Looks like they will be desperately trying to make numbers up for Kona 2020. I guess they are assuming August events will go ahead. A brave assumption at this stage. And I guess they’ll have a minimum break-even number that they’ll have to allocate to make Kona 2020 worth it, assuming it goes ahead…
I’d be surprised if they can get affordable event insurance by Oct… like most things in the US, there will be a theoretical position based on government policy, and a realistic one based on capitalism… My guess is that they may well find that international travel back into Hawaii is allowed, but the sheer unaffordability of insurance, and the additional financial burdens of the necessary sanitation demanded by local communities, etc, will make the event unviable.
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Interview with Messick saying decision on Kona (and Taupo) by end May. Strong hints of Feb for Kona.
With approx 1,000 - 1,200 AG spots still up for grabs - basically an entire Northern hemisphere summer season’s worth I reckon it would be fill your boots time if any Autumn IM’s go ahead. Hard to see more than 8-10 races; you could end up with IM Florida having 40 Oct 21 Kona slots and 100 Feb 21.
Only one thing in this crazy world is certain, and that is if they can run a Feb 21 Kona they will find a way to fill it!
I saw that the other day, people were concerned about it being high season in Hawaii as well so even less accommodation etc.
Would a February Kona even be certain to go ahead I wonder?
Nobody knows!
Feb 21 KQ for Europeans, unless you’re able AND permitted to travel, will be very hard. It’s not like we can have loads of Ironman events in the Autumn/Winter.
Yeah - not much of the northern hemisphere has had qualifying events and may not have them in 2020. If Kona goes ahead in February 2021 it may well be “fill your boots” with unprecedented slot numbers for any qualifying races that do go ahead. If Kona 2021 doesn’t go ahead after they announce that it will, that’ll be another story altogether…
And this is on the assumption that the delayed races and the likes of Wales actually go ahead, although it’s had it’s qualifying cycle for what would be Kona 20.
I can see Wales (and any other late Autumn race if they manage to get the go ahead) having 40 Oct 21 slots and 100 Feb 21…
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Bike/run “ironman” races in winter for qualification slots?
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Let’s hope not.
Could you imagine the uproar from the one and done crowd?
No swimming though?
Time trial format.
Perfect for social distancing.
Or would they actually manage to work out a fair uncheatable online system? If it happens in February I’d say they’ll do what they can to get the numbers. The Edinburgh half Ironman ran for two years. Good numbers in year 1. Big fall off in year two (2018) despite allocating 2 sets of slots - one set for South Africa worlds a couple of months later and one set for Nice worlds 14 months later… think South Africa still had space…
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Would suit me perfectly, but wouldn’t feel right
Reminds me of the IM Malaysia bunfight, where anyone that finished got a Kona spot.
Hmm I guess they are in a bit of a pickle. Kona October 20 about half full, water it down and try to fill a race in Feb 21. What if that doesn’t go ahead ? Push them back to Oct 21you then get a reduced capacity of qualifiers for October 21 because of the Feb racers that have been carried over.
Seems that they gotta get a race on for those legitimately qualified already to be able to offer a complete qualifying cycle with a reasonable level of slot allocation for Oct 21.
Can they push everyone to Oct 21 and get 3000 bikes on the pier? If they could expand the Kona numbers they would have done that already.
Don’t think they can get any more bikes on the pier than about 2400. Thinking about it, if they reschedule to Feb and then have to cancel, that’ll be very bad. Maybe they would indeed go ahead with 1200 in Feb because then they could maintain social distancing much easier at the start, in transition, everywhere…
I can’t afford to go to Kona anyway, so that’s an easy decision! How much are we looking at for solo, couple and family? Can it really be done for less than £3k even solo? Entry alone is about $1k. Limited supply of flight & accommodation options could make it more expensive than usual?!
Potentially a great chance if personal circumstances allow @stenard?
No.
Not for the October race of qualifying at Bolton.
The lateness of it makes travel and accommodation far more expensive.
If you’re going solo, then there’s the lovely “single persons supplement,” unless a tri mate is also going solo.
But…for those of us with partners/families, could you go to Kona solo and deal with it?
I’d got a rough cost at £4.5k solo, or £6k for a couple.
If you could share, then it’s £3k - but that’s splitting hire car costs, fuel, shared accom etc etc.
Hard to imagine a family getting away with less than £7-8k. Flights will be very expensive as there will be less choice. Everything will be more expensive, especially on an island.
The usual mantra about the pier was 1500 but then that also used to be ‘upper limit’ for most IMs under NAS. When WTC bought t, that went out the window and suddenly 2000-2400 was the new normal (read $$$).