I had the delight of sitting at a running club drinks last night with the “ironman” sitting there in his Bolton t-shirt and spending the whole time going on about it. Like I said, I have more admiration for Bolton finishers but last night was tedious. He’s in the one and done crowd too 
I really should be less of a cynic.
You win a prize!
,bet it was along night
don’t ever lose that invaluable trait…
‘Isn’t Bolton only a half? When are you doing a full then?’
just a thought maybe lakesman could have re think about not having a full distance event ???
They already did that
Just didn’t tell anyone 
Would have thought Outlaw will be popular next year
that is a fair point. especially as they run the half on the same day. might have to make some concessions cf previous events, e.g. same colour rucksacks for both events, etc?
You mean IMEMA
There is still Ironman Cork that is full distance, although some parts of mainland Europe are easier to get to and a lot more appealing coursewise.
The Bolton 70.3 really is doomed I think.
Quite clearly they pulled the full as the entries (c1300 entered, c1100 turned up) were not enough to sustain the race.
A 70.3 has lower entry fees, but most of the same fixed costs and effort although the race is half as long. There are some savings but not a huge amount.
You’d imagine something like 1900 signing up needed to match the revenue of a full, so they need to get well North of 2000 for it to be a keeper.
Can’t see that at all even with the ‘No staffs’ factor. It’ll go into direct competition with Swansea which has been really popular so far. Staffs being early season got a lot of ‘warming up for a summer IM’ entries.
Unless they’ve got a watertight agreement with the council or someone that has an expensive exit clause I think next year will be the last.
Just don’t see that being a destination 70.3, I’d rather do the lakesman
I think it’ll be clinging onto being a warmup to Cork/Tenby. The tri scene in the NW is big though, Bolton must have brought that about.
But yeah, I can’t say I’d be interested in travelling for it and I think you’re right it’ll disappear in a couple of years.
Hopefully something else will fill the void. iM probably need to go down the route of a quick course that won’t scare newcomers off, like we’ve said before Tenby is already an established tough course with a well known rep. The recent bike courses have probably scared people away from Bolton.
It needs to pair with a full. Swansea is an obvious pre-Tenby race, Staffs worked as a pre-Bolton race. Bolton in early July? What are you preparing for?
That makes it an A-race, which to me would be too early season for many, and not destination enough for others.
Very unlikely in the UK though, our road surfaces will always slow times compared to mainland European races, especially Germany or Austria.
I also think an interesting point is that iM obviously have had this planned for some time, the announcement was too quick. I mean they emailed canning the full before they emailed this years results!
Why didn’t they push the last year of a full Bolton angle? Despite whatever agreement they have in place I reckon they must be done with the area. The bike course seems to have changed every year from 2017, aside from the 2018 fires that can only be down to the various local councils not wanting it on their patch.
Yea good point but ‘relatively quick’
Let’s say don’t drum up a bike course with over 3000m / 10,000ft of climbing. That would be a start
Is he getting a tattoo?