Add the Great Floridian to that list too.

And IM NC is such a zombie of Beach to Battleship, it's sad. I'm so sad about that one too. People doing IM NC have no idea what they missed.

It IS part of their business model. And we bought right into it.

I would also add that while covid may have been a “thing” in a lot of the country it really wasn’t in texas and I’m sure by extension Oklahoma. Things did not shut down in texas. There was maybe 2 weeks where ppl took it seriously but then everything was open again.

Politics aside this happened

In perhaps a rare instance of the opposite trend, the Wisconsin Milkman is making a comeback this June. As I understand it, IM took it over several years and then used the Milkman course for Madison 70.3. When Madison was shifted to September, Milkman returned. I'll be curious to see how it does. It's the weekend between IM Des Moines 70.3 and Steelhead, so it has some IM competition. My sense is that Door County, another popular independent half distance race that's in July, has seen declining numbers in recent years.

Door county used to sell out in the early morning hours on New Years Day (1000 max registration maybe?). Last year had less than half the number of finished from it's peak. All in all, not a good trend.
2015: 831
2016: 700
2017: 735
2018: 571
2019: 503
2021: 453
2022: 395

Regarding Milkman, It seemed like it was created with the intent to be sold to Ironman and I think it only ran 1 year before doing so (2016), but did have close to 900 finishers. I'm also watching that race to see how what is effectively a new, independent 70.3 does in filling a void left by Ironman.

Sorry to bring the thread back a bit, but regarding Texas now being the only spring IM…isn’t St George supposed to be a full IM in 2024(assuming the usual early May timing). Hope that’s the case, as a St G IM next is my plan for next year

Wow, that's sad to see for Door County. There are so many more 70.3s within a reasonable drive for the southern Wisconsin/Chicago population now so I can see why.

Door County has priced themselves out of the game. They are higher than an IM race, which is really ridiculous IMO. Nice venue but pricey, decent race but nothing terribly special and when the entry fee went so high it was a real NO for me. Simply not worth it. It's sad they see the numbers go down and don't realize they have priced themselves out of the market. I can do 2 other independent races for their fee.

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Kiwami Racing Team

That is my understanding as well for St. George full next year. I will likely see you there!

I believe 2024 will be the NA championship race too so lots of slots

I did STG last year and was not a fan of the descents into St G. I am a good bike handler and the 30mph crosswinds against my P3X on a 7% grade while my disc brakes heated and started fading was one the scariest things I’ve done on bike.

Yeah St George is such a great venue. I like hills…and a guaranteed wetsuit swim(in early may at least)!

well here we are 1 week out from Tulsa and per the participant lists here is what I got when I crunched the #'s

Full Ironman (Participant list last updated 4/27/23)
Participants....665
Male................530
Female............135
USA..................595
Non-USA.........70
Oldest.............77
Youngest........18


Half Ironman (Participant list last updated 5/2/23)
Participants....775
Male................585
Female............189
USA..................759
Non-USA.........16
Oldest.............74
Youngest........18

Half starts at 6:30 AM Central US
Full starts at 7:00 AM Central US
Total athletes competing on 5/21/23 = 1440

Anyone here going? I'll be there for the full. My third ironman

Appreciate the numbers. Odd that they aren’t starting the full before the half. I’ll be there. Will be Ironman #25 for me.