I’m definitely feeling the Nice fatigue right now and I was only here once!
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In terms of personal safety, yes. As ThailandUltras mentioned, Living in the Middle East for the last 10 years and I’ve never once had my car broken into or tyres slashed. I’ve never once been intimidated while walking down the street. And outside of the occasional belligerent drunk American Navy boy I don’t get invited to fight every time I go out for a drink. All of these things happened back home (and more) and it didn’t matter if I living in Wellington, or a small rural town, or a small uni city. I’m not saying NZ is not safe, but it definitely isn’t on the same level as where I’m living now.
Look I travelled the world a lot, including multiple times NZ, and I don’t think that having a bunch of police people with guns and automated rifles is where i draw the line. This is the same country where a lot of people have no rights, where the disparities between rich and poor are huge and probably you don’t see those when you’re just an expat with a well paying job.
That’s the cost of democracy, and I’ll take that over what happens in those oligarchies or dictatorships. I always felt safe in NZ, and any other western country, whilst in middle eastern countries I always have a sense of unease, personally.
My guy, I’d be happy to have a more in depth discussion about this but if you’re living in a world where you think the disparity between rich and poor, and peoples rights exists purely in these Middle Eastern countries, I’ve got a very big bridge to sell you.
And police with guns? Of course no country outside of the Middle East has police with guns… except Australia, oh and the US of course, and just about every European country. Don’t forget those pesky cops in London who carry MP5s. But, no you’re right, they never abuse their gun carrying privileges!
Back on topic, I think Oman will do fine. Plenty of people traveled to Bahrain to do the 70.3 (particularly from Europe) so I wouldn’t be surprised now that that race doesn’t exist that people instead travel to Oman.
The December Ironman will also make a good end of season race for Europeans. Generally at that time of year you’re either looking at Australia or South America for races.
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Dude I don’t know if you’ve ever been in Europe, but police doesn’t carry guns on the streets. Can’t compare with the US that has an obsession for guns…
I live in London and police doesn’t carry guns, not sure where you’ve seen “pesky cops carrying MP5s”, maybe some movie.
Europeans struggle to race that late, especially as training becomes impossible after September due to shorter days, climate becoming cold and rainy, and so on.
I spend 6-8 weeks traveling around Europe every summer (too hot to be here and too far to to go home). French, German, and Austrian police pretty much always have guns on them. Most Scandinavian countries also. In Bucharest this summer I ran by the local government office and there was about 100 police officers all carrying rifles (there was a protest shortly after which explained it, but I wasn’t aware at the time). Likewise in Athens this year, I’m not sure if there was something going on or if it’s normal but the entire national garden was swarming with heavily armed police.
As for the MP5s in London, go anywhere near Buckingham Palace or Downing Street and you’ll see this:
Maybe you’re desensitized to it, or just unaware, but guns + law enforcement is extremely common in Europe.
The article reads like an Ironman press release. Fine.
“It’s a big day for the sport of triathlon, for IRONMAN and for the country of Oman,” DeRue said privately afterward. “I’m mostly excited about bringing our IRONMAN community to Oman and having our community experience the culture, the history, the tradition […] of the country.”
What cracked me up is Scott saying “privately” something that totally sounds like yet another corporate statement composed mostly of a word salad.
Come on, did he say anything privately, and if yes, what was it? Unless that’s exactly the amount of respect Scott has for his private interlocutors, just regurgitating hot air?
That is only police around sensitive targets. Normal policemen on the beat do not carry guns, in any of the main european countries. I’ll drop it here, clearly you’re a biased fan of the country for whatever reason.
And where do you think police carry guns here? There is no such thing as a “beat cop” so seeing them anywhere other than sensitive targets is unusual.
I am a biased fan of the country/region and for many reasons, and the reason I’m arguing so heavily for it is because of some of the ignorant statements being made. I’d get laughed out of this thread if I said that Donald Trump and ICE scare the crap out of me so therefore I’ll never travel to the USA, but hey, when it’s said the other way round people agree and applaud. And I agree, I’ll drop it here.
Mate I’ve been in Istanbul for a race 2 weeks ago and EVERY single policeman had at least a gun. On the bike course there was someone with an AR at almost every intersection. In Europe you wouldn’t even see that many volunteers.
Anyway, I’m sure it’ll be much easier to qualify with the amount of people not wanting to go, good for them.
Laughs in Kiwi
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Funny enough here in Nice I saw military folks in fatigues with rifles patrolling the promenade
Getting away from Middle East autocracies merits/haters and anal discussions about who’s got the biggest guns (at least in most countries it’s security forces with them guns, not civvies), a short discussion on this investment on PTN at 1:16 with some insights:
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And thank god that they do!! 
It is also very common here in Paris, I see military guys patrolling around any major site on my runs or just when I am out for errands… And I am very happy they are here!
In any case - if I’d manage to qualify for Oman 70.3 WC and the circumstances allow it, I’d definitely go!! And as pointed out already several times, the December time frame is fantastic for Europeans who may do an IM in June and then want a proper build-up for the second one in case e.g. they missed the Kona qualification and can’t be bothered for Barcelona or Portugal yet.
If it’s a pro race I’d also be interested to see if any try and use it as a quick validation/KQ to get it out of the way in order to give themselves the freedom of planning out the next year.
Careful there. Last time I checked a bunch of Brits came over from a rock in the North Atlantic which is their home and decided to take over a rock in the South Pacific and colonize it and take over the home of the people who were there.
So it is a slippery slope of which govt is the bad guy. Just ask a few people in USA wrongfully targeted by ICE or Indigenous people in my home in Canada forecbily taken from their families and put into schools that they never wanted to be in, often resulting in deaths and cover ups.
I get the bias we all have. I am not thrilled with any dictatorship or any transgressions of human rights, anywhere, however, it is just too easy to jump on societies elsewhere, when it often goes on (or has been) locally (insert your definition of local).
At least some societies suppress their own people, they did not go into someone else’s house and suppress them, so let’s be careful with all this mud slinging
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Running the 70.3 Worlds in Oman with thousands of mostly North American and European athletes is a security nightmare. Oman itself might be a stable dictatorship, but it sits in a volatile neighborhood where terrorist groups would love a high-profile Western target. The race is predictable with fixed schedules, published course maps, and global media coverage, and unlike Qatar Oman does not have $200 billion in security spending to throw at the problem. The anti-Western rhetoric is not just noise, it is real. My take (as you said) is that many athletes will skip 2029 and the rolldown will be massive, especially in the U.S.
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I have to say a similar sentiment crossed my mind two years ago when the 70.3 WC was in Lhati. I was concerned how close it was to Russia
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For the record - it is a widely held belief that Russia can’t do jackshit to the Fins (other than internet trolling, covert attacks on undersea cables, etc.), and this has been clear at least since early 2022 (though many will say 1940). And if they tried, it would be known months in advance.
Countries adjacent to hostile neighbors will often be safer than a place like France, which has seen random terror attacks many times in the past and experienced unrest tied to social divisions.
Oman I’d say would be one of the safest places to race in I can imagine. I understand the human rights objections but don’t know the status (as of 2014, they were torturing peaceful demonstrators and there was no freedom of speech whatsoever, but times change). I’d probably be more likely to race in Oman than in Israel (man, how times do change), but would definitely pick Jordan (a much softer dictatorship with a somewhat meaningful elected parliament and a large degree of freedom of speech) over Oman. Gaaaaaawd I lavender roomed this to oblivion 
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Yeah $10-15M for the Pro Series for 5 years. Thats huge.
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