There is some good information somewhere comparing the difficulty of different courses. Kona is a harder course than many.

What I find interesting is the following:

THAT THE MAJORITY OF KONA RACERS ARE ALWAYS HAVING A "BAD RACE."

Here is how I figure....
A bad race at Kona will often put you in the top 3rd of your AG.
Yet- a similarly bad race at a qualifying event- would prevent you from qualifying in the first place.
(Example- I raced well at IMAZ13- 9:18 (4 out if 6 in my AG, 9:25 was the slowest KQ in my AG. I raced like crap in Kona- 9:53 48/288. Yet the Kona result was proportionally better!!).

Here are some explannations:
1) Many Kona qualifiers go to Kona unprepared to race. Maybe their "A" race was only a couple of months ago. Maybe they are more motivated to podium at a qualifying event than to finish in the top 200 at Kona. Maybe they "race" Kona for fun.
2) The Kona race creates more unpredictability than other courses. There are more temptations to overbike. There is more heat, more wind.
3) Maybe- being "average" in a field of strong athletes is unmotivating?


I am not sure why.
Personally- I have raced Kona 3 times. Each time I was very disappointed with my performance. Maybe even a little embaraced.
But each time I looked through the results I found lots of better athletes that did even worse.