There are some events, like IM Hamburg, were there are 55 normal slots (Man and women) + 100 slots just for women. The idea is that there will be equal number of men and women next year. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that these special races could have massive roll down for women.
To be honest I don’t quite understand the logic. Today, most events, the women get one or 2 slots per AG, as a result a lot of really good female athletes do not qualify, this will not change. But you now get these special events where it will be almost too easy to qualify. I think that a better solution would be to have at each event 50% slots for women and 50% for men. This would seem to be a fairer method
COVID uncertainty meant all Kona Q slots were rolling ridiculous amounts in 2021. At one point IM announced there would be no refund or deferral, took a brave person to take a slot at that time.
I would think the current plan will impact all the races for women. People that are competing to get a Kona slot will surely go to one of the events with extra slots. The remaining events will possibly have shallower fields and people less inclined to take the slots, meaning they could roll to people previously out of the reckoning too.
They need to put all the fast boys on Thursday and reduce the time cut to 12 hours. That would get the roads open quicker!
I assume IM have no intention of alternating which race is on Sat and which on Thurs. But if they are serious about promoting women’s participation then they should.
What about going for two consecutive Saturdays? It sounds like week days are not popular with the locals and Sunday races are a big no-no with the church groups.
It would be likely be better for the island in terms of less disruption to business and life, and you say accommodation. But it would be more expensive for media and Ironman jsut being out there longer.
I think the church thing in the US is a combination of no one wanting to agree road closures that would stop people getting to church on a Sunday and also the organisers are reliant on church groups to marshal and man the aid stations.
2 consecutive days on TO duties is not unusual - we’re used to it. However with the preparation work we have to do for major events, this usually stretches to 3 days or 4 if you have a chief role which means even more prep.
Multisports champs which cover duathlon, aquathlon, X-tri and long distance will stretch over 10 days or so if you sign up for the lot. Physically and mentally demanding!
I was thinking specifically full Ironman on 2 consecutive days where the finish is midnight and the start is 6am. And obviously the officials are on-site well before and after these start/finish times, it would need 2 teams else people would be up 48hrs straight.
I would guess 2 consecutive weekends would also need 2 teams, as not many of the volunteers could afford to stick around all week.
