Is that the entry fee now?
I’d want a decent second hand bike and a pair of those daft carbon trainers thrown in for that price ?!?
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Well they were giving away Hoka trainers at Frankfurt for registering
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I’ve had four pairs of hokas and gave them all away …!
They rub me on one place on my right / toe foot.
Two pairs were unused ! No matter what I did I couldn’t stop it ?!
Nike ones would be good ?
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I had exactly the same problem. Glad it’s not just me. Otherwise really comfy just couldn’t get further than 5/10km in them.
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I’ve had probably more than 30 pairs of Hoka over the years. None of them work for me with the standard insole but they all work fine (from a blister POV) with a 3rd party insole. I have Superfeet, soft and carbon, Enertor and Inov8 Boomerang. I just swap them around a bit.
Don’t like the very thin/flat laces on the SG5, so swapped them out for the laces on some old SG4s. Much better.
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I tried taking insoles out of trainers ( I have 25? Ish pairs) ) that I know don’t give me blisters and putting them in the hokas ?!
Still rubbed in exactly the same place ?!
Only the right foot, I even tried Sandi g down the bit I thought we catching ?
Still the same.
I have two friends, who really are good friends, I’m hardly loaded but these two have gone through very expensive divorces and break ups 2-3 kids each so I gave them away, I got them fir virtually nothing so hey ho!
Any other trainer is fine
Nike
NB
K Swiss
ASICS
Anything … no blisters … weird
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It’s usually the high arch seam that causes it for most people. That’s why I like the ones I use as they are all built a built higher than a srd insold and cover that seam. The Inov8 Boomerang is slightly lower but still ok. You only get that insole with a couple of Inov8 models, so I but the insoles separately from Pete Bland.
There are definitely some Hoka models that I don’t get on with though, especially the Arahi. Their best model for me was the SG3, nothing has even come close to that, before or since. Should have bought 10 pairs of those!
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800+ finishers is not got for the business side of things.
it’s interesting it took a lot longer for most steelman branded races to fill in 2023 plus slots in half & full WC rolling down to almost anyone that wanted one,
yet Roth filled up again in less than 60 seconds again.
“just saying” 
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Got to disagree Fruity. Ever since 2019 I read this thread with nothing but good memories of the race.
The 65 slots for 80 women is a bit of a joke, and reflects a lot wrong with IM brand at the moment, that has been thoroughly discussed
Did someone mention the idea of longer cutoff times for women recently, maybe @anna or @awildt ? I wouldn’t be against IMUK having a 17.5-18 hour cut off (for all or just for women) if could be managed with the road closures/volunteers etc. Might help participant numbers not be so put off by how hard the race is?
In admiration of all on here who raced, once again it’s a year I’ve loved racing, proper kudos to you all.
Final thought is IMUK must be a good hour slower than an average (not a particularly fast) course, based on Tom winning with 9:40 and 5:30 bike. Still don’t think there’s any chance I’d be close to him, can’t have been many under 6 on the bike?
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While I agree everyone who does it says it is a great, tough, brutal event, with great support and atmosphere, I can’t help thinking it has a bit of an image problem.
Tenby is known as a tough course, even my non tri friends know it through reputation, people do it because it is tough. By all accounts Bolton is as tough, or tougher, yet I get the impression only those who have done it really appreciate how tough it is. IMJ athletes want to complete an IM, they don’t necessarily want the challenge of an extra tough course, their mate at work isn’t going to be extra impressed that he did a tough IM, unless he does Tenby, coz everyone knows that’s a tough one.
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Oh I agree. Fee people I know from my social run club in Preston had done it once or twice before 2018, and were entered for 2019 and put off by the elevation and haven’t gone back since because of it.
And yes Wales has the reputation for challenge, not Bolton, even known for it here in Aus.
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It was raised on the ultra thread for Comrades - Camille Herron challenging it. I’m still undecided if it’s a good idea or not. I love women only starts for triathlons, it has saved me being elbowed in the jaw many times, but I’m not sure about different cut-offs. Especially in ultra distance events (which Ironman essentially is) as women are proving stronger and stronger all the time.
I’ll have more admiration for someone who has done Bolton over Barcelona but I don’t know how you improve the gender balance. I wouldn’t be surprised if race organisers are just finding that the council is asking for more and more money but getting nothing more in return - the roads are crap, the town centres aren’t tidied up, there isn’t much promotion of the event outside tri circles. Why would you continue to pay for the location and get nothing in return.
I think the iron-distance trend has peaked. Ultra running and long distance cycling (particularly gravel) is taking over. Entry fees are getting too high, equipment costs are soaring and people have realised what a time-suck training for 3 events really is. Now that gravel is being made “cool” and the bikes are quite cheap in comparison to a TT/tri setup all the trend followers will head there.
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I have to admit, given the time of year for Tenby, the course, the weather, it’s hard to imagine one tougher. (extreme heat is a different challenge). I think also that people expect Wales to be hard because it’s just hilly everywhere, and my imagination does not conjure up epic climbs and steepness when I think of Bolton.
That’s not to say Bolton isn’t harder, I very much defer to those that have done both. However, without doing Bolton, I can’t correlate it and I suspect that’s where others are going wrong also. It sounds pretty mental.
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You all know there’s a really simple explanation going on here don’t you.
Wales > everywhere else.
#sciencefact
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You can at least double that with travel, food and accommodation no doubt.
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and in all honesty - and removing any national bias 
- where would you rather race - Bolton or Tenby??
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What you said.
Tbh I’m not paying top-dollar to ride around crumbling roads for 112 miles; which is why I always went abroad for IM Branded events. Scotland is the ultimate destination for a British Ironman; but it’s not happening clearly… due to logistics I’d have thought.
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The gravel trend has now beaten them to it. Ultimate gravel power couple (tiff Cromwell and Valterri bottas) turning up this year, has achieved the holy grail in the first edition. Coinciding with amazing weather and the new trend has bedded in instantly.
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Where do I sign up? 
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Just wait until Ironman Yorkshire starts
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