New Start Times for Kona and 70.3 Worlds
Ironman has altered the swim start times for its two world championship events.
For the 2015 IRONMAN® World Championship presented by GoPro, male pros go at 6:25 A.M., female pros start 5 minutes later. Age-group race will begin at 6:55 A.M., with AG women going at 7:10 A.M.
"The decision to adjust the swim start times was made following a thorough analysis of past participant data and with the goal to manage course density and level the playing field throughout each event." said Ironman, "The objective of the adjusted swim start times is also to deliver a safe event while providing a world championship experience for all athletes."
These new start times do not represent a change from last year for the pro men and women. Only the age group start times were changed, and this mostly benefits the pro women, who will now have fewer fast-swimming, fast-riding AG men to deal with during the bike segment. The larger gap between age group men and women will also create less havoc for both cohorts as the fast women swim up to the slower men.
The one cohort negatively affected are the older age groups. Ironman finishers will have to conclude the race in 16 hours and 50 minutes, breaking with the long-held 17-hour standard, making it a little bit harder for some of the oldest age group contestants to finish before the cut-off.
Here are the start times for the 2015 Hawaiian Ironman:
2015 IRONMAN World Championship (Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i) new start times:
6:25 A.M. Pro Men (Same as 2014)
6:30 A.M. Pro Women (Same as 2014)
6:55 A.M. Age Group Men (5 minutes later than last year)
7:10 A.M. Age Group Women (10 minutes later than last year)
Start times are one of two major concerns highlighted by a group advocating for female athletes called TriEqual. Its vice president, Sue Aquila, said of today's announcement, "The 15-minute gap between AG men and women is excellent and will provide the age group women with a fair race." But she was less enthusiastic about the gap between pro men and women. "Our Fair Starts protocol specifically asks for a 10-minute gap between pro men and pro women. Ironman is only provided a 5-minute gap at Kona and a ridiculous 3-minute gap at the 70.3 World Championships. How is it possible the data supports having the Men 35-39 starting just 10-minutes after the pro women? This makes no sense."
This year's Ironman 70.3® world championship swim waves, according to Ironman, "will also be adjusted to accommodate both professional and age-group athletes. The altered gap times between waves are designed to minimize swim and bike density on the course."
The net result of the changes to the 70.3 swim starts is zero for the pros, however the age group gaps are larger. The gap between the first age group and the last was 56 minutes in 2014, and it's 1 hour 7 minutes for the upcoming 2015 race.
