IRONMAN 70.3 Waco, live.

Down the Brazos, home over the Suspension Bridge

IRONMAN 70.3 Waco is a half-distance triathlon on the Brazos River in Waco, Texas. The 2026 race started at 7:20 am on Sunday 4 October at Pecan Bottom Park.

The swim is the unusual part: 1.2 miles downriver in the Brazos, from Pecan Bottom Park to Indian Spring Park beside the Waco Suspension Bridge, with the current helping. Transition is at Heritage Square, 311 Austin Ave. The bike is one 56-mile loop through the countryside of rural Waco, past silos and longhorns, which the organiser rates flat and has straightened and smoothed in recent years. The run is two loops and 13.1 miles along the river, from Brazos Park East to Cameron Park, crossing historic bridges, and it ends on the Suspension Bridge, which the organiser calls the oldest in the Southwest. Average water temperature is 78°F (26°C), with air highs around 92°F (34°C).

For supporters the organiser’s own advice is clear. Walk the start with your athlete, then follow the river back toward the swim exit; catch the bike out along Washington Avenue; do not drive out on the bike course, but use those hours to rest downtown; then move around on the run, where the two loops stay close to downtown, the river and Cameron Park. The Mo’ Cowbell zone on the Herring Bridge at Cameron Park Drive is the cheer point, and the advice is to reach the finish about 30 minutes before your athlete’s expected time.

That last half hour is the hard part to judge. An athlete can share a link to their own Livebib broadcast, and family open it in a browser with no app and no account. They see the athlete’s position on the course line, the distance covered and a finish estimate that updates as the race goes, which helps decide when to leave the Cowbell zone for the bridge. When the phone loses signal, the position is carried forward along the course and marked as estimated, never as measured. The athlete decides who gets the link.