New Bike Course for Next Years Ironman Australia

The 2023 event, to be held on Sunday 7 May, will feature new bike courses for both Ironman Australia and Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie races.

The bike course will feature a number of changes, designed to lessen the impact the event has on the Port Macquarie Hastings community, while also increasing enjoyment for athletes.

The 180km Ironman Australia bike course will take athletes to an area they haven’t been to for the event before, with riders heading west on Hastings River Drive and onto Winery Drive up to Blackmans Point interchange. Once out over the Pacific Highway, the course heads north using Telegraph Point Road, before making its way inland through the picturesque locations of Pembrooke and Redbank, turning around just outside of Wauchope.

Ironman athletes will traverse the new western section twice, then head back through the centre of Port Macquarie and onto the traditional course for one lap of a southern loop. Riders will head south via Pacific Drive with sweeping ocean views, adding in another new feature which loops athletes down to the iconic Tacking Point Lighthouse before riding as far south as Lake Cathie. Once at the turnaround they will return back up Ocean Drive, taking on the famous Matthew Flinders Drive climb before returning to transition.

For athletes contesting Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie, they’ll head south out of town as they have in the past, with a two lap course turning around at Lake Cathie and seeing athletes head up Matthew Flinders Drive twice.

The new bike course will take Ironman athletes onto roads they’ve never raced on before, adding a new element to an event that celebrated its 35^th anniversary this year.

A key component of the new bike course is that the only way to unlock tackling these new roads is to race the full Ironman event, with those taking on the 180km ride the only ones to head west on Hastings River Drive and into the rural section.