I’ll say this as I did last year and James has said it and any other AG turned pro has said as well, you can not compare the Pro race to the AG race. When I was racing AG I was beating some back of the pack pros in some races. Now as a Pro license holder those pros have beaten me and I have been beaten by AG as well.

Why? Well outside of tactics of racing at times there is little motivation when the at the back of the pro field on the bike. Miss the group or get dropped and it’s a VERY lonely ride and run. Being at the front of the AG field can be lonely too but at least you’re at the front not the back. We all know the voices that come up when things are tough. Heck my crap race yesterday at Steelhead I was motivated on the bike by telling myself “don’t come in last!”. But that still didn’t work for over 2 hours.

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The FOP is not watered down in the AG race. You can ask nearly all those that win regional 70.3s how hard the WC race is to see. For example, there are guys who crush their AGs at 70.3s but then barely crack the AG top 10 at the WC. That does not suggest it is a non-championship race, especially as it moves from location to location to keep it fair (and with good courses most years).

Jack

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Regarding roll-down of slots: Completely different story in Europe. I qualified and will race Nice (wanted to race a 70.3 in September anyway, so why not on a beautiful course). Qualification race was in Slovenia in Europa last year, at least in AG M30, 34, 40, 45 almost all slots were taken without roll-down. So, a) it comes down a lot to travel logistics (e.g. I qualified for Kona last year but did not take the slot as it is simply too expensive and challenging with two small kids) and b) eventually the 120th or 180th ranked in AG M40 (my age group) will not be necessarily on WC level. But the first 10, 20 or 50 probably yes...

Looking at the Pro's: Frodo for e.g. will not race because he is too heavy for the long climb (official version), but you still will see the creme de la creme of those who can race for four hours at the maximum level.

Few things:

1) Yes the back end of the field is more watered down than Kona in AG's, but remember also across the 2 days there are 4000+ racing so a bigger field.

2) The event is becoming more 'World Championship-esque' each year. Field deeper, pro field better, AG slots rolling less. The decision to move the location annually, and make it a 2 day event was inspired. This would not have happened if it had stayed as the draft fest in Florida.

3) It sits at a sweet spot in distance terms where ITU racers stepping up, 70.3 specialists and IM specialists can all face off with the chance of competing for the win - see Port Elizabeth. You could even, stretching a bit, see it becoming bigger than the full distance world championship which is held at the same location every year, with a niche field of specialists of whom very few can win and often delivers a fairly dull and predictable race.

I fully agree!