They're going to split it over 2 days like to 70.3 world champs.

I was thinking that as well, but it would definitely disrupt a lot of people’s travel/accommodation plans if they had planned to leave on the 10th.

Moving to February?

---

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

They want to make Slowtwitch happy and will move it around the world. Yes, that is in pink😂

---

Team Zoot So Cal

Just a guess, but I wonder if it has to do with changes to qualifying. I haven’t followed it that closely, but ultimately they have to have the right number of people qualified. With most of last year cancelled and races being cancelled this year, I’m thinking they may need to make some changes to get the right number of people in Kona.

Having said that, it still seems too early to make any concrete decisions.

I just can't imagine how any news would be "super" at this point. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

The locals would LOVE this. HA!

Good news would be no press conference. If there is something to cover, in this day and age, it does not seem like there can be anything positive to cover now. I hope I am wrong.

My feeling would be 60-75 spots at all remaining races in order to get numbers up.

Maurice

I’m going split race. Clever move: get it established as a ‘socially distanced’ necessity limit 1000 on each day then gradually increase over time to the ‘dream’ of 2000+ on each day.

Building on this a little bit, at the age group level, I don't expect many Europeans to be present in Kona simply because quite a few IM races in Europe through June have already been postponed until later this year or next. If the cut-off date is sometime in August, that doesn't leave many opportunities....and that assumes that races in July and August actually take place. On the other hand, races in the US and elsewhere are happening and people are starting to qualify.

Moved permanently to the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain?

---

"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

*

* other oil rich oppressive regimes are available.

i assume it'll be something about sports.

---

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

How is this handled in 70.3 I assume a lot more men than women race the WC? WOuld you have some male ag on one day and some on another, would not be good to get an overall winner.

My only guess is that it is -not- about splitting the race into two days.

Through all of this pandemic crap, not once have I heard any local government / health authority say "Oh, we can't allow a 3000 person event, if only you could cut it to 1500 people".............

You could easily do the older men’s AGs, as part of day2 with all the women. The men’s overall ag winner is not likely to come from, say, the 50+ crowd.

They could also have day1 as the race for qualifiers, and day2 as an open signup race. Doubt they’ll do this, even though it’s the obvious way to maximize $$$$.

---

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

 

That it will happen this year.


.

---

Once, I was fast. But I got over it.

New official sock sponsor.

---

***

Doubt there will be enough participants to split them into 2 days.
Australians/Kiwis locked out, most Europeans and people from countries with mandatory visa too. 5 months until September, and I don't see any upcoming changes in international travel.

IM Texas 9th Oct will become the World Championships split over two days, 2500 per day...... Republican state and everything opening so pretty much good to go

---

David T-D
http://www.tilburydavis.com

.
.
Remember the Americans and Canadians have a "World Series" without any other countries participating and the Super Bowl winners are apparently "World Champions" so loading two days worth of Yank age groupers from the Legacy backlog,the 2020 deferrals and 2021 qualifiers would be USA podium glory of legendary proportions. Luckily the international professionals can still travel to resume their usual place atop the Ironman World Championship podiums.
,
,

Are all your posts on this forum about how much you hate North America?

Any ideas what this could be?
---

IM Kona will be run by the PTO!

---

---

---

Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

USA-USA-USA

Looks like we should also hold the Olympics each year given our dominance:

Here are the 10 countries with the most Olympic medals:

• United States (2827 medals)
• United Kingdom (883 medals)
• Germany (855 medals)
• France (840 medals)
• Italy (701 medals)
• Sweden (652 medals)
• China (608 medals)
• Russia (546 medals)

,,

.
What do you mean,I love Mexico..

I have flown across the Pacific 21 times to race in Canada,tha USA and Mexico.I spent 8 weeks riding through the Maritimes,ridden from Anchorage to Calgary,ridden all over BC and the Albertan Rockies,ridden all over the PNW and lived in Canada for a total of around 4 years.I even have siblings living in Austin,TX and Montreal. I love travelling to Nth America but that doesn't mean I am not going to comment on the insular culture that is so openly displayed by the vast majority of Americans.
.
I am Australia and am happy to accept that we have our own faults .I don't get emotionally wounded when somebody points them out to me,Hell,when I grew up in Hong Kong I saw the very worst of what Australian culture had to offer via the drunken masses disembarking the SS Canberra when she docked in port.That part of Australian culture is why I never go to Bali,'cause the bloody place is full of them.
.
Being able to recognize differences in cultures is what travelling with an open mind is all about.
.
.
.

There has been no US races this year. As the schedule is moving into the ruby red states, assumingly the races will go on until possibly Hawaii 70.3 being the first again to be cancelled/moved from June

Feels that way.

Lifetime automatic qualification to IRONCOWBOY and all his followers.

Stephen J

---

I believe my local reality has been violated.
____________________________________________
Happiness = Results / (Expectations)^2

Feels that way.[/quote].
.
Imagine how some of us feel when posters here continually fail to acknowledge that the rest of the world exists .The "Diversity" thread made me lose all the patience I had regarding the blatant US bias here on ST.

What about Ashley horner and her fan base

I'm guessing there will be commitment to running the pro race and they will continue to monitor the situation as to whether there will be an age group race. Which will unlikely be an option for us here in Australia due to travel restrictions.

I've always felt that that value that the pro field brings to a race brand is under-valued. I know that others do not see it this way. However, if Ironman doesn't get 1-2 races completed in 2021 with really strong (i.e. world champ standard) fields, how many people will be talking about Ironman races and Kona, and then back that talk up with a race entry fee? With every Challenge race we see, with coverage of very competitive fields, there will be a growing confidence in certainty of getting a race with your entry fee if it is Challenge branded, and probably more importantly, a growing awareness in the public of what these races are (likely leading to increased entries).

I hope the interests of the owners of Ironman, as they navigate the impact of Covid-19, aligns with what we want for our sport.

I understand and agree with your first statement. But, this is primarily a NA forum. I think you are expecting too much. The majority of users on here are from NA. And only a very very small subset of those folks follow pro triathlon around the world.

It would be interesting if slowman had a break down of number of users and traffic by country.

---

blog

It is a US based site that is prominently US-centric with the posters and themes, yet you still piss and moan and shoehorn your "bias" into every single thread that you can. It is beyond annoying and tiring to read/ignore

Well Nick does have a point that it is only in North America where championships are declared world championships without really having teams from around the world compete and in fairness these are sports that no one else does. Ironman was an event that was unique to Kona and self declared itself a world championship (it was the only event of its kind, keeping with the theme of NFL for example), but eventually Americans were never winning it, so it really was a world championship organically, but even then it really isn't because you don't have athletes who get to represent say Ghana, or Rwanda or North Korea etc etc. Its more like an invitational championship of its own series from around the world (which is fine)....so more like "Series World Championships" vs "World Championship"

Also I have zero sympathy from any athletes from any countries who cannot make it to Kona. It goes both ways. Some countries like NZ were completely sealed off to others so it goes both ways if they can't make it out to go to Kona. That's just the way the world is, so if its mainly a World Series Championship event with only Americans this year, that's the way it is (and I am not American)

.
.
So what you are saying is that in your annoyance you actually understand where I am coming from ..,,and feel free to use the function provided to block my posts from your feed.
.

They are going to be like the Boston Marathon and have a Virtual Kona option. Partnering with Zwift who will announce Kona as their new virtual world

---

Matt

The best baseball players in the world leave their home countries to play in the US.
THe best basketball players in the world leave their home countries to play in the US.
The best American football is played here. It is our sport. I am not sure this is something to brag about, though.
We don't call the MLS champion the world champion. Because we know it isn't.
Long distance triathlon was invented here. You're welcome.

I am just having fun with you. I agree, most Americans are pretty insular. One point to consider: European states are *possibly* more distinct than US states. But the Florida panhandle does not resemble Northern California any more than Bavaria and Gibraltar resemble one another. (Again, not really disagreeing with you. )

This is the information you are looking for (as well as a lot more interesting info): https://www.similarweb.com/...twitch.com/#overview

~51% of then traffic is from the US, ~14% from the UK, ~5% from Canada. Everywhere other country is <4%.

---

Matt

Challenge Daytona and Challenge Miami were run on private speedways which eliminated the uncertainty over permits. It has diddly squat to do with the brand and anyone assuming that the permit situation in Daytona/Miami extends to other Challenge Races is likely to be disappointed.

Looks like someone can't handle the truth 🤔...

we are 2/3 North American. the other third breaks down like this:

UK
Germany
Australia

... and then the rest.

we have quite a few users from australasia, so, OZ, NZ, singapore, hong kong, and that sort of expat cluster around the south china sea.

---

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Maybe even multisports.

never underestimate the 0.00001% from Switzerland ;-)

New Title sponsor: SuperSapians

Yikes. Clickbait much, Ironman?

---

Team Saunders on YouTube

Only Triathletes would get sold down the river to watch a "title sponsor" for their World Championship. SMH Ironman.

---

---

Save: $50 on Speed Hound Recovery Boots | $20 on Air Relax| $100 on Normatec| 15% on Most Absorbable Magnesium

Blogs: Best CHEAP Zwift / Bike Trainer Desk | Theragun G3 vs $140 Bivi Percussive Massager | Normatec Pulse 2.0 vs Normatec Pulse | Speed Hound vs Normatec | Air Relax vs Normatec | Q1 2018 Blood Test Results | | Why HED JET+ Is The BEST value wheelset

Expectation: useful comments about the race - a new format, schedule, postponement or not
Reality: advertisement of a new 'super' product

New title sponsor.

OMGGGG!!!!! haha

Imagine being a serious private equity firm and owning this company...

These guys have zero self awareness. Fully anticipate within the next 10 years it'll be the Challenge Family Full Distance Championship from Kona, Hawaii.

Right?! Total psych job. Everyone expecting something major. This is like saying they switched from Gu to Hammer gel on the bike leg. Yawn!

was that it? just a new sponsor? i just thought that was a yearly thing at this point!

Part of me feels silly for falling for it and being excited to hear what it might be, I should not have expected something truly big or great. But then the other part of me feels - yeah, how unaware are they of what people would think a "big announcement" would be given the events of the last year?? Title sponsor literally doesn't affect a single person who qualified to race, right? ugh.

So you've traveled the world over, and think that you're more cultured and better than the rest of us. Got it. You appear very narcissistic.

Just because North Americans aren't aware of every random occurrence around the world, does not mean we're ignorant . Most people aren't dialed into what is going on across the board globally and it's okay.

That was kinda meh. But hey sponsorship activation that is written into the contract!

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I think everyone's mistake is thinking that a private race series finale owned by an American company is in any way an actual "world championship." It's all made up, and is only a WC because that is what they call it

If you want true WC with an international governing body, go to the Olympics. Otherwise don't get your (royal you) panties in such a wad

You completely missed bro. Dude is b*tching and whining incessantly on every thread about North American bias. We get it.

Nobody is saying IM has exclusive rights over the term World Championship, but for your information it is the Ironman World Championship.

What can I say ... bro. I don't live on ST or track people's posts.

And I started the ChrisM World Championship Triathlon. Now that I know that's how it works,,,, LOL

Hop Suisse!!

Major eye roll. The measure of a world championship is in the quality of the competition not the sanction by some international governing body. And when it comes to money grubbing, you don't have to look further than the IOC to find an organization that makes corporations look like pikers in the search for profits. Regardless, after Ironman sued ITU for interference over the World Championship title long ago, they eventually settled in arbitration. It's over, Kona is the World Ironman Championship like it or not.

https://www.triathlon.org/..._settle_out_of_court

damn, i thought this was a safe prediction. how did i get this wrong?

---

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Wooaoh there horsey.
I thought you were required to remain neutral 🤔

😁😁😁

.
.
.
Please show me where " On every thread" I am bitching about US bias..yes I have mentioned it a few times this week because it is timely but two others on this very thread have mentioned the same thing. So again,please show me every single thread that I have commented on where I mention a topic that you don't like seeing. Feel free to use quotation marks.
.
.

Dear Chris.

How do I qualify for your World Championships?

Will there be apparel and tattoos?

Do you accept Pay Pal?

---

http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

Reference "Ironman World Championship Announcement" and "This place is super boring right now" threads within the past 24 hours. Beyond that there are likely other instances, but it's a waste of time to look. You've already provided enough with multiple posters mentioning it on this thread alone.

Agree that it wasn't what everyone was expecting, but, I guess it is still kind of good news, that in the current climate (covid), they are still finding sponsors? Anyway, bring on 2022..... :)

51% from the US is already a majority so hopefully there is a large influx of people from Liberia and Myanmar to push that % even higher and we can all vote to ban the use of the metric system on ST

Interesting product. Stupid name.

Cash only, details to be worked out but tattoos will be provided free of charge from the local prison population. You did an ironman, you can take a little pain from a thread wrapped needle

Wouldn't this be a ChrisMan (TM)?

sorry, "long course distance full triathlon". gonna be a shitty tattoo

Sorry, but you're a tool if you get a tattoo after completing a race. Do Jan and Daniela have IM tatts?

Probably not, but how many Olympians do? Maybe a handful of NFL/MLB/NHL/ etc. players too.

---

Move on. Keep training. Be an adult.

Prison tats with a needle and thread? Possibly

ETA - love where you guys are taking the thread.

This came up when I typed "new-iron-man-series-title-sponsor":

https://speedsport.com/...eries-title-sponsor/

Reading the name, my first thought was: 'Neat, the Oil Industry is getting into the supplement business."

But good to know that Goggle has figured out how little I care about ironman.
.

Quite a few.
Also - The branding (literal branding) for the winners of the 'official' WC Fatbike championships.
(If you haven't seen it... go look it up)

Rightly or wrongly, that is exactly how the population of the USA is regarded by the rest of the world.

LOL, this reminds me of a "big announcement pending" pushed by the local (Polish) Ironman licencee. It's like they have a procedure for publicising non-events.

I literally can't remember what it was, but it was 100% "meh". Maybe an internationally-known athlete joining the PRO field or something.

It's funny, because they sometimes do have a big announcement to make, like the first local Ironman race after several years of 70.3s and 5150s.

---

"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Lucy Charles-Barclay has one, and she's sure she's the only pro that does, lol

Also, the product is ridiculous. It's an app+sensor that lets you monitor your blood glucose.

My first thought: ah, it's good, they're trying to help diabetics.

Nah! Not for medical use.

The idea is you pay $140 a month and know when to eat and what to eat so that you beat your competition in the quest for the top 100 in your age group, or whatever.

I guess it's better than when Ironman was promoting the use of a non-steroid anti-inflammation drug to reduce training and racing pain (and, in addition to massively increasing injury risk, also risk needing a kidney transplant).

---

"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Given title sponsor turnover since the Ford days and the current situation; it will be interesting to see if they ultimately get their name above the finish line at least once.

---

29 years and counting

Late to this. But that's just awesome.

"Remember to drink your Ovaltine!"

We (diabetics) have had this sensor for a while. And at least where I'm at, insurance pays for it ;-)
SuperSapiens is just trying to cash in on that same tech with a much larger potential client base.

Not sure how useful it will be for non-diabetics.
Ironically, I find mine quite inaccurate especially in one specific setting: during exercise...

---

if you can read this
YOU'RE DRAFTING!

its the triathlon version of April Fools Day

IM. press release about a huge announcement about Kona
Triathletes: this is huge, its gonna be 2 days, its gonna move around
IM. we'd like to introduce the new title sponsor
Triathletes: Are you kidding me, that's it, come on


Every year someone falls for it

---

Boots
Fleet Feet Rochester, NY
Fleet Feet Buffalo, NY
YellowJacket Racing, Rochester, NY

I'm not even a fan of IM and I was disappointed :(

The two day thing would have been my guess. A competitor day and an open day. More money for IM, More people's dreams coming true, it's a win for IM and a win for athletes.

With ink stolen from the pens at the sign-in desk

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

The residents of the island would never go for it.

---

Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Hasn't that horse been beat to death on this forum? I.e., it works for 70.3 but not IM. The reasons have been given again and again. IMWC is more likely to move to a new venue then ever to go to a 2 day format.

But reaching the Olympics is one of the most difficult feats in sports. It's an elite group of athletes that devote their life to being the best in the world. Finishing an ironman is reserved for anyone with $600 to spend.

My daughter is living with T1D and used something similar in the past before moving to a Dexcomm.

My immediate reaction is that they developed this tech for diabetics, and now they're trying to see what other markets they can tap into (i.e "Soooo......what else can we use this for? Astronauts? Athletes? Soliders?". I don't see how it can be worth it, those test strips are so expensive that they're frequently stolen in pharmacy break-ins since they're so easy to sell.

my money was on IM reminding us how difficult things are and therefore you won't be getting a refund of your entry fees...ever...

keep training...lol..

AFAIK, this requires a prescription and medical supervision.
Not that this would keep healthy people from using it without supervision and then fainting from low BG at an unfortunate time.
All just because they want to lose a few pounds and don’t take in enough food. Even with the app/device functioning properly.
Oh well, they got the lawyers to feed.

He looks like quite a few IM ‘competitors‘ I have seen.
But other then them, he is elite in his chosen sport.

That guy probably trains more than we do. It's just not cardio

Imagine how many years it must have taken him to grow that awesome beard!

There are a lot of sports in the olympics were the "elite" part better describes their finances. Sadly, I was unable to get into equestrian or sailing and had to settle for a common man sport like Ironman.

On the other side of the spectrum I could enthrall you with Eric the Eel's 100m solo freestyle swim at Sydney of 1:52:72 in his preliminary heat when the other 2 competitors false started. Most of us could have won that heat! :)

Not replying directly to you but in that vein.

I think a vast majority of the competition you actually see on TV in the Olympics shows truly elite folks in their chosen sport as has been stated, even sports a lot of us don't understand like equestrian and shooting. (I am not arguing the costs associated with many sports, though). On the Eric the Eel/Eddie the Eagle angle, I understand the "everyman" human interest angle that broadcasters want but I think those sport federations are just sitting there averting their eyes that their rules for nationality and qualification were able to be gamed enough to let these obviously unqualified people in. Olympic tourism is a real thing and if you think the "I did an Ironman" achievement crowd are out of line with tattoos, imagine if that personality got into the Olympics!

No one @ me with things like "small countries deserve equal opportunity at entry" and "if they qualified, they are good enough" because those intentions are absolutely good and in line with the Olympic movement. But man have they been exploited to some comedic effects since those '88 Calgary games.

With the 2024 Paris olympics I heard they thought about having a sort of open marathon. I assume the elite would start first and then others could also run the course so it's not impossible. If so, I'm there. Not sure about getting the rings tattoo though :)

stevesimpson wrote:

But reaching the Olympics is one of the most difficult feats in sports. It's an elite group of athletes that devote their life to being the best in the world. Finishing an ironman is reserved for anyone with $600 to spend.

You're joking, right? Even without the examples below, the restrictions on number of people from 1 country in a sport leaves out a lot of the best athletes. Norwegian XC skiers and Swiss mountain bikers in particular get screwed.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetorch/2018/02/20/587356461/how-an-average-american-skier-managed-to-scheme-her-way-into-the-olympics
https://www.theringer.com/olympics/2018/2/21/17033340/winter-olympics-random-athletes-countries-loopholes

This is similar to how countries determine who can get a pro card for triathlon. In some countries there seem to be lower standards, very visible if you check Thorsten tri ratings before a race and their predicted times are far from what an age grouper overall winning time would be.

If you are lucky to be born in Monaco you have higher changes of participation. Of course for most sports there are still criteria that need to be met.