I’d forgotten Løvseth! Reasonable to expect her to swim between Matthews and Philipp and either two riding together would be a dynamic duo, with Løvseth either keen to drop her company (young gun wants to win) or taking a pragmatic, debut approach and tucking in for the ride.
I see Hering is on the IM Cairns start list. A fortnight after this weekend’s race in IM Hamburg. Since she’s also said she’ll race Lake Placid, is this a ‘might race’ insurance for Hamburg ‘every second counts’ with Philipp and Matthews fighting ftw and going sub 8:15, or a ‘do two’ and then maybe not IMLP?
Edit: Hering says in her latest ‘Pre-Hamburg’ video that her two IMs are Hamburg then IMLP, so she’ll come off the Cairns start list.
Edit after Hamburg: I guess Hering may choose to travel down under after all. Behind Matthews the IM Pro Series looks wide open and she could gain much better points at Cairns as opposed to the meagre pickings from Hamburg after Philipp’s astonishing time. With IMLP as the second IM: 5 weeks after Cairns.
and 10 more athletes
NB Berry, a T100 contracted athlete (and presumably planning to race Kona), missing both T100 SF and T100 Van for this.
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Blimey that’s a weak starting list…
How many Kona slots at Cains?
3 + 3 Edit: 5 + 5 (font too small for me poor old eyes - IM Calendar)
Many WPros are already KQ.
Cairns never seemed to get quality athletes in big numbers. Think the travel is a major hinderance. Always wondered why it keeps getting regional champs or pro series status? Time to move on I believe
The start list is pretty dismal!
Where in the region would you move it?
Taupo
Can’t move Australasia any closer to IM centre of gravity.
Have to have a regional champs down under though.
And the IM Pro Series is a year long world wide series, so makes entire sense to have a race in Aus/NZ every year.
Allocating 5+5 is just silly, though. But I guess this is to mitigate the risk of people whining about ‘fairness’.
I expect Hering to travel after her flat and DNF in Hamburg so that offers strengthening.
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I guess what you will see is, if you are not one of the superstars and if you want to do well in the pro series you have to race those races.
unless you are happy to do a solid race and get like 3300 point in an ironman with kat M in it
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Taupo makes for even worse travel issues and is way too early in the year to attract the top Pro Series athletes . The quality of field would not be that different to Cairns.
but it does not f. up he season
Ie you could do winter training in oz or new z ,race Taupo and go back to Europe
The problem is that the pro series has to end with Kona? But does it really?
Was thinking Busso might be better in the sense it doesn’t compete with all the other IM at the height of summer and it’s a year end option for those who want to qualify for Kona or get their third IM for the pro series
Ideally it should be moved out of ANZ but I doubt that will happen!!!
It doesn’t have to end with Kona! In fact the Ironman Pro Series ends in Marbella in November 
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It probably will end with Kona most years - they now have a September time slot available for the 70.3WC.
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IMWC Nice and IMWC Kona are the last full distance Series races. The finale of the series, this year, is Marbella (as Taupo was last year).
Next year one assumes that with the 70.3WC in Nice in September, the Series will indeed have Kona as its climax.
Forgot about the 70.3 worlds!!!
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Remaining IM Pro Series events:
| Date | Event | Venue | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun. 8 | IRONMAN 70.3 Eagleman | Maryland, USA | 2,500 |
| Jun. 15 | IRONMAN Cairns | Queensland, Australia | 5,000 |
| Jun. 29 | IRONMAN Frankfurt (M Pro) | Frankfurt, Germany | 5,000 |
| Jul. 13 | IRONMAN 70.3 Swansea | Wales, UK | 2,500 |
| Jul. 20 | IRONMAN Lake Placid | New York, USA | 5,000 |
| Aug. 31 | IRONMAN 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun | Zell am See, Austria | 2,500 |
| Sept. 14 | IRONMAN World Championship - M | Nice, France | 6,000 |
| Oct. 11 | IRONMAN World Championship - W | Hawai`i, USA | 6,000 |
| Nov. 8-9 | IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship | Marbella, Spain | 3,000 |
Standings after Hamburg:
Of those on the start at Eagleman, in the women only Alberts is an obvious Series player (I am assuming Jewett will not race another IM before Kona).
MPro: Schuster has to get a Marbella slot otherwise progress in the Series standings will be an uphill struggle (has a chance: 7 are already on the 70.3Q list). Wurf?
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It will probably largely be decided at Kona
But for the ladies, it’s really hard to imagine KM not winning it. None of the other top IM ladies are seriously in for the win and other than LCB, none are involved in the T100 series. Which makes me think that they are comfortable financially….CS and AH haven’t validated their Kona slot yet as well
For the men, my money is on KB!