I was thinking about this today, in light of some of the other discussions on the topic. There seems to be a fear among some age-groupers that so-called "2nd tier" or "on the bubble" pros will race AG instead of racing pro and go to Kona, thereby making it harder to qualify for Kona.
This seems to be a common argument, among some folks, that (I guess) wish to go to Kona and feel it is already such a reach, that the last thing they want is for it to be harder. My normal, instinctive reaction is that Kona slots aren't *supposed* to be easy to get. It is *supposed* to be the most competitive race. But then I realized something else, which gets brought up a lot as well - which is where are the really fast age groupers from European races when Kona comes around. The typical answer here is that the European races are just glorified drafting races (which may be true, I dunno), but that certainly seems to be the case at a lot of NA Ironmans as well. The more logical conclusion that I see presented is that the cost of going to Kona is just too high for a lot of folks in Europe. And that brings me back to the original topic of "will 'on the bubble' pros start racing AG and 'take away' Kona slots?" My answer is, "No." Of course, that's just opinion. But here's why I think it won't happen.
If an "on the bubble" pro instead races AG, they have to commit to an Ironman a year in advance, and they have to pay the full price for entry. This is a vastly different scenario than the case where pros pay $750 (under the new standard) or $0 (generally, under the old "standard") and can race any Ironmans they want, signing up whenever they want. The cost for Kona is still the same - $550. So we are now at $1100 *just in entry fees.* Add in the round trip airfare to Kona - seems to be about $1000 including the bike. Call it $900 just for the math. So that's $2000 just to be able to toe the starting line. But you still need rental car, airfare, accom., etc. Kona is an expensive trip. I figure it costs probably at least $3500 to do the race. That's a big outlay.
When I think of folks that are those "on the bubble" pros, I just don't see them shelling out that cash to do the race. I know that many people operate under the assumption of "if you get a chance to go to Kona, you do." And I can see that being true maybe once. But I don't see that you'll have these folks, on a consistent basis, going to Kona to race as the top-AG. It's just too expensive.
While I think that it's a ridiculous argument - on principle - that making tougher requirements for pros is bad because it makes qualifying for Kona as an age grouper harder, I also don't actually think that it's even factually true that it will happen, simply because of the cost associated with the trip.
"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp
This seems to be a common argument, among some folks, that (I guess) wish to go to Kona and feel it is already such a reach, that the last thing they want is for it to be harder. My normal, instinctive reaction is that Kona slots aren't *supposed* to be easy to get. It is *supposed* to be the most competitive race. But then I realized something else, which gets brought up a lot as well - which is where are the really fast age groupers from European races when Kona comes around. The typical answer here is that the European races are just glorified drafting races (which may be true, I dunno), but that certainly seems to be the case at a lot of NA Ironmans as well. The more logical conclusion that I see presented is that the cost of going to Kona is just too high for a lot of folks in Europe. And that brings me back to the original topic of "will 'on the bubble' pros start racing AG and 'take away' Kona slots?" My answer is, "No." Of course, that's just opinion. But here's why I think it won't happen.
If an "on the bubble" pro instead races AG, they have to commit to an Ironman a year in advance, and they have to pay the full price for entry. This is a vastly different scenario than the case where pros pay $750 (under the new standard) or $0 (generally, under the old "standard") and can race any Ironmans they want, signing up whenever they want. The cost for Kona is still the same - $550. So we are now at $1100 *just in entry fees.* Add in the round trip airfare to Kona - seems to be about $1000 including the bike. Call it $900 just for the math. So that's $2000 just to be able to toe the starting line. But you still need rental car, airfare, accom., etc. Kona is an expensive trip. I figure it costs probably at least $3500 to do the race. That's a big outlay.
When I think of folks that are those "on the bubble" pros, I just don't see them shelling out that cash to do the race. I know that many people operate under the assumption of "if you get a chance to go to Kona, you do." And I can see that being true maybe once. But I don't see that you'll have these folks, on a consistent basis, going to Kona to race as the top-AG. It's just too expensive.
While I think that it's a ridiculous argument - on principle - that making tougher requirements for pros is bad because it makes qualifying for Kona as an age grouper harder, I also don't actually think that it's even factually true that it will happen, simply because of the cost associated with the trip.
"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp