It also would look better on the coverage. So optics of the more casual or non fan who may see the race online or TV.
Did they reduce queen k closure time when they changed the run course to be on the makai side? vs when it had historically been on the mauka side. I believe that happened in 2022. So I would think that would help things as you wouldn’t have both sides closed down.
I actually had to take someone to airport the night of the race after I finished in 2019. It was pretty easy but I had to take a few back roads east of the queen k until past the energy lab. And I was staying off Kuakini south of the race.
Boredom whilst on the internet when we should all be doing our actual job?
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Trying to solve two things, with a looped run course.
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Can we make the experience better , yes you can. You should always be evolving to make it better.
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Can Ironman make an easier to manage course and give more support in that set up, take less flack from the few locals that have to complain about everything yet produce no solutions, yes they can.
Is it race threatening, no of course not.
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Better:
- Frequency of aid stations
- Inter-athlete interaction (support and distance behind/ahead)
- Spectator access, viewing and experience
- Safer (faster medical access/response time)
- (Reduced) road closure times
- For volunteers
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All great stuff, but probably 15% of the problem. Having 5000+ athletes on the island at the same time= way more pre race traffic the weeks leading up, not enough rooms and cars for all the folks coming over, and when you do get them, often 3X more than the normal high prices already.
Dont get me wrong, I love the two day back to back race there, but how do you mitigate those other things that are basically hardwired into this scenario??
I am amazed at the lack of building happening in Kona. Dilapidated buildings everywhere. Some totally empty. It’s kind of funny when you think about it, but we often talk about communities out growing the race and no longer finding it justiable to close roads for such a small group. Meanwhile, the race has outgrown Kona.
Combined with homelessness, drug use, angry locals and astronomical price gouging… Gee yeah give me Kona over Nice any day…
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No mitigation required.
My points were plusses for a looped course, without any expectation that there would be two days of racing.
The looped course has merit of itself, rather than the lonely unsupported and unwatched miles out of town seeing noone but those you pass and those passing.
Bumping this thread to add another idea:
Start the women ahead of the men, by the average time difference of the winners’ times over the past 5 years. First to the line wins the whole thing.
This will give the women more visibility, as they will be ahead of the men for almost all of the race (and half the time, the whole race). It will also prevent BOP men from interfering with the front of the women’s race.
Plus, it will give a bit more added drama - can Lovseth hold off a charging Stornes?
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But it would cause 95-100% of the women to be in the mix with much faster male pro’s.
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Edit: The pass doesn’t happen on the bike. The last FPro was 2hrs behind Solveig last weekend. And if the gap is properly calibrated, it means that the first MPro will pass the last FPro at the earliest, 30 mins into the run.
I can see this in a T100 race. In Kona we have to think about AG athletes. If pro women start at 6:30 and the pro men start at 7:00 ish you won’t get everyone in the water until about 8ish. Conceptually what you are saying sounds like a fun idea. I just think maybe try that in the T100 or a 70.3 regional race like say Oceanside.
The last waves are still getting in at 8am now anyways , which is ridiculous
Not sure how they gunna do it next year with the so called 3000 in the race , which is about 1500 to many
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I’ve thought about it.
The best thing for Ironman is to leave Kona and move to Nice permanently.
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Thanks for the time capsule!
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Damn—that was fun to watch, thanks for sharing. I had no idea PNF got knocked down by a volunteer. Crazy!
Dear ptn , topic to discuss.
we have not had a repeat world Ironman winner since 2018 . Men and women 2019 .
Is the sport now so difficult at the front first timers can dig deeper not understand the impact to the body and mental strain.
E.g of first time worlds champs wins
Sedaro, Kristen, Gustav, stones . Lovseth .
Also can add max, Magnus, laidlow, Leon, etc as have gone backwards bit after the effort.
Vs there next performance at worlds etc.
So It’s the front so hard now it takes more than one year to recover from the race requirements.
Therefore is it unhealthy now to be a world champion and unsustainable.
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Part of it is just reversion to the mean. Lovseth likely won’t win next year because the big 4 arguably all underperformed, while she overperformed. I have no doubt that she won’t win another in her career, but the odds of it happening next year are low (though admittedly higher than this year).
I think we can see how Sodaro overperformed in 2022, and Gustav has had a slate of bad luck.
The other half of it is just weight of expectations. If you win, you get a lot of attention (especially race week), and have many more sponsor obligations. All this takes away from training/recovery.
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Toth’s ‘hot take’ ‘winners don’t successfully defend in this decade’ suggestion is an excellent one for a decent discussion.
If next year’s WPro IMWC plays out to T2 roughly the same but Matthews/Philipp at 10 minutes, will Charles-Barclay send it again on the run or will she run for a 2:56 from the start? Will Matthews expect to run 8 minutes into Loevseth again? She has to be confident that she’ll see Philipp off 4 times out of 5 in Kona so her focus can be sideways (Loevseth) and forwards to the leaders. Will we see Knibb complete an IM competitively (cf Texas and last weekend)? Will Charles-Barclay ever expose herself to competition over the full distance except in Kona? Roth in the 2020s?