Course Description
Lake James State Park:
The race will take place at the beautiful new Lake James State Park – located about 40 miles east of Asheville and about 65 miles northwest of Charlotte along I-40 (near Marion, NC).
There is lots of parking right at the main race site – one of the really nice amenities that we enjoy in staging these events at North Carolina State Parks.
Course Descriptions:
Swim:
The swim for the Lake James International takes place in beautiful Lake James. Lake James is situated in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and features beautiful clear water.
The triangular shaped swim course will start and finish on the beach.
This will be a 2-loop swim.
Following lap 1, participants will exit the water and run about 20 yards down the beach and then re-enter the lake for the start of lap 2.
This will be a time trial start - with participants starting the race every couple of seconds.
Participants can start where they want (up front for faster swimmers - in the back for more timid swimmers) and with whom they want to start the race with (fathers & sons, buddies, etc.)
A water temperature will be posted on Thursday of race week.
Bike:
The 40K bike course basically encircles Lake James. The transition area sits at an elevation of about 1200 feet above sea level. The bike course reaches a maximum elevation of about 1450 feet, so there won’t be any major climbs on this course, but there will be a few pretty good “hills” to negotiate. The biggest climbs will be inside the park. The road surfaces are good and traffic is light.
Run:
The 10K run course is an “out & back” design comprised of two loops. The run course begins at an elevation of about 1200 feet and reaches a maximum elevation of about 1350 feet. The entire run course stays inside Lake James State Park and does not venture out onto public roads. The entire surface is asphalt.
