1.2mi in 1hr 10min should be doable by everyone.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

I'm guessing that the assumption is that if you can't do the 1st half in 1:10, you probably don't have a prayer of coming in under the swim cutoff. They have the water safety folks there for a limited time, and don't want someone out in the middle of the course at the cutoff. Imagine someone finishing the first loop in 2:00; do they really want them to start the 2nd loop, knowing that water safety will ether need to be there for 4+ hrs or go retrieve them from the middle of the course (ocean)?

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

It strikes me that if a person can’t swim 1.2 miles in 1:10, an Ironman is probably not the best or safest idea for that person.

This is Rajesh Durbal....
He has one arm and no legs...
He did the Ironman Hawaii swim in 1:22:55...

That should be the new cut-off time for all Ironman races..
:-)
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Hard to argue.

That makes it hard to argue. The Florida cut off seems reasonable. If you can't swim 1.2 miles in 1:10. You're unlikely to speed up over the next loop.
This will affect vanishingly few people. The organisation may make an exception for athletes with a disability or very old people but for the rest of us it makes sense.

Even if your goggles get ripped.down or you get kicked in the face, recovering from those incidents really can't take more than a minute at most. If that swimmer finishes the first lap in 1:10:01 you can count on the second lap being significantly slower. As others have said, this person would then be a strain on safety resources.

Anyone can swim 2.4 miles in under 2 hours (2:50/100 yds) with a small amount of training and coaching, barring a physical disability (though many with serious disabilities can swim much faster as demonstrated on this thread). Just a tiny bit of coaching and swimming a couple of times a week on top of any reasonable Ironman training program should keep anyone well within the cutoff.

If there is some kind of adverse event that causes a delay long enough to miss that cutoff, it is serious enough to end that person's race, given the totality of factors.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
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The older I get the less judgmental I have become over what tri-geeks do and why they do it but the one thing that continues to amaze me is the lack of importance that so many triathletes( especially newbies) put on learning how to swim properly for an Ironman.Even I was amazed when,in 2012 I hosted the swim course boat cruise for Ironman Canada and saw from high above the water just how slowly some people swam.I seriously wondered how they made forward movement with the techniques I saw ( and I have seen some shockers in Asian races). I remember saying to all the guests how frustrating it is that so many triathletes these days seem not to respect the one discipline that has the greatest chance of killing them.
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I also noted that at the hour mark the faster swimmers where on their bikes and putting nutrition in their bodies while the slow swimmers in front of us had 45mins to over an hour left of struggling before they had a chance to get some race fuel in.I had never really thought about that part of the Ironman swim for the slower people before as I was always just either side of the hour.

This isn’t new.

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I agree with the point that if you can’t split 1:10, you probably won’t swim 2:20 anyway, so the cutoff is appropriate.

But what I find interesting is that they let you carry on anyway. Right on through to the end of the day? That leaves me with questions.

If you swim 2:20:01, do they let you bike and then run, then give you a DNF, even if you finish in time? Or do they stop you after you miss the swim cutoff?

If you split, 1:10:01+, swim 2:19 and finish in time, should you really DNF?

If swimmers going slower than 1:10 are a safety concern, why let them carry on swimming?

(I’ve never done this race. I’m assuming you exit, cross a timing mat and re-enter the water?)

I suspect if you swim a 1:10:01 for the first half they dont let you keep swimming but send you out on the bike if you want to.

I actually know Raj slightly in real life as he comes and swims with my OWS group occasionally and we've also been on a ride together. The first time I ever met him was at a standalone 2.4 mile OWS race where I managed to finish only about a minute ahead of him (swimming as hard as I could with two arms and legs). He trains very hard and is a super determined and positive guy. Definitely an inspiration for whenever I start feeling sorry for myself in a race. And yeah, he makes it pretty hard to argue about the swim cutoff.

Chances are if you can negative split a 2 loop, Ironman swim, you can swim under 1:10:00 per loop.

I agree with others, I don't think this is anything new. It is a saltwater, high probability wetsuit legal swim ( looking at ~70 degrees currently). Those two items are practically going to be pushing you out of the water. Current marine forecast is looking like it will be 2-4 foot offshore - wind direction out of the ENE which will be slightly offshore for that area of beach. That means calmer water near shore, and rougher as you go offshore.

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IG: NCGregory8778

I think the emphasis here is the word "may". If they mess up and don't stop you from continuing, it would be unfair not to DNF you.

Did you accidentally activate pink?

The hard cutoff (where they will physically pull you from the course) starts when the last person enters the water. If you start 5 minutes before the last swimmer, you could swim a 2:24, start the bike, finish the rest of the race below the hard cutoffs and then later be dnf'd in the official results. This was never a scenario until we started rolling starts (no more mass starts).

Yes... IMFL has you run onto the beach to cross a mat after lap 1 before starting lap 2.

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I agree. I feel like even really poor swimmers should be able to finish under that cutoff.

I’ve met far too many people at the start of IMs who say things like “I’ve only swam 2 times in the past 4 months”. I’m a mid pack swimmer a majority of the time and I’m not interested in putting in huge swim volume for gaining a few minutes. But I do get in the pool 2-3 days per week during IM training to at least make sure I’m prepared and won’t exhaust myself on the swim.

Then again I see swimmers swimming completely perpendicular to the direction of the swim so who knows how much time they are losing.

I can explain it to you: An Ironman should not be easy. Should be hard. Ironman should not be ride in the park. Should be a race. If you get "kicked in the face, your leg cramps up, your goggles leak, or your heart rate spikes on the first loop", maybe Ironman was stronger than you. Ironman was not meant for everyone. I would make cut-off times even harder. Much more. Age dependent, of course.

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STRAVA INSTAGRAM

Yes... but did you make the swim cut off before getting on the bike 🤪

Stick to color runs than if this is going to be an issue for you.

1:10 seems generous, probably should be closer to an hour per loop. Why shouldn't there be an intermediate cut off? Most anyone who is concerned about making the cutoffs in IM is probably better off doing some shorter distance races and more training before jumping into IM.

On the fence about this one. On one hand, it seems to take away from the “every finisher a hero” and power of the human spirit aspect of the event/brand that made it so aspirational and compelling.

On the other hand, lots of other events have cutoffs and qualifying mandatories (Boston, etc). When I raced crits lapped riders were pulled off the course.

Who knows, maybe tightening expectations will decrease race demand a little so that it’s not such a gong show to register...

Sounds like you were expecting sympathy for the 1 in 1,000 chance that someone can't make 1:10 in the first loop when they are fresh but just might be able to pull it off in a second loop. By contrast, a person who can't swim 1.2 in 1:10 is a drowning risk and a responsible RD should pull him/her. I support Ironman on this. If you don't like it, then seek out only those Ironman races with a single loop swim.