Yes, it was a roll-down slot and the guy in 8th was ecstatic to get the slot since it was that close.
It was a roll-down from M70-74 since the person was registered, but did not start, the slot was re-allocated to our group.
The 5th guy was close to 15min faster and no way I could have been that much faster. The guy in 7th in my AG was only 2-3min behind me and we cycled close to each other (we could always see each other, 50 - 200mtr apart) as of the 2nd lap. He overtook me at the end of a climb and I would regain position by the end of a descend and keep it like that untill the end of the next climb. After the first lap in running he was behind me by less then 4min ( he had a very distinctive yellow Pirate Tri-Suit, easy to spot). Right then, I had to make a short bathroom-break and I was thinking 'don’t catch me, don’t catch me, …). I came out of the restroom and see him running up the hill towards me, so I was happy to see him still behind but had to start moving again and do it quickly. I kept to my pace and drink/nutrition-plan and managed to extend the lead little-by-little and in the end I made it ahead of him. It would not have mattered for the slot (he also got one), but at that time, you don’t know and you don’t want to risk it. It same was the same when I spotted the guy running ahead of me in the finish straight. I did not know which AG he was in, so I basically gave it everything untill the line was fully crossed. Only in the final results I noticed he was in a different AG
The podium guys in M40-44 are viciously and ridiculously fast guys. Our AG winner went 6th or 7th overall. Incredible performance of the top 5 in our AG, they where racing close to each other. It was also great to see the top 2 pro’s running shoulder-to-shoulder for so long, really tense battle.
Great job! Congrats on executing and getting the KQ on the first shot!
Could be worse, the winner of 45-49 at IMWI is an ANIMAL and was 8th overall, 1st amateur and made ALL the young pups look bad. He kills that course every damn year. The 5th place guy in 40-44 was happy he aged up, that’s for sure.
I think IM Wales looks like an good place to KQ. 7th in M40-44 was 10:42, 7th at Wisco was 9:56. IM Wales course is 46 mins slower than Wisconsin? I don’t think so…
I think IM Wales looks like an good place to KQ. 7th in M40-44 was 10:42, 7th at Wisco was 9:56. IM Wales course is 46 mins slower than Wisconsin? I don’t think so…
Anytime you can go over 10 hours and KQ in 30-45… could yourself very lucky. Not to take away from the accomplishment. Picking the right race to suit your strengths and hoping for a favorable field by location, time of year, etc is part of the “Game”. It was played very, very well. It doesn’t always work out that way.
7 slot is crazy… that’s some goofy demographics, unless there were 75 slots for this event? Are women and young males afraid to do ironman races in GB? I guess all the young guys are trying to be the next ITU hero… haha.
The cat is definitely out of the bag. Thank you for posting and congrats! 7th place, 10:42, KQ in M40-44 on that course (from what I can see) is pretty crazy.
My IM career is over, wish I would have known about this race a long time ago.
I disagree. Head over to IMCDA, Whistler, MMT, Placid and count how many sub 10s vs. other courses. Not to mention Tahoe, Lanzarote… Former St. George…
7 slot is crazy… that’s some goofy demographics, unless there were 75 slots for this event? Are women and young males afraid to do ironman races in GB?
That’s was my first thought too. But looked it up and Ironman.com says there were only 50 slots available. Most every race I’ve seen with 50 slots only goes 5 or 6 in M40-44. Must have been some roll over from Age Groups with no finishers.
Ok, I’ll play. I totally agree with motoguy128. It does all depend on who shows up. See below for the 7th place times in M40-44 for this year’s races –
CDA : 10:04
Whistler: 10:21 (this is a very hard course)
MMT: 9:50
Placid: 9:20
Tahoe: no longer an IM (epic course in terms of difficulty and the weather last year, not even worth comparing, this is an outlier)
Lanzarote: 9:55 (another epic hard, course with heat and hills)
Not to mention most of these had ~5 slots for M40-44. 7 slots at IM Wales is awesome. All of the times for 7th place in M40-44 for the races listed above were faster than IM Wales and I would argue most if not all of these courses are at least equal if not tougher.
Ok, I’ll play. I totally agree with motoguy128. It does all depend on who shows up. See below for the 7th place times in M40-44 for this year’s races –
CDA : 10:04
Whistler: 10:21 (this is a very hard course)
MMT: 9:50
Placid: 9:20 Tahoe: no longer an IM (epic course in terms of difficulty and the weather last year, not even worth comparing, this is an outlier)
Lanzarote: 9:55 (another epic hard, course with heat and hills)
Not to mention most of these had ~5 slots for M40-44. 7 slots at IM Wales is awesome. All of the times for 7th place in M40-44 for the races listed above were faster than IM Wales and I would argue most if not all of these courses are at least equal if not tougher.
Tahoe still has the 140.6. They just added the 70.3. Not sure how long it will stick around though, but it is still there.
I bet you wouldn’t come over to Wales and say that…
I did CDA in 2011 and did Wales this year and there is no comparison. Wales is cooler which helps on the run, but that’s about it.
Believe me, IM Wales is hard. Especially so this year, as the sea swim was affected by much stronger than normal winds (the swim in the Iron distance Challenge race in UK on the same day was cut to one 1.9km loop due to conditions), I reckon swim times were down by 5-10 minutes for most people - the incoming tide affected slower swimmers more, which at least meant there were big gaps on the bike.
I’ve done the bike course twice and the elevation gain is 2600-2700m per my Powertap. Part of what makes it a slow course is that most of the descents are on narrow twisting roads with poor road surfaces that have 90 degree turns at the moment, so there are few chances to carry momentum or really get a long session in aero bars.
The support from the town an surrounding villages is fantastic and makes it all worthwhile…
Not to mention most of these had ~5 slots for M40-44. 7 slots at IM Wales is awesome. All of the times for 7th place in M40-44 for the races listed above were faster than IM Wales and I would argue most if not all of these courses are at least equal if not tougher.
Fastest bike split in Wales was 5.03, that must be tough course
Ok, I’ll play. I totally agree with motoguy128. It does all depend on who shows up. See below for the 7th place times in M40-44 for this year’s races –
CDA : 10:04
Whistler: 10:21 (this is a very hard course)
MMT: 9:50
Placid: 9:20
Tahoe: no longer an IM (epic course in terms of difficulty and the weather last year, not even worth comparing, this is an outlier)
Lanzarote: 9:55 (another epic hard, course with heat and hills)
Not to mention most of these had ~5 slots for M40-44. 7 slots at IM Wales is awesome. All of the times for 7th place in M40-44 for the races listed above were faster than IM Wales and I would argue most if not all of these courses are at least equal if not tougher.
To compare based on 7th place is pretty irrelevant for judging course difficulty. Just look at the winners’ times.
This was meant to be relative to KQ place/time in M40-44. I would argue that the Winner’s is irrelevant on course difficulty as well. Sebastian Kienle at Frankfurt goes 7 hours 55 mins and Matt Trautman at Wales 9:07 for the win, I don’t think that would be a good comparison of the two courses… Wales is 1 hour 12 mins tougher than Frankfurt, yeah right, I think Kienle would kill it at Wales.
I know there are tons of variables here, the point was that Wales looked like a good KQ course with 10:42 getting a slot in M40-44.
At Wiesbaden this year, I finished 11th in same AG and had slot for 7.3 WG in Zell am See in 2015.
Raced using identical equipment and there where top-ter pro’s at the start. All times where down by 10 min’s compared to last year.
I swam at an average pace of 1:28/100 and that is doing 100mtr more due to following the wrong feet at the first buoy, my own stupid mistake.
In the long downhill section (straight down, no real technique required, only daring to lean forward at that speed), I max’d out at 88km/hr due to small chainring and (52 big ring) and climbing casette (28-12) that limited my speed on the crest. I consider myself a person with above average bike-handling skills due to mtb’n background. Especially amongst triathletes, I easily overtake in downhill sections.
The run in Wiesbaden is hard as well and I ran an average 4:12/km if memory serves me well, and it was in weather that was warmer then I like.
A year earlier the same time would set me lower then 20th, this year 11th.
Point being: It is already hard to compare the same course year-over-year, let alone different courses, 5000 miles apart in different times of the year with different people…
I chose IM Wales because I can’t tolerate the heat during the run and because it is relatively close. I had actually abanoned the thought to ever go to Kona for exactly that reason. I Will be going, but I am not expecting any top-results at Kona. I’m there to enjoy the experience, I will not draft and I will douse every drafter that is close enough with ISO-drink for as long as I have enough ISO drink left. After that I will resort to yelling and screaming.
I’m pretty sure the Wales organizers would be all to happy to welcome Sebastien K to the starting line should he choose to participate.
I will only go to Kona once for the experience, that’s it. After next year, I’ll let the spot pass me by and make some one else happy by letting it roll down…
I don’t want to take away from the performance. But anytime you KQ with a result below 4th place in 30-45, you have to count yourself a little bit lucky no matter what your time is. Times are hard to compare and really only matter on that course, on that day.
I was only 1 more bad leg cramp away from just being lucky myself.
Winner at 9:07…says something. Although I’ve never heard of any of the top finishers. But I’m also bit Norther America focused that way too.
Plus keep in mind, the longer the race, the longer the race. It’s think it’s going to be a different marathon coming off a 4h40m bike vs. a 5h30m bike… even if you pace them for the same TSS score. You simply burn less energy in one vs. the other.
Good luck on your Kona prep after a well deserved few weeks off.
Firstly I’ve got to say congratulations for qualifying on your first IM. Superb work.
I’m the chap in the ‘pirate’ top who you mentioned in the report (who came 7th). It was good to say hello to you before the prize giving on the Monday morning. If anyone wants to read my race report (it’s quite long!) you can find it at www.rowerunning.co.uk/2014/09/ironman-wales-2014/
Regarding difficulty - the swim really seemed to affect a lot of people. Many were sick and this I believe affected a lot of people even if they managed to get to T1 (which by is a 1km run away from the water). www.trirating.com/course-ratings/ gives the course a pretty difficult course rating (the only current race that Thorsten rates harder is Tahoe. We’ll see if that’s still the case next week). There’s also some good little analysis of this years results with graphs etc. for all the age groups over at http://www.coachcox.co.uk/2014/09/16/ironman-wales-2014-results-analysis/
The winner of the M40-44 age group did 8:44:27 in Roth this year (and I believe 8:31 last year). In Wales he did 9:53:54. So is Wales 1 hour 10 minutes slower for an age group winner…
Ultimately everyone races the same course on the same day at the same time. Some years are quick, some are slower. Sometimes the conditions are good, sometimes not so good. You can only beat and race who turns up on the day.
It’s a superb race, amazing scenery, amazing crowds.
Once again I say well done to S. and I’ll see you Kona next year
I think IM Wales looks like an good place to KQ. 7th in M40-44 was 10:42, 7th at Wisco was 9:56. IM Wales course is 46 mins slower than Wisconsin? I don’t think so…
Anytime you can go over 10 hours and KQ in 30-45… could yourself very lucky. Not to take away from the accomplishment. Picking the right race to suit your strengths and hoping for a favorable field by location, time of year, etc is part of the “Game”. It was played very, very well. It doesn’t always work out that way.
7 slot is crazy… that’s some goofy demographics, unless there were 75 slots for this event? Are women and young males afraid to do ironman races in GB? I guess all the young guys are trying to be the next ITU hero… haha.
I will play. I can’t comment on Wales but there are several races in Europe where the women’s field and older athlete field is very small. To the point there are zero finishers in some of the older age groups (IM France one year when I went had several that did not make the bike cut off) and only 1 in almost all the women’s age groups. That leaves more slots for the male “dense population” age groups.
I got a big roll down one year at IM France with a 10:37 thanks to a bunch of guys not wanting to go and slots coming back to my age group from others. In total, there were around 7 slots allocated to 45-49. You’ll find that on the tougher IM courses there are mainly only “racers” and less lifestyle folks there for the challenge of finishing an IM. There are still some but not massive numbers like in the US races. So the “dense” male age groups get more slots. Having said that, the competition is also really tough and you just need to go to Kona or 70.3 World’s to see how fast the Europeans are compared to North Americans in terms of overall numbers of fast guys.
Firstly I’ve got to say congratulations for qualifying on your first IM. Superb work.
I’m the chap in the ‘pirate’ top who you mentioned in the report (who came 7th). It was good to say hello to you before the prize giving on the Monday morning. If anyone wants to read my race report (it’s quite long!) you can find it at http://www.rowerunning.co.uk/.../ironman-wales-2014/
It’s a superb race, amazing scenery, amazing crowds.
Once again I say well done to S. and I’ll see you Kona next year
Thanks David,
Like mentioned, I really enjoyed our little battle and am very much looking forward to meeting you again in Kona next year. Enjoy the post-season break and all the best in training for 2015. Hopefully, we can do a repeat of our battle next year in Kona. The winner buys the other one a beer
