Reasonable easy to get to, with the event centred around the Yoho hotel. Definitely best to book at the Yoho as it's not particular expensive and it where all the action is.

Swim: In the ocean, and can be a bit of swell.

Bike: Good bike course around the coast area.

Run: Mostly flat and long the coast.

Overall: A great event and one of the best in Asia. A good event to try and qualify for the World Championships and the roll down is pretty good.

IM70.3 Taiwan is a race normally affected by strong winds and this is why rear disc wheels are not allowed. The event takes place in Kenting at the South part of the island which is approx. 90min by car from Kaohsiung airport. The main venue is Yoho hotel. This is where most activities take place (registration, expo, race briefing, carbo loading dinner, awards party). Yoho is approx. 20km from the transition area and race start. The race this year finished inside Yoho hotel. Early in the morning on race day there were shuttle buses to bring athletes to the start but after the race athletes had to make their own arrangements to return to the transition area to collect their bikes and other belongings. Athletes also had to make their own transport arrangements the previous day in order to check in their bikes (many of them chose to ride to the transition and return by taxi). Unfortunately this year the swim was cancelled due to the very bad weather conditions and was replaced by a 6km run which meant that the race became a Duathlon. There was heavy rain throughout the first run, the bike and the early stages of the second run. When the rain eventually stopped the humidity became unbearable and in the last few km of the half marathon it felt like running in a steam room. The bike course is mainly flat except for 2-3 hills out of which only 1 could be described as challenging (it's a 2 loop course so it's X2). The first half of the run is constantly up and down and only the second half is flat. There was plenty of drafting on the bike but the marshals didn't seem to care about it. Last but not least there were no spectators except right in front of Yoho hotel. Yoho is a bike friendly hotel with a whole section especially designed to accommodate cyclists with their bicycles. There is also a bike shop and a bike mechanic inside the hotel. Many other services are bellow average. The variety, taste and quality of food ,for example, during the race weekend was unacceptable. So was massage at the hotel spa for the amount of money they charged. It should also be noted that only a limited number of the hotel staff are able to communicate in English which makes check-in and check-out a rather difficult process for guests who do not speak Chinese. Non-Chinese speaking guests will find it almost impossible to order a meal at the restaurant, especially if they have special requests such as "less spicy" or "well done". In my case the receptionist on duty was summoned to take my order and when she came to the restaurant the first thing she said to me was "sorry, me no good English". I'm not sure if I would do this race again in the future.

The location of the event makes this an obvious choice for Asia based athletes, just 1hr flight from Hong Kong. This year the course was different to 2012, and the same as 2010-11. Unfortunately the swim was cancelled due to unfavourable weather conditions and we had strong winds and rain all throughout the bike and most of the run. The bike course is fairly flat apart from a couple steep hills but generally allows for fast times. What I was disappointed with was the quality of the road, zero marshall supervision and the apparent lack of awareness of the local community that there is a race going on that day (ex. cars were reversing out of their garages into the steep hill section of the bike) resulting in many close calls with traffic. The run course is mostly flat but nothing special, just running along a highway with pretty much zero support apart from the section near Yoho hotel. Volunteers, however, were great. The official race hotel (Yoho) is best to be avoided. The proximity to the finish and good bike facilities make it a good choice in terms of logistics (although you still need to find a way to go back to T2 and get your bike after the finish) but the food was horrible (bring your own) and the lack of English speaking staff somewhat frustrating. Not sure I will be doing this race again unless they go back to the 2012 course which from what I heard made for a much more enjoyable experience.

We arrived in Taipei a couple of days before the event knowing that a typhoon had rolled through the area a day or so before and fearing we might be in for some interesting weather. We spent a brief night in a Taipei hotel getting ready to head out on the bullet train to the soutern part of Taipei, on arrival at the station somewhere south of taipei we picked up a minibus and headed down to Kenting and the Yoho beach hotel (the official race hotel and a very surreal experience combining a kids hotel, beach resort and bike hote in one). The following day we went to rack our bikes, T1 was a bit of a schlep from the hotel requiring a 15 minute shuttle bus ride so we decided to ride there instead..... this experience only served to confirm what we suspected, the wind was howling and the current looked pretty strong, it seemed like the next day wasnt going to be the easiest race in the world. As the gun went off the following morning and we waded into the water iot was pretty apparent that keeping your line on the straight out and back swim was going to be tricky as the current was very stong. Exiting the water it was a fairly long (several hundred metres) jog up to T1 and then out on the bike hitting a long hillalmost immediately.... The bike course was as expected with a pretty steep hill you had to climb twice that was pretty hairy coming down after the turnaround with the steadily increasing winds hitting you from the side (i was thanking the triathlon gods i had left my disc in my room). Coming back into transition you came back down the same hill but this time with the wind screaming in your face, i was hammering it downhill and maybe doing 20-21 kph and actually rather vocally venting my frustration at my lack of progress. Onto the run course and you hit the said same hill straight away then ran up the coast over a rolling course before turning around and coming back on yourself to the finish at the hotel. All in all i actually quite like this race, the aid strations were plenty, the course tough but honest and the accommodation basic but pretty quirky. I'm lead to believe the course has changed somewhat since i have raced and from what i can see the changes would only serve to encourage me to go back. I finished 4th in my age group and easily qualified for Las Vegas and althoughthe standar of triathlete has improved it seems the slots regularyl roll down quite far so if you are after a pretty unique race in a great location with a good shot at qualifying for the world champs this could be just the race you are looking for. One other thing to note is that trhe cab ride back to the station probably stands as the single most terrifying event of my life with the driver taking numerous phonecalls on several different mobile phones all the while driving on the wrong side on the road one handed round blind corners.....