???
No. As I recall, she got her spot through on of the eBay auction slots for Kona. She did have to do a half-IM (I think it was Keauhou-Kona Half-Ironman) to demonstrate that she at least had a hope in hell of finishing the full distance, but someone else already said that her time there was well off the actual standard to gain a true qualifying spot.
This has already been covered here in some depth.
I really don’t know what the deal is and haven’t looked into it, but you watch the race on TV and their are many people struggling in this race. I realize they have lottery slots but don’t these people have to prove that they can go the distance. And you hear the remarks from people who didn’t finish who say they’ll be back next year. What gives? sorry for being so uninformed but it really doesn’t make any sense for me to go unless I qualify, so I haven’t looked into other alternatives to entering the race.
Thanks, I missed that thread. Not surprised at the answer…
Mike
No problem.
For the answer, take a look at:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=53749
If you search on Susan Dell, there are a couple of other threads. It was pretty much a roast all around as I recall.
Did Susan Dell qualify for Hawaii last year?
Seriously, folks…does anyone really resent her for doing Kona? For posting mid-five-figures for charity, doing the training and finishing an Ironman? In a respectable time, to boot (13:29).
She did the training, she did the course, and she took no slots from anybody. AND – she posted big bucks for charity.
Sounds like we should give her a hand for upping the profile of our sport. I hope she does it again next year.
… in addition to racing a respectable time, I noticed in this months Triathlete that there is an article about all of this new Dell equipment that was used to keep all of us internet/ironman junkies up to date on the proceedings during race day. If her hubby can supply the hardware, then she’ll probably get one of those sponsorship slots for next year and with one under her belt may be able to shoot for a sub-13.
Stewart, not all folks stumbling around the QueenK are lottery. I’ve qualified twice at IMCanada, and twice I ended up passed out on a stretcher. 1994 at mile five of the run, 2000 at mile 6 of the run. I’m 0 for 2 on that darn course. 21 more tries (one mile per race) and I may board a stretcher on the other side of the finish line.
A group of us looked at the average finishing times of lottery folks vs qualifiers. The distribution is about the same. There’s enough good triathletes who get a lottery slot to skew the numbers faster, and there’s enough of us qualifiers blowing up to skew the numbers slower. In fact, on a percent basis, a lottery person is more likely to finish the race. Their only chance? Who knows. How ever a person gets to the line, I only hope they treat the opportunity as a special day, and approach their training and the day with vigor. I read some stuff about a sponsor slot going to a guy who seemed not quite ready for the challenge. But I guess that was the sponsors perogotive to do with the spot as they pleased. Susan Dell? More power to her. I just wish NBC offered a ‘racers’ version of their coverage and we didn’t have to waste half the timeslot on human interest stories.
Cheers
Since I made the post I did some online research and found some of the answers, for the questions I was curious about in addition to your post, Thanks for the insight must be one tough course.
I live in Austin (Dell HQ), and a friend, non-triathlete asked me if she had qualified. I didn’t know the answer, hence my post.
Personally, I think she did great. Most likely people who resent her are just jealous that they haven’t qualified, haven’t one the lottery, and don’t have the money for a charity slot.
As far as race coveage goes, there were two shows on TV this year, I didn’t see the first one. But the second one was all pro race coverage, even though it looked more like an MTV high dollar video (does MTV play videos anymore?).
MC
I’m with Tibbs.
My goodness, you people sure are interested in another person’s life. Susan Dell spends a lot of time in Kona, and seems to be a very serious athlete. Within the past few months she did a long distance bike ride that goes, I think, from sea level up to at least 8,000 feet, and finished quite respectably. She seems to be a serious member of the casual tri community on the Big Island, certainly participating in many events in Kona. I think it’s great that ANYBODY gets involved in a sport and keeps themselves fit. More power to her!