If you're racing in St Kilda this November, you picked a course that sells itself as flat and fast, and on a calm morning it lives up to the billing. The problem is that calm mornings in a Melbourne spring are never a sure thing. Beach Road hugs the edge of Port Phillip Bay for the entire bike leg with nothing between you and the water, and the out and back layout guarantees you'll ride straight into whatever the wind is doing for half of every lap. Riders who read a tailwind stretch as proof of good legs usually find out otherwise on the way back north, and then they still have a shadeless half marathon to run along the beach.
Race Overview
Melbourne's history with IRONMAN goes back further than the 70.3. From 2012 to 2015 the city hosted the full distance IRONMAN Asia-Pacific Championship, a point to point race that swam at Frankston, rode the EastLink tollway, and ran the bay all the way to St Kilda. The first edition's 1,500 entries sold out in about five minutes, Craig Alexander won the inaugural men's race, and the event was dropped from the calendar ahead of 2016.
IRONMAN brought racing back to St Kilda with the 70.3, announced in late 2019 for a November 2020 debut. The pandemic pushed the first edition to March 2022, and the race settled into its November slot later that same year. It drew more than 1,700 athletes by 2023 and has attracted a strong professional field from the start. Steve McKenna and Ellie Salthouse won in November 2022, New Zealand's Hayden Wilde and Amelia Watkinson took the 2023 titles, and Sam Osborne and Salthouse won in 2024.
For 2026, the race is set for Sunday, November 8, with the race village and finish in Catani Gardens, about 6 kilometers from the Melbourne CBD. It doubles as a Triathlon Victoria state championship, and past editions have offered qualifying slots to the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, so check the 2026 athlete guide for the allocation toward Chattanooga in 2027.
Course Description
The swim is a single 1.9km lap in Port Phillip Bay with a rolling start in front of the St Kilda Sea Baths. The course heads a short way west, turns south toward St Kilda Marina, then swings west and back north, passing under St Kilda Pier before finishing in front of Catani Gardens. Water temperature usually sits around 18°C (64°F), so plan on a wetsuit. The bigger question is whether the swim happens as planned. Choppy, cold conditions shortened it in 2023, and in 2025 rain and wind cancelled it outright, turning the race into a bike and run. Train for the swim, but have a plan for a duathlon too.
Out of T1, riders head north briefly before turning south onto Beach Road, the stretch of bayside tarmac that Melbourne cyclists treat as home turf. The route runs down the coast past Brighton, Sandringham, Black Rock, Half Moon Bay and Beaumaris to a turnaround near the Mordialloc Life Saving Club, then comes all the way back to St Kilda and turns just north of Catani Gardens for lap two. Roads are fully closed. Elevation is modest, with GPX based estimates landing around 1,100 feet of total gain for the 90km and nothing steeper than about 5 percent, most of it on short rises where the road climbs above the water around Black Rock and Beaumaris. Aid stations sit roughly 14km and 36km into each lap.
That profile is why so many people call this a PR course, and on a still day it is. After winning here in 2022, McKenna said riders could soft pedal and still hold 40 km/h, then added that the field got lucky with no wind. That's the whole story of this bike leg. The road follows the shoreline the entire way, so a breeze off the bay hits you broadside or head on, and the out and back design means the speed you gain heading one direction gets paid back heading the other. Your power target should not change just because your speed does.
The run is two clockwise laps for the full 21.1km. Athletes head south on Pier Road to the Bay Trail, run the length of St Kilda Beach to a turnaround just past Elwood Beach, then come back north toward the city skyline. It's flat, it's fast, and it's almost entirely exposed to the sun and the wind coming off the water. The finish runs down a palm lined chute into Catani Gardens, with the crowds that make this one of the better spectator races in Australia.
Forecasted Weather
Early November in Melbourne sits in late spring, and the city's reputation for four seasons in a day is earned. Daytime highs typically land around 70°F, with temperatures at the dawn start closer to the low 50s. Rain shows up on roughly a third of days this time of year, often arriving with cold fronts that can swing the wind from a warm northerly to a gusty southwesterly within a few hours. Spring is also one of the windier stretches of the Melbourne year, and Beach Road has no shelter from it. Water temperature in the bay usually stays near 64°F, comfortably in wetsuit territory. Watch the forecast through race week, and pay attention to wind direction more than temperature, since that's what decides which half of each bike lap costs you the most.
Why This Course Rewards a Best Bike Split Plan
Melbourne is flat enough that the course will never force you to ease off, and that's exactly the danger. A BBS race plan for the IRONMAN 70.3 Melbourne 2026 will:
- Set your power around the wind instead of the flat profile. On an out and back road along open water, the same watts produce very different speeds depending on which way you're facing. A plan built on your actual CdA and the forecast wind keeps you from chasing speed into a headwind or coasting a tailwind that should have been ridden steady.
- Account for conditions that change between laps. Melbourne spring weather can shift during a three hour bike leg, and a front moving through can flip which half of the loop is hard. A plan built for the forecast gives you a baseline for lap two instead of copying whatever lap one felt like.
- Protect the run you came here to post. The half marathon is flat, exposed and fast, the kind of course where a well paced bike turns into a big run split and an overcooked one turns into a long shuffle along the beach. A plan built for the full 70.3, not just the bike split, keeps enough in reserve to use it.
- Keep your numbers if the swim gets cut. When a swim is cancelled, the race usually starts as a time trial on the bike, and the instinct is to ride harder because there's less to do. A plan set in advance reminds you that the bike and run are still the same distance, and your legs don't know the swim was skipped.
Interactive Race Plan and Course Map
This power plan was modeled for an athlete with an average CdA of 0.3162, an FTP of 250 watts and weighing 165 lbs. Want to see what your time would be on the 2026 IM 70.3 Melbourne course? Try the Time Analysis feature below, where you can quickly adjust Drag, Power, Weight and Crr to your own values. Check out our demo race plan to see what a premium race plan looks like.
Alert!
To view Advanced Surface Conditions please update this race and use the Advanced Surface Conditions feature under Course Surface Conditions.
Read more about the Advanced Surface Conditions chart on the FAQs page.
| Interval | Int. Time | Total Time | Int. Dist. | Total Dist. | Grade | Speed | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 00:33:32 | 00:33:32 | 10.35 mi | 10.35 mi | +0.15 % | 18.51 mph | 217 w |
| #2 | 00:05:23 | 00:38:55 | 1.73 mi | 12.08 mi | -0.39 % | 19.23 mph | 198 w |
| #3 | 00:01:31 | 00:40:26 | 0.56 mi | 12.64 mi | -1.70 % | 21.90 mph | 130 w |
| #4 | 00:04:02 | 00:44:29 | 1.60 mi | 14.24 mi | +0.74 % | 23.73 mph | 193 w |
| #5 | 00:00:59 | 00:45:28 | 0.43 mi | 14.67 mi | -1.71 % | 26.50 mph | 75 w |
| #6 | 00:00:48 | 00:46:17 | 0.28 mi | 14.95 mi | +1.60 % | 20.66 mph | 247 w |
| #7 | 00:00:42 | 00:46:59 | 0.25 mi | 15.20 mi | -1.69 % | 20.89 mph | 106 w |
| #8 | 00:08:28 | 00:55:27 | 2.40 mi | 17.60 mi | -0.11 % | 17.02 mph | 216 w |
| #9 | 00:00:12 | 00:55:40 | 0.07 mi | 17.67 mi | -2.64 % | 20.93 mph | 23 w |
| #10 | 00:01:51 | 00:57:31 | 0.60 mi | 18.27 mi | +1.53 % | 19.24 mph | 248 w |
| #11 | 00:04:57 | 01:02:29 | 1.78 mi | 20.05 mi | +0.37 % | 21.55 mph | 208 w |
| #12 | 00:08:14 | 01:10:44 | 3.24 mi | 23.29 mi | -0.31 % | 23.57 mph | 169 w |
| #13 | 00:00:21 | 01:11:05 | 0.15 mi | 23.44 mi | -1.29 % | 24.65 mph | 38 w |
| #14 | 00:44:10 | 01:55:16 | 14.96 mi | 38.40 mi | +0.11 % | 20.32 mph | 203 w |
| #15 | 00:05:21 | 02:00:37 | 1.73 mi | 40.13 mi | -0.38 % | 19.34 mph | 195 w |
| #16 | 00:01:32 | 02:02:09 | 0.56 mi | 40.69 mi | -1.65 % | 21.74 mph | 130 w |
| #17 | 00:04:05 | 02:06:15 | 1.60 mi | 42.29 mi | +0.74 % | 23.46 mph | 195 w |
| #18 | 00:01:08 | 02:07:24 | 0.49 mi | 42.78 mi | -1.58 % | 25.81 mph | 100 w |
| #19 | 00:00:40 | 02:08:04 | 0.21 mi | 42.99 mi | +2.33 % | 18.73 mph | 268 w |
| #20 | 00:00:45 | 02:08:49 | 0.25 mi | 43.24 mi | -1.72 % | 19.97 mph | 117 w |
| #21 | 00:03:03 | 02:11:53 | 0.93 mi | 44.17 mi | +0.82 % | 18.28 mph | 235 w |
| #22 | 00:05:06 | 02:16:59 | 1.44 mi | 45.61 mi | -0.70 % | 16.93 mph | 198 w |
| #23 | 00:00:11 | 02:17:10 | 0.07 mi | 45.68 mi | -2.31 % | 21.55 mph | 34 w |
| #24 | 00:01:48 | 02:18:59 | 0.60 mi | 46.28 mi | +1.50 % | 20.07 mph | 245 w |
| #25 | 00:01:35 | 02:20:34 | 0.58 mi | 46.86 mi | -0.99 % | 21.71 mph | 155 w |
| #26 | 00:03:12 | 02:23:46 | 1.21 mi | 48.07 mi | +1.04 % | 22.60 mph | 228 w |
| #27 | 00:00:31 | 02:24:18 | 0.22 mi | 48.29 mi | -1.56 % | 24.72 mph | 61 w |
| #28 | 00:01:09 | 02:25:28 | 0.48 mi | 48.77 mi | -1.07 % | 24.66 mph | 137 w |
| #29 | 00:06:45 | 02:32:13 | 2.66 mi | 51.43 mi | -0.07 % | 23.64 mph | 180 w |
| #30 | 00:00:20 | 02:32:33 | 0.15 mi | 51.58 mi | -1.29 % | 25.44 mph | 30 w |
| #31 | 00:11:06 | 02:43:40 | 4.62 mi | 56.20 mi | -0.04 % | 24.94 mph | 171 w |
| Totals/Avg | 02:43:40 | 02:43:40 | 56.17 mi | 56.17 mi | -0.40% | 20.59 mph | 197.27 w |
No Categorized Climbs Found
To determine the category of a climb, we check if the grade is greater than or equal to 3.0% and if the climb distance is greater than or equal to 300 meters. If these conditions are met, the climb is considered significant, and its score is calculated.
Build your own personalized 2026 IM 70.3 Melbourne power plan today! Sign up for a free Athlete Basic account to get started with your athlete profile and bike setup, then grab the 2026 IM 70.3 Melbourne course to model your own race plan.
2026 IM 70.3 Melbourne FAQs
Your target power depends on your FTP, body weight, bike setup, and finish time goal — not a generic number that applies to every rider. The variables that matter most are your current fitness, your aerodynamic position, and the specific demands of the 2026 IM 70.3 Melbourne course. The best approach is to build a personalized plan in Best Bike Split using your actual athlete profile — you'll get a segment-by-segment power target based on your specific inputs rather than a one-size-fits-all recommendation.
Every course is different and requires its own unique pacing plan. On a multi-loop course, fatigue and wind shift between laps and what felt comfortable early can become unsustainable later. On an out-and-back, headwind in one direction becomes tailwind in the other — an asymmetry a flat power target can't account for. On a point-to-point or single-loop course, you only get one pass at every section with no opportunity to recalibrate. When you create a Best Bike Split race plan for 2026 IM 70.3 Melbourne, we model the specific demands of that course so your pacing strategy reflects the race you're actually doing.
Significantly — and the effect varies depending on the course profile. On flatter courses, wind and aerodynamics become the dominant variables in your speed equation, more so than on courses where gradient naturally dictates effort. On climbing-heavy courses, your power-to-weight ratio and how you manage the descents matter most. A Best Bike Split race plan lets you model the specific conditions forecasted for 2026 IM 70.3 Melbourne, so your targets reflect what you'll actually face on race day rather than what the course looks like on paper.
It depends on the course and how well you pace it. Flat, fast courses offer genuine PR potential but only if you execute correctly — without terrain to naturally regulate your effort, going out too hard early is easy and costly. Technical or hilly courses reward smart segment-by-segment pacing over raw fitness. Either way, a physics-based race plan from Best Bike Split gives you a realistic split prediction based on your actual profile so you know before race day what a well-executed bike leg looks like for you specifically.
Yes — and this is one of the most underused features. Once you've built your 2026 IM 70.3 Melbourne race plan, you can export it directly to Zwift, TrainerRoad, or any ERG-mode trainer for indoor sessions, or push it to your Garmin, Wahoo, or Karoo for outdoor rides. Training on your actual race plan means you arrive at 2026 IM 70.3 Melbourne already knowing what your target effort feels like at every section of the course — not just what the number says on paper.
