Looking at the results this year for M45-49 I noticed it rolled to 11:16 as the last qualifying time. By comprison, the 40-44 last qualifying time was almost an hour faster.
Only 9/244 went sub 11 compared to 16/223 in the prior year.
39/244 went sub 12 versus 50/233 in the prior year.
Are the relatively old dudes slowing down or is this an aberation?
Seemed like the weather was good this year.
It was pretty hot on the run. I know a lot of the top guys that came off the bike were walking the second lap of the run
It seemed like across the board it was a slower year? Windy on the bike and warm on the run, or so I hear…
I thought the weather was fine, didn’t feel hot on the run or the bike (EpicMan in June was a different story). My finish time was 50 minutes faster than the last time I did LP in '02 and that was a hot day.
I was NOT hot on the run… Sure the sun was out there and it was around 75/80… but this not hot…
I did some training runs here in Ottawa when it was hot and after 45 mins I was litteraly cooked and this was without a 2.4M of swim and 112M of bike before those runs…
Fred.
Lavery is right…certainly compared to last year it was hotter on the run and it was windier on the bike. I passed some of these guys on the bike on loop2 and you could see the sweat dripping down their legs as they worked way too hard and the price was likely paid on the run. But in fairness, I would not call the day “hot”…it was just hotter than last year. As Fred and Brian mentioned, we had a lot warmer days in training.
Of course, now that all the 45-49 across the country have seen the “slower Kona qual time”, everyone will be out to get a slot in 2008 and you’ll have to go sub 10:20!
Wouldn’t put too much stock in the change. It’s always about who shows up on race day. I’ve noticed that in some races, the competitiveness of an age group alternates from year to year. Slow results one year tends to attract faster guys/gals the next year. And the next year folks get scared off. Probably not so so much a factor in IM as the sign up is before people have much time to digest the results.
I personally thought it was hot on the run. It was not blazing hot, but I thought it was hot. I passed plently of people that had salt all over their clothing. If you didnt hydrate properly it was going to be a rough day.
On the other hand, you cant expect the times in the AGs to be the same from year to year, there are so many factors that play into it.
Looking at the results this year for M45-49 I noticed it rolled to 11:16 as the last qualifying time. By comprison, the 40-44 last qualifying time was almost an hour faster.
Only 9/244 went sub 11 compared to 16/223 in the prior year.
39/244 went sub 12 versus 50/233 in the prior year.
Are the relatively old dudes slowing down or is this an aberation?
Seemed like the weather was good this year.
Wow! 11:16 is sloooow! It did seem slower this year, for sure. A quick look at comparing the overall between '06 and '07 showed:
2006 overall 41 went under 10 hours; 2007 22 (male pros raced in '06)
2006 overall 275 went under 11 hours; 2007 202!!
If you look at the race results history, the times are fairly consistent in the 45-49. The difference is, this year there were 8 slots rolled down. In 2005 only 1 rolled down and 2007 only 3. That would make a big difference in the qualifying times.