Hope they move the Masters to Idaho
Hope they move the Kentucky Derby to Mississippi
I'm thinking, wouldn't it be great if they moved the French Open to Madagascar?

History my guy. It's a part of the magic. I understand what you're saying, and part of me thinks it would be great to have different races, that are tailored to different athletes, but then I go back to the same thing: The magic of the venue is the history that made it.

+100%

None of those events are world championships, but rather very important and iconic events. Kona could maintain that without being the WC on years it was rotated out. Simple.

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
Sponsors: SciCon | | Every Man Jack

None of those events are world championships, but rather very important and iconic events. Kona could maintain that without being the WC on years it was rotated out. Simple. //

Not sure it would be that simple. Kona is in kind of a weird spot between a classic and their self proclaimed world championship. We can use other sports as a model, but we are kind of in our own little dynamic, which of course is new and unknown. My feeling is that Kona is more a classic than WC, and moving the WC will probably be a failure in the long run. Of course if they were ever going to do it, now would be the time. Because since there is no Kona, most everyone that qualifies would be on board going somewhere else. Kind of depends on where that somewhere else is too, does it capture our imaginations, or is it just the spot most profitable for WTC?


And when Kona does open back up, there will be a lot of pressure to return. If they don't, I can see another group taking over and just putting on the new and improved Kona. There is so much history and momentum, I think a good funded group could do that, and that would not be a good thing for WTC. All it would take is money, and their Bum F*&k WC would be crushed. What they have been doing to races since the beginning, putting on their own right in the backyard on similar dates, and crushing the life out of them, may just be their own epitaph on their Kona tombstone. Imagine one of the billionaires who are using pro triathlon as their hobby right now, putting up a few million in prize money for the new Kona race same day as Ironman Podunck, no contest...

If they pick another iconic, historic Mecca of the sport, it could potentially work.
Nice for exemple, has a special place in triathlon history. It was the LC world championship at one point. The Nice course has history and has had epic face off/racing. It also has the infrastructures to accomplish a lot of what Kona cannot do: Nice and metro can welcome tens of thousands of people for one week and the course could absorb more athletes to remedy the problems from IM huge expansion efforts. At the end of the day, that is the problem between Kona and IM: IM wants to expand the brand (when they add races they have to deal with the KQ allocation headache), and Kona is not expandable.
Maybe go back to another legendary course of the sport?

About time it was moved. Kona is a drug den town that sucks.

Kona is great for 4 days a year when Ironman engulfs the town.

Maui would be better. So would Europe or even Asia.

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Why? It will just become a normal race you can enter.

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I bet if you ran a poll of everyone that wants Kona moved, it would a direct correlation with those that never have/will qualify for Kona.

Nice for exemple, has a special place in triathlon history.//

That was the first and honestly only place I could think of to move too. But then you still have the problem with what to do with Kona? They certainly would not want to abandon it, because as I stated, someone would swoop in and take the reigns and run with it. It would have to remain one of the "other" ironman's, but that would be up to Kona. What if that billionaire came in and promised them the world to switch allegiance, especially since they just jumped the WC ship? What do you do then?


I think WTC thinks they have some leverage over Kona, using this threat of moving somewhere else. They have done that before, and it worked. But that could completely back fire on them, and the real leverage might really reside with the island, and who they choose to align with in the future. Of course it has to start on day 1 a very big event, bigger than the WTC Kona ever was, but all that takes is money and desire. Two things that seem to be infecting many of the billionaire class at the moment..In this environment I would not roll those dice, especially since your whole billion dollar corporation hinges on this one event.

Qualified 3x and would one of the first to vote to move it.

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
Sponsors: SciCon | | Every Man Jack

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I suspect there would be thousands of triathletes around the world who would appreciate a rotating " Ironman World Championships"..Make Kona a qualifier like all the others and people can go race that "special course" all they like.
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I think they could keep Kona, but not necessarily as the WC.
They could have Nice as the WC, let's say, late September, and have Kona in late May, early June for exemple.
A lot of top pros are Euro based and a lot of athletes (pros and agers) travel to Kona for, yes heat acclimation and course learning, but also and very importantly, to absorb the travel and jet lag. I have no doubt that the top contender pros would also show up to "win Kona" regardless of the WC stamp or not. I actually think that the triple crown could be a thing: 70.3 WC, IM WC (wherever that would be) and Kona. Can you imagine? That would be the series I'd get passionate about!
At the end of the day, Kona is a beast and a legend: any serious triathlete would want to test themselves on that course, to experience the relentlessness of the island. But it doesn't have to be the WC. It is Kona, and that is, in itself, enough. I think.

Apple and oranges. Sure Kona has an aura but that does not mean that it must be considered the Ironman world championship every year.

Golf has its majors. Some courses are more suited to players with certain skill sets and other courses to other golfers. At the master's it pays to have experience on the course due to the lack of detailed greens books, but the course remains the same year after year. The U.S. Open rotates venues every year but the course put an emphasis on accuracy off the tee. The Open Championship and PGA Championship are also on varying courses. Different types of golfers have a realistic chance to win every year not just one certain type of player.

Tennis's major championships are always at the same venues. The Australian Open is held at Melbourne Park, the French Open at Stade Roland-Garros, Wimbledon is always held at the All England Club, and the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows for the recent years. These majors do not change as of late but they do offer different venues for players to showcase different skillsets.

Horse racing's triple crown has three almost equal races. Minor variations in length, but carried weight is the same for all three. All are on dirt tracks but of varying consistency. This is the most balanced. It comes down to the trainer, jockey, and horse. Who is the strongest overall will only be able to win the triple crown.

Cycling has grand tours, monuments, and a world championship. The monuments are always in the same locale year in and year out and do not tend to vary too much although they can in some ways. A monument will lend itself to certain types of riders. Grand tours will vary heavily each year. One thing that is certain is that, today, climbers who can time trial or time trialists who can climb will excel in the overall classification. But there are other competitions to keep riders of different skill sets engaged and wanting to show up and compete. The sprint competition is the largest one that comes to mind as there are teams showing up with no hope to even sniff the top ten over all (it has been done even in recent times) but will pour all of their resources into the sprint jersey. The world championships and Olympics, though, rotate locations and course design drastically. The thing to take away here is that these courses are never exactly them same year in and year out. But one thing is certain the strongest rider on the day will take the win. The course plays its role in helping to make the selection of only the riders who are only in the highest of form. Riders that know they are not climbers are less likely to be on a grand tour roster as are climbers on a classics roster. Different types of riders for certain courses. Ganna and Kung weren't able to win the Olympics due to the hilly nature of the course but are two favorites for the world championship win.

Triathlon has one location and one course for its one and only apparent major event. I say apparent because events have tried and failed to build themselves up to Kona. Kona is a tough course but a tough course alone does not make a world championship race. Neither does a world championship need to be a tough course. If the event is labeled as THE world championship long distance event then why wouldn't the best competition want to come and take part at there highest level. One way to force this would be to have Kona be an amateur only race when there is no world championships held. Kona would be off the calendar for the pros in a non-championship year and they would be more likely to focus on the year's championship race. The world championship is about who among the competition can compete the best on that course on that day. The course will always have some say in who wins but if the course is always the same (minus the variation in weather year to year) then there is a population of athletes who will AWAYS be unable to realistically win. It seems that because Hawaii was the birth place of Ironman that no other Ironman event would ever live up to Kona. There are many courses that would create great races and would possibly be able to provide a championship experience: Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Pays d'Aix en Provence, Nice, Barcelona, Mallorca, Lanzarote, St. George, Sacramento, Lake Placid, Coeur d'Alene, Mont Tremblant, Philippines.

It's only my opinion but there would not be any harm to the sport from moving the Ironman world championships to a different location each year.

If the IM WC in Feb 2022 or Oct 2022 is moved from Kona to another location, what percentage of age groupers that have already qualified and paid would not want to do it? What would happen to those people. Do they get a refund, or get to defer to a later Kona edition? It would be a mess. For those of you who have qualified, where would you be willing to do it, and where would you not want to do it?

If the event is labeled as THE world championship long distance event then why wouldn't the best competition want to come and take part at there highest level.//

You do know that there is a "real" world championship long distance event that is rotated around the world each year, and has been for quite sometime? Can you name who won it, any year, and where has it been held?(without Google fu of course) The WC designation means nothing, not without a huge event to back it up. Like I said before, if they leave Kona and someone takes it over with millions in prize money, calls it the Kona classic, the pros will show up and bust their guts to win the money. TV will also follow and cover it, and the AG'ers who always dreamed of doing Kona will show up and fill up the island.


Now I agree if all this happened in a WTC vacuum, and there were no outside pressures, they could possibly pull off a venue change, while keeping a Kona classic. But that is not the case, and a whole bunch of new players have entered the arena lately, and it has been great!!!

I’m out, and would prefer to defer to a later edition of Kona. I didn’t do all that work and make all of those sacrifices to race anywhere else.

Moving Feb 2022 is about just getting a World Championship event off, even if it is a pro-only race. (Pros are anxious and want the World Championship Stage, and Amateurs want to toe the line) In part because of its competitors and in part because you have to move forward, even in the pandemic transition to endemic era of COVID-19. At some point you have to move forward, this is where they are at. WTC and many of its licensees have have effectively run dozens of races under government restriction. At this point you have to have a World Championship event, even if it is only for the professionals. And as a one off, I'd love to see them buttress the broadcasting and make this memorable.

Long term I don't see there being a move to make it a rotating even, at least I don't see them leaving Hawai'i. Maybe to a town base that has much more infrastructure. Kona is Synonymous with Ironman and its world Championship. ITU has long distance worlds, but it isn't a good race when you look at how it is promoted. And in fact it's not even its own race, it is a race within a race considering Challenge has a race in Almere that Long Distance Worlds is basically run concurrently with.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Water temps in AZ and St. G in February would be way too cold. Low 50's to mid 40's. So Cal would also likely be in the 50's as the Pacific is not that warm. Oceanside is often on the border of 60's/50's.

Cozumel or Florida would be the only options I would see for Feb 22. Oct 22, could be anywhere in the N hemisphere.

I am a first time qualifier and I would not like any option other than Kona. I did not sign up for my qualifying race for the option to race anywhere else, nor did I pay to race somewhere else. Kona has tradition and history. I want to race that course and have that Kona race atmosphere while doing it.

I would guess that those that have qualified multiple times or do so whenever they want, may desire a rotating WC. I would bet those that qualified for the first time or have yet to qualify want to go to Kona. What percentage is higher? New qualifiers or repeat qualifiers?

Challenge worlds in Kona backed by PTO,.sponsored by Zwift and Daimler Benz

Pink font optional

Sign me up.

We can have qualifiers at Wildflower, Roth, Lake Biwa Japan, Penticton, Auckland, Forster Tuncurry. A few Olympic tri qualifiers in Chicago, Memphis in May etc etc. Add in a 2mile-100mile-20 mile 3/4 event in Lake Tahoe and what's old is new again

In February the best answer is two loops of St..Croix half Ironman.

Just need to repave the course.

Let's get this baby rolling

I’ve done it. I think it should be moved.

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Real question: how many age groupers (i guess pros is based on price purse and exposure) would be lining up to do "Kona classic" if it were not labelled a WC?
Ignorance is bliss sometimes... and the TV coverage fails to convey realistically how brutal that course is.
The reality of Kona conditions in vivo can be far from fun . That place is a soul crush, even for the tough ones. Without the bragging rights of WC aura, what would happen? Would they sell out?
We most likely will never know, EXCEPT maybe covid years. My bet is Kona WC is not going anywhere anytime soon.

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Hahaha...Challenge!! Yeah,we have been down that road before...

We all know that you lot over there in Nth America don't believe that a triathlon is worth doing unless there is an M-Dot attached..

I'd go back to Forster-Tuncurry in a heartbeat..Now that was a fun race to do..
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Not to say pro or con but All new players would have to deal with the same issues that WTC has to deal with in Kona.

Well minimally Jan and Lionel can go to Kona in Feb for a rematch. Do you think they invite Lange? Maybe the Norwegians? Any invite for Sebi and Wurf? Do they risk having Daniela showing up and hurting them?