They pre-sold (Early registration) about 1500-1700 spot to triathlon clubs in the Chattanooga and Atlanta areas, among others. They wanted a quick sell out and they got it.

Bob

Interesting. So there were only about 500 to 700 general public entries. I had no idea, but that does explain the zillion people I saw with some connection to Atlanta on their race kit. Thanks for the answer.

Don't hold me to the 1500-1700 number as I don't have exact figures, but it was high. There were about 2800 athletes registered for the race.

Also it's a pretty standard practice and they did it for IMMD here in Maryland too. Can't say I fault them.

Bob

Don't hold me to the 1500-1700 number as I don't have exact figures, but it was high. There were about 2800 athletes registered for the race.

Also it's a pretty standard practice and they did it for IMMD here in Maryland too. Can't say I fault them.
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I wonder if this happens at IM Arizona and Florda too since they sell out very fast.

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Train safe & smart
Bob

No. IMFL and IMAZ do not have reserved entries.

What they did last year is different from how they've handled it this year. There were IM entries given to the top tri clubs in WTC's rankings to be used at the club's discretion. For example, the #1 clubs in the larger divisions got 50 entries. Not 50 entries for a given race but 50 entries in total. How those entries are used is entirely up to the club. In theory they could put all 50 towards IMFL or IMAZ or whatever race or they could divide them up a zillion different ways.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Because in 2014 it was 140.6 on registration day only to be turned into 144.6

in 2015 it will be 144.6 (assuming)

One of my buddies did it, loved it. Signed up again

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"Keep those feet moving!" Me

My club got one alotment of those spots - but they came divided up for us already. I.e. 15 for IMFL, 10 for IMAZ etc.

Is that what your club told you or do you know that for a fact? Not being argumentative just curious. My club got 50 slots to be divided up as the club leaders saw fit. Three races were chosen divided up 17/17/16.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

3 reasons:

1. Advance registrations for tri clubs for the inaugural race.
2. 116 mile bike course
3. Somewhat hilly run course

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I'm not sure why it hasn't sold out but I really enjoyed the course yesterday. I really didn't want to sign up for another ironman yesterday because I wasn't quite ready to shell out the $700. I'm still not sure if IMChoo fits into my 2015-2016 race goals either. I will definitely do the race again though. Chattanooga is a great town to be in for three days and I hope to make it up and spectate in the future.

Loiusville in Oct and Maryland in September happened. I suspect a lot of these folks that did CHOO this year will do Loiusville next year.

Wow, that's a new one on me living in Europe; I didn't know WTC allocated slots to local clubs in north American events. Is that a standard practice or only for new events?

I can't help feeling market saturation is taking effect; certainly in Europe we are up from 6 to 11 full Ironman events within the last 5 years. Races like the 'Euro Champs' in Frankfurt are taking several weeks to sell-out these days, and even Austria is a week+ rather than 90 mins only a few years ago.

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29 years and counting

^^^ this. Plus you now have Muskoka as well. Less of a direct impact, but still the same time of year. IMMT, IMWI, IMLP still all sold out...slower than before but still within 1 month.... and will continue because they ultimately are still some of the best venues on the whole IM circuit.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

Is inaugural really all that?

Well . . you never get a 2nd chance to be part of a 1sttime event!

In all seriousness, what we are starting to see, and the Ironman races may be the last point that we are seeing this, is a flattening out of the growth in the sport. New people are still coming in, but they are doing so in much fewer numbers that 5 - 10 years ago.

The other impact on this is that there are so many more choices now - both with Ironman, within their own family of events and from other event production companies. Heck - I have 3 IM races to choose from next year within a 5 hour drive of my front door! Lake Placid, Mont Tremblant & the new Muskoka race!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I don't think we are seeing flattening yet although you keep saying this, because if that was the case, WTC would not be able to add new events and largely fill them. I think all you are seeing is WTC adding more capacity and it just takes longer to fill. If you have a bar with a capacity of 100 and a lineup of 150, then you turn 50 away. Open another bar down the street, and those 50 have somewhere to go...and sometimes, because there is capacity, more people who otherwise would not be customers decide to take the plung...why not...I am thirsty and I want a drink....likewise, "why not, I am in shape and Louisville, Tahoe and Whistler and Texas as still open....".

I don't think we are seeing flattening yet although you keep saying this

Dev,

It's not just me - it's other races and race series, it's our Provincial Assoc. ( TriON), it's coaches and it's retailers. It's reached a point that a behind the scenes summit has been loosely organized involving all of the previously mentioned stake-holders to talk about it.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Don't even quote TriON....those guys can't pull their head out of a paper bag. Their license is not even good in Quebec, so of course why the heck would I renew membership with them. Agreed at the local scene there might be some flattening, but not at the IM. As for coaches, not sure where you are getting that data as on my side I have seen zero flattening. Every IM or half IM that WTC adds should do nothing but grow the market for coaches unless they are incompetent business people (and some may be).

Steve, they keep saying this every friggin 5 years since 1985....we're flattening, but the racing options keep expanding. I guess it just depends on how you define the overall market size as there are also many latent athletes who don't sign up for many races, but are and continue to be vibrant parts of the community. If they buy on ebay, or amazon, they don't show up in the stats either and retailers may feel the pinch because of this. That stats are probably not as all encompassing as you think because truly if that was the case then how come we have so many IM's in North America. In 1991 we had Kona and Penticton....now there are around 20 options all of which largely fill.....and WTC added Maryland, Muskoka, Chat all recently. By the way, it is good that they don't sell out as it gives us options less than 364 days in advance

Never mind, then Dev - the sport is perfectly healthy! :)

BTW - the new guy at TriON, is very good, get's it.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Tons of first timers took advantage of the early club registration and it being regionally close to a crap load of southeastern regions that normally looked to IMFL as a "close" venue.

I (unfortunately) read the "Chattanooga Swim Is Joke Thread". Apparently Chattanooga is not an actual Ironman.

I think it's just the increase of possible fall events to choose in the SouthEastern US.

I would guess it will sell out the week of November 2nd. In fact I think all 4 races in the Southeast (Louisville, Choo, FL, Maryland) will sell out that week. Those who can't get into FL will overflow to the others depending on what their preference is.

Just saw a note through the tri club channel they're expecting it to fill tomorrow.

The WTC options keep expanding. But I am not so sure that options for non-WTC events are increasing. Rev 3 did not collapse because the market was expanding. And even Toughman seems to be adding existing races to grow. There do not seem to be many genuinely new races being added. It seems like it has been a long time since WTC created a brand new race at the 70.3 distance in North America. I am not taking a position as to whether this is good or bad or that the market is up or down. Just saying that the market is not on the moon shot trajectory it was 5-10 years ago. But I cannot imagine that anyone disagrees it is better that races no longer fill in a day. It would be even better if it took 4-6 months to fill every race.