Yes, a lot of races.
Also, the wind last year made the swim really rough and the bike was more difficult than normal.

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Team Zoot So Cal

You have part of the answer, also it is a lot of money and some people might be worried by the travel ban and other border crossing issues.

Or they absolutely hate Alvin's Island t-shirts and the idea of running past them several times is unbearable.

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Only fools never change their minds and I'll never change my mind about that.

It hasn't sold out in minutes in a few years and now there are four Ironmans within an approximately 8-10 hour driving radius of there.

Also the market for endurance events is down across the board. With Ironman, a lot of people have already done their "first full," and many of them don't do a second.

It's not that surprising.

Far cry from 7-8 years ago when you had to be onsite to secure an entry.

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

I'm signed up for it. I think last year was the first year it didn't sell out same day. I took 2-4 weeks before it sold out IIRC.

I think its saturation of races, races that are more appealing (IMFL), and there just aren't that many people interested in triathlon. Registrations for races have been pretty stagnant the last few years, if not down.

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blog

Yep, gotta be the ban. The number of endurance athletes traveling to the US from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen has got to be yuge!

Fatandslow,
this week a Canadian-born athlete was denied entry to the US.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/...-us/article33991003/

I do not believe he has dual citizenship with any of the countries in the ban.
His parents are from Morocco but the kid was born and raised here.
Passport valid, no criminal record here nor in the US.
Frequent participation in various track and field competitions in the US before that.

Now, explain that to me (no pink font needed) and rethink what I just wrote.

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Only fools never change their minds and I'll never change my mind about that.

I did Florida in 2012 and Texas in 2014. Was planning on going back to the USA to maybe do Boulder. After the way I was treated by Texas immigration leaving America, and now with the travel ban in the news I will be sticking with European races for the foreseeable future. Laugh if you like, but putting your training and cash into a race you are not sure you will get to is certainly putting me off. YMMV.

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He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Bancarel,

I read your linked article. There are things in there that bother me greatly and others I agree with.

I can't explain why he was denied entry. I'm not an immigration expert. I wasn't there.

Since he doesn't meet any of the criteria in the now blocked ban, it doesn't seem like the ban is the reason.

Over-zealous bureaucrat? Something else we don't know about? Who knows...

It's not a ban. :-)

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

The ban is relatively new in the past few weeks, so even if it is stopping new people from registering (I agree this is possible or even likely), it isn't the reason that it did not sell out for the first time within hours or a day or so. It seems like a growing amount of races and a shrinking number of athletes is the only realistic explanation. Hopefully the shrinking number of athletes part is just cyclical/temporary.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

FatandSlow, I remember back in 2012, there were a lot of foreign athletes in Panama City (Germany, France, Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico...)

We don't know what kind of ancestry all potential registrants have and this situation clearly illustrates that arbitrary decisions can happen. Can you imagine paying for everything, entry fees, condo, all year of training, physio and being denied entry just because...

I would consider this as a possible deterrent to athletes.

On top of the variety of races in the vicinity and the strong value of the US$.

ericlambi, let's hope it is only temporary indeed. I haven't given up on racing IMFL again and would hate to see it go.

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Only fools never change their minds and I'll never change my mind about that.

Here is another interesting one.
https://www.theguardian.com/...nal-denied-entry-usa

Dwight Yorke is NOT a terrorist. A party animal for sure, but not a threat to national security.

Now that might deter people even more.

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Only fools never change their minds and I'll never change my mind about that.

Yes, very interesting since the "ban" was not in force on Friday. Kinda makes one wonder what is really going on, doesn't it?

If the Iranian stamp in his passport was a problem, a lot of globe-trotting international Pro's traveling to races in the US will possibly have a problem.

Unless they figure it out and get a 'clean' passport (with the US being put on a list with Palestine and Israel)

Maybe an American will finally win IMH this year?

It's all part of the plan . . .

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Proud Member of Chris McDonald's 2018 Big Sexy Race Team "That which doesn't kill me, will only make me stronger"
Blog-Twitter-Instagram-Race Reports - 2018 Races: IM Florida 70.3, IM Raleigh 70.3, IM 70.3 World Championships - South Africa, IM North Carolina 70.3

did it occur to you that his entry denial had to do with anything else ? perhaps a pending legal / arrest issue ? did he perhaps have any drugs on him ? could have been one or more of many reasons, so expand your mind to other possibilities other than current liberal sensitivities.....

Let's try to move this thread out of Lavender Room territory...

The primary reason IMO FL is running into registration issues - Chattanooga. The paper-bag swim there has taken away a lot of the "I want the easiest 140.6 to complete" crowd, and it's also eating up a significant amount of the local marketplace.

Factor in the cancelled swim a couple years back and the cold/windy conditions that have shown up a few times...and you have a race that is now struggling to get a deeper crowd.

That said, with a very friendly set of contracts from PCB, I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Did you not read the article? It specifically said the Iranian stamp on his passport was the source of controversy.

My apologies to rrheisler.....

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

no, i didn't read the article. if an Iranian passport stamp was the issue, then someone might have mentioned it it somewhere in the posts here. as far as i know, unless his travel originated from any of the 7 nations in the travel limitations, he should not have had any problems related to the stamp. now, i may clearly be mistaken on that one.

in any case, IMFL is suffering from many issues totally unrelated to the ban. the ban is not even in place as we speak, and it's folly to think that its limited existence and related controversy would explain IMFLs registration drop-offs.

Agreed. It's not like IMFL is some huge international event. A cursory look at the results shows the overwhelming majority of foreign athletes coming from Canada, Mexico, and South America.

IMFL isn't as popular due to: 1) The abundance of races in the SE in a three month span, 2) Weather issues from previous years. Period.

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

As long as no part of the race, or the race itself, is cancelled... I'll deal with the weather whatever it may be. But if the swim is cancelled you may hear, or see, my head explode.

This will be my first attempt at the IM distance, and more than likely my last, but IM FL was not my first choice. IM NC was and we all know how that turned out.

The reason cited was that the track and field athlete did not have a valid traveling document, but he did. No drugs found nor mentioned. If the reason invoked officially is fallacious, you have to wonder why the whole situation occurred in the first place.

Now you are onto something by mentioning something else. A student from the same school was in the news for mentioning he wanted to join ISIS and the student who was denied entry was seen in pictures with that student.

So were many other students from that school by the way and maybe some who were allowed to cross the border that day.

Did they have their phones searched? Were they asked what their religion is or where they pray or what they think of Donald Trump?

This was simple and pure religious profiling and Dwight Yorke's denied entry was overzealous application of unclear and ill-conceived national security directives.

Security is paramount and I agree with that, but what is happening right now is poorly planned and executed and might backfire heavily (tourism, foreign investments, diplomatic exchanges, intelligence gathering sharing)

If your country of origin somehow upsets someone in the entourage of the Prez, who knows what kind of sanctions or border-crossing nerve-wracking experience you might have to go through.
No country is safe from the wrath of whoever is in charge up there.
One day it is all smiles and rainbows, the next it is Armageddon.
NATO sucks, NATO is great, Europe is finished, Europe is our best friend.

Back to IMFL, no one ever wrote or alluded to the fact that such inexplicable border-crossing snafus alone deter people, but if a stamp on a passport or your parents' religion or your own are reasons enough to be detained, questioned and denied entry regardless of where you were born or citizenship, well I would most certainly think twice before signing up and spending a ton of cash on a US based race.

IMFL is s great race in a nice town in a uniquely beautiful location I enjoyed thoroughly.

Having said that, weather can be an issue, many other races around, strong US $ and border-crossing woes can all have an influence.

Also, if you comment and other people posted links, you might want to read them prior to your comments to understand the whole discussion fully.

I also believe this thread could have 2 lives, including one in the Lavender Forum for the more opinionated pieces.

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Only fools never change their minds and I'll never change my mind about that.