Does anybody know if NAS is planning any new Ironman distances races? Where???
I heard that in response to IMAZ moving to Nov that IMFL is going to move to April and that IMLP will be moving to February to space out the NAS races a bit better throughout the year.
Rumors have been flying about IM Las Vegas for a while. We’ll see.
The swim in IMLP would certainly be wet-suit legal in February, considering the lake is frozen solid.
I think that I would be much faster in the swim section in February vs. July but the bike down into Keene could be a little more scary 
Hey, it’s what I heard on the Internet so it must be true.
I heard from a VERY reliable source that there will be new races. Of course we all know about the AZ stuff. I also heard that there is a very good chance that the entry fee’s are going to jump by as much as 50%, and that the people who manage some races may be getting ready to retire and let others take over…must be true as it is on the internet!
Does anybody know if NAS is planning any new Ironman distances races? Where???
I think that the Kona capacity is a limiting factor unless they could add a IM race on the circuit with no slots. Since only a relatively small percentage of participants are seriously in the hunt for a slot, this is maybe not an unreasonable proposition. However aside from removing all the slots from the 70.3 series, I’m not sure how they could offer Kona Slots.
Currently
21 x IM races Total 1310 Slots
7 x 70.3 races Total 210 SLots
Slots for AG champs and pro male/female top 10 = 40
Slots from Clearwater 24
Lottery Slots 200
Total 1784
There were 1787 starters last year.
They need a bigger pier!!!
However aside from removing all the slots from the 70.3 series, I’m not sure how they could offer Kona Slots.
i think you hit the nail on the head with that comment.
They could also limit all Kona slots to 25 per race. Or even 20 per race. That would allow for more races.
I’ll choose a dry-suit for that race, with a surface air supply. Thank-you very much!
… i hope the entry fee part is a joke
Ironman Yellowknife!
Is there any trust to IMFL moving to April? or was that just a joke?
That would mess up my plans for the next 10 years.
However aside from removing all the slots from the 70.3 series, I’m not sure how they could offer Kona Slots.
i think you hit the nail on the head with that comment.
Dan
www.aiatriathlon.com
Here’s some further thoughts.
The 70.3 series will lose the Hawaii slots. I think the Hawaii slots were added as a start up incentive to kick off the series. The overwhelming popularity of the 70.3 series in just 2 seasons has eliminated the need for these slots. With hindsight, they were probably never needed anyway but I don’t think anyone anticipated the rapid success of 70.3.
There will have to be some alignment of the slots with the existing IM races. I would imagine that there are some finances involved between the Local race organisation and WTC regarding the number of slots, but there the number of slots per race is varied.
120 Slots: Germany
80 Slots: Canada, Lake Placid, Coeur D’Alene, Arizona, New Zealand, Florida, Wisconsin
75 Slots: Switzerland
70 Slots: Australia
60 Slots: Lanzarote
50 Slots: Korea (now China), Louisville, Austria, France, Japan, Brazil
35 Slots: Malaysia
30 Slots: UK, South Africa, Western Australia
So actually there is an average of 62 slots per race, but not equally distributed. Of the races that received more than the average, Germany, Canada, Lake Placid, CDA, Arizona, Florida Wisconsin and Switerland all sell out and most would probably still do so even without slots (As Roth still does). There are in fact more races with less than average # slots that do not sell out and would probably benefit (Korea… whoops too late, Japan, Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, WA). This would be a strategic move by WTC to promote global growth.
They could probably bring this more into line with and average of 50 slots per race and then they would have room for 4/5 more races if they added the 210 Slots from 70.3. An alternative would be to allocate the slots awarded on the previous year’s participation on each race on a pro rata basis with a start up grace period for the first 3 years where the new races would get the average slots per race.
The only problem with this method is that RDs would be forever looking to extend the capacity of the race (if they’re not already) and also they will soon recognise the moderate correlation between race entry and flat bike courses.
The 200 Lottery slots are untouchable whether you agree with them or not. Primarily due to the historical principle but also not forgetting that selling the lottery tickets is just free revenue!!
Would you do an Ironman if there were no slots. I certainly did my first 3 IMs with no realistic expectations of getting to Kona so that would not have bothered me at all. You have to estimate that at least 80% of the starters are not seriously expecting to be in the hunt for Kona slots. However you COULD add some races with NO KONA slots BUT WITH SLOTS to some of the premium IM races that are really difficult to get into, Canada being the most obvious example. WTC thus gives Canada a say an additional 10 Kona slots if Canada puts up say 100/200 slots that could be won in these other IM races.
I’m sure there are some creative things they can do to grow the schedule, but they WTC may be wrestling with the choice of taking making money in the short term by adding races in North America or making more money in the longer term by growing world wide. There are a lot of markets still to be looked at. Mexico, Italy, Spain (mainland), Portugal, South America, Middle East, Eastern Europe,
Or they could do the marketing in a totally different direction and build another race to be as prestigious as Kona. Right now Kona is the GOAL. Someone like me who does not have the genetics to earn a place would have to win the lotto and then complete the race even if it takes all day.
If they had another race with a great marketing maybe they could expand a lot more and start a lottery for slots to that one too.
Right now I have yet to do my first sprint and I can see that long term I could probably do an olympic or 70.3 in the next year. After that I would probably start playing the lotto just to be able to say that I finished Kona. I would even do Kona on another day if they made this possible. It’s not like I’m going to finish anywhere near sub 9 hours anyway; they could easily have a day for the world championship and another day for the expanded lotto.
Anchorage,Alaska (lots of daylight mid summer) Reykjavik, Iceland
Can’t give up my source
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Ironman Traverse City!!
IRONMAN703POLAND.COM owned by WTC created 08-Nov-2007 - you think they would pick other locations before this
IRONMAN703RUSSIA.COM owned by WTC created 08-Nov-2007 - you think they would pick other locations before this
IRONMANAMELIAISLAND.COM owned by WTC created 08-Aug-2007 - heard rumors about this last year, thought it would be announced, 70.3 distance
IRONMANDUBAI.COM owned by WTC created 22-Feb 2005 - huh?
IRONMANLAKELASVEGAS.COM owned by WTC created 08-Aug-2007 - the latest rumor
IRONMANMEXICO.com owned by WTC created 13-Dec-2000 - heard about this at IMWI, they are working on raising the money for a race in 2009