i'll have a story up tomorrow morning, with the details, but yeah, this is correct.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I guess all the pros will be at st George now!

Can you leak the day in February?!

But...but....but now we have to train through winter. Whaaaaaaa!
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In 1.....2.....3...Go....
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.

to invoke my right against self-incrimination i'm going to take the 5th.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Sanders will probably be happy with this.

"to blame"?

i dont fault them at all for making decisions they feel is best for their state.

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

Fair. ;)

So does Sanders still do Copenhagen, or take the added time to find another race with more prep?

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

So February 5th it is.

well played! i just looked at a calendar!

;-)

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I'm not even mad, as I've said before. Early info is better than I expected, if it happens.

Real info coming out months before the race? Maybe they've leaned a lesson and realized it's better to rip the band-aid off and let us get over it sooner rather than later.

I hope it can happen in February. But honestly I really don't want to go there if the community doesn't support it anyway. They are supposed to be a PART of the race. A cheering, happy crowd. If they don't want me there I don't want to be there, regardless of why.

I just hope to hear that we expect things to be better by Feb, and that it will be a fun place to be by then. Annoying that my first Kona is running into this so hard, but way more annoying for the next person that needs an ICU bed that can't get one.

---

Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

So do all the races to Dec 31 2021 turn into Feb 2022 qualifiers?

Well played by you too Dan! I am going to bring you and turningscrews a 6-pack to the Slowtwitch gathering!

This is great, imo. Now we won't need to see the best talent sandbagging or skipping any of the big races this fall

I for one hope there’s an apology coming to 907tri after the world jumped all over him for “clickbait” in https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...anceled%3F_P7566706/.

Why? At the time the title was 100% click bait and was edited by Dan, and technically it still would be as I have not seen any "official" word confirming the speculation. He/she could of said "My 8-ball tells me Kona will be cancelled" or a number of different lines...I stand behind me calling out the click bait!

Slowman is gonna need the Governor of Hawaii to bless the ST party in Feb. Probably best to just invite the Governor so he issues the permits for said party !

Good call...here is the link to send an invite: https://governor.hawaii.gov/...overnor-to-an-event/

I’m glad they are doing the right thing. But it still stinks to be out 50% of the rental. I hope that some pressure is put on AirBnB and the like to do a better job with refunds.

Blu will be happy too

.
.
....and maybe Flora Duffy will change her mind and accept Ironman's invitation.
.
.

She can just go to Kona for a January training camp, do a 5 day taper and get another long 8:50 training day in on Feb 5th. That would be awesome. Then she can go get ready for ITU season off that base work

.
Exactly..Now of we can get Casper Stornes to Copenhagen to try and qualify again he will have lots of time to recover from back to back weekends and get ready for a Norwegian TTT in Feb.

Won't any other races be for qualification in Oct of 2022?

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Not sure that this particularly helps Sanders. He still has to Qualify Sunday to make the start list for Feb 5.

Alistair Brownlee back in play too?

.
.
Cam Wurf gets a full summer training in the heat in Oz..
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Frodeno flys down to Noosa with the family to spend summer training .
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Lionel comes to Australia,joins the Noosa Surf Lifesaving Club and has the local 12 year olds teach him how to open water swim.
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Going to be an interesting summer in my neighborhood. Hahaha.
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Feb 5th in Florida;) 🙄🙄🙄

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___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

I should have signed up for the Boston Marathon

They aren’t coming back to Australia. Crazy if they did.

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It has been all good for training up here on the Sunny Coast for almost the entire Covid year and a half Last summer the place was chock full of tri-geek pros .We aren't bloody Melbourne up here :-)
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So this is why they wouldn’t announce how they are giving slots for Fall 2021 races. They become Feb 22 qualifiers?

I don't think qualifying is the issue. Provided he qualifies, this gives Sanders ample time to recover and peak for WC in February.

I think we can pretty much agree that if the WC was in Oct, there's no way Sanders would be even remotely recovered enough to be competitive.

Does Blu train in Norway? Norwegian winters, yikes!

I'm not involved anymore because Sunday I turned down my slot in Finland because of, living in Europe, the travel restrictions from Europe to the USA. So when I heared about the February date I must confess I had a short jerk because I just turned down the slot.

However, besides the impossibility for many to train outside on the TT in winter I would add also possible frictions with the family at Chrismas and New Years Eve.

Because of the abovementioned problems and also because I have work-related obligations I do not know if I would have gone in February in the first place, even having paid the grand.

I will follow the discussion further with interest, because it is also far from secure whether the February date will hold even if it would now officially been confirmed by IM.

Norwegian winters. *swoon*

Blummenfelt would probably just go to one of the Canaries.

How are they getting in and out of the country? I thought borders were closed and even Australian citizens struggle to get into the country, not even talking about getting out...

I still have my doubts about Boston happening, too.

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Athlete exemptions or exemptions for work just like Belinda Granger was able to commentate at the Challenge races in the USA last year and the same way pro triathletes will race 70.3 worlds and Kona.Just have to do the quarantine on return.

Thanks, wasn't aware of that.

I'm betting on 30th February.

Positives?

The 70.3 world's, which has been by far the most entertaining race distance in recent years, is suddenly looking even better. No one needs to hold back now - even better if IM can find a way of re-opening the entries for anyone who passed a slot to focus on an October Kona.

Announced on Jan's birthday, what a party pooper!

What will Jan do now?
70.3 world's?
Tri Battle v2?

Ohhhh……… I like!

In 2021 Blummenfelt left Norway in January and did not returned until after the olympics.
He will train where it is best.
Most likely not Norway :-)

kona used to be timed for the october full moon; in that case feb 26-27.

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

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Very clever!

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Janyne

Interesting choice of words ("to blame"). As if cancelling a possible super-spreader event that might overwhelm the local hospital scene during a pandemic is a bad thing.

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----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"

Event no longer seems special to me; this will be my last Kona. Good call on cancelling in my view given uptick in cases, does not make sense for public safety...... I will go back to drinking now instead of running.

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2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz

Believe it or not, that's actually a pretty clever move, from a marketing/nostalgia point of view

February 2022 will mark the 40th Anniversary of "The Crawl"

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

kobayashi wrote:

…seems like the Hawaiian government is to blame for this one.

Hawai'i hasn't had its own government since it was illegally annexed by the US, in a fraud of a treaty with the puppet sovereignty put in place by the wealthy haole plantation owners to protect their investments


Or something like that

---

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

In other news Felix is offering Messick to hold the IM World's in Roth :-)

Does anyone think that things will be good enough to host this event in Hawaii by Febrary?

If the only real way to get out of the pandemic is to vaccinate and a sizable portion of the US population refuses to be vaccinated, it would seem that options we will have will still be the same in February as now.

From an age-grouper perspective I can easily see a lot of top 2021 Kona qualified age groupers that would have gone to Hawaii in October and doing a fall Ironman early on to qualify for October 2022. This will certainly impact some athletes that thought it would be a little easier with some of the best away...

Just to list a few races...same applies to the Pro field that would like to punch their 2022 Kona (October) ticket

- Ironman Maryland - September 18th
- Ironman Austria - September 19th
- Ironman Chattanooga - September 26th
- Ironman Indiana - October 2nd
- Ironman Texas - October 9th
- Ironman Mallorca - October 16th
- Ironman Philippines - October 17th
- Ironman Portugal - October 23th
- Ironman Waco - October 23th
- Ironman California - October 24th
- and so on...

Or October 2022, or 2023, or 2024.... Seriously, it just feels like we are going to be stuck living in the same 18-month cycle endlessly.

Not at all disagreeing with the decision and I'm not at all surprised. But endless bad news is becoming overwhelmingly demoralizing and it seems like there is literally no point where this situation actually improves permanently.

At some stage Ironman is going to have to make some decisions.To clear the backlog of qualified and legacy promised athletes they will have to start offering full refunds to anyone who wants to bail out and they may have to make the big move of removing qualifying slots to most Ironman events for one or maybe even two years.
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I would suggest perhaps only offering maybe 250 slots for each regional championship and have no slots for any other race until the backlog is cleared.
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.

This “backlog” problem is of their own making. The orgy of slots given at CdA, Tulsa and LP made this problem a lot worse.

.
.
Sure but it still has to be dealt with and it is going to be brutal.It has to be brutal for the problem to be fixed.
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ironman has been making decisions all along. they haven't postponed making any decisions. the company is trying its best to accommodate during a time when any event promoter of any mass aggregation of folks is bleeding money. now it's on for feb, which is 6 degrees cooler than october. some of us have raced kona in feb, so, same as it ever was!

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Reasons it may be different in Feb: 1. The rate of US citizens getting vaccinated has increased recently as the no. of cases grow. 2. Vaccine mandates are increasing and will likely increase more rapidly after the vaccines get final approval. 3. Booster shots could lead to decrease in hospitalizations.

I feel for everyone having to deal with another postponement.

Good reminder and post here. WTC is doing the best they can.

The biggest question for Q'd athletes would be if they want to chance deferring to a race that is only 4 months away. I also hope that hosts of Airbnb's are accommodating for folks who need to cancel or change their dates.

I think the chances of Oct 2022 could be significantly better than Feb 2022.

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Professional Triathlete
Owner of Blake Becker Multisport Coaching LLC / Team BBMC
blakebeck@gmail.com
http://www.teambbmc.com

Will people for KQ during fall races now get a chance to pick Oct 22 or Feb 22 KQ?

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IG -frebay | Strava

i suspect there are going to be a lot of deferral options. i'm running this down now.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

 
I wonder what the minimum number of AG-ers is to make the race financially viable?

- Will they auto transfer the *remaining* Oct 21 field into Feb 22, or let them have the 2023-2025 option. I'd imagine many/most will go for the later dates if offered, to have certainty.
- If they offer Feb 22 and Oct 22 slots (or a choice) at fall races, I think the Oct 22 slots will go quickly, or be the selected choice.
- To get a decent AG field in Feb 22 they will have to water cannon slots at the Fall races
- If Feb 22 then falls they have 100's more in the queue, and an even bigger problem....

As someone said, it will be brutal - and brutal for 3-5 years.

I think Roth will be getting lots of requests for late entries. Particularly Europeans.

The 2021 pandemic curve so far closely follows 2020. For next year why not look at 2021 numbers, see that Feb was a bad month (not as bad as Dec-Jan), and move the race to 2nd half of March?

By Oct, Kona might be in the clear, but local authorities have to make decisions based on today, and it's bad. That said, there are numerous predictions that delta will soon peak. And it's a fact that the rate of increase in the 7 day average new case count per million is slowing. Yesterday it was 414 per 1M and today was 415 per 1M. A University of Florida study a week earlier predicted the peak would come Aug 18 ... seems they are close. Fingers crossed that it soon levels and the drop begins. There is also evidence from other countries that Delta rips through the community and burns out equally as fast. But since COVID is now endemic, the question in my mind isn't whether this peak will still be there, it's whether we will be experiencing yet another peak around that time. And hopefully, a lot more unvaccinated Americans will get vaccinated after reading all the stories about how Delta is impacting and killing those who aren't.

https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/view/some-experts-see-a-peak-steep-decline-of-delta-variant-coming


https://www.wfla.com/community/health/coronavirus/university-of-florida-study-predicts-when-delta-surge-is-expected-to-peak/


https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/566212-deltas-peak-is-difficult-to-project-but-could-come-this-month

Additionally, a significant percentage of unvaccinated are getting Covid. Those that do not die will have a level of protection against it similar to the vaccine. So, while it is an ass-backwards way to go about it, before too long a large percentage of the unvaccinated are going to have similar immunity protections as the vaccinated.

Ask Sweden how that went? Or Brazilian town of Manaus. This virus keeps finding more new people to infect. We've been saying that same thing for a year now and there's still no end in sight.

OTOH if history is any indicator (1918 flu) the pandemic will last three winters and two summers and will die out. We are just about there. Next spring may be it.

Sweden took the herd immunity approach before vaccines were available. That's a guaranteed fail.
Manaus evidence of reinfection is concerning.

US has 70% vaccinated and with Delta a high percentage of the the (surviving) remaining 30% will get some level of immunity from the virus itself. The virus will not go away and it will mutate in ways that could change the game entirely. But, the current delta surge of 150K cases per day will definitely fizzle out before Feb 2022.

Go ask Israel how that's working out.

There's no getting off Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2021/08/10/what-we-now-know-about-how-to-fight-the-delta-variant-of-covid-column/?fbclid=IwAR0LKXgvziiqoCBHDpmUmxe-hdgm_49JI5gK3PExijX4zQGvskt9Wx4hiSE


read this if your vaxed you just don't get sick as the vax stops the virus at the blood stream (we all know that). You can still test positive as the virus will live in your mucus for serval days.


So the case number thing is kind of not important anymore, every person will get covid, but will you be protected.


Comes down to all people causing shutdowns is over ICU and hospital over run. Those people are all unvaxed.


Can we start placing blame on the real problem now that we have the cure.



Hawaii had 700 deaths of flu/pneumonia in 2017. #1 state rating in the US of death per capita
I don't think they tested everyone coming off the plain for the flu back then??
The history in Hawaii has not been about preventive health care. I am not sure why.
But it seems they avoid medical care to the last minute as the numbers show in history and now.
Hard to put trust in them now till January to change.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

yes, 4th wave is hitting Israel hard despite very high vaccination rate. however, almost all of the deaths are of unvaccinated people
its clear that even vaccinated folks are getting infected with the delta variant, but at lower rates and if you are vaccinated your are significantly less likely to be seriously sick
they are now administrating 3rd shot and there's already statistically significant evidence that its having an impact on infection and serious illness rates
so its reasonable conclusion that we are going into reality where we'll need to get a booster shot every 6-12 months to keep the antibody levels up

and while its a massive bummer to reschedule (and hopefully not lose money on) flights, 3 hotel bookings and bike transport, I still think its the right decision to postpone

Getting more and more people vaccinated and booster shots could be the key to finally allowing Kona to happen (lurking as I hope to qualify someday). And worried my Sept IM could be canceled if this becomes a trend. My state in the US (northeast) is already talking about booster shots this fall. Right now we are 85% vaccinated but the unvaccinated are getting sick and we are now back to wearing masks. The break through cases are a small percentage right now of those getting sick with the variant.

My gut is that we may all have to live with this for the long term, getting booster shots every so often. LP went off well and hopefully the other IMs scheduled for fall will be successful as well. Just stay outside as much as possible and avoid the indoors with many other people unless necessary when going to a race.

Bummer for everyone about Kona. I would be frustrated too.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

I have my desperate VRBO cancellation request all typed out and ready to submit. My official last cancellation date passed like a week ago. We are 100% sure this is happening?

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Volunteers got their cancellation email already

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

I was sent a copy of that notice and thought, if true that the race has indeed been postponed to February, it is really bad form of Ironman not to inform their customers immediately. I understand they probably want to be able to give everyone what the new options are but there are financial ramifications for a lot of the participants on the line.

We have the final payment for our VRBO due on 8/24 and have no interest in losing more money on travel due to COVID then we have already lost the last 18 months. At the same time we do not want to cancel our reservations and then have to scramble and find new ones if the race is actually a go. We have thought about going to Hawaii regardless but with the proposed sanctions on not being able to gather at parks or beaches it would be a long and expensive trip to sit in a condo especially since we already live in a warm climate with access to the ocean.

Kind of bad form, IMO, if Ironman has told volunteers and other tri related persons that the race is postponed/canceled but the Hawaii County government and racers do not yet know if the race will be postponed/canceled.

https://www.kitv.com/...ace-amid-virus-surge

As for the restrictions, if it was anything like we had last fall, you are still able to do everything in the water that you'd want to (swim, surf, paddle, canoe...), ride bikes, and run. Just no peaches on the beaches.

Vaccination works fine.
Here in Norway 70% of all the population has gotten at least one shot.
78% of the population is over 18 years old, so we are closing in on 100% coverage of all adults.

In total 811 people have died of covid.
Currently 28 people are in hospitals due to covid.
Of those 28, 4 are on ventilators.

Death per million.
Norway: 148
USA: 1,938
Israel: 724

i sent out my vrbo cancelletion request yesterday and luckily the owner was willing to give me a 100% refund. my cancellation date was a week ago also for full refund. even though i wasn't 100% sure yesterday and jumped the gun early, i'm glad i did. I'm keep my rental car tho till the last minute, that thing is gold.

I did pass on a Worlds 70.3 entry as I KQ'd too, and could only afford one.

Now, if they do provide the opportunity, I'm gonna go big.

Exactly. The goalposts will keep moving until we say "enough". If vaccination were a silver bullet, they could just mandate all incoming travelers show proof of vaccination (in lieu of a neg test), which should, according to the evidence, not lead to any additional stress on local hospital systems.

I have a positive outlook for February only because COVID will be at a seasonal lull in Hawaii at that time (as it was this Feb). The governor/mayor/etc will celebrate how their restrictions and cancellations contained the virus and how the community came together to vanquish delta against all odds, bla bla bla in order to put on a successful Kona and it will be a win-win politically and economically for everyone.

Of course, infections will spike again next August (as they did in 2020, too), so just be ready for Oct 2022 to be put on hold again unless there is some political push back

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Strava

YOU ARE SO WRONG!!!

the goal posts are not moving. All the ICU on the big island are locals, out of 800 positive tests 6 are not local Hawaiians.

These new measures are only due to UN VAXED people over riding the hospital system.

IF 99.9 % of Covid ICU patiets are UNVAXED we can obviously say the VACCINE WORKS, the issue and fault of closers in due to the U VAXED.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

I thought the same thing. He could now focus on Collins Cup and have a better performance there, but my guess is he wants to have a successful Ironman so Copenhagen goes through. Once he gets back from Europe, his focus will be on 70.3 worlds 100% instead of Kona. This could help him although there are only 3 weeks between Collins Cup and 70.3 worlds. He should be recovered from Copenhagen by then.

Take a deep breath and read what I wrote again, very carefully...

If everyone that comes off a plane is vaxxed (except kids, who are at negligible risk) and the vaccine works really really well (which is does), why would there be a concern about holding an event like this vis-à-vis the hospital system?

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Strava

ah, you again.

Canada has much better vax numbers than Norway and the Delta wave is here. Norway is unlikely to be spared.

Because the vaccine does not prevent a person from being a carrier (symptomatic or asymptomatic) of the virus. A person who is fully vaccinated can possibly still be carrying the virus and pass it on to others unknowingly. That is my issue with where the safe travels program has gone since July. I know the state is reporting manini cases from travelers, but I'd like to see negative testing requirements reimplemented. I know that most of the hospitalized cases here are from the unvaccinated, but I'd like to see the true contact tracing from where they received the virus. I cannot find the story right now. Earlier this week there was a story on the news one evening about a family that was all set to come to Hawaii for vacation. All but one of the family was fully vaccinated and the unvaccinated member was a child under the age of twelve. He required a negative test to gain entry into Hawaii without a quarantine period. Well, the child had the virus and after the family was tested the majority of them did as well. A vaccine passport would not have caught and prevented this family from coming to the island. Only because of a positive test did they know they has the virus.

A little suspicious that roughly twelve days after the negative test requirement was dropped for a vaccine passport that cases in Hawaii skyrocketed and has stayed that way since. Early on a July 4th spike could be attributed to the high number of cases, but things are getting even worse now.

Restrictions should be put back in place and negative test requirements should be enforced for incoming flights.

Canada has 703 deaths per million. Norway has 148.
That is a big difference.

If course you should always vaccinated the part of the population that needs it most. That is how you get the best out of the vaccine and keep the number down.

Back to the Kona to Feb 2022 topic....any insiders know when Ironman is going to inform athletes? I just called the Kona Ironman office and they still are giving the same line...."We are still planning for the race this October" but the volunteers will be showing up in February.

Holding an event like this typically has an average number they know on how many athletes need medical attention at the hospital. Creating MORE strain at a small local hospital is not the smart thing to do when its already full of covid patients and first responders are overworked. People need to realize this is more than just about outdoor events don't spread the virus.

reality check: Ironman informs ~2,800 customers immediately that race is cancelled. Ironman then receives (choose any multiple of) 2,800 individual "what about this situation" questions in response, and is in no position to provide any answers.

ffs ... give them at least a few days to work through these things. I'm sure they are in as much of a reactive mode to developing information as anyone, but with far more moving parts than most of us could imagine.

agreed that we should stick to the Kona schedule in this thread please.
The vax/antivax conversations are annoying.

It's crazy that they said this over the phone,but have not publicly confirmed or denied the stories published everywhere.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

So you punish incoming travelers that did the right thing and got vaccinated, to protect the locals who chose not to get vaccinated? This is why this will never end and future races are in jeopardy.

There is this weird doublethink going on where unvaxxed people are both simultaneously to blame for the ongoing pandemic (and some go as far as to say they should be denied medical care), and on the other hand, they are the most worthy of our protection because hospitals will fill up and they are the most likely to need care.

Is it time to revive one of those threads about rotating the world championships?

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Strava

I read that yes. but I am not in charge of cancelling the event I think it should happen as is. There maybe more like the numbers are low due to international travel so they are ok moving it.
I can still as of now do the exact same trip there without the race. so they don't mind travelers just events.

IF you read up on the situation on the big island they are all locals not travelers taking up the ICU. just like every where.

The province I live in has these numbers 4.4 millions people.
Here is the regional breakdown of new cases:

• 734 new cases in Interior Health, which has 2,982 total active cases.
• 316 new cases in Fraser Health, which has 882 total active cases.
• 198 new cases in Vancouver Coastal Health, which has 715 total active cases.
• 112 new cases in Island Health, which has 307 total active cases.
• 74 new cases in Northern Health, which has 197 total active cases.
• There are no new cases among people who reside outside of Canada, a group which has seven total active cases.

If you read the last line it seems all the travel measures work petty well here just like Hawaii. We allow Americans in and understand the UNVAXED are the issue with ICU visits not humans crossing lines in the sand or if the population is a local or a tourist.

also note

The majority of people currently in hospital with the novel coronavirus in B.C. are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

Official statement

The Ironman World Championship has once again been rescheduled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Ironman, in conjunction with Hawaii officials, announced Thursday morning that the Supersapiens Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona will now be held Feb. 5, 2022. It had been scheduled for Oct. 9.

Like 1982, Ironman expects that there will be two editions of the Ironman World Championship in 2022 (February and October).

“The resurgence of the virus and new Delta strain has had significant impact on the island community of Hawaii. Combined with substantial border closures and travel restrictions for qualified athletes, there is not a viable pathway in October to host the Ironman World Championship,” said Andrew Messick, President and Chief Executive Officer for The Ironman Group. “After extensive consultation with governmental and community leaders in Hawai`i, we believe that the best course of action is to delay the event until February of 2022.

I think his point was that if you are way behind in vaccine rollout in Norway then there is a high degree of urgency right now with regards to the delta variant.

Lots of countries were doing great a month ago.

Maurice

Just got the email:

Aloha Edward,

It is with a heavy heart that we announce the postponement of the 2021 Supersapiens IRONMAN World Championship until February 5, 2022.

IRONMAN has been a part of the West Hawai`i community for nearly 40 years. This is our community, our home, our `ohana. Here, right now, Covid-19 is worse than at any point in the pandemic. This risk affects athletes, volunteers, partners, staff, the community – everyone. After deep and careful consultation with county and state officials and other important constituents, we agree: the risks right now are too great to bear.

We know this postponement is not the news you wanted to hear and is particularly disappointing for those athletes who have experienced the prior postponements. We, like you, wish things were different.

As you can imagine, rescheduling an event of this magnitude has a lot of moving parts. We are working together with local and state Hawai`i officials so that we may welcome athletes back to the Island of Hawai`i in February with the racing experience for which the IRONMAN World Championship is famous.

We will contact you again with further information on or before Wednesday, August 25, 2021 (Hawai`i Standard Time). Thank you for your patience as we work through the many details.

Our entire `ohana thank you for your patience, your kindness, and your support of one another through these challenging times.

If you have additional questions, please contact kona@ironman.com.

Edit: also want to give a shoutout to Knutson Associates that manages the condo I rented for Kona. They gave me a 100% refund within an hour of my request, despite the cancellation policy not requiring them to. Thanks!!

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
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Oh, that would top all, retroactively provide slots to fill the race course for the one day event. I’m sure it’s happening. Good luck.

My point was that this foreshadows cancellations for future October Konas when seasonal spikes occur unless we learn to live with some level of risk.

According to the HI COVID dashboard, there are 24 ICU beds in Hawaii County, 19 are filled (7 are COVID, 12 non-covid). You could theoretically have 95% of the population vaccinated and one tiny outbreak could fill it up. So when "cases" inevitably rise every summer, vaccinated or not, politicians are going to feel pressure to put restrictions back in no matter how many people are immune.

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Strava

I agree but that is my may point we have done everything we can by now or had the chance.

We have to live with this now and maybe for the long term future we can't keep moving things when it seems ( in USA) everything is just political not factual. Just follow guidelines yet.....

Few follow diet guidelines and we don't shut down the buffets.

Just protect yourself. or you know, consequences.

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Kona should be moved to the summer months when cases are lowest

and be in Europe where the winners and most of the podium will come from and where there's more interest in the sport too.

There. Problem mainly solved.

Canada vax coverage is superior to Norway. Delta is here.
Public health policy only goes so far.

Have you raced Kona in October? How much hotter does it get there in summer?

I wonder if they will add slots for races close to the feb or oct dates. Makes me rethink which races to do next year just in case.

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IG -frebay | Strava

I had a friend already reach out and IM denied his request to get in to 70.3 worlds.

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blog

Next is lamda after that it’s ligma variant

I feel for all those who’ve been training their butt off.

this is the bit that gets me. whatever you think of the different approaches taken to fighting covid, most countries have made huge personal, economic and societal sacrifices in the name of health, with relatively limited protest. if we were to make half that committment to general good health (nutrition, exercise, medical funding etc) then we could all be so much more generally healthy which would make a real difference in covid outcomes as well as every other form of poor health and death.

Why make all that effort to exercising and eating healthy when you can do your part to contain covid by watching netflix, working in your pajamas and having the proles get your groceries for you?

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Strava

One useful reference point in this thread is the limited number of hospital beds on the island.

In an average year, how many athletes end up in the ICU? I have to imagine with the heat and humidity, and a bike crash or two, there could be some strain put on the local hospital. If it’s already near capacity, is that the limiting factor?

Assuming that’s the case, I question whether Kona can host this event until covid recedes as a political and public health hot potato.

Without picking sides (and I am vaccinated) it is amazing to see what happened with delta variant in India where this variant kicked off. The prime minister was acting like a buffoon opening everything in a free for all to support elections and religious events and then as we know delta kicked in and it was carnage on all fronts. But with barely 2 month of restrictions and barely ten percent vaccinated that big spike in cases and deaths got under control. I have to think that a lot of people who survived and never knew they had it have natural immunity now.

Economic activity is back close to pre pandemic. My company's software does the energy allocation for one of the largest cities in India and it is amazingly to see in fairly decent detail how quickly they have bounced back to nearly full throttle.

As India is the source of Delta variant and seeing what shook out there I am optimistic that a combo of vaccinations and natural immunity will allow us to get ahead faster than we think right now.

I have not done an IM in several years but watching how all the slot allocation plays out for Feb 2022. If I can enter a race with a large amount of slots for Feb 2022 I think I will give it a try

Unfortunately we cannot being back the dead but regions with high deaths per million had the most exposure to this vaccine. They are the places who can get away with the least amount of vaccination. So in theory Norway or to a greater extent NZ, Oz, Taiwan would need a lot more vaccination. Hawaii has low deaths per.million relative to mainland but look at the challenge there with unvaccinated

Pink
What about the new Trek speed concept?!

I think the race should be moved in other locations until pandemic is behind
i see high risk of not happening at all again in 2022
while there are many other places in the world where it can be hosted
do you prefer WC in lets say Germany for 1 or 2 editions or no WC at all?

My annual guide last appeared in 2019 with a mini update due to our move into our then brand new house near Waimea. I promised it would return in 2020. I had just set aside a few days near the end of the month to finalize and double check on some establishments in Kona for an all new guide this year. Boy that’ll teach me.

I’ll have some thoughts and observations on what’s happening out here from a locals perspective a bit later tomorrow. For now suffice it to say, the decision WTC made was not a wrong one. Things are bordering on ugly COVID wise here.

On the bright side, the cancellation of the October race means a much nicer climate for those who get to come in February. It also means my total knee replacement of the left knee will probably happen sooner. Those are both good things. Trust me. ;)

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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"

Hello all. Is this official? Because the same happened last year and there was no Kona either in Oct nor in Feb. That´s really a pitty that things are getting so harsh ..more than 2 years without the big day is too much, isnt it? Hope at least it can be held in Feb.
Yep, some girls and guys will be not that unhappy, mainly the ones coming from ITU (Iden, KB, Gomez, Ali Brownlee (?), Duffy (?) )....
Regards

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Spaniard. Sorry for my english for the sensitive ones :P

Yes, its official. Got the email this morning

Seems a great day to send out a survey!

Kona is the IM WC. If it can't happen in Kona (on that course), it shouldn't happen.

No one would be happy to qualify for the Boston marathon to end up running it in Ohio (no offense to Ohio).

another possibility is to force athletes to be fully vaccinated for Kona.
in the end the event doesnt happen because there is a risk that athletes will bring in the variant. kona itself has higher number of infections now but that doesnt mean they dont hold the race for that reason
next weekend ironman Hamburg accepts only fully vaccinated athletes. Hamburg as many other places has a growing number of covid infections but they can do the race like that

i know that with my post i can hurt the sensitivity of no-vax athletes but this is my opinion

This statement has been proven to be false in several papers pulbished in the last 6 months, not only in the US but in other parts of the World using different COVID vaccines. Right now I can’t find the paper that shows that there is a marked difference in cellular vs humoral immune response when comparing natural infection to artificially aquired active immunity against COVID.

It is ironic that the paper below analyzed people in Kentucky since their Opthamologist Senator is the one propagating these lies.

https://www.cdc.gov/...s/70/wr/mm7032e1.htm

You cannot move Kona just like you cannot move the Tour De France, or Wimbledon, or Paris Roubaix.

I believe Monty has suggested your solution of fully vaxxed racers only as a mechanism, but I believe from a public health angle, they can't stop unvaxxed specators from coming to the island since any unvaxxed person can come over, so that problem would still be there, likely nixing the event.

Perhaps rather than giving an alternate location "Ironman World Championship" designation, they could call it "Ironman Series Finals".

Do people take slots for an IM series finals with that much interest? I am not sure I would care any more than 70.3 Worlds or ITU worlds. Kona is different. I don't think I am in the minority saying I care more about a Kona finish than a 70.3 Worlds or ITU Worlds finish

Kona is the completely self-declared World Championships and is widely so recognised. But if the venue can't stage it, who are you to say that a World Championships should not be staged elsewhere?
THE World Championships in Long Distance is being staged by "World Triathlon" (not a for-profit company) in Holland at Amsterdam/Almere. I hope there'll be some Americans (north and south) and antipodeans there, competing for their country. Must be an excellent option for those PROs now deprived of their Kona fix/competition.
https://almere.triathlon.org/

unfortunately this is not a discussion that can be accepted in this forum but I agree with you

I agree with this line of thinking as an old timer in the sport.

I believe Monty has suggested your solution of fully vaxxed racers only as a mechanism, but I believe from a public health angle, they can't stop unvaxxed specators from coming to the island since any unvaxxed person can come over, so that problem would still be there, likely nixing the event.//

I did suggest that, and your spectator assumption is false, at least in regards to Hawaii. They have shown that they are willing to take measures to either insure, or strongly push tourists to be vaccinated. If you have a 14 day quarantine, with a negative test 72 hours out for the unvaxed, then you have effectively made it really hard on folks to show up without the shot. And if you are a racer, then you have to do nearly a month trip just to do the race, which is not feasible for most folks that come to the island for the normal 7 to 10 days.


And I think many of you are missing the real reason the Island has shut this down, there is just no capacity in the lone hospital for a big event like this. I dont think they are too worried about all of us coming in, especially if we are all vaxed, but there is just no room for the dozens that end up in the hospital after big races like this. They have enough local infection and hospitalization to max out their resources, and they are thinking ahead about what to do with all of the other stuff that normally fills that hospital with Ironmen. They just cannot surge hospital capacity like most bigger cities and states can, and they dont want lead news stories of people dying in the parking lots from car accidents, to cancer, to heat stroke...

I generally agree with you here. Just a note on the spectator point, I think it's the locals gathering because of the race that's more of a concern than vaccinated incoming travelers. They are likely (if not already?) limiting gathering sizes there to prevent the community spreading it more amongst themselves.

On the ICU bed front, yep they are just running out. I think this will be a leading indicator for the cancellation risk of other fall races too. Most are looking okay for now, largely because of a higher capacity, and often higher vaccination rate, in hospitals where IM tends to race.

Slightly related, I hope some of IM's donation can go to increasing the hospital ICU capacity on the Big Island. Selfishly it would help our February odds, but much more importantly they may max out very soon without us the and the community will need all the ICU space it can get.

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HI

If they do it for 70.3 World, it will be the same for Ironman Worlds

It is actually for all World championship events in all sports I believe. I am KQ and it will be my first KOna, but I also understand that world is no longer as it was two years ago. If Kona can't happen, people will get use to have a world championship in Roth (opss.....I said it;) )

I think some of you are conflating a few items. The Ironman World Championships on Kona is the world championships of a private business. They can declare any race of any format as their championships.

Athletes around the world voted with their feet and dollars in terms of which championship they view as the King and Queen of long course. It is always the winner of Kona.

ITU can do all it wants to declare it's long course champion the world champion and that is fine. But largely fans, media, participants and sponsors care more about Kona.

Individuals may disagree and get irritated that it's a bunch of Americans self declaring their event a world championships as if the rest of the world is irrelevant, but in this case like NBA, MLB which are sports played around the world the best players are winning those championships like in Kona.

So some of it is the way reality shakes out. No way MLS could declare it's champion the world champion. It for basketball, baseball and triathlon private companies declared their championship a world championship and by default the best in the world win those events so there is not much to argue.

NFL no one else really plays it anyway

Hey Monty firstly I was agreeing with you so not sure why you are picking a fight with me about why the island is shut down. You are inferring things about my views that I never said by lumping me in with others (I am not sure if anyone on this thread said there was no hospital capacity issue). Rather than make it personal and tell people they are wrong and missing something, in the future just add that point of view that you have further insight about why the island is closed. No need to tell me or others we are missing something because you actually don't know everything we may or may not know

Long ago, ITU tried to restrain Ironman from calling their event the world championship. ITU lost that battle in court and they lost in practice, because as Dev stated, the quality of competition at Kona crushes the ITU (now WT) long course WC in both the pro and age group ranks. However, there is a place for both. USAT had about 300 athletes with deposits down for the (distinctly lower case) Almere long course triathlon and aquabike European "event", but after the final registration links went out last week, they ended up with 77. The vast majority including myself bailed over uncertainties with the race, and in particular, the risk of being stuck in quarantine (at your own expense) if you happen to test positive in the 72 hours before returning...even if you are vaccinated and asymptomatic. The reality is that as long as COVID results in severe limitations on international travel, then there is no real world championship anywhere.

Hahahaha

If you actually read my post, I said Kona is the "IM WC". Besides that, it does not matter who puts on the race, but rather who shows up to race. The best long course (Iron Distance) athletes do and want to race the IM WC (Kona).

Does anyone have an insider information if they will allow deferments? racing in february i'm sure could be hard logistically for a lot of people who are traveling.

Actually, and I love the Challenge Almere race and the group of people that creates this race, there is no place for the WT WC or EC at all. Looking at the startlists from recent years most of them are second tier pro’s. And I say this with all respect to those athletes but just not world class level.
If my mind serves me well I think the winner of the WT (ITU) EC started as age grouper in Kona instead of as a pro……..

The triathlon LD WC is KONA. The startlist tells it all, and history shows the athletes look at it the same. Nothing more or less. Same goes for the MD…..70.3 is normally, in a non-pendamic world, the one with the strongest field. The WT MD title or WC title doesn’t have real value to the top tier pro’s. At all. That’s just the way it is.

Jeroen

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

Totally agree! I've done Kona, 4 IM70.3 worlds and 4 ITU worlds so I can speak from both sides. I did Almere in 2008 when they held the WC the day after the Holland Triathlon (before it joined Challenge). Some lady known as Chrissie Wellington won the women's event that day! But yeah, the long course pro ranks in the WT WCs have certainly lost luster since then.

You spelled ophthalmologist wrong

Everyone always forgets our first h.

WTC’s announcement says more info by Aug. 25th. Their existing IMWC policy online lists this as the drop dead date for deferral selection or refunds.

Some of the current confusion is their goal of holding Kona twice in 2022. Those holding slots already that want to race Oct. 2022 are in a weird spot. Especially if they had been planning for a 2021 qualification IM. What will happen if Feb 2022 is cancelled. Hard to predict all the possibilities.

If this was too happen, it needs to be announced very soon. I've been told passports in the US are taking up to 9 months.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

Just like the Paris Dakar... oh wait..

The reason those haven't move is because they haven't needed to. If Wimbledon burned down, you can bet they'd host it elsewhere for that year.

Many sports hold their world championships in various places. The only reason we call it Kona instead of WC is because it's been held there historically but there's no competitive or logical reason a WC should be cancelled instead of moved temporarily. It's almost like triathletes think it's more important to say "I did Ironman Hawaii" than to get to race in a WC and maybe even do so at a nicer venue. Maybe the old timers think there is something special about the island because of nostalgia or something, but I just don't see it. It's just like racing Cozumel or Los Cabos, just with a faster field. I'd throw Lanzarote in there as well, but that wouldn't be fair to the Lanzarote course.

In the analogy of running Boston in Ohio my first thought was "well sure, if you pick Ohio... but what if it was moved to a more desirable place."
1. The Kona race course is probably even more boring than Ohio (nice being in Hawaii on other days though)
2. We have no idea whether the average Boston runner would rather cancel than run in NY or some other place.

I have a fall IM, you think they add slots or keep them low as they are getting stacked up?

oh wait: does it really matter? rest of the world as of today cannot enter USA! what are you talking about? why should that matter?

My theory is that if Feb gets canceled, all the athletes that qualified for '21 (Feb '22) will get the option to defer to '23 or later. They won't get the option to defer to Oct '22 since the '22 qualfiying season will have already begun and IM will bank on a full qualifying season. The only athletes that will be able to defer to Oct '22 is those that originally qualified for 2020 since there were only a few hundred before the world shutdown.

My apologies to everyone in the profession whose last name is not Paul!

And those of us that qualified early in 2019 think this is getting really old, really fast!

I am with you.
I am not taking a Feb spot for a few reason due to lifestyle.
But also I am not sure it will happen and the next waive form may say no more transfers no matter what.
I will gamble on Oct 2022 over Feb 2022.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

By early you mean fall 2019? Can’t keep it straight anymore, but thought races into August qualified for IMWC the same year while later races qualified for the next year. My other half raced 2019 IMWC then qualified for 2020 IMWC in late 2019. So up to 3 IMWC cancellations at this point. Not holding out a lot of hope for Feb. 2022 IMWC, but going through all the planning efforts yet again.

The race should be moved . The pandemic should be the catalyst for this
I might be wrong but i cant think of another sport that AlWAYS has its WC in the same location
The super bowl, the world series , olympics , track field worlds, NBA, world cup, downhill ski, cycling, swimming all move their location and it does not minimize the championships.
I am sure there are other sports that do not move their worlds though

Yes, Oct 19. We are doing the same thing, namely just because I need to get this done.

well, with the small detail that in Ironman i dont see Americans dominating it since a long while

they should move it to Germany probably

It is not an issue of moving the championship of a private business to where there are likely to be more winners. The private business can do what they want with their championship and call it what they want.

At the end of the day, for any world championship in sport, it is the quality of field that decides if it is the top event in the world in a sport.

Perhaps this year, a European based long distance event has the top field and if that goes on for several years, then guess what, the athletes have voted on which event is the real world championships. For now it is Kona. If Ironman decides to change the championship of their series to another venue, that is their choice. They can do what they want and athletes and fans can decide if it also happens to be where the best in the world congregate to race.

Well Tour De France ends in Paris every year.

yes and Giro went in the Netherlands and other countries over the course of years. be flexible!

Well grand tours often start in foreign countries like the Giro in Jerusalem but they always finish in home country. The Ironman series starts in every part of the world and it finishes in Hawaii where that event started. So it's not like Ironman has not been flexible. Originally it went to New Zealand, Japan, Canada and Germany then Lanzarote and Austria. I had to go do Ironman in Germany (Roth) before I could drive 2.5 hrs to go do one in Lake Placid.

It never even went to mainland USA before 1999 (Lake Placid). The rest of world had their hit of non qualifier IM events long before Americans did. My American friends would all come over to race at Ironman Canada or head over to IM Japan in the day when it was at Lake Biwa.

Any news about Age Group validity?

We just had Tokyo 2020 in 2021, wonder if Age Groups stand as if it was 2021 or rather 2022?

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They mailed all the partecipants saying they are trying to find a solution for all …. We are waiting news from Ironman Kona

We will have an update on Sep 25

Sep 25: the update is we have no update

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Feels like they need answers to us quick with fall IM coming online. At Maryland if I get a spot for Oct 22 do I have to take it or are they letting us roll 20/21 into Oct 22? (qualified for 20’ in Louisville 19’)

as of now Oct 22 is taking place in Oct 22. the only issues for K21 (now feb 22), I think IM will clamp down and stop deferrals, they will race K21 when they race it, they need to fill the field to have a profitable race. They also are causing issues with the decreased slots in '22 IMs (now 26 per event), if they keep allowing deferrals, that will continue in '23 & '24.

I think they may end up having 2 "konas" a year for 2 years to avoid the deferrals..

I am doing IM Barcelona and noticed the athlete's guide mentions 26 slots, so it's a big downsize. I know someone who KQ's at UK and they had 100 slots. He took the slot for '23, so looks like the backlog will continue for a few years. If you aren't winning of top 1-3 in your AG, it'll be tough to get a slot for the next few years.

26 slots is brutal.

If they give M and F 1 slot per AG from 18-24 to 75-79 that's 24 of the 26 gone.

Some may be empty, and they may combine some of the older AG's, but even then the vast majority of AG;s will need the win to Q, with only a few lucky Mamil AG's where getting 2nd will be enough.

This looks likely to continue for 2023 and possibly 2024 Q seasons, unless they find a way to increase the annual Kona WC capacity above the current c2500.

If Feb 2022 is pulled, it will be even worse and last even longer.

Well, here's a piece of bright news for those that are on the list for Kona FEB 22.

Yesterday I was able to find affordable accommodations reasonably close to Kailua-Kona on Expedia which many had a "full refund" ploicy. You still have to cxl at least a month before the race, but it gives a participant another 2 months before you have to make that call. Which we need, given the once again glacial pace of IM decision-making .

So I made the reservations, counting on IM's increasingly desperate need to have a WC again. I think they will be putting all the pressure they can possibly muster to get the needed approvals for it to go in FEB.