If I can actually start running in anything that resembles a timely fashion, maybe.
But I can’t even sit on a bike yet, so almost all my training at the moment is rowing / ERG. Been great for golf and skiing, not so much for tri…
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Thanks for the heads up on this. I think Monty is right when he says that there seems to be a decreasing appetite for harder courses. That may have been the case for Penticton - plus when you are shelling out right around a quarter of a million dollars for traffic control alone, the writing is on the wall.
I’d like to stir the pot a bit here. 1st off, for those in the know, what are y’all paying in America (Sac? Ariz? St. Geo) for traffic control for a full IM? Secondly, outside of North America, are athletes shying away from more difficult courses?
Any Asia-Pacific-European ST folks wanna give us some perspective?
Yeah, I agree
I think that should be “reins” … like “reindeer”
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Does anyone think there Is a business case for Ironman incentivizing participation on harder courses, such as giving more world championship slots on harder courses? Ironman may have zero incentive to do that, but they may they have a business case for retaining races in locales like StG. I’m curious to hear what other people think
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St. George has been giving out more slots for worlds relative to other IM’s (I think 75 vs 45 in general.
It may just be time of year. Hard course early in the year for 80% of North American athletes who may not be able to get outdoor on a bike until after daily savings time kicks in and there is time to ride outside after work plus cold.
I think a late Sep time window would be better or early Oct to avoid the period when kids are just getting settled back into school and activities etc From where I live almost none of my triathlete network wants to do a half IM in early May but 6 weeks later that’s all anyone wants to do. I suspect from most of the North East, aside from hard core the general triathlete population is that way, and that’s a big pool. Also St. George is competing from South West with Oceanside. Oceanside is probably an easier trip from most of the population in California
I think a Vegas based race in early Oct can be a winner. I did Silverman 70.3 in 2014 (swim in Lake Mead, bike back to Henderson, run on the boring Worlds Course). But what about Swim in Lake Las Vegas, bike in and out of national park, run in Lake Las Vegas (I guess then you have T100. Would I travel for a T100 race to Vegas or Dubai or London? My sample of one says NO at this time. I don’t know enough of the set up, safety and flow of T100 ( I have never done any of their races due to none being near me). I like how Ironman took care of me (and my spectating wife) when I had a life threatening crash at IM Switzerland 2011. This year I considered heading to Vegas for T100 and the next week was IM 70.3 Tangier Morocco, I chose Morocco because the trip was cheaper and I could see a new place and I know the process if I am injured in a strange place and evacuated off the course and I like the process with other peers to try to qualify for 70.3 Worlds (I failed, was 5 min off the last slot in my age group), but had a great day. I’d likely go to Vegas for an Ironman 70.3 branded race and it would be a harder spend to go for a local event or T100, and my wife is more comfortable if it is a known entity. That’s the loyalty that IM built up over time that lots of us are willing to open our wallet for.
Anyway, see you guys in St.George. I need to think if my body can handle Wildflower run course in 2026.
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In Asia there are so few races that you don’t have the luxury of deciding whether or not you want to race a hard or easy course, You either race or you don’t. I get a different vibe from racing in Asia and there is more the old sense of adventure and fun that we used to see decades ago in the sport in Oz and Nth America.
In OZ,Ironman Australia is “hard” Ironman Cairns is "moderate’ and Ironman West Oz is “easy” . Take your pick.
European race: The bike course for the race above (IM 70.3 Alcudia - Mallorca) with 3000+ finishers has a total of 850 meter/2800ft vertical climb. Almost all of it in one hill. Not sure if that is considered hard or not. The run is pan flat.
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That makes sense. They have a course ratings available so they should consider utilizing it for something like that.
The Lake Placid negotiations helped provide a fair amount of info on this – the bill is into the six figures, annually. This may or may not be part of the package that a host community puts together in partnership with IM.
I think in the case of St. George, it’s a combination of:
1.) growing pains as the fastest growing metro area in the United States (as of 2022);
2.) fatigue from putting on as many events there over the last five years as they have;
3.) escalating costs for resources (speaking as an RD, things have roughly doubled since pre-COVID);
Although yes, it’s losing another challenging course, we’ve seen people turn out in droves for St. George, too. And Lake Placid is about to sell out for consecutive years again. So it’s really more about challenging courses + location people want to go to + timing of year (see: Alaska, or Tahoe) + resources in area to support an event.
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Weird I never heard about it. I lived in Henderson at that time, so very surprised I would be in such close proximity and not know anything about it.
Kind of a shame though. I can see how that would be a really good route. Might be neat if they brought it back.
I dare say Mallorca is considered challenging (not hardcore but challenging). It’s a good example of a race that has survived the race to the “flat and fast” bottom (no pun intended), but we’re talking about the #1 cycling destination in Europe, if not the whole world.
(That’s also why I laugh when the PTO talk about “iconic locations” like London or Singapore…)
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Ironman Oman 70.3 has a similar amount of climbing with one particular brutal ‘wall’ accounting for half of it. Not to mention it’s on the warmer side by the time you hit the run (high 20’s and exposed).
That just sold out this morning after they opened some additional slots (not sure on the numbers in total).
Silverman triathlon I believe had one of the biggest purses ever for a relay team if it could set a world record some what 10+ years ago. It had some very very high profile athletes attempting it. I can’t remember the swimmer but it was a stud, they had Tyler Hamilton (yes that Tyler Hamilton of TdF fame and “drug cheat”) and then an stud African runner. I believe they were on pace to break the record through the bike. The runner had a “poor” race, and they asked him why:
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He had never run in an run event that late in the afternoon before, so the heat was affecting him. (Makes sense marathons are run at 8am in the morning, not noon time)
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He had never “raced alone”. If you think about it, every marathon there are 20 guys all together until the final miles, they all pace off each other, so to pace yourself from mile 1, was a new experience.
It was a really great event almost the “anti IM” type of feel…funny enough the tri shop that I used to manage actually set the record low key before it became a big thing and the final year when the race put a big purse up.
The old Silverman race moved from Lake Mead to Lake Las Vegas after some really rough, windy weather made the Lake Mead swim pretty dangerous. Bike course was mostly out and back in the park around the north side of Lake Mead. It was a fantastically grueling bike course with virtually no flats. Run was multi-laps in Henderson. As others have said, the IM audience seems focused on the easiest possible courses for IMs with a bit of a niche market for the X-Tris ala NorseMan. Doesn’t seem to be a place any more for non-extreme hard races like Silverman?
Several references here to IM Inc fees but no numbers. If the county tourism org had to pay isn’t that public info. Can somebody share IM fees for holding a race in a few different locations?
I took a lot of pics at the Silverman Relay. Here are a few.
The Swedish Team
Women’s Winner
The Infamous Tyler Hamilton Talking With Frank the RD
I’ve have more if anyone is interested.
Oh I see some familiar faces and kits in this video! Go First Wave Tri club and Cheryl Miller, Stepahnie Holbrook, and Remon Hicks!
… on that last pic of the swim finish… Looks like a ton of athletes coming out of the water, all finishing within seconds of each other? 
And looks like there’s Dave Scott looking on. Hopefully he’s doing well these days. I remember he was going to have a major heart surgical procedure done.
I’ve seen some city contracts in the 150k range. I seem to remember a local StG news article of the World’s bid being around 200-250k.
For what it’s worth, I did write a nice letter to some of the county commissioners in Washington County. I got back a letter from the tourism department that essentially said while this decision is final they are hoping for future events.
I mentioned that to someone else in the know and they said they heard the city was putting in a bid for the next World Championship rotation.
So…who knows. Maybe they are cancelling the race to make the possibility of a big WC event more exciting.
Kyle Glass mentioned in an interview he was doing with TTL from Taupo that an alternate town in UT was interested in picking up the race.