What a great race!! I love when triathalon and other endurance races are combined with camping, music, and a weekend of family fun!! I didn't get to bring my boys with me last year but I'll definitely be bringing them in 2026! Already signed up for the 70.3 relay and the sprint tri the following day...and if my 8 year old wants to do the night time 5k, I'm all in! read more

Wildflower is a triathlon unlike any other. I've done spring, olympic, and 70.3 triathlons and I was on the board and President of the SF tri club. We have a deep relationship with Wildflower. We send 100+ people every year for the last 10 years to the race and we also host a training weekend a couple of weekends before the race. The race is hot and hilly for most people. It's not ideal for a first timer but we send our newbies there anyways. You won't find another race where thousands of triathletes will camp at the race and that has the party feel of Wildflower. It's like Woodstock and Burning Man meets a triathlon race. I HIGHLY recommend Wildflower. read more

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In case you were wondering, triathlons are neither family friendly events, nor are they a great spectator sport, BUT "competing", if you can call it that, was a blast. Before you start thinking that I'm one of those q-tips with eyes (you know, those trim athletic types), I have to come clean and admit that I am a MONO-athlete, not a TRI-athlete, not even a BI-athlete. And although I've been known to ride my Schwinn with the basket to the store, or run after Thing 2, I really can do only one of the traditional triathlon sports- swim. And before you start thinking that I can swim like a triathlete, let me come clean and admit that I am SLOW. I channel the great honu (sea turtle)- slow and steady FINISHES the race... So, as leg one of the Phat Mamas triathlon team (our slogan: Phat Mamas PHINISH!), I rented a wetsuit and braved early-May Lake San Antonio (65 degrees) to endure the most challenging swim of my life: a 1.2 miler in choppy water with many, many other brave (crazy?) souls. I emerged from my freezing cold baptism feeling a sense of accomplishment, running up the hill to hand off to the cycling Phat Mama, yelling, "WOOOOOOOOOO! PHAT MAMAS IN THE HOUSE!" Honestly, the event was well-run and organized- I cannot believe how smoothly everything seemed to go... oh, the logistics of hundreds and hundreds of people on 4 different courses during a whole weekend, most of them camping around the lake... just getting to the starting line could be a sporting event in itself, but these people had it figured out with shuttles of the school bus and party boat varieties. And I got a free t-shirt and swim cap just for participating... gotta love the freebies! Next year, I'm actually considering doing all three parts of the triathlon... crazy, huh? read more

Triathletes unite! This is our Woodstock. This triathlon is a fun experience and a good time to catch up with friends that you don't regularly get to race with. The weekend itself is tiring, but you'll leave with a smile on your face. Think about all you have to think about when you're camping and think about all you have to do to prep for a triathlon, then combine the two and you've got a rather stressful weekend. While there is stress involved, in the end it's a gorgeous course with great fans, and an experience like no other. You gotta experience it at least once! read more

Just completed the Wildflower Long Course. I may be bias but I say it was absolutely fabulous. The bike ride is great. Know that there are some good hills, especially after mile 42 (Nasty Grade and Heart Rate Hill) but thats why this race is so great - the challenge :) The run was tough! but fortunately there were lots of fantastic volunteers every mile! Watch out for the weather - it can be tricky. Train in the heat cause its gonna be hot! bottom line, i thought this race was fabulous. It was the entire wildflower experience - camping with all the other triathletes, figuring out how to survive by making your own food (of course there are vendors down at the expo but how about breakfast and lunch) and the tough course. fabulous :) read more

Hey Everybody! I was doing Thai Massage (www.thaistretch.com) with lots of you near the stage and I just want to say....this event was really, really cool! I am totally humbled and moved! I would like to see lower prices on the food...cause those burritos were great! The coffee vendor totally rocked with Peet's Coffee...I drank half of their supply... Cowboy's Fuzzy Duds are Fabulous! Hey.....Nowadays it is professional standard to have handwash stations to accompany the use of multiple portible toilets...especially with such a cool and healthy group of people. I am leaving the Fith Star for Dennis and the Praise Band at the Sunday Morning Service! The First Star is for Rudy, Travis and all the Challenged Athletes who are the strongest people I have ever met! This event was one of the coolest things I have ever been involved with. read more

You can't really go wrong with thousands of people that excercise on a regular basis and are out in the sun all day. The sport is great in that it allows for anyone to do it. The people are so nice and the volunteers and spectatheletes that will cheer every last person on to the finish will drive you to push yourself beyond what you ever thought you could do. Combine that with live music, thousands camping out, grilling out and challenging yourself to do something amazing and you have a 5 star experience that keeps brings me back each year. read more

Seriously? No cutoffs this year at wildflower? I cannot describe how disappointed I am. Last year, I had a faster bike time than my husband, but because of their sexist start strategy, I did not make the bike cutoff, while he went on to finish the race. Also, they ran out of water, which forced me to climb nasty grade with no water in my bottle. I reached out to inquire about a bib for this year, and was told the race director would get back to me about a discount, but he was out of town for several months. When he finally got back to me, they offered me a bib for the original price, which I could have just bought on my own at the time that I reached out to complain. Sure wish I was racing this Saturday. read more

This is a wonderful event! My tri-team did everything wrong you could possibly could have and still had a blasty-blast. We figured we wanted to do an athletic event to get back into shape after finishing grad-school so we did the relay so we would keep each other motivated. And since we were doing a relay we thought we would step it up and do the Long Course AND do our weakest events - MISTAKE. We unofficially changd our name half way through the event to team W.U.T.T.T ?? (Woefully Under Trained Triathlon Team). Every leg of the race ended with the two team members not racing worrying that the course was going to close on us (it didn't!). The first thing out of all three of us after we finished our respective leg was some form of the following: "Uhh, that was miserable! how long did that take!? I'm famished." But once we got some water and some food we were all talking about how we can do it better next year. read more

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"I enjoy this triathlon, but it's pretty pricey as with all TriCalifornia Triathlons. Love the Sentinel Triathlon since they fund-raise for the Santa Cruz School District and make over $100,000 per year with their triathlons and cost 60% of TriCalifornia's Triathlons, but the goals are different - Sentinel is a not-for-profit while TriaCalifornia is definitely for profit. that being said, without TriCalifornia holding these expensive triathlons, there probably would be far less in the Northern California Area. They are just a little harsh with their policies. For example, a friend was not allowed to compete in a triathlon hosted by triCal, as she was in hospital a month before the event. And even with a supporting note from her Dr, TriCal said that she needed to notify them 1 month beforehand (even though she was in Hospital) to have 50% of the fees carried over to the next year, but she could have her T-shirt, if she picked it up from the venue - wildflower, in person. but she would have had to drive down, and paid the entrance fee to get her $8 T-shirt. She didn't drive down to get it. And she is never going to give TriCal any more of her money. TriCal does a great job, esp if there is sponsorship money involved" A suggestion to TriCal - how about making sure that there is water for the last participants in you triathlons and food at the end for the last ones? Camping is fun, but 4 porter Johns for each of the areas housing 1,000+ people per camping areas? Spend some of that profit for the athletes, please read more

A handful of my closest friends do this every year! I need to jump on this bandwagon for shizzle.

Wildflower Triathlon weekend is just that, a weekend full of camping, racing, and partying if you can handle it. Thousands of people descend upon Lake San Antonio to either do a half-ironman, olympic distance, or sprint mountain bike triathlon. It is one of the hardest triathlons out there due to the tough bike and run. I'll speak from my experience doing the half ironman. The swim is a freshwater one loop that goes by pretty quickly. The bike starts off with a hill and also throws in a couple towards the end before flying down lynch hill. The run is more of a trail run that broke me down and forced me to walk :( If you plan on doing triathlons, then put this one down on your list of ones to do. The volunteers were great! Lots of pros come out to test themselves on the tough course. I'll be doing it again next year but am not excited about camping as I like hot showers and beds. If you're used to training in SF, this race may be a bit warm for you. :) read more

I wanted to echo the review below highlighting a simple fact that is easy to overlook. While TriCal does put on nice events, at the core, they are definitely a for-profit company. There have been subtle changes over the years (I've done Wildflower 9 times) that definitely reflect this attitude in terms of on-course support, giveaways and the disappearance last year of the cool, wet towel at the finish line, which was a huge fan favorite. Lastly, be aware that if life circumstances get in the way and you cannot attend the event, you will be charged 50% of your race fee or $120. This is true whether you notify them 1 week or 4 months in advance, and regardless of the cause. Definitely not an athlete/family first organization. read more

I love this race!!! Each year provides new and exciting challenges that even the best of the best come back to defend their title. I can only speak as an age grouper but from camping to racing, there is no better place to be. read more