Is anyone a little surprised that registration for IMAZ seems a little slow? Do you think we will reach a point when someone could register for a Ironman race ONLY a month before the start?
Not surprised at all…as was discussed a bit after the race, the timing might be part of it. I had to think about it before I threw in my $425—the bulk of the real hard training will be in December, January and February—not exactly arctic conditions here in Northern California, but something to think about nonetheless.
For most, that don’t live in year-round training conditions, this race will be a tough one to pull off.
Just did the race and thought it was great overall. Loved the local - but it really comes down tothe date. For a very large number of people (Americans) an early April IM is tough to prepare for.
I would love to do this race again. But… the idea of another winter of IM big volume training is not appealing. Going into the race I said I would never do that again. A few days after I was seriously considering it. Untill registration gets up to 1700 I don’t have to worry about it.
There was quite a bit of negative press about the race before the fact, mostly due to the strange (confusing?) bike course. I bet that some people are waiting to see if those issues get resolved before signing-up. That, in addition to the very good point about it being early in the year, forcing a lot of poor folks into 5 hour trainer rides, is probably the biggest issue. I doubt this is a saturation point, but I would love to be able to sign up for a race just a month beforehand.
My surprise last year was when IMCDA didn’t fill until September. It’s a beautiful course at a great time, it stays light until almost 10pm!!! For that one, my guess is that it’s the location keeping people away. Maybe they think it’s hard to get to?
-Colin
I agree with the above posters. This isn’t about saturation but a tough date. I will be doing it in 06 as my first and I am dreading the date. I really wanted to go for a later race but because of having family there the financial break is worth more to me than the crappy training.
This was a big issue for me and really had to think about the winter training. I live in Colorado so I could have some great days in the early winter but February and March can be really gross here, not to mention short day:( I figure people train through much more demanding issues than that so I will just have to suck it up:) We will see how I feel after next year.
On a slightly different topic, I have 19 races to choose from within 1 hrs driving time between May - Nov. You got to love South Florida, but how does a race director make any money when there are so many races for me to choose from?
…the answer is that there are enough dudes within that 1 hour drive radius to make the events profitable. Either that, or you guys are willing to pay huge entry fees.
From Jun to Sep, we have 21 Tris within a 2 hour radius, so your situation is not unique.
As for the question about Ironman saturation, I would say that we are saturated with respect to non-M-dot Ironmans, but not saturated with respect to M-dot labelled events. Due to the superior marketing and draw of a potential Ironman Hawaii slot (or getting a finisher T-shirt with the same logo as Hawaii), athletes will pay a time and money premium for the M-dot events.
I think the chick in the bikini scared everyone away.
Due to the superior marketing and draw of a potential Ironman Hawaii slot (or getting a finisher T-shirt with the same logo as Hawaii), athletes will pay a time and money premium for the M-dot events.
To that I will say: IM Arizona, $425; CaliMan (yeah, we kinda bashed it for the “double ditches” but I am still considering it for this year’s IM), $400 after June 1…not much of a difference there.
Other IM’s: Grand Columbian, $285 until mid-July; Duke Blue Devil, $300 until August; Great Floridian, $350; Vineman, $275 until the end of April, $295 until mid-July.
So yeah, I suppose there is somewhat of a premium for the M-Dots but more from the time aspect than money. Feels funny entering a race where the countdown timer is at 353-plus days!
Timing is tough - just did IMAZ - and coming from NE Ohio - it was a tough race to train for through the winter
I totally agree with Foolish Tri Guy’s post - the race was awesome - my next IM will be more winter friendly in terms of preparation and lead up.
I MAY still do IMAZ next year - yet to decide
Saturation? Not sure. I think that we may be reaching some transitional point in the next year or two.
Tough to make a call on the sign-up from IMAZ for next year. It’s a first year race. There were some unforseen challenges this year. It’s the same for any new event. The same thing happened for other “new” IMNA events.
Fleck
Living in Ohio I can’t imagine doing a IM that early in the year. I trained for a spring marathon this year and the countless 2+ hrs runs in freezing cold wind and snow was enough to deter me from ever doing that again.
The good thing would be if you qualify for Kona you have plenty of time to rest/recover from the early season race. You just have to be willing to dedicate a whole year to IM.
I’d like to see IMNA add another late season race to the mix, so you could grab some Kona slots for the following year like IMOO and IMFL.
I think the other “early season” race, CDA, is also slow to fill. It seems the other later races in more populated parts of the country, IMLP, IMMOO, IMFL fill in less then 48 hours. Canada has people camping out. So it’s probably more of a timing thing then a saturation thing.