Triathlon - Qualifying for Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii

Anyone know how well I need to do to in a sprint-triathlon qualify for the Ironman Triathlon World Championships in Kona, Hawaii? My problem is that I live on Oahu-Hawaii, and the only Ironman Triathlon within thousands of miles is World Championships in Kona. And even the Kona Triathlong is on a different island than I live on.

Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much in Hawaiian) for your assistance.

I just found out that there is a small Ironman on Oahu also.

http://www.challengedathletes.org/caf/template.asp?ID=91

Also, to qualify for the Kona Ironman it is something like 9 hours or so. In any case, I guess it is not called a "Championship" for nothing. I, however, hear that about 50 non-qualifying people (selected by a random drawing) are allowed to enter.

Actually there were 200 lottery spots for the 2003 Kona Ironman, I was there as my buddy was selected in the lottery. If you are picked in the lottery, you have something like 6 months or so to simply complete a half iron man. Then you can enter the World Championships with your lottery spot.

As far as straight up qualifying, I think you have to get 1st or 2nd in your age group at a qualifying race, of which there are several, I will email him more about it and get the info up on here for you all.

As far as straight up qualifying, I think you have to get 1st or 2nd in your age group at a qualifying race, of which there are several, I will email him more about it and get the info up on here for you all.

Yep, yep! Sometimes it's just 1st place. It really depends on how competitive your age group is. They have a set number of seats per age group, per race. So, in some race it will be 1st place only, some it can none, and some it can go deeper down.

I don't think you can qualify for Kona in a sprint. I haven't seen any sprint races that were a qualifier for Kona.

As previously stated you need to finish 1,2,3rd in your age group in an ironman race to qualify. they do have a few half ironmans that will qualify you such as the one in Cali.
However, they do have a general lottery but they also have special deals for locals in the islands. There is a new race this year in Kona in June that will be a qualifier and the top 20 locals will also qualify regardless of rank. It looks like it is only an Olympic dist also this year. 6 months is plenty of time to train. Email the event coordinator from the website for other opportunities for residents. Check the website
http://vnews.ironmanlive.com/vnews/topstories/1073579788/

It's been a while since you posted your question. For the latest details, see: http://vnews.ironmanlive.com/vnews/howto

In short, here's how it works, there are three ways to get into the Ironman World Champtionships in Kona: 1) get a slot through the lottery; 2) get a special entry from the World Triathlon Corporation; or 3) qualify at one of several Ironman or 1/2 Ironman events.

There are 150 US and 50 international lottery slots, you have to register (I'm not sure what the cost is), and if you want to increase your odds, join the "Passport Club" for another $50+. The odds are long (rumor has it that there were about 5,000 lottery entries for the 2005 race), but I know at least two people who got in that way.

If you're a celebrity or have some other special story (Challenged Athlete, etc.) you may be able to get a slot - there are very few of these, and they are usually the subject of the special interest stories you'll see on the NBC broadcast.

Finally, there are about 1,500+ qualifying slots given out at races around the world. The list is at: http://vnews.ironmanlive.com/vnews/qualifyingraces
Each has a certain number of slots (I won't go into how many or why - you can get the information on-line). Each age group has at least one slot, some have more (races with a lot of slots, such as IM Canada can have ten or more slots in certain age groups). The day after the race, the top finshers in each age group have the right to claim their slots - if there are five slots in M35-39, the first five in the M35-39 age group have until a certain time that day to claim them - they have to show up with cash or check in US$ (something like $475 or $500). Show up a minute late or without the $'s, and you're out. Unclaimed slots go to the "roll down", where the next finishers can take the unclaimed slots. Let's say only three of the five M35-39 slots were claimed. The remaining two roll down - they start calling names in the M35-39 age group in order of finish - if your name gets called and you are there with the $'s in hand, you're in. It's happened that in some races slots roll down very far (Vineman 1/2 Ironman M40-44 in 2004 rolled to something like 100th place of 200 in the age group). By doing a little research you can find a race where your odds of qualifying may be better than average.

You are lucky, because they have added a new race that is focused on Hawaiian locals, the Honu 1/2 IM. It has something like 30 slots for Big Island locals, another 20+ for state residents and the a few more for others. Check out http://www.honuhalfironman.com/

Good luck,

TK

My understanding is that you can only qualify for the Hawaii Ironman in Ironman brand races of ironman distance. Qualifying spots work as knauert89 wrote. IM branded 1/2 ironman distance races (they call them 70.3's) are qualifiers for the new 70.3 Championship race, location to be announced, they are not qualifiers for the Hawaii Ironman Championship.

If you get in by lottery, you can validate your entry with the completion of any 1/2 or full ironman distance race within the year before Hawaii. It does not have to be IM brand.

IM brand is owned by WTC and is sanctioned by their own governing body (Global Tri Group, I think). Other ironman distance races cannot use the word "Ironman" in their title, although they can describe themselves as ironman distance races, and are sanctioned by USAT in the US, or ITU internationally. They all have slightly different rules.

I think they may have some additional opportunities for Hawaii residents, but you'd have to contact WTC to find out.

Good luck! I'm trying to get to Kona, too!

If you have any interest in going to Kona, always attend the rolldown. As knauert89 pointed out, sometimes the qualification slots roll down a long way.

That is one good piece of information. It would never have occurred to me that I might have a chance as low as I expect to rank when I do my first IM. I did my first 1/2 IM 2 days ago - great swim, great bike...... how do you run in the heat in Florida??!? It sucked the life out of my run. I was 20 min faster than I expected on the bike, 30 min slower on the run. I have a long way to go to be competitive for the top places.

I've been studying it, and there are a few IM 70.3 races that are actually qualifiers for Kona. How have I missed that before? I may need to check one out......