IM WC back to Kona only from 2026

Yep - I’m going. Still struggling to walk after the marathon at the weekend but looking forward to getting back on the bike and building towards Nice.
Like @Matthew_Spooner I’m also glad that I’m getting to do Nice - that’s a course that I can really look forward to doing.
Makes sense to me and feels inevitable that the race is returning to Kona full time n the future but unless I win the lottery it’s hard for me to imagine being able to consider going back there.

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Nice felt like a more achievable carrot to drive training , plus you don’t have to try to keep your eyes open as an audience.

Not sure about single day racing as audience but. At least the 70.3 WC is Nice

Ill try to get a Nice WC cap and do IM Nice pretending :saluting_face:

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Going on previous years Nice 70.3 2026 is likely to be around second weekend in September so probably a bit naff for Adam.

Got to say I’m tempted to see if I can get a slot but would need to be lucky again as there’ll be less in M55.

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I directly KQd for 1st time at Tenby last yr. MV55-59 4th.
I didn’t even need any roll down. Get Me!
The fact the blokes were at Nice was the ONLY reason I took up my slot.
No chuffin way was I going to spaff that amount of ca$h for Kona in Oct.

  1. I usually get an autumn cold then anyway!
  2. Would pick up a bug on the long flight maybe
  3. Just crazy money in total for one race

Whereas Nice is

  1. a hilly bike course I always wanted to do, and a great all round classic location
  2. Much easier/cheaper to get to
  3. Mid Sept so chances are I’m more healthy

So as usual :roll_eyes: I’m going against the grain, and DON’T think going back to Kona only is a good idea.
I would have turned down my KQ, but same kudos to me, without the expense of actually going, an intelligence test :sweat_smile:

Tho I would have relished the challenge of the heat in Kona, as I cope with that OK, and relatively much better than others.

(and whether its good or bad that all the lads n lasses are competing together on one day is another topic??)

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Back when I was about 30 I really wanted to do Kona & kind of thought one day it might happen, if I could just get good enough to qualify. But that ship has sailed, it’s a massive investment of time and energy and travel and money- for what exactly? A race like Lanza or Roth or Nice makes more sense for us in Europe I think- unless there’s some particular Hawaiian itch that needs scratching. For one thing the idea of 20 hours on a plane just fills me with horror.

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Brave man to say that, but it’s exactly how I feel about both Kona & Lanzarote.

There, I’ve said it :joy:.

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I’m with TC and actually thought rotating it was a better idea, but I get the history of Kona and why people will pay a lot to go. Talking to a lad in the pool tonight who was third in his A\G at Frankfurt and turned down Nice (again).

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:scream:

Izzit true you need to have a Doctors Certificate for races in France?

If you’re a member of triathlon England or whatever it’s called you’re alright, if not then yes, but you can pretty much buy them online if your GP won’t do it.

I think I used sportsmedicalcertificstes.com for UTMB a few years ago.

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UTMB don’t require a certificate any more from a doctor- just have a to watch a medical video and then use the code at the end of the video on the website to confirm you have done it - a lot less faff than the whole Doctors note thing

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Fixed :wink:

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You can get away without a medical certificate for L’Etape du Tour now as well by creating an account on licence.ffc.fr and completing a “Module Santé” certificate

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