Event Description
The swim will take place in Larry and Penny's crystal clear lake. The swim portion is open all summer long for swimming. Participants will start on the North side of the beach and swim a .6 mile loop clockwise around the lake. International distance participants will swim 1 lap, while Half Iron participants will swim 1 lap, exit the water, run through the arch and across the scoring line, then re-enter the water and swim a 2nd lap. The swim course and the crystal clear lake were extremely popular with last year's participants as it was voted the 2nd best thing about the race, just edged out by the run course and followed by our volunteers.
The bike ride will go through farmland areas of unincorporated Miami-Dade county (the Redlands), all on paved roads of course, and will encounter very little vehicular traffic. The course will be well marked with arrows at each intersection both as signs on each stop sign and as arrows painted on the pavement. There will also be police controlling traffic at each intersection where riders would normally stop for a stop sign or traffic light and at each intersection where the course turns. Last year the event earned high praises for the excellent work by the police keeping the course safe and because there was so little traffic on the course, but remember that it is an open course, so you will see an occasional car on the road.
We've saved the best for last - the RUN! The first mile includes paved road and some hard packed dirt road that takes you through the back gate into Zoo Miami where you will run by various zoo animal exhibits.
At that point the run course goes down and back the beautiful palm tree lined Zoo Miami main entrance, then re-enters the Zoo at about the 4 mile mark for more animal exhibits. The run then goes through non-public areas of the zoo to another back entrance to Larry and Penny Park and from that point back to the finish area.
