So How Does One Gain Entry into Ironman Hawaii?

For those who are unfamiliar with how to gain entry into the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, here’s a brief summary of how it works:

An athlete either has to:

1. Be a celebrity,
2. Win a slot in the Ironman Lottery or
3. Earn a qualifying slot at another Ironman race.

The Ironman Lottery Program offers the chance to win one of 150 slots for citizens of the United States or 50 slots to international competitors for a $35 fee. You can improve your chances by paying an additional $50 to join the the Ironman Passport Club. I imagine that Ironman makes a significant amount of money off the Ironman Lottery. Athletes who are SELECTED through the Ironman Lottery must still complete an event that is 70.3 miles(1.2 Mile, 56 Mile + 13.1 Mile) distance or greater within one year of the Ironman World Championship to validate his/her lottery slot.

Most participants earn their Kona slots by competing in a qualifying race, typically another Ironman. My client, Bill, for example, plans to compete at Ironman Coeur d’Alene in Idaho as his Hawaii qualifying race

Qualifying slots are allocated to each five-year age-group category and to pros. For example, Bill is in the 45-49 age group category. At least one slot is allocated to each age group with the remaining slots allocated to be representative of the actual number of age group applicants in each category in the race. For example, if 10% of the age-group applicants are males 45-49, then 10% of these slots would be allocated to the male 45-49 category.

After the race, the top finisher in each age group has the first option of taking a slot. If he/she declines a slot, the slot is “rolled down” to the next person who then has the option of taking the slot. The process continues until all slots are taken within the age group.

Some age groups are more competitive than others. The largest age groups like Men 30-34 and 35-39 have more slots but they also have the most participants.

Ironman Coeur d’Alene has 72 slots this year. Last year, there were 7 slots awarded to the Men’s 45-49 age group with the last slot going to a 10:36 finish time. Only 1 slot rolled down. In order to have a small cushion of time, Bill needs to target finishing under 10:30 in order to qualify for Hawaii.

Live life richly and boldly!

David

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David B. Glover
Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine

© 2009 David B. Glover