I got the survey and raced Kona this year.
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If you go to Nice next year, I highly recommend the restaurant “L’Alchimie”. One of the best meals i’ve ever had and not all that expensive. Book your table in advance though.
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Incorrect @Michal_CH
My first kona entry in 2010 was $750 us
We paid $ 1650 us last week so nothing to do with the AU value
I’m going to guess it’s either that the people that didn’t get it have opt’ed out of certain types of emails from IM or their spam blocker is catching them. I raced 2 IM branded races their year and received the email.
Isn’t the Nice contract for this whole split thing through 2026? If they do anything it would be in 2027 otherwise they’re in breach, or is Nice/whomever paid the race fee willing to let this go without penalty?
The split was announced through 2026, yes.
Whether or not there are out-options in that agreement, or if something else would need to be negotiated is another story.
This is strange, I was there also and definitely not what I saw. There was tons of demand on the mens side, so much so that Pete had to remind people on more than one occasion to not run up to the stage warning them that slots were awarded on placings, not who was first to the stage!
As for the 40-44 age group again I reckon there was at least 15-20 people that went to the front after the first 3 or slots were taken by placings. How do you know the person came 56th, as its a matter of everyone crowding around the clipboard placings to work out who has priority? Is this info available online somewhere?
I got it. Kona - only Kona. The one question where it was 2 choices and not Kona - They should have been a option of - no thanks.
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I know the guy that came 56th
He’s very happy to go to a “WC” after one race
The point is , in times not that long ago slots wouldn’t roll any further than 2-3 spots in either gender or age
Something isn’t adding up here…the person who came 56th has definitely done more than one ironman, I’ll have to take your word for it…
We’re discussing less important things, but you’ve just proven me right.
1650 USD / 750 USD = 2.2 (5.4% CAGR)
2700 AUD / 1000 AUD = 2.7 (6.8% CAGR)
Globally, in USD, the price of Kona has been growing for the last 15 years, but at a slower rate than it has been growing for somebody earning in AUD. This is because the value of AUD has deteriorated in comparison to USD. In 2010 you needed to pay 1.33 AUD for every 1 USD, now you need to pay 1.64 AUD for every 1 USD (I have not checked the real FX rates nor Kona entry costs, I’m just using your numbers).
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The shit Aussie dollar and the higher general prices to fly and stay anywhere these days is definitely having an effect on people going to races overseas. I used to fly to Canada and the USA pretty much every year for events but those days are over as it just isn’t worth it anymore.
I remember in 2004’ish when the Aussie dollar was around $0:60 USD and slots for Kona rolled and rolled in Oz as people just couldn’t afford to go. I visited my brother in Austin,TX on the way back to Oz after my summer in Penticton that year and he just said “Keep you money in your wallet as it just isn’t worth you paying for anything here this week”
I looked at the cost of doing Ultraman Canada next year and it is just under $3K AUD just to enter. It used to be $500 before all the madness started.
So you’re saying I should do Ironman Cairns as an American who places pretty consistently in the top 10 looking for a Kona slot?
If you are willing to travel across the Pacific with the eye on snagging a Kona spot then I’d go to one of the SE Asian Ironmans. The times are relatively slow and for so many Triathletes in Asia,the idea of travelling to another Ironman in the same year is out of the question.
9:35 won this race overall.
I’m off for my 5th visit to Langkawi next year.The winning time in my age group was 11:27 (60-64)
IRONMAN Malaysia (2024) Results | SportSplits
Most people want to go to Kona. They may also go to other venue also, but I think that at the same price, racing in kona is more attractive for many athletes, specially who never raced in kona.
Remember you can race ironman kona only in a wc. You cold race ironman nice outside wc and cheaper.
I do think that a 2 days in kona is the best option. I like 1 day kona with less athletes, 50% men and 50% women.
And as alternative… i like im wc like 70.3 rotating venue…IM wc in kona every 5 years… but an IM Hawaii Legacy every year, with early registration for legacy athlete first (i.e. athletes with more than 5 or 10 IM finishers).
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Other than the legacy part, I think we both have a full understanding.
- Nice
I went to WC Nice in 2023 and it was a great race in many ways: race dynamics, race course, host city.
I won’t try to qualify to Nice in 2025. From Zurich I can fly to Nice for 300 USD every weekend, and the 1.5k USD entry is relatively high, because it’s roughly 50% of what I would spend there for a 5 days stay. Qualification is (relatively) easy, but I don’t want to target another race to qualify to Nice, it’s just too much in total.
- Kona
This year I went to WC Kona, and it was also a great race: pre- and post-race vibes, great holiday location, the “myth” of Kona etc.
I’m determined to attempt to qualify again and go to Kona in 2026. The 1.5k USD you pay for entry there is a fraction of the holidays cost. And qualification is hard.
General Post.
Before I book all my travel plans to NICE has the Ironman CEO public stated that for sure in 2025 Men are in NICE. Has he said this in an interview on publication.
If not DEAR IRONMAN , LETS GO !!!
We need to know 2025 worlds 140.6 and 2026 70.3.
I don’t see how after the ~6k athletes + supporters spending all that money in Taupo last week that Ironman doesn’t give this 2 day thing in the same location their main priority.
If Kona doesn’t want 2 days I can see IM having that be the North American championship in the future or some other title.
But the allure of getting to double dip on 6k IM and 6k 70.3 entries in the same year has got to be pretty strong.
One thing to keep in mind – the female turnout was very high in Taupo, but did that surpress the Nice turnout? Is there a large enough pool of females to get 2000+ to race both champs?
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70.3 racing has many more female customers compared to the full.
More enjoyable trip for 70.3 and everyone I talked too was very happy to put the race and the trip to this country together might not happen for other venues.
It’s why I voted Ironman should do nice / kona.
Or move it.
I am not going to that damn volcano for a 6 th x. Or the same vacation that’s price is up every year.
If I have the option for something new and a different experience.
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I was at the IMWA roll-down and decided the record where the spots went to have a better idea of what I would need to do to qualify in future events. I thought that demand was pretty good overall.
There were 40 Kona slots for the women and only 3 went to finishers outside the top 10 in their age group; 13th in 30-34, 13th in 40-44 and 20th in 45-49. Even one of those was because a top 10 finisher initially accepted but changed their mind before payment so they opened it up again for 40-44.
There were 65 Nice slots on the men’s side. Thirty-one went to top 10 finishers but the remaining ones rolled down a lot in some age groups. There were few takers in the 35-39 so 5 slots rolled from there to other age groups and some of those rolled deep with 3 people finishing 100+ in their age-group heading to Nice.
I benefited from the roll-down because I finished 8th and the last initially allocated slot in my age group went at 7th so I got to take one of the 35-39 reallocations.
Clearly it is easier to get a Nice spot than a Kona spot but I was still impressed that the vast majority of spots went to people who finished in the top 10.