race day easier personally.

Great race, and well worth taking on.