What time do you need to run to enter the Boston Marathon? For the first time in recent history, the answer is: it depends.
To enter the Boston Marathon, now you need to meet or beat two criteria:
Old Qualifying Time = 'Standard Eligible to Submit an Application' = run a time that meets the official qualifying standard in an officially recognized marathon
New Qualifying Time = Entrant Time = Run a qualifying time that beats the qualifying standard by an amount determined after registration is closed
Of the 23,521 applications submitted by runners who ran Qualifying Times to enter the 2012 Boston Marathon, 20,081 were accepted. Unfortunately for the 3,228 runners who had their applications rejected, nearly 14% of those who applied.
To meet size constraints, it came down to this: if you ran a qualifying time, you needed to beat that time by one minute and 14 seconds to enter the race. The new Entrant Time = qualifying time minus 0:01:14. For example, in the M40-44 division:
Old Qualifying Time = Standard Eligible to Submit an Application' = 3:20:00
New Qualifying Time = Entrant Time = 3:18:46
These changes were announced by the Boston Athletic Association in the following press release excerpt:
September 26, 2011 -- The Boston Athletic Association today notified applicants of their acceptance into the 2012 Boston Marathon. This year and for the first time, the B.A.A. implemented a new registration process for eligible qualifiers whereby the fastest runners in relation to their qualifying times were able to submit their entry on a rolling basis. Acceptance was based on performance rather than on a first come, first served basis. The 116th Boston Marathon is on Patriots’ Day: Monday, April 16, 2012.
23,521 applications were received during the two weeks of registration.
20,081 applicants have been accepted or are in the process of being accepted, pending verification of qualifying performance (14,780 from Week One; 5301 from Week Two).
3,228 applicants were unable to be accepted due to the large number of eligible qualifiers who submitted an application for entry combined with field size limitations.
An additional 277 qualifiers who had run 10 or more consecutive Boston Marathons were also accepted.
Those who had a verified qualifying performance of one minute, 14 seconds or faster than the eligible standard for their age group have been accepted into the race.
Around 24,000 finished the race in 2011, and estimates suggest about 25,000 to 26,000 will race in 2012.
The BAA's new 'performance-based' registration process accepted applications from runners who met the qualifying time criteria between 9/12/11 and 9/23/11.
However, BAA notes that many who registered may not be guaranteed entry. Posted on baa.org, 'Entry is not on a first-come, first-served basis . . .'
Applicants will be notified of acceptance or rejection 'next week.'
The 'performance-based' criteria are not clearly defined publicly. Our assumption is that applicants be accepted in order of fastest qualifying time in their age group. If so, will baa.org factor in the degree of difficulty by marathon?
Average finish times can vary among most marathons by 30 minutes or more. At the extremes: consider a 5:16 average finish time in the Los Angeles Marathon compared to a 3:47 time at the Hamilton Marathon.
Ask any triathlete which races they think will have the highest rate of starters who did not finish (DNF) for one reason or another, and they'll likely mention one or more of our top 25 Toughest Ironman races. Ironman events in St. George, France, and Lanzarote, featuring monster bike courses, would have been our picks. But the data tells a different story.
Believe it or not, Ironman Lanzarote has the lowest DNF rate: an astonishingly low 2%. St. George easily had the highest DNF rate at 16.5%. France, Regensburg and the new race in Wales all had DNF rates over 10%. The flat courses in Florida and Arizona help limit DNFs, while tough bike courses in Texas and Wisconsin push DNFs to the 7%-8% range.
We took a closer look at Lanzarote and Lake Placid. Lanzarote sorts results by men and women; only 2 women out of 113 starters DNF, 1.8%. Of the men, only 2.1% DNFd. One thing appears to be certain: those who have chosen to race Lanzarote are extremely ready for every challenge on the course. They finish, no matter what. Impressive.
At Ironman Lake Placid 2011, water temperatures were high enough that only those who swam without a wetsuit were eligible to qualify for Kona. More than 600 chose to swim sans wetsuit, and more than 1800 raced with the benefit of wetsuit buoyancy. Was there a difference in DNFs between the wetsuiters and the non-wetsuiters? No.
Congratulations to the 1134 triathletes who completed the inaugural Ironman Wales triathlon in an average time of 13:02. Any race over the 13 hour mark is one of the toughest in the world, and the 12% DNF rate, also one of the highest of all ironman events, proves the point.
With two races in the United Kingdom, each known for difficulty (UK average finish time in 2010 was 13:01, nearly identical to 2011 Wales, though in 2011 UK was much faster at 12:35), we compared the two by age group to see how comparable the courses may be.
The number of ironman events offering Kona slots seems to change each year, as do the number of slots offered by many races. For a comprehensive look, we compared ironman races offering Kona slots in 2005 and 2012. (also see our detailed analysis of 2011 and 2012 Kona Qualifying Slots per Race)
In 2005, 27 events (19 Ironman races, 8 half ironman races) offered 1500 slots, a total that allocated approximately 75 slots to pro athletes. In 2012, it is estimated that 34 events (28 Ironman and 6 half Ironman) will offer 1642 slots, not including about 85 pro slots that are allocated separately.
Overall, 7 more events offering slots in 2012 with 97 slots (182 if you add pro slots) more than offered in 2005. Add in lottery and other miscellaneous slots, and the overall difference between 2005 and 2012 is estimated at 208 slots.
You're entering the transition area of an ironman triathlon, after finishing the swim and bike legs of the race. With 26.2 miles to run, and typically with wobbly legs after riding 112 miles on the bike, as you're changing into running shoes, it's natural to wonder: how long is it going to take me to run the marathon? What will my finish time be?
At this year's Ironman Wisconsin, more than 2200 athletes were possibly thinking the same thing. After analyzing the results of all finishers, the answer is as simple as this: the average marathon was equal to swim + bike time multiplied by 0.6.
If you start your marathon with 7 hours elapsed in your race, your marathon target should be 7 hours x 0.6 = 4.2 hours = 4 hours, 12 minutes. (remember, the .2 = 20% of an hour, or 12 minutes in this example).
Congratulations to the 65 driven and determined triathletes (out of 2244 finishers; see our Results Analysis) who qualified for Kona at the 2011 Ironman Wisconsin. Generally, we expect Kona qualifying times to be faster compared to the previous year, but there were some surprises. Additionally, 4 slots were moved from male age groups to the women's side, which would normally suggest that with fewer slots, in M30 to M45 last qualifying times (LQT) would be significantly faster.
Not necessarily so. In fact the last qualifying time in only 5 age groups was faster, compared to 2010. And in the age groups that lost slots, the last qualifying times were actually slower than in 2010. Heat that led to a 13:24 average finish time for all athletes may have something to do with it, but wouldn't account for so many slower times. Could the field have been weaker this year? Could the trend toward fewer and fewer slots per race be discouraging more triathletes from training hard enough to qualify? Time will tell as the 2012 qualifying season continues.
We covered the race from the swim start in Lake Monona, to cycling hot spots like Old Sauk Pass and all over the run course, from the bike path to Camp Randall stadium to the finish line. Here are some photo highlights. Nearly 180 photos are here: Ironman Wisconsin by Raymond Britt. For more, see our Ironman Wisconsin 2011 Results Analysis and our complete Ironman Wisconsin Coverage.
Congratulations to the 2244 triathletes who finished the 2011 Ironman Wisconsin. While conditions have been worse in previous races (2004's heat and 2006's frigid drizzling come to mind), temperatures that rose into the high 80s clearly had an impact on the field.
More than 8% of starters didn't finish (12% of registrants didn't start), and the average finish time of 13:24 was 8 minutes higher than seen in 2010 and 2009. Overall, Wisconsin remains near the top of RunTri's 25 Toughest Ironman Rankings. How did your finish time stack up against average finishing times by age group? Also see our Kona Qualifying Times Analysis and our Ironman Wisconsin Race Photos.
To many triathletes, the Ironman Wisconsin bike course has appeared relatively easier than other north American courses such as Ironman USA Lake Placid and Ironman Canada, at least when considering course maps. But when triathletes arrive to race Ironman Wisconsin, they are inevitably surprised at the difficulty they face on the bike course.[for proof, see Ironman Bike Course Average Times]
While the elevation changes on paper are quite more significant in Lake Placid, the tricky subtleties in Wisconsin make it such that an overall bike split on both courses can be very similar.
What the Ironman Wisconsin bike course lacks in vertical elevation challenges, it more than compensates with the challenge of never letting up; the course chips away at you with a continuous series of slight gains, turns, and technical challenges that constantly serve to damper hopes for a bike course PR.
What It's Like
On September 9, 2007, I returned to complete my fifth Ironman Wisconsin, my 29th Ironman race since July 1997.
This time, I wanted to do something different. Experience the Ironman in a unique way. And I did: I shot photos on the bike course, and I tracked the entire 112-mile ride with a Garmin 405 GPS Watch.
As a result, the 2007 experience presented here gets to the nuts and bolts of the bike course, perhaps Ironman Wisconsin’s most daunting feature.
Personal Race Data Summary
My overall bike split in Ironman Wisconsin 2007 was 5 hours, 53 minutes and 57 seconds, about 19mph.
Overall Splits: First 56 miles: 2:52:49 riding time, 19.44 mph; Second 56 miles: 3:01:08 riding time, 18.68 mph.
Fueling: 4 PowerBars and 8 GU packets on bike; bananas every other aid station; water/Gatorade every aid station.
Hammer Factor: limited; I rode comfortably; never pushed it too hard, never bonked, never suffered. But I also did not hold back; it was a solid ride for my fitness at the time.
Ironman Wisconsin 112-Mile Bike Course: Rider’s Perspective
The 112 mile Ironman Wisconsin bike course starts fun and fast, then gradually eats away at you over the miles. It throws no serious difficulty your way, but it refuses to yield over most of the course. Go out too fast, and you can suffer later.
With that as a sort of warning, the first 16 or so miles, out to the two-loop section, are a good warm-up, taking riders to the west of Madison, from the small city toward classic Midwestern farmland. Some small rollers stretch your leg muscles, and a couple of pretty steep but short downhills will give you a speed boost, but also provide warning that they may hurt you a little on the way back. Here’s my data from those first miles:
Reaching the 39-mile loop section, you’ll continue west on relatively tame terrain until you approach the town of Mt. Horeb. Approaching mile 30, you’ll be faced with about a 1⁄2 mile long climb that veers to the left then right, where you’ll be greeted by aid station volunteers. Get what you need, then prepare for five miles of work.
Miles 30 to 35 (and 70 to 75 on the return trip) take riders through relentless up-down riding that I like to call The Rollercoasters of Witte Road and Garfoot Road. Passing between and through farms, these miles toss it all at you: fast declines followed immediately by sharp uphills again and again, with short stretches of reasonably flat road connecting the little challenges.
At first, it’s fun. Then getting over the next hill gets tougher each time. You’ll think you’re done, then there’s more. You’ll see when you get there. You don’t want to be bonking the second time you ride this section. It’s a bad place to be on the rocks.
Next up is a slightly dangerous fast, swerving downhill on northern Garfoot Road. You’ll wish you can take it at full-speed, but only the most expert of riders can do it. It’s too easy to lose control on the sharp turns here. Sacrifice a few seconds for better control.
The course flattens out on the top half, east-bound road for a few miles, allowing you to relax a little. You’ll need the break, because when you make a right turn at Country Road KP to begin a southward path toward the start of loop two, the course’s most challenging climbs await.
The climbs – at Old Sauk Pass and on Timber Lane – aren’t very long, but they can be quite taxing. When you arrive there, settle into your easiest gear, sit back, and pedal as efficiently as you can.
Stay steady for the next few miles until you reach the town of Verona, where you'll be greeted by a cheering crowd that treats you as if you are a Tour de France rider. Savor the moments, smile at spectators and enjoy your short time there. Because after it's over, you get to do it all again on lap 2.
You'll finish lap 2 at about 95 miles, with 17 more to go. Depending on the heat, wind and your nutrition and hydration at that point, those last miles may be relatively breezy or can be very challenging.
Don't let the apparent downhill back to town on the race website course map fool you. It's more work that you'll expect. Be prepared mentally and physically at that point, and you'll do fine.
The Ironman Wisconsin bike course is every bit as deceptively challenging as you have heard. But the confusing part: the course elevation chart looks so tame, so flat relative to Ironman Canada, Lake Placid and many others. Why is it so hard?
See chart below, actual mile-by-mile speed, maximum speed and cumulative average speed. It's not steep hills that get you; it's the constant choppy turbulence of the course that wears you down.
Sarah Palin ran the Jump Right in and Run Half Marathon in Storm Lake, Iowa, on Sunday September 4, 2011, finishing with a time of 1:46:10. At a pace of 8:06 per mile, it was fast enough to win her second place in her age group.
It was also an unexpected, unpublicized and nearly anonymous run for Palin, who registered for the race using her maiden name, Heath.
At the 2011 Ironman Louisville, 65 triathletes rose above all others to qualify for Kona, to compete at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii in October. Remarkably, the dynamics of slot allocations and finish times in Louisville changed perhaps more than in any 2011 qualifying event.
Especially noteworthy: a shift of 4 slots from men age groups to women, which dramatically increased competition among men, leading to qualifying times an hour or more faster than in some age groups, compared to 2011.
Thousands of determined triathletes swam, biked and ran through Chicago to cross the finish line both exhausted and excited. Despite the bright sun and blue skies, it was a tough day on the course, from choppy water in Monroe Harbor to strong winds on Lake Shore Drive. Overcoming these challenges should make all finishers feel even more satisfied with their performance.
More than 3300 triathletes completed the international distance event in an average time of 3:15. If you did as well or better in at least one of these categories, consider your day a success. Congratulations.
Nearly 1900 triathletes competed in the Sprint division, finishing in an average time of 1:55. Sprint competitors faced the same challenges in the water and on the bike course, and should similarly be proud of their finish times. Of note, the mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, slipped into the sprint distance competition. How do his results compare? Look at our Rahm -- Triathlete Analysis.
How long does it take to finish an International Distance Triathlon? The answer, based on our analysis of more than 75 triathlons: about 3 hours, on average. Swim 1.5k in 40 minutes, Bike 40k in an hour and 20 minutes, and Run 10k in one hour. Transitions included in the total.
It's important to note that there can be, and often are, variations between one international distance triathlon and another, which will affect average finish times. Are all swim courses measured accurately? No. Are some bike courses longer than 40k? Yes; the Chicago Triathlon is a good example. The most reliable number is the run. Most 10k courses are measured relatively accurately, and on average, most runners do finish in 55 minutes to 1 hour.
Of course, there will be variations by age group and male vs female. So the next step is to compare average finish times by age group. This chart is for the 2011 Chicago Triathlon, average finish time 3:15. The swim was choppy, the bike course was, as always, long, but like most, the run course was average. Consider these times the high end of the International Distance Finish Times spectrum. If you're looking for a target finish time, you want to do better than these.
We've mentioned variations primarily between swim and bike courses, so it's important to go the next level -- to look at swim, bike, run and transition split times by age group. Again this data is for the 2011 Chicago International Distance Triathlon. And, as noted above, consider these splits -- transitions, too -- as roughly the high range; you want to beat these times.
