Race Hub · First-timer's guide
IRONMAN Leeds
Sunday 15 August 2027, Roundhay Park, Leeds. A two-loop 3.8km swim in Waterloo Lake, a three-loop bike through the villages of North Leeds with 2,500m of climbing, and a four-loop marathon around the park itself. A Yorkshire full distance that hides its difficulty: nothing on it is high, and it climbs more than most mountain courses. Here is the actual course from the official GPX, and a pacing plan built for the full distance rather than a doubled-up 70.3.
The Bike Course
Three identical laps, and nothing flat to hide behind.
The official GPX measures 178.2km with 2,506m of climbing, which IRONMAN publish as 2,574m. What makes that number remarkable is where it comes from: the course never goes above 173m. There is no mountain here. The climbing arrives as a relentless series of short Yorkshire ramps, three times over, after a 6km run out to Shadwell and then three laps of 55.4km past Harewood House, Eccup Reservoir and Golden Acre Park. The one climb with a name is Black Hill Road, which featured on Stage 4 of the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire, and the GPS finds it three times at roughly 123m over 3km, averaging 4.1%. The danger at Leeds is not any single hill, it is that none of them look like much and you pay for all of them. We pace you against the real elevation at genuine full-distance intensity, so the marathon is still yours to run.
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 Leeds 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.
Mid-August in Leeds is usually mild rather than hot, roughly 14-23°C, and Yorkshire reserves the right to rain on any of it. Cool / mild or Warm are the sensible picks; check race week, and respect the wind on the exposed stretches above Eccup.
Power-to-weight body composition
With around 2,500m of climbing across three identical laps, this is one of the most climb-heavy full distances in the UK, and every kilogram goes up Black Hill three times. It is not the whole story, and the flatter stretches between villages still reward a good position, but body composition is a real lever at Leeds in a way it simply is not at a flat course like Kalmar.
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
Worth reading before you toe the line.
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