It has little to do with "giving". This is a business. Businesses buy sponsorship from the WTC and in return get significant exposure for that sponsorship. I am not sure which sponsor directly supports the prize purse at IMH or wether a group of the top tier sponsors all put money in a pool. However, that is where this money would/should come from for performance incentives.

Interestingly, IMH has taken the route of not allowing a title sponsor for the race - like many other similar events( The ING New York City Marathon, The LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, Subaru Ironman Canada . . and so on).

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

The WTC could put up a $1m prize for someone breaking the record w/out actually having to pony up all the cash.

The event insurance companies (the same ones that are trying to screw Lance out of $5 mil and insure the $1 hole-in-one things) can crunch the numbers, figure out the odds of the record being broken and then charge the WTC a premium which would be less than $1m.

I dunno....I was out on the race course this last time, and from what I could see, I think the guys and gals up front were going as hard as they could on that given day. The conditions in Kona change from race-to-race and even from hour to hour out there. I don't think that an additional 100k at this last IMH would've made a significant difference in the times of the male and female Top 5 finishers.

If I remember, Lew Kidder posted some thoughts on the dearth of so-called "fast" IM times over the last half-decade or so at Kona and other IM races. Remember when Leder became the first man to go sub-8? And then it seemed like the floodgates opened for a little while, with Hellreigel and Zack and VanLierde (am I missing anyone?) doing it. And Newby-Fraser going sub-9 at IMH? I think he posited that maybe, just maybe, these guys don't train as crazily as the Scotts or Allens or Newby-Frasers did. Or that the current crop of IM racers may not in fact be as talented as those folks were, at least on the men's side (props to Natascha B. and Lori B.)? Hell, this bunch may not BE ABLE to do it. It seems like we were all hopeful for Macca and Lessing and LVL, but once again, one thing or another conspired to dash our hopes, it looks like :-) And since Paula set her sub-9 record, what's been the next closest fastest finishing time by the women? It'd be great if money were the sole motivator that would allow an athlete to be able to dash an old record and set a new one, but the talent's gotta be there first.

So, as much as we'd all like to see a new IM record, especially at Kona, where LVL's time has stood since '96, it may not be possible, given the way IM athletes are training and racing these days, now that the information base on exercise physiology, and the long-term effects of extreme endurance racing and training on the body, are a little bit better understood. Who knows? I certainly don't.

Walt Stack Kahuna

I don't think these guys are as talented as Dave Scott and Mark Allen. When is the last time two guys pushed each other neck and neck for pretty well the whole marathon and two guys go sub 2:45. Scott and Allen both went sub 2:42. After Allen's wins, he had a string of sub 8:10's.

I do believe that Nina Kraft, Lori Bowden, Natasha Badmann are up there with PNF with respect to being able to pop a sub 9. There only issue has been bad conditions in Hawaii. I don't think the current crop of pro men can go sub 8 even with good conditions or even sub 8:10.