That the energy lab is the biggest icon of the run course and the run out is a grind back to the highway…If the entry to the energy lab had changed with the new road mods I’m guessing it was the logical choice.
If you compare course profiles / mile markers … the the climb up Palani (approx mile 10) and turn around in the energy lab )approx mile 18) … they appear at very similar spots. If rhat is the case the turn around points do not seem much different. ???
Good catch Dave. This is definitely the old profile. Earlier today I checked the new course versus Ali’i gps data and the new turnaround is after the small 4th hill on the profile shown. Measuring from Google Maps this cuts off about 3.5miles of Ali’i running which should put Palani hill around mile 7.
The change to Kaiminani extension only appears to add back about 2.8 to 3.0 (QK mapping needs some updating) so the NELA Road turnaround probably shifts north.
Heard some talk that course certification might be underway. Makes sense with IMWC having historically been approved for Boston marathon qualifying.
I can’t believe they shortened the out and back on Ali’i drive. That was the only tolerable part of the run. More time on the Queen K is beyond terrible. Why not shorten the pointless out and bak in the energy lab. It is just road that goes nowhere. Cutting that short would not even be noticed!
Be thankful you didn’t do the race before the Energy Lab was incorporated into the course. Plenty of Queen K action back then.
I can’t believe they shortened the out and back on Ali’i drive. That was the only tolerable part of the run. More time on the Queen K is beyond terrible. Why not shorten the pointless out and bak in the energy lab. It is just road that goes nowhere. Cutting that short would not even be noticed!
It now going into THE PIT
Yeah, I like running in the energy lab (always seems like a breeze if blowing). The queen K has always represented a black death march. Endless amounts of it on the bike make me want to never see it again.
Seems the run map as it shown is only 40km…
Not that it matters to me (since I have no chance in a stand-alone) but I am curious if this is still BQ certified?
After having done several WTC events (though never kona), I wouldn’t 100% trust the exact turn around points on their course maps.
Anyone know when they usually have the course marked for kona? A few days before? A week before?
Nope.
In Kona, the turn around is normally a church (If I recall properly) and was never marked until race morning when they closed the street. As the course has not changed in a long time, most people just know it, or at least that is how it feels when you first go there.
The new map specifically says the turn around is Pahoehoe Beach Park, which is easy to find and mark if you are mapping it.
How does this affect recognition of course records?? I realize the course has changed over the years, though as far as I know, only “unofficially.”
It won’t be any more difficult or easy. The excluded mile on Ali where the old turn was last year was quite flat and the small bit added out/back past energy lab this year is also quite flat so it would be seconds in the difference.
And the queen K is a bit cooler than Ali drive so those wishing for more Ali drive must be for viewing scenery as its certainly the hottest part of the run.
And running Palani a mile earlier is prob a little bit better as legs would be fresher but again we are talking a mile so not really much benefit. These changes should not change the view on a run course record if one gets set it would be similar.
my 2 cents
Couple of things. On Ali’i drive, I always have felt it was cooler as it is directly next to the ocean whereas the Queen K was hot, hot, hot and nothing in between. As far as being more difficult or easy, the added time on the Queen K may have added ascent/descent as it is rolling through that area so it may be a bit more difficult if it takes in a rolling section on that added bit.
I can’t believe they shortened the out and back on Ali’i drive. That was the only tolerable part of the run. More time on the Queen K is beyond terrible. Why not shorten the pointless out and bak in the energy lab. It is just road that goes nowhere. Cutting that short would not even be noticed!
Be thankful you didn’t do the race before the Energy Lab was incorporated into the course. Plenty of Queen K action back then.
Remember when it was on a different island entirely? (Oahu)
The mile being taken out in alihi had a slight rise and the mile past the energy lab heading to airport is flat and not rolling. Net net I would say the new course “might†be a touch easier but literally seconds.
I’ve never found the queen k hotter. Just me. It’s more open so any breeze you get which you don’t on alihi.
Anyone know the full details of this?
2018 Map:
“Old Map”
Appears a bit shortened on the out/back section along Ali’i and added to the Queen K/Energy Lab area?
So know Lionel is going to have a second time seeing “the man himself” Patrick Lange coming at him and have “fear strike him in the heart” twice or whatever he said last year.
The added out and back will be interesting for athletes to see each other twice in close succession.
No way Ali’i gets no breeze and is horrible. It is always a pleasure to get to the Queen K except in 2015 when there was no breeze there either… The mental drag of Queen K is the killer.
No way Ali’i gets no breeze and is horrible. It is always a pleasure to get to the Queen K except in 2015 when there was no breeze there either… The mental drag of Queen K is the killer.
I was going to say, Queen K was much much worse…but I only raced in 2015 haha…
No way Ali’i gets no breeze and is horrible. It is always a pleasure to get to the Queen K except in 2015 when there was no breeze there either… The mental drag of Queen K is the killer.
I was going to say, Queen K was much much worse…but I only raced in 2015 haha…
All I remember is thinking ‘I just need to get to the top of Pilani to get some breeze’ and there being not a bees fart there… ‘This is going to suck…’
https://www.triathlete.com/2015/10/ironman/how-hot-was-kona-2015-comparing-marathon-times_124295
No way Ali’i gets no breeze and is horrible. It is always a pleasure to get to the Queen K except in 2015 when there was no breeze there either… The mental drag of Queen K is the killer.
I was going to say, Queen K was much much worse…but I only raced in 2015 haha…
All I remember is thinking ‘I just need to get to the top of Pilani to get some breeze’ and there being not a bees fart there… ‘This is going to suck…’
https://www.triathlete.com/...arathon-times_124295
It was really hot. We were running out on the Queen K and I was feeling a little dry…saw the Base Salt tent, took some, and there was no fluid anywhere…I knew it was tough at that point lol.
Ali’i was awesome - I thought it was totally good. But yeah, Queen K was me and a bunch of ladies running a decent clip and really, the best day I ever had out there!