Race Hub · First-timer's guide
IRONMAN 70.3 Switzerland
Sunday 6 June 2027, Rapperswil-Jona on Lake Zurich. A swim in the clear Obersee, a two-lap 85km bike with one serious climb each lap, and a run through the medieval old town, along the lake and up the famous stairway to heaven. Here's the real course, and a pacing plan built against its actual elevation, not a flat-or-hilly guess.
The Bike Course
Two laps, and each asks the same question.
After a fast opening along the lake, each lap climbs about 100m, catches its breath, then keeps climbing for close to 7km and 275m up to the course high point at 742m. That is 1,028m of climbing across 85.1km on the official GPX, concentrated into two sustained efforts around km13 and km54. We pace you against the elevation from the official IRONMAN bike GPX: ride the first climb at a power you can repeat, because the second lap does not care how good the first one felt.
Pacing Calculator
How do your numbers stack up right now?
Built for first-timers. You don't need to know your FTP. A couple of honest inputs and we'll model your day against the real Switzerland course.
Your Critical Swim Speed. We add for open water & wetsuit.
Don't know your CSS? Click HereUsed with your weight for a power-to-weight read. Not stored anywhere.
Average km/h on a recent long ride, of similar race distance and terrain, at race pace effort.
Your standalone half time, h:mm:ss.
Early June by Lake Zurich has raced between 9 and 26°C. Cool / mild is the usual pick; check race week.
Power-to-weight body composition
Switzerland has two long, real climbs, and on them your speed is governed by power-to-weight: the watts you can hold for every kilo you carry up the road. Same power, less weight, and you go up faster, which is why body composition matters more here than on a flat course.
These are just mathematical outcomes from your height and weight, not a judgement on your body, and the maths can't tell how much of your weight is muscle. Any change should come from better fuelling and training, never restriction or dropping weight for its own sake, under-eating to chase "race weight" costs you more fitness than it buys. Whether it applies to you at all, and what a healthy target looks like, is exactly what our coaching team, with Adam on nutrition, work out with you 1:1.
Don't go it alone.
These headline numbers are a great start, but race day is bigger than a set of splits. What gets you to the line ready, and across it in the best possible shape, is a coaching team in your corner: mapping and running the whole journey with you across training, strength and conditioning, nutrition and race-day strategy, built around your life and adjusted as you go. That is exactly what Team TC does.
Apply for 1:1 coaching with TomBefore race day