I would be sad to see the Ironman World Champs move from Kona. To me it is a fixed point of reference and part of the fabric of our sport. Yes it is difficult to get to: geographically, financially, competitively. But “difficult” is baked into this strange hobby & probably adds to the appeal, if anything.
What I would like to see is another layer of events where entry is by qualification. Perhaps continental championships. So for example:
Ironman Europe might be in Germany. But to get to the start line, you would first have to qualify at another European event such as Wales or France.
Kona slots would only be awarded at these continental championships, and would be valid for up to 2 years, meaning an athlete could spread their training, costs and travel over 2 seasons
So Kona would remain the pinnacle of long distance tri. But for those of us who are unlikely to ever make it there, there would be a more achievable local goal to aim for first.
similar to my original view but I do agree really about Kona being and staying the pinnacle now. IM Frankfurt will not have the same impact as a world champs! MY QF for the continental champs would be more you must have set certain time at another event in a 2 year period that does not have Kona slots. Anyone who KQ’d gets a pass to the following years continental champs and the rest is on a % time of winner of their tier 3 event. Simple fact is it will never happen because $$$$$$ but with a sportive type IM event and 3 tiers of racing I feel everyone is catered for.
Good ideas. You could make the ‘regional championship’ races a bit more special and different by (I know they wouldn’t do this) restricting numbers to say 1500 and given that all racing would have Q’d at a lower tier IM, and a smaller field it would be safe to have the old mass starts again.
That sort of thing would stimulate interest and kudos and make being on the start line for these more special.
Although it all seems almost too different, things change rapidly in this sport. Look how the 70.3 Worlds have changed from being 2bob draftfest in Clearwater that no one gave much attention to what it is now.
I see owning Ironman as a bit like owning a football club. Lots of people feel an ownership of the brand and have very passionate ideas about how it should be run, but these are usually at odds with the commercial realities and goals of the owner, who just wants to make money out of it
Did some calculations on the back of a fag packet, in order to get any sort of return Wanda need entry fees to be a average around $500 with more than 100 annual events, each with 2500 people
I’m intrigued to know your assumptions?!
What have you assumed for running costs (both race and central), impacts/financials of world champs, sponsorships with Roka/Ventum/Hoka, merchandise, expo fees, etc?
From my perspective, maybe we’re caring too much about what happens to Ironman. It’s actually not even the genesis of the sport, it’s just the best known part of it. Even if WTC more than halved the number of events, it wouldn’t be the end of the sport. All that would happen is that participation would drop; the ‘lifestyle’ athletes would remain and the bucket listers would fade away.
When I started doing M-dot races in 2004 the WTC was primarily a licencing business outside the USA. The overseas races were all run by independent race organisers who basically bought their Kona slots and the right to use the M-dot branding. That sounds like a licence to print money to me, with the risk of actually running the races passed on to other people.
Over time they bought up most of the independently-owned races as their licences came to an end. I guess that gives them more control of the quality of the events, but it also puts a lot more financial exposure onto them.
A few KQ people responding, overwhelmingly in favor of keeping Kona as single WC race. As far as I can see, it is just an emotional argument to maintain Kona as the only world championship venue, all other rational arguments would be to have a rotating championship
Just had a pop on another thread as well about crap swimmers causing the cancellations of the swim