Decided to chime in one last time as I try to find something to do to avoid the election coverage tonight - not that it will swing the debate either way...

Had a personal experience with a similar situation a few years ago. My (much) older sister (lets just say she qualifies as "senior) had finally convinced me to do a sprint tri with her, so she could accomplish a longtime goal of doing a tri "just once." We were the last people off the swim, bike and run courses a lonnnng time behind all of the fields - I mean everyone had already long cleared out of transitions and they were driving behind us pulling up the cones as we approached the finish line (I came in DFL that day so she wouldn't).

I'd been a volunteer team/course manager for that event for a number of years, so I knew first-hand the logistics delays we were causing and all the people we were keeping from going home. But through all that no one ever hustled us along and when we finally reached the line, it was all smiles and cheers for the last two sprint finishers who came in long after everyone had already gone home.

Would I have pulled us off the course as an RD? Absolutely.
Did we cause a huge inconvenience to a whole lot of people by not "doing the right thing" of pulling ourselves off the course? Absolutely.
Would I trade letting all those people go home earlier for not seeing the look of pure joy on my sister's face for accomplishing her lifetime goal? Not on your friggin life!

I'm off the fence now. I'm siding with the idea that while there are many "competitions" out there to be had, unless you have a shot at the money, IM is indeed a "participants" race. The reason the pro's, elites and god-tier age groupers have an event to go to is because of all the duffers lining up to have their go. I say, let 'em have it...

Ironman isn’t hard.

If 70 year old men and women can finish them, its not hard.

It is hard to qualify for Kona. But the distance isn’t hard.

The average person should be able to swim 1km in 20 minutes. 4km in 1hr 20.
The average person should be able to bike 180km in 7 hours (being generous)
The average person can walk 42km in 6 hours.
Where the times blow out is the pity parties and stopping. Or doing zero training.

However even then, 17hrs is generous and Again if 70yr olds can do it, anyone can.

Ironman isn’t hard to finish. And certainly isn’t a race for most.

It does not take much effort to get to a mediocre swimming ability. A few YouTube videos on form, hot the pool 3x a week for a few months and you should be more than fine. Had never swim in my life until 26 and within 2 months I had a 38min 70.3 swim and 1 year in a 1:15 IM swim.

I’ve done multiple ironmans and Kona once. And I would say now that Ironmans are more a participation sport rather than a race for 80% of entries. Maybe even higher.

I am so jealous - but - this is not happen on me.

I didn't swim in my life except occasionally until 23. Starting 2 years ago I watched a lot of YouTube videos on form, then hit the pool 3x AND open water 1 - 2x per week, then get into a club squad, then get video analysis from that coach. Still over 1:20 for an IM swim. Then I started to show sign of improvement after a winter of marathon-level swim training. Then pandemic interrupted my training and all my improvement has lost. I have nearly lost my hope already but I still have a challenge next year which I booked just before the pandemic and can't be postponed, and my training is seriously lagging behind.

Either you are talented or I am dumb.

I'd wager a guess that a fair bit of these people are the same ones that don't like when children get participation trophies for losing a soccer match. When I race and don't place, I don't keep or display the finisher medals. Before ST goes crazy with this, just because I say that I do something does not automatically mean I judge or care what anyone else does with their medals.

It does not take much effort to get to a mediocre swimming ability. A few YouTube videos on form, hot the pool 3x a week for a few months and you should be more than fine. Had never swim in my life until 26 and within 2 months I had a 38min 70.3 swim and 1 year in a 1:15 IM swim. I get it’s a participation sport but so is bodybuilding. Any one can enter and most don’t care about the results. Doesn’t mean that out of shape dadbod should enter after walking in the gym a few times and downing a protein shake. Ditch the instant attempt at gratification and show the sport some respect.

I’m not sure entirely your point is. Many do see themselves as participants. Sure many of us are “racing” against our own goals but we’re not anywhere close to the leaderboard. Sure there should be a cutoff and I feel like IM, given they’re a business, is trying to attract as many participants as possible while also realizing they can’t keep a course open all day.