IRONMAN 70.3 Waco Race Guide: How to Race a Straight-Shot Swim, a Flat-Fast Bike, and a Two-Loop River Run
Waco is one of the fastest 70.3 courses in North America, and in 2026 it's faster still: the bike course has been revised flatter than last year with noticeably better road surfaces, and the 1.2-mile swim is a straight, point-to-point shot down the Brazos. Add a two-loop run that finishes on the oldest suspension bridge in the Southwest and you have a genuine personal-best course with one of the best finish lines in North American racing. The opportunity here is real. The key to taking it is knowing which parts of your speed on the day belong to the course, so you can pace off your own numbers and still have legs for the second run loop. Here's how to get the most out of it.
Waco 70.3 at a Glance
Date: Sunday, October 4, 2026
Location: Waco, Texas — downtown start and finish on the Brazos River
Swim: 1.2 miles, point-to-point, Pecan Bottom Park to Indian Springs Park
Bike: 55.8 miles, one loop, 1,009 ft of climbing through the Heart of Texas countryside
Run: 13.1 miles, two loops, 294 ft of gain along the Brazos through Cameron Park
Finish: on the Waco Suspension Bridge — the oldest suspension bridge in the Southwest
Reputation: fast, flat, spectator-friendly — a genuine PR and first-70.3 course
Wetsuit: this one sits right on the cusp most years — pack a wetsuit and a swimskin
New for 2026: the bike course has changed again, and both changes point the same way — it's flatter than last year, and the road surfaces are meaningfully better. Waco was already a fast course. This year it's faster.
This is NVDM's team race. Waco is one of the weekend's in the year where a big portion of the NVDM roster shows up in the same place — our biggest athlete field of the season, and many of our coaches on site. If you're racing it, you won't be racing it alone.
The Swim: Straightforward Water, and a Long Walk to the Start
The swim runs 1.2 miles down the Brazos from Pecan Bottom Park, finishing at Indian Springs Park beside the Waco Suspension Bridge. Point-to-point, moving with the river — and started, in a piece of theatre you won't get anywhere else, by the county sheriff firing a shotgun.
As open-water swims go, this is about as beginner-friendly as it gets. You head out, take a quick right, and then it's simply straight down the river to the finish. There are no complicated turns to manage and no buoy geometry to think about. Better still, the Brazos is narrow here, so it's genuinely hard to go badly off course — and if you do drift, you haven't gone far.
That shape also changes how you sight. Rather than hunting for buoys ahead, you can sight off the bank to your side and simply keep it a consistent distance away. For anyone who finds open water intimidating, that's a much easier task than a multi-turn lake course, and it's worth practicing in training so it feels automatic on race day.
On wetsuits: Waco sits right on the cusp nearly every year. Bring a wetsuit and a swimskin and be ready for the call to go either way. This is not a race to travel to with only one option in the bag.
Race Morning: Plan for the Walk
Here's the detail that catches out first-timers at Waco, and it's worth building your whole morning around: the swim start is roughly 1.2 miles from transition, and you walk it. Budget 15–20 minutes, and add margin on top — you do not want to be jogging that in the dark to make your start.
A few things that make that walk go smoothly:
Wear your run shoes for the walk and drop them at the start in your morning clothes bag. The toilets are all down at the swim start too, so you're not sacrificing anything by heading over early.
Carry water and sip it while you wait. You'll be standing around for a while before you get in, and in Texas that adds up. Arriving at the swim start already a little dehydrated is an easy thing to avoid.
Line up early. The entry into the water is narrow, so the queue matters more here than at most races — get there in good time to take the spot you actually want rather than the one you're left with.
Bring flip-flops. There are sticker burrs in the grass between the bags and the water. Once your run shoes are in the morning clothes bag, flip-flops save your feet — then leave them under a tree or drop them in a bin before you get in.
Athlete Takeaway: Execute a great swim following your RPE pre-race plan, and sight off the bank rather than hunting for buoys. Then set your bike effort off your power and heart-rate plan, not off the clock at T1. Leave yourself 20+ minutes for the walk to the start, with water in hand and flip-flops on your feet.
The Bike: Flat, Then Rolling, Then Genuinely Fast
The bike is a single 55.8-mile loop south out of Waco into the rolling countryside — silos, longhorns, open farm roads — with 1,009 feet of total climbing. For a 56-mile course, that is genuinely flat. There is no climb here worth the name.
But the elevation is not spread evenly, and that's the part worth planning around. The profile breaks into three distinct sections:
Roughly the first 15 miles: flat. You'll be moving quickly and it will feel easy.
Roughly miles 15–33: the rolling middle. Essentially all of the day's climbing lives here, as the course works gradually up to its high point around the middle third.
Roughly miles 35–56: flat and fast. After a short descent the course settles down
and runs quick all the way back to T2.
That shape is worth planning for, because the opening fifteen miles will show you speeds you rarely see in a race. That's the course, not a change in your fitness — so treat those numbers as a pleasant bonus and keep riding to your power plan.
Ride the whole thing on power, and keep a little in reserve through the middle third. The final twenty miles are where a well-paced athlete makes real time: flat, quick, and generous to legs that still have something in them. Save something for that stretch and you'll ride into T2 both faster and fresher.
Two Texas-specific factors. Wind matters more than elevation here — these are open, exposed farm roads with very little shelter, and on a windy day the direction you're facing will affect your speed far more than the terrain does. Never chase a speed number at Waco; ride the watts. And the road surfaces are noticeably better this year, part of a course revision that has also made it flatter and straighter. That's free speed for everyone, which is precisely why it's not a reason to ride harder.
Athlete Takeaway: Enjoy the quick opening fifteen miles, but hold your power plan through them. Keep something in reserve for the rolling middle third, then spend it on the fast final twenty and arrive at T2 ready to run.
The Run: Two Loops, Historic Bridges, and 294 Feet You Didn't Plan For
The half marathon is two loops along the Brazos, running from Brazos Park East up toward Cameron Park and back, crossing Waco's historic bridges along the way, and finishing on the Waco Suspension Bridge — the oldest suspension bridge in the Southwest, with the Chisholm Trail's bronze cowboys and longhorns watching you come in. It is one of the genuinely great finish lines in North American racing.
Two things to plan for. First, the 294 feet of gain. That is not a hilly run, but it is not the pancake some athletes assume from "riverside course" either — it's gently rolling, with the bridge approaches and the Cameron Park end of the loop providing repeated small changes in grade. On fresh legs you'd never notice. At mile 10 of a 70.3, on a warm afternoon, you will. Run those by effort, not pace: let the pace drift a few seconds where it rises and take it back on the way down, instead of grinding to hold an even split.
Second, a good portion of the run is on concrete path. That's a firmer surface than most of us do our long runs on, and legs that have only trained on asphalt and treadmill will feel it in the back half. This is a genuinely trainable thing — build some of your long runs and brick runs on concrete in the weeks beforehand so your legs arrive prepared for it rather than meeting it fresh on race day.
Third, the two-loop format means you'll pass close to the finish before you're finished. That's much easier when you're expecting it, so picture it in advance and have a cue ready for that moment — most athletes find it becomes a lift rather than a low once they've planned for it.
On heat: the course does run through genuinely shaded sections — Cameron Park and the river trail are the nicest running in Waco, and the race markets that shade for good reason. But this is still Central Texas in early October, the exposed stretches are properly exposed, and your second loop lands in the warmest part of the day. Plan for warm and be pleasantly surprised if it isn't.
Athlete Takeaway: Run loop one deliberately controlled — roughly 10–15 seconds per mile slower than your flat-course goal pace — and take aid from the first station. Waco's run pays back the patience you showed on the bike, and loop two is where you collect.
Fueling and Heat: An October Race in Texas
Early October in Central Texas can deliver a beautiful, mild morning or a genuinely warm afternoon — and your race plan has to be robust to both. The swim is early and the bike has airflow; the run is where heat actually bites, on the second loop, in the middle of the day, on the exposed stretches between the shaded park sections.
Build your plan around that reality. Fuel and hydrate deliberately from the first mile of the bike rather than waiting to feel like you need it — by the time you feel behind in the heat, you are. Use the fast, flat run-in to T2 to top up before the run, because taking on fluid is easier at controlled effort on the bike than it is running bridges at mile 10.
NVDM Coaching Sponsor: Long, warm days are exactly when a repeatable fueling plan earns its keep. RAW Fuel from Raw Nutrition provides 25g of carbohydrate from a glucose + fructose blend and 300mg of sodium per serving, which makes it straightforward to hit a consistent hourly carbohydrate target on the bike and carry it into the run. Whatever you use, rehearse it in training at race intensity — Waco's run is not the place to try something new.
Athlete Takeaway: Front-load your fueling on the bike, especially in the fast final miles into T2. The Waco run gives you fewer chances to catch up than the profile suggests.
Race Week Logistics
Downtown Waco is compact — the finish, transition areas, and much of the race-week activity sit close together near the Suspension Bridge and Indian Springs Park. Staying central makes race morning far simpler.
The swim is point-to-point, and the walk to the start is 1.2 miles. Plan 15–20 minutes on foot, bring water, and drop your run shoes in the morning clothes bag at the start. Toilets are all down there.
Drive or ride part of the bike course if you can — particularly the rolling middle third around miles 15–33, so you know what the only real terrain on the course feels like.
Waco is a drivable race for most of Texas, which is part of why it's one of our team races — but book accommodation early, because race weekend fills the city.
The run is spectator-gold. Two loops along the river with multiple bridge crossings means supporters can see you repeatedly. Tell your people where to stand.
Confirm These in the Official Athlete Guide
Cutoffs, start procedures, and on-course products are set by the race organization and published in the official athlete guide. They change between years, and they matter too much to take from any blog — including this one. Before you finalize your plan, confirm:
Your start time and the swim start procedure
Swim, bike, and overall cutoffs
Wetsuit determination — river temperature in early October can land either side of the age-group legal limit
Which nutrition and hydration brands are on course, so you can train with them or carry your own
Transition layout, bike check-in times, and special-needs availability
Athlete Takeaway: Never build a fueling plan around assumed on-course products, and never assume last year's cutoffs carry over. Confirm from the official guide, then rehearse what you'll actually use.
The NVDM Race Execution Plan
Leave 20+ minutes for the 1.2-mile walk to the swim start. Run shoes on, water in hand, flip-flops for the grass.
Swim relaxed and sight off the bank. Out, quick right, then straight — it's hard to go wrong here.
Ride the opening 15 flat miles to your plan. Enjoy the speed; keep the numbers you trained with.
Keep something in reserve through the rolling middle third (≈ miles 15–33). That's where all 1,009 feet live.
Fuel from mile one of the bike. Warm second-loop running is the reason.
Ride the watts, not the speedometer. Wind moves your speed here more than terrain does.
Use the fast final 20 miles well. Spin, flush the legs, arrive at T2 ready to run.
Run loop one 10–15 sec/mile slower than goal pace. Earn loop two, and race it.
Bottom Line — What This Means For You
Waco has earned its reputation as a fast course, and in 2026 — flatter, smoother, and as approachable a swim as you'll find — it's the best version of itself yet. The athletes who get the most from it are simply the ones who race their own numbers while the course adds its speed on top. Give yourself time for the walk to the start. Execute your swim with calm and purposeful sighting off the bank. Ride the watts rather than the speedometer, and keep something for the fast final twenty. Fuel early, because the run can be warm. Start the half marathon controlled and let loop two be the one you race. Do that and Waco will give you the personal best it's known for — and a finish on the oldest suspension bridge in the Southwest that's worth every mile of it.
Racing Waco with us this year — or thinking about your first 70.3? Waco is one of NVDM's team races: our biggest field of the season, our coaching staff on site, and athletes at every level from first-timers to World Championship qualifiers. Set up a call with us now, and we will help you be ready for your best race day!
