They can move Kona away from Kona after I race it in Feb. As others said, I didn't put in all this work to do Kona somewhere else.

There is no choice Ironman can make that's not going to upset ~half the field of qualified or potentially qualified racers. Even keeping the Feb 22 date in Kona is a gamble, if they are unable to hold it at that time then they are even more screwed. My personal opinion as a 'windfall' qualifier, is that I'm unlikely to be interested in a different location as I've already booked my trip (twice), admittedly want to check off 'Kona' from my bucket list, don't care to leave the US right now, and am not going to be competitive in the race no matter where it's held. I'd understand if they feel like they need to move it though, just hope I can get a refund in that case, but will live if I can't.

From the bigger picture/longer term ... I do agree that Kona benefits a certain type of athlete and rotating the WC for fairness especially at the Pro level makes sense. They are able to keep other far flung races like Lanzarote going, so I'd think they could manage to keep Kona as a premiere event without it being the WC if they wanted.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

„Democratic country land of freedom“

Is this a joke?

i wrote my thoughts on the front page.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I agree with your points. The pandemic is also a great way to test if any/all of these assumptions. Ironman can figure out how much of Kona magic is because of location, WC status, or whatever by simply looking at who chooses to defer in Feb 2022, or how far roll down slots make it for Oct 2022/2023. They can even come back in 2023 or 2024 when the pandemic is over to test again.

Have it on a rotation, with the WC coming back to Kona every 5 years, on the 5 year anniversary. That way they can make a big splash about it being the 50th year (or whatever), and still have it rotate.

They vast majority of currently qualified athletes are US based, already pissed about moving the event and again, will not want to spend thousands more per head to travel abroad in uncertain times and the US is best placed to pull it off logistically at short notice. Right or wrong, this year it is simply even more US-centric.

Just to quell the annoying responses: I am not American so don’t give me crap about US-bias

Lanzarote

Agree, it's time to move on...

The race outgrew the island a long time ago and during my visit in may (70.3) I couldn't help but feel that most of the locals couldn't care less if Ironman is there or not.
Also, I think the location "kona" has been over-hyped over the years, due to awesome marketing and NBC coverage. In reality it's actually quite underwhelming.

Did we, seem to be getting quite a few international flights in daily. Erstwhile the EU has recommended non-essential travel to the US be shut down. But a lot of countries seem to jot be following along with that based on people still crossing the Atlantic. 🤓

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Do you have an educated guess when we might hear something further on this topic from Ironman? Are they really considering scrapping February Kona in favor of a more certain option?

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

I likely won't be as interested in viewing the IM World Championship every year if they move it around, but I agree IM will likely make more $, at least short term, by moving it around. If Kona ends just being another IM race and they continue to use the same course (i.e. no multiple loops), it would probably be the one I would do if I ever get nostalgic enough or motivated enough to do another IM.

The U.S. Olympic marathon trials for men and women have been held on the same course on the same day since 2012.

I know that some are saying that they'd be less interested in a WC that isn't Kona, but I'd actually be more interested (and I haven't qualified yet).

Part of it is family considerations. While I can work remotely and use my vacation days however I please, my wife has a job where extended vacation days are hard to take outside certain windows. Plus, with 2 young kids, I'm not taking them on an expensive multi-stage airplane ride so they can see their dad fly by twice on the course. The result is that should I indeed qualify for the WC, having it in Kona every year means that I'm on my own. At least with a rotating WC, there's a decent chance they can also come if it happens to be on our continent every so many years.

If it isn't in Kona I am staying home

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

I can see the need to move the WC this year from Kona, and would probably go along with anything in the US where the water temperature isn't in the 50's. In February that seems to limit the location to south Florida.

However this will be my 14th Kona so I don't so much care if they move it this one time. It doesn't seem right that the legacy folks or anyone who just wants to race Kona should have to race somewhere else, though. Hopefully people get an option to wait until the next Kona.

If they make a decision to start rotating the WC, I have come to hate air travel so much that I probably wouldn't sign up for anything halfway around the world.

I can only imagine jumping through all the Legacy hoops and then racing the World Championships in Muncie.

Since "Legacy" is about doing Kona, not about competing in the WCs, this is a rather mute point.

February?

They should look at the pandemic curve for last winter. Then schedule WC for late March or April.

The legacy pursuing folk have put a lot of trust in Ironman’s willingness to honor its moral obligations.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Couple of observations from a UK-based 2x Kona qualifier ….

Bolton is not in Yorkshire. It’s in Lancashire. This matters, if you’re from either :-)

Kona is a miserable course. The swim is great, but once you’re out of town, the bike is dreary. See also : the run. The town’s pretty ordinary too, unless you like faded glory (and as a Brit, I know faded glory well).

Paris-Roubaix is also a miserable course. You don’t need WC status to have status.

To win the WC, you need to be able to run in humidity in October. Frodo would win anywhere, but surely it’s better to introduce variety?

In the years where the WC is at Kona, it would be special for historical reasons.

You need a course with lumps on the bike if there’s an AG race on; draft-packs should be discouraged.

You need a location that doesn’t require 3 changes of flight to get to.

Hawaii is a long way from anywhere, and is too many time-zones from Europe to make it viable for anything other than a long trip, which can cause friction when work vacation days are limited and you have a family (and needed to use holiday allowance to qualify / train).

So … anyway, my sugggestion (pink font) : make it like Eurovision ….. The men’s and women’s races respectively are held in the country (or nearest plausible location) of the former year’s winner. Prost! (Or Bonzer!)

Considering the recent results, it will always be in Germany lol. :) Or who knows maybe Norway soon? :P

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

Skol!

Haha good one skål!

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"see the world as it is not as you want it to be"

That’s an almost brilliant idea, female or male winner? Two separate events would be just silly.

Reasons for wanting to race Kona IM World Champs (in priority order for me).
1. To earn the right to compete against the best in my AG
2. To compete in my sport’s World Championship, the race that’s more important than any other
3. To race somewhere challenging, exotic, far away that’s also a holiday destination
4. To race the Kona course, to see and race where Mark was shot out of a cannon, to feel the trade winds, to experience the slog out of the Energy Lab and finish on Ali’I Drive etc.

So a non Kona rotating WC can easily deliver numbers 1-3. 4 would be lost, but would bring some advantages instead:
- cheaper, easier to get to. Choice of destination, some may be more attractive than Kona, or within a smaller budget.
- a community excited at its one off chance to host, and bang up for it rather than fatigued by the annual circus
- almost certainly a 2 day event, giving a chance to see the ‘other’ PRO race, and bringing qualification within reach for many more.
- perhaps a better, more interesting course

It does feel like time to roll the dice and experiment.

Bring it to Wales, let them hear the Dragon roar!

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@the.lazy.triathlete

https://www.strava.com/athletes/18691068