Yeah I’d agree.
Wales, Staffs, Swansea and Weymouth all sold out - I don’t think Bolton did
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There is an overall decline in events; especially longer ones. At one point there were more than a dozen ‘independent’ Iron Dist events on the calendar; how many are there now? I think early-mid 2010s was the peak. Same in Europe I reckon. Lots of Challenge events have disappeared now.
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It’s interesting, is that down to low numbers or increase in running costs driving up entry fees?
A sprint round Dorney or even my local out of Hampton pool will set you back £60-70
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Just a natural peak in participation I think; lots of ‘one & done’ as far as Ironman goes. Plus people get bored of all the training required to do well, and the inevitable costs as you say.
These days I have no issue getting up at at 5.30-6am to go for a nice paddle. Less motivated to get up and ride 100 miles on my own, on a TT bike!
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Sounds like a prostate issue? 
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I’ve said this before. It’s different when you’re a 6ft bloke with a bloody loud northern accent. People probably think you’re tougher than you are 
It’s very different for a woman for example. My wife loves getting out on her bike but she hates it at the same time. Was saying the other day how she’s sick to death of having to plot routes on the mankiest, quietest back lanes to try to get some space and enjoy a ride without being whistled at or intimidated by some twatty gammon or old person with a max visual coverage of 3m in front of their nose.
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I’ve just got back from cycling in the French Alpes. We rode on some awesome roads. Some had velvet-smooth tarmac, some were a bit rougher.
One thing I did notice was that we got a lot of aggro from impatient motorists. We had loads of close passes and plenty of dangerous overtaking moves where the overtaking car nearly forced the oncoming car off the road or cut sharply into the group.
The motorised traffic didn’t seem to be any more friendly to cyclists than it is in Surrey.
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Bluurrddy frogs
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My wife has always complained of the same thing. How much of a wanker do you have to be to either intimidate or sexually harass a woman who’s out running or cycling? Let’s add that to the very, very few things that boils my piss.
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Had this in Majorca, too.
Nearly all of the cars had massive rental stickers on the back of them.
Roads weren’t great over there.
We went into darkest Derbyshire/Staffordshire on Sunday, some roads have grass growing through the middle of them, but the bits either side of that were super smooth
@gingerbongo - Fair point that. As a 6ft 2in fairly large loud bloke, I don’t think of that at all
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Maybe not the place for this, but totally agree. My wife and I are raising 3 lads and want them to be decent sorts. When she’s telling me the routine crap she and other women put up with day to day, while trying to go for a walk, run or bike the mind boggles. Truly, the country is full of entitled male dickwads. No wonder female participation in these things is so much lower than for men. What to do?
Personally I think public pillory with rotten fruit and veg went out of fashion much too early…
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Our club has been really struggling this year, probably the same reasons as mentioned above and why a lot of races are struggling.
Been going nearly 40 years as well, problem is another club started locally and a few people went there.
I do think the bubble is bursting in the UK, seems to be a bit of momentum towards ultra’s but not significant.
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I can’t say I’ve noticed much difference in road cycling participation for fitness and sport, but there’s been a huge increase in cycling in London as a means of getting around. I think a lot of that has been driven by covid and people not wanting to get onto packed commuter public transport.
There’s also been a huge increase in the use of bikes for deliveries, both food and groceries and small cargo loads. I think the rise of the e-bike has helped that along.
For the leisure cyclists, gravel seems to be a huge growth area too.
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Just a bit. Walk into a local business in Forster or Port with an IM shirt and see how that goes🤣
must admit the discovery of zwift & a nice new smart trainer over lockdown has reduced my outdoor cycling ,i still try and get out for the longer rides but more and more rides from 1hr to 3 hr are now done indoors !
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A two-day running of the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona in 2023 is not set in stone, Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth said Friday.
A review of the 2022 event will take place in the coming months to determine whether holding a two-day race in 2023 is “feasible,” Roth said. The mayor’s comments came in the wake of hours-long traffic back ups amid Thursday’s race as well as other issues in the days leading up to the largest running ever of the world championship.
We told (Ironman) that we would evaluate, so we are evaluating that situation,” Roth said when asked if the decision to hold the race over two days was finalized for 2023, despite Ironman already moving forward with awarding slots for the triathlon.
The mayor noted that while some changes implemented to traffic patterns appeared to help Thursday, others did not work so well. Roth was among the hundreds of vehicles stuck for over an hour trying to exit the downtown area Thursday evening. Traffic on Saturday was a bit better.
“We are re-evaluating whether we do (the race) either two times, or whether we do it on a weekday at all because we realize there were a lot of issues that came up because it was on a weekday, or whether we just do it one day. But we’re trying to get through this week,” he said. “We are going to be discussing a lot of it and we have been discussing a lot of it with the people at Ironman. I think they understand as well that there was some things that happened that didn’t go as planned.”
Though Roth said a two-day running hasn’t been finalized, Ironman officials said Sunday that the Florida-based company is already planning — and awarding slots — for races on Thursday, Oct. 12, and Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. Based on qualifying races to date, 540 slots have been awarded for the 2023 race days.
“We announced the two-day format for 2023 with the support of the County in July of this year and have athletes who have already qualified since the 2023 cycle began in August,” Ironman said in a statement to West Hawaii Today. “For over 40 years, we have worked with the community to create an event that redefines what is possible, unites all through sport, is synonymous with monumental achievement – and does so while providing significant benefit to the Island of Hawaii while minimizing the level of disruption to the lives of people within the community.”
Ironman said there is a lot to learn from hosting the first two-day event, adding the company is “always looking at ways to improve upon previous editions.”
“We are committed to working with the community to improve the event experience for all and have already begun to implement changes for 2023. We look forward to the continued work in the coming months with the Mayor and County of Hawaii, town of Kailua-Kona, and all other constituents to minimize the impact of the event as we meet the needs of the community,” the statement read.
Ironman also pointed to a July 28 press release announcing two-day races in 2022 and 2023. That press release, according to Ironman, included a quote provided by Roth and was “reviewed and approved” by the county before distribution.
In the prepared release, Roth praised the county-Ironman relationship, adding “with the 2022 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship occurring over two days in October, the County of Hawaii is excited to once again host these champions in Kailua-Kona and Kohala, and looks forward to another epic VinFast IRONMAN World Championship in 2023. The partnership with IRONMAN has stood the test of time and we are grateful and humbled that the culture here has fed into the culture of IRONMAN, reflecting the aloha spirit and the theme of Holomua — to move forward — for the 2023 IRONMAN season.”
The 2022 Ironman World Championship marked the first time in the triathlon’s over four-decade history that the event was held over two days. The decision to race on Thursday and Saturday was made to accommodate some 5,256 athletes who’d qualified since 2019 for the prestigious event that was postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roth on Friday admitted that “discussions,” but not community meetings, were held prior to the county committing to the two-day race. When pressed on whom outside the county and Ironman was involved in the discussions, Roth said “some people in Kona helped make the decision. There was some community members.”
“I’ll take the responsibility. I think we probably should have had more community discussion than we did — the things you look back on hindsight is always 20/20. A lot of decisions were made coming out of COVID with some of the difficult positions we were seeing — some of the struggles our community members were having at that time,” Roth said later noting this year’s race was expected to bring contribute over $100 million to the economy.
The mayor committed to more community involvement going forward, noting he’s heard the community’s sentiment “loud and clear.”
“If we have a two-day race — it is definitely being reassessed — if we go forward with a two-day race there will be much more community input,” he said.
Ironman has been held on the Saturday closest to the full moon in October since it moved to Kona in 1981, three years after the first race was held in Waikiki. Ironman’s move to the less-populous West Hawaii was in part due to fewer traffic hazards on the course, which also presented more of a challenge to triathletes.
Since the move, both the number of people residing in West Hawaii and number of athletes taking on the Ironman World Championship has grown exponentially.
Since 1980, the population of the three districts that the course directly impacts has grown 222% from 21,604 to over 69,600 as of the 2020 U.S. Census. The majority of that growth was in North Kona, home to Kailua-Kona — the start and finish line of the Ironman World Championship.
Meanwhile, the number of Ironman competitors in the world championship also grew — but far faster. Between 1981 and the event’s 40th anniversary in 2018, the number of registered racers increased 525% from 400 to 2,500, respectively. This year, there were 5,256 athletes and supporters — a 1,214% increase from 1981.
According to the Ironman website, there are 17 qualifying events for the 2023 world championship with 2,600 slots available to male and female athletes and an additional 1,200 slots slated for qualified females. That equates to about 3,800 athletes.
That’s 27% fewer athletes than participated this year, but still 46% higher than its last pre-pandemic world championship race in 2019.
Roth. It’s a not very subliminal message.
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My initial instinct to this is that Hawaii will only offer one day
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What’s the scoop there then; sounds like positive discrimination?
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Sounds like he’s making a Maurten Move back to a one day event
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