You mean he paid more for a eBay Kona slot? Or another person got a sponsor slot? And this is new news?

quite an emotive title for a non topic

There are a finite number of spots on pier. More sponsor slots means less KQ slots.

This topic has obviously been discussed previously. I don't think that makes it a non topic. When you read about somebody who is really slow but rich getting the chance to race kona, it should trigger unease. Yes life isn't fair, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't lament that fact and strive for fairness.

You're right- it has been discussed on the forum ad nauseum. It's not news. We all know it happens, and if anyone doesn't, ask them to watch the last 30 mins of the swim leg and ask if those dragging themselves out of the water qualified or were given a slot (bar the tail end of the older AGs). You see that 40 YO pie eater that rolls in just before cut off looking like a wounded orca trying to hit the beach to find another ice cream? Sponsor slot.

Maybe my terming it a non topic isn't correct, but it's not new, it is emotive and for all the wailing and nashing of teeth precisely nothing happens.

As I've said before: Kona is WTCs toy to play with as they see fit. As 50WtK found out we as consumers have approx zero influence with them.

You're right- it has been discussed on the forum ad nauseum. It's not news. We all know it happens, and if anyone doesn't, ask them to watch the last 30 mins of the swim leg and ask if those dragging themselves out of the water qualified or were given a slot (bar the tail end of the older AGs). You see that 40 YO pie eater that rolls in just before cut off looking like a wounded orca trying to hit the beach to find another ice cream? Sponsor slot.

Maybe my terming it a non topic isn't correct, but it's not new, it is emotive and for all the wailing and nashing of teeth precisely nothing happens.

As I've said before: Kona is WTCs toy to play with as they see fit. As 50WtK found out we as consumers have approx zero influence with them.

it has nothing to do with KQ'ing. He didn't earn or take a slot at any event. Like many (more than most here on ST know) he got in through a non-competitive way.

I wouldn't go to Kona unless I earned it, and, it wouldn't in any way make me any better as a person than anyone else. If someone wants to pay for coaching, etc. to be there with them - great. My coach travels with me to every race (ah, that's me). Sometimes I wish I could get rid of him!

Hard to believe NY Times even wasted their time on this NON-story.

I don;t understand the point of this post.

OP is trying to pawn off his/her inability to qualify for kona on anything other than the fact that theyre not fast enough to do so

[sigh] The point, as already stated multiple times above, is that more and more spots on the pier are going towards these types of opaque sponsor giveaways rather than athletes who earned them. More sponsor slots = less KQ slots, thus it is harder and harder to KQ. I'm not sure why this is so difficult to understand and why more people don't continue to be troubled by this.

Professional sports are not about athletic fairness; they are there to make money. If you want athletic fairness, qualify for the Olympics.

What evidence is that that the numbers of these slots is increasing? I think by far the largest factor in making KQ more difficult in recent years is the expansion in number of races necessitating fewer slots at each race.

I'll comment on this one since I've done Kona both ways - twice via the Executive Challenge (XC) program and twice as an outright qualifier. Ironman has had media and other slots for a long time; there's just not much transparency around them. They represent a pretty small overall number, but the exact number I don't know. WTC created XC in 2009 after having licensed that particular program prior to 2009 to an outfit called CEO Challenge; they rightly saw an opportunity to pull it in house and take more of the money. I had the Kona monkey on my back big time but had just started a job that required monthly trips to Germany from the Bay Area as well as other travel, so though I had a 10:31 IM to my credit as a 45-49 guy, I was pretty far off KQing and had no realistic chance to KQ anytime soon (wasn't even sure I would ever be capable, independent of work travel, etc.). So WTC offered the program, and I signed on. I still had to do a race (IMLP that particular year), and either win the age division (they set up arbitrary age divisions to balance out the number of competitors in each) or improve my PR by the most - KQing wasn't automatic, but your odds are pretty good if you're at all decent. It depends of course on who shows up, but with XC you can sort of "scout" who's signed up for which race. That said, only 3 people out of (I think) 9 in that race got slots, so it wasn't automatic.

I did Kona that year, in 11:52 - not a great time, but it was a hot year and I ended up finishing ahead of many qualifiers in my AG, so whatever. The best part about that experience was the treatment my family and friends got from XC, so even though it was quite a cash outlay (can't remember exactly, but over $4000), that money did include a nice hotel room, some meals (with pros and IM icons like Greg Welch and PNF) and VIP access for the fam. The other great part about XC is the camaraderie among the group - I got to meet a lot of successful, interesting people, and there's even a little "competition within the competition" among the group. But while it was great in a lot of ways, I did want to come back and do better.

I thought that one time was going to be it, but then my local tri team decided to do IMAZ as a group in 2010, and I so I opted to do that race in the XC program. Again, a great experience - we had a breakfast with Leanda Cave, Jordan Rapp and Max Longree, excellent rooms in the race hotel right by the start/finish, VIP treatment for the family, and I got my Kona slot for 2011. I could go on - the 2011 Kona experience was superb - but you get the idea. Neither I nor any of the other XC athletes had any illusion that we had "qualified" for Kona, but we had experienced the race and done so in a way that most qualifiers don't get to do. I was glad I had been able to do it, but I still had a sense of unfinished business. Having then done Kona twice - a race I don't even like that much - I promised myself that if I ever did Kona again, it would be as a normal qualifier.

In 2012 I did two things: I worked a lot on my bike, and I turned 50. That resulted in an 18-minute IM PR of 10:04 in IMAZ and a surprising 3rd in M50-54, which earned me my first real KQ. I was dumbfounded. Although I had imagined KQing in my mind, I never really thought it would happen. I was able to repeat that in the 2014 IMAZ race, even going a place better, but it was also a bit of luck of the draw (i.e., who else showed up).

Which way is better? For pure personal satisfaction, KQing the normal way hands down. But apart from that, from the perspective of the treatment of the athlete and family, as well as getting to know some solid people, XC is hard to beat.

As for the NYT story, it probably isn't news that having money affords you access to experiences not available to everyone. I know of at least one XC guy who flies to races in a private jet. I could criticize, but the truth is I only wish that's how I rolled.

Ian

Now that's a story! Honest, well written and balanced. You're the guy they should have wrote about. I learned a few things, and, the way you wrote allowed me to "take a walk in the other guys moccasins." Reminds me of the time I got to ski at the Yellowstone club as a guest of a multi-hundred millionaire (lives kinda near you). I couldn't resent the joy I had of skiing on fresh powder that saw so few people that the powder didn't get skied out in an hour. If I had that kinda money would I do that? Hell yah!

sorry if my original reply caused offense (I do stick foot in mouth more than is healthy).

'Sorry--and only in part stating this as serious...but if Kona is the world championship, shouldn't qualifying spots be limited? I don't get the whole age proportion argument, either. Sponsor giveaways contribute to the event in tangible and non-tangible ways. Without them, is it not conceivable that Kona could be a lot smaller? Truth is, Kona is a bucket list dream for many, hence the demand for more qualifying spots/reallocation of existing spots. Kona is a private event; a lot of allocation complaints strike me (and I'm not necessarily including you in this statement) as entitlement.