+1

Just raced myself in a 4x10km TT yesterday. Second loop 30 second faster than first, third 60 seconds faster than second, fourth 120 seconds faster than third. It was fun because I kept "racing my last split". No need for Messick for that.

I experienced the hot, humid and unfavorable wind conditions of the Kona 2017 edition.
But can someone tell me if the climatic conditions are significantly different between the month of February and the month of October?

Yes, February is much better!
But I really doubt the race is going to happen :-( Fingers crossed!
Sam

Thank Sam.
But why are you skeptical about maintaining the race in February? Because of the health situation? In Europe (France) the situation is better after two months of confinement. But the economic situation is catastrophic.

There is no way to stop a virus and a vaccine will probably not be available anytime soon. Lots of people have (thanks to the media that is always bad news oriented) lost their minds. Especially in the US this seems to be the case.
I don't care about the virus and feel the negative impact of all lockdown measures being taken outweighs the positives by a huge margin.
Given my age I can give it a place but if I were still a young guy I would definitely revolt against my future being ripped away...
People that make the decisions are never impacted adversely by the results, in contrary, so don't expect anything to get better soon.
Some virologists make me think of weather forecasters in hurricane season: if cat5 hurricane is the worst they will invent cat6 as it will get them more coverage... And these are the virologists hyped by media. It is not about the news, it's about clicks and reads and citations.
There should be more Johan Giesecke and Anders Tegnell type of people. Unfortunately, their messages are not dramatic enough to fit mainstream media.
If WTC were smart, they would move IM WC to Europe as I don't think there will be community support for the Kona event at this stage or anytime soon.
I would love to race in Kona myself but I don't see it happening given the current mindset of the majority of people.
Sam

Anyone know what WTC is doing with Kona, even with vaccines rolling out global travel isnt opening this year broadly. Perhaps a Feb and Oct race 2022? Or over two weekend in Oct 2022 as there is a lot of slots backing up now.

i would be pretty surprised if Kona didn't happen on time, in oct of this year. i still hold to my predictions of the last few months: Q1 is an almost non-racing quarter anyway in north america, Q2 is going to be very spotty, and Q3 is when things will begin to open up more broadly. why we'd have races canceled that are scheduled in or after august i don't know.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

They sent a email that read like this, I took that as we have the go ahead from the right people.

No matter where you are in your racing season, we invite you to start preparing and planning for your time in Hawai`i. Every year we encourage everyone involved—athletes, family, friends, supporters, volunteers and fans of the sport—to take advantage of all that Kona has to offer. We have a wonderful community and are excited to share our aloha and welcome you to our beautiful home. The passion and pride of the 5,000+ incredible volunteers, staff, and locals that work and care about the event 365 days of the year gives this pinnacle event a feeling of unity and togetherness that is unsurpassed by sporting events around the globe.

Whether it’s your first time to the island or a returned visit, we know there is something to discover about this island and yourself through your journey that will leave a lasting impact.

I, along with the entire IRONMAN `Ohana, look forward to seeing you in October and wish you happy training.

Me Ke Aloha,



Diana Bertsch
Senior Vice President of World Championship Events
The IRONMAN Group

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

 
That seems very ambitious, the Aussie Government is saying no international travel likely this year, we can't even get a bubble going with NZ and we both have no cases. Europe has restrictions and the vaccine is going to take a while to get out.

WTC need to start looking realistically ahead, even if there is some opportunity for international travel it wont be straight forward and it wont be broadly available for people from all regions.

It would show strong leadership for Messick to come out early and provide clarity and certainty and just call off Kona and St George as age group race...maybe go pro only or something with exemptions.

There are problems at places in which the corona situation is "too good", such as remote islands, certainly including the Big Island.

The governments of those countries/states will hesitate to let people in, because having things totally under control is too valuable to risk.

Australia and New Zealand can have races, because these races don't really have to be international. No such option for Kona.

That's why Kona is perhaps less likely to happen than any other race in the world this fall.

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

I was told that athletes who have qualified for Kona but can't travel due to government restrictions will be offered deferral to 2022 or 2023.

It would help IM an awful lot if they were more public with their intentions

What about athletes who qualify for Kona in 2021 (assuming some Q2 races happen).. Are they qualifying this year to race in 2022? Or were there so few athletes who qualified late 2019/early 2020 before the lockdowns, that there's still plenty of room for 2021?

The slow / inefficient vaccine rollout and simultaneous relaxing of restrictions in some countries is opening the door for more virus variants to develop and take hold. the outlook for what will happen in the fall is looking murkier and murkier, unfortunately.

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______________________________________________________________

Starters list for Kona 2021 and Kona 2022 here - https://www.ironman.com/im-world-championship-athletes
So there're ~1400 people for 2021 and 200 for 2022.


If all races (from March to August) that offer 2021 Kona slots happened this year, it'll give us 1000 more slots (source - https://www.ironman.com/...hampionship-register)
So there will be ~2400 starters in Kona 2021 (as usual).


But still we should take in mind that athletes from Australia, New Zealand (around 200 for 2021) possible won't be able to travel to US even in September.
Also there're athletes from countries that need a visa to visit United States - it's still impossible to get a tourist visa and queues will be long after reopening.


As a Kona 2021 qualifier, I also worry that the atmosphere in October 2021 (if the race won't be postponed) will be very different from other years - masking, social distancing, no hugs, high fives with volunteers, etc.
I still see how in San Francisco Bay area almost all people wear masks outdoors, while we have 20% people over 16 y.o fully vaccinated.


Probably it will be my only Kona experience in my life as I qualified being in a quite 'easy' group M25-29, so I'd rather transfer my entry to 2022 or 2023 edition.

My 2 cents worth

• Athletes who qualified go and race if the race happens. If they can't travel due to their country restrictions that is too bad
• Related to the point above, some athletes were able to qualify BECAUSE no one was allowed into their home Ironman event....only them, so the travel restricition things works both ways
• We're coming out of a pandemic, everything is different. We take what we get based on where we live and where we want to go race. Some will be luckier based on their place of residence, but the kid from Rwanda is less likely to make the FIS downhill ski world cup than than the kid from Austria, so we have this problem in sport all this time before Covid19 too. Sport is all about unequal access (sadly). Gold medals are a combination of talent, work, money and where you live.
• So if someone qualified for Kona 2021 and Kona 2021 happens, they either race it, or they miss it.

For the record, I will try to qualify for Kona 2021 if the one IM that I can travel to inside my country happens and they reopen registration. If I qualify and can travel, then great. If my country bars me from traveling back in without a crazy ridiculous quarantine process (I can't do that with my work), then I am stuck with not going

I understand you position.

Still, if qualifiers from all over the world who want, but unable to travel to Hawaii because of visas/lockdowns/other policies, and the race happens without them, it can't be called Ironman "World Championship", it's more like another American Ironman race with people who are lucky enough to be present on the Big Island.

When I qualified in 2019, I wanted to race a WC with a very competitive field, like it was before. And I hope that Ironman will make sure that the event is top-notch or push it from October.

But yeah, I get that it's my problem and it's not for me to decide.

I think all of us have to accept that we will get what we get for the foreseable future. It is a fantasy world to think we will get some semblance of 2019 any time soon in 2021 and parts of 2022. Just be patient and take what we get. I don't want Ironman to push any events out of this year including Kona just because it can't be competitive. Just hold a "'whatever event this year" and move on to a better event next year.

I am in the same boat as you. I wanted a reason to restrict working hours and focus on a top performance, very competitive race.

That said I would take what I can get after the last year.... I am not picky anymore.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

Yeah, I also miss racing and that's why I'm ready for St. George 70.3 in a month and then Coeur D'Alene in June, as other local races. And also don't wanna Ironman to postpone or cancel races anymore as it is safe to race outdoors.


So my point is that Olympics only for Japanese athletes is not Olympics; Ice hockey World Championship without Northen Europe countries and Canada, Russia is also not a World Championship.
The same goes for Kona as it's a unique event that earned its status not only by location but by all the people coming from all around the globe with happy unmasked faces of volunteers and supporters, cheering and hugging.
The competition will disgrace itself if there're only North American athletes compete. And for me and for others too there's no point in participating in a "whatever world championship".

The way I see it is: it is a world championship race. It means not only Americans, Australians, Europeans should be there but also athletes from Africa and Asia. Do you think by fall, we will have people covered with vaccine? if not, how do you think they will be allowed to travel to Kona?
Are you considering that there will be hundreds of athletes who are no-vax party? what do you do with them? (I am not no-vax)
Masks and social distancing will last for years!

I really can not see how Kona 2021 can happen, in a fair and equal way for all worldwide people.

I believe ITU is going to do this for the Multisport World Championship in Almere, Netherlands in Sep 2021. In a video Q&A a few weeks ago, the RD stated they will make the final Go - No Go decision on the event about 3 months before. But he also stated that a GO decision does not mean that every country will be able to make it based on existing travel restrictions at the time of the event. He further stated that it will still be the "World Championship" regardless of which countries can/cannot attend. So it's possible it could end up being an European World Championship. Exactly what you are proposing for Kona. It is what it is.

There are races happening in the United States right now (Challenge Miami) in which international athletes from Canada, EU, Great Britain, Asia, Australia, Brazil, etc participated.

So why shouldn't Kona 2021 happen, if cleared to race?

sorry which athletes? PRO? oh yes. age group from Europe? how many?

You are absolutely right here! Save some extra money so you can enjoy the unlimited experience and a nice vacation when this is all over.
Absolutely no point to visit Kona this year unless things change for the positive very soon.
Take care,
Sam