If the range holds up, would strongly consider for a replacement of my wife's car down the road.

After seeing one of the IM staff have an F150 Lightning this weekend, if they offer me another trade-in on my truck for more than what I paid for it, I'm getting one.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I like the extra women's slots, but I think it's odd with some races getting 100 extra slots and some not getting any. Basically means that if you're doing IMWI this year, you better win your AG. If you're doing IMChatt, just show up since there will be ~115 slots for 650 racers.

I truly understand this post, I really do. (coming from someone who has been trying to KQ). But won't you still have the fastest guys competing against you? They will still be racing and trying to KQ. And some wild cards will be there who may have only gotten 9th or 10th place in their qualifying race due to whatever reason and are now in top,peak shape for Kona. I understand the field will be watered down a bit, but the same fast guys will still be competing (unless there is some protest). The good news for you is that men won't receive extra slots like the women. Plus, you will have a field of all men. Not sure if that is as appealing for men as it is for women. We love having our own field (loved it at 2x 70.3 worlds races). I may not speak for all women, but many expressed the same sentiments as myself for racing against just women.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

I’m curious to see how the race dynamics will work at an all-male Kona race in 2023. In 2022, I think it will be muted by all the legacy racers and people getting slots at 150 slot races, deep recent rolldowns, etc.

Next year, I think Saturday will be a lot like a 70.3 WC where draft packs are staggering. It was like that through 2018 with the mass start, but at least you had (generally) slower women occupying a third of the field. Even if you space out the start, there’s gonna be a massive draft fest.

That post also misses the whole "there should always be a spot for the average athlete" motif that was a requirement of selling Hawaii to what became WTC.

If anything, we're now going to get deeper fields that will offer more variability in performance. It'll be fun!

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

In agreement about the odd, and very selective, list of races getting the windfall of WFT slots.

I may be missing something here, but since there’s no mention of how slot allocation will work with the new 2-day format, does that mean it’s unchanged? If that’s the case, women will still only get roughly 1/4 to 1/3 of the available slots under normal circumstances. Is that where the WFT slots are bridging the gap? If so, why not just adjust the annual number of slots available to accommodate the number of eligible races, and split that 50/50? It’s hard to picture the WFT slots being a long-term solution when they really should be adjusting the process to adapt long-term to this change. (Unless, of course, it’s not long-term… it did only specify this was for 2023.)

If you want 50/50 for men and women, just do it like the 70.3 WC. Determine the number of available spots and split them up evenly instead of the 55 that get split up normally w/ the 100 extra women's slots at select races. I know that if I was a women doing IMWI or IMMD this year I'd be pissed.

That's a lot more women racing in Kona. Assuming that the two-day IM 140.6 championship continues long term it will be interesting to see how much it influences the total no. of women racing tris.

I think it was a genius move for IM to invite Kona officials to the WC at St. George. I think this made it very clear that they could, in fact, move the WC if Kona wasn't willing to play nice. So IM gets its way: more slots and a lot more money. Now, how they will be able to consistently pull off two days of racing every year in Kona is beyond me. Logistical and financial nightmare for the AG participants.

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http://dontletitdefeatyou.blogspot.com

They're moving in this general direction so that those extra slots will go to races where there's either larger rates of female participation already, or that they feel there is growth for it.

If you just re-allocate those slots out at all races, dollars to donuts you'd have a lot of women's slots that rolled completely through the field. This method avoids that outcome.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

What do you mean by this? That none of the women in that AG would take a Kona slot?

It will still be a world class AG event…. For those in the front. Just like any Kona about 5% are racing for the AG win. The rest are there for the experience and to do it for themselves.

It changes absolutely nothing but the amount of people on the island

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

I struggle to see the differentiation in the US/Canada based races. MD, WI, FL all get no slots, but have 600-650 female finishers. AZ, Chatt, LP, MT get 100 extra slots, all with roughly the same 600-650 female finishers. The races with overall low numbers (Waco and Tulsa) of course have fewer finishers, the men to women ratio is pretty similar at ~3:1. Do they really think that adding slots to Chattanooga but not Florida will drive up the number of women in the sport? I suppose if you're trying to fill the race with front of the mid-pack finishers instead of back of the front pack finishers. The argument could be made that 3rd place at IMWI is more deserving of going to Kona than 15th at Chattanooga, but with the way they've got it now, 3rd at WI isn't going.

Correct.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Assuming you can get all the women to take the slots. At the 70.3 WC's the women's field has always been 25-40% smaller than the men's field.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Thanks for the reply - the logic there makes sense. I’m curious to know which races they fear would have Kona slots go completely through the women’s field?

To add to the list of impacted 2022 races: California wasn’t included and has roughly 1100 women on the participant list, if memory serves right.

ETA: FL, Waco, and many others were left off too, besides WI and MD. To c365’s point, none of these are the most alluring travel destinations. Cozumel could be argued as an exception to that … kind of.

The old ladies will jump at those extra slots. I'm one of them :-)

Seriously, I've been in the top 5 of 3 out of the 4 IMs (edit) and never once a roll down. Plus, many of us are at that place in life/career where we can afford to do Kona.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

Ironman should rotate the men's and women's races between the Thursday and Saturday if they're going to do this.

Also, accommodation and car rental is going to be STUPID with all the extra slots. Prepare to stay in Hilo.

If this was Wed/Sat instead you could have the women racers leaving before some of the men arrive, opening up a lot of accommodations.

Exactly. I never understood the mentality of all those MOP'ers complaining that those dirty slows are diminishing the sanctity of their 50th percentile finish.

Yeah, I am feeling conflicted. I am happy that they are adding WFT slots and actually making an effort to make Kona accessible to more women. However, as a woman already registered for a race overseas that has 0 WFT slots, I am kinda peeved they didn't even the offerings out. 100 WFT slots is A LOT of extra slots. And that's fantastic...BUT, only for the people that happen to already be lucky enough to be doing those races. The rest of us just get a middle finger from IM and regret over having already chosen a different race.

Once again, IM takes something with positive intent and somehow royally F***s it up.

I gave up: 6 x Kona 2008-2018 and 1 x ST G.

Several reasons, the 2nd one is high prices

1st one is that IMO Kailua cannot be a friendly spot with more than 1800 triathletes, just my mind, not judging

Sorry Dr. Triax, you post, while no doubt is congruent with your opinion, is not congruent with facts.

It will still be the IM World Championship as it was before. Before, the designation was applied to whichever race the WTC wanted to attach it to. Now, the same thing is true. They’ve historically called Kona the WC. In 2023, they are calling Kona the WC. In fact, it is a return to roots after the CoVid driven exception in Utah this year.

That alone, negates the validity of your post.

Beyond that, a couple of other things:

1. It’s still in the same place it has been for the last 40+ years: Kona. With all its history and with the majority of the people still viewing it as the most important race on the IM calendar each year. Ask Frodo, or ask Lionel. Ask Blu or Gustav if they think it’s no longer the WC and they’ll probably laugh at the notion. Obviously, it’s just there opinion vs yours. Maybe yours is more valid because you are a “Dr.”?

2. It will still be extremely difficult to qualify for, unless you are a very accomplished triathlete. Going from 40 to 55 slots is a change in degree not a change in kind. The biggest increase in slots will be for women, they will finally get to be on the same footing as the men. Btw, increasing the number of slots has been the norm for Kona throughout its history. In 2019, there were probably 50-100% more slots than in 1989 or 1999. The expansion from 1989 to 2019 will probably be greater than what will happen from 2019 to 2023. You surely are not arguing that at 40 slots it’s a WC but at 55 it isn’t? Right? In my Age Group, Male 65-70, most races have 1 or at most 2 slots. Nothing in this announcement will change that.

3. If you look back at the historical results, you tend to see pretty much the same top men and women in each age group competing for the championship each year (of course they move up in age groups as they age). Adding more people in each age group won’t make it any less competitive. Logic tells you that if anything, it will make Kona more competitive. The very best IM men and women will still go to Kona each year. This announcement changes nothing with respect to that.

4. There will still be legacy. There will still be XC. There will still be HC. There will still be celebrities and the IM charity entrants. There will still be HI residents. Just like in 2019, when you called it the WC.

Yes, more people will be doing it (and sorry if that bugs you, but you don’t get to decide any of this). That’s the way it was in 2019. That’s the way it will be in 2023.

BTW, I completely support your right to not like it. By all-means do so (especially if you are in my Age Group!). But it doesn’t change the facts….

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Randy Christofferson(http://www.rcmioga.blogspot.com

Insert Doubt. Erase Hope. Crush Dreams.

 


I'm going for AG top 20 (50-54). I think a lot more than 5% are coming to Kona to race. If you are able to KQ, competing at a high level is in your DNA.