RunTri: August 2015

Ironman Acquisition coverage in Wall Street Journal: 'Raymond Britt . . . foresees continued growth from the (Ironman) brand'

By Raymond Britt

Ironman Triathlon's parent company, World Triathlon Corporation, will be acquired by China's Dalian Wanda, according to Wall Street Journal's Pulitzer Prize winning sports journalist Kevin Helliker.

Helliker called before publishing the article, asking my view of what impact the acquisition may have on Ironman races and the brand.

I told Kevin that the Ironman racing series, triathlete participation, and brand recognition will continue to grow well after the acquisition.

My perspective is based on extensive experience racing and analyzing Ironman since 1997, as a:

29-time Ironman, including a 3-time The Ironman Triathlon World Championship finisher
Strategist, conducting comprehensive statistical analyst of dozens of Ironman events, hundreds of thousands of Ironman finishers, spanning multiple years
Journalist/Analyst/Photographer contributing articles and analytics to Wall Street Journal, CNN, USA Today, ESPN, Triathlete Magazine and others

It requires tremendous commitment and determination to race an Ironman Triathlon. And a great deal more to qualify for the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kona (the one you've seen on NBC).

More than 60,000 triathletes try each year, but only about 2000+ win coveted Kona Slots (1700+ qualifiers, plus lottery winners, etc.). We know what it takes; we've qualified for Kona three times. Kona is everything you expect and more. It takes hard work to get there, but it's worth it.

This site contains almost everything you may want to know about Ironman, including qualifying times, slots, races, analysis, training and racing tips and more. Here's a starter list of posts:

USA Triathlon 2015 Olympic Distance National Championships Results. Stats and Analysis

By Raymond Britt

The 2015 USA Triathlon Olympic Distance National Championship, held in Milwaukee on August 8, 2015, featured 2601 of the nation's best triathletes in the country. The athletes, competing at the highest level of the sport, put on a terrific display of fierce determination in the quest for the best overall finish times and age group rankings.

The 2015 average finish time for all athletes was 2:34 = 28 minute swim, 1:11 bike, 0:50 run and 0:05 in T1+T2. The 2015 results were more than 3 minutes slower than 2013, which averaged 2:31, with slightly slower overall average times in each discipline.

But there's much more exclusive analysis here, We've taken the results of each athlete in each age group to compile this comprehensive results analysis that delivers average times overall, by age group, by split, by geography. Then we took the data to the next level, presenting side-by-side comparisons vs 2013 swim, bike, run and finish results by division.

In addition, we mapped results of athletes from 1,368 cities across the US, and developed a heat map that illustrates the geographic density of finishers.

Comparisons Between 2013 and 2015 Results by Age Group and Gender

For more, including similar analysis on dozens of other triathlons, see our site map at RunTri.com

USATriathlon 2015 AG Nationals Geographic Results: Olympic Distance

More than 2600 triathletes from 1,368 US cities finished the USATriathlon 2015 Age Group National Championships.

We've developed results analysis for each city, mapped below, with a red dot representing a city. This a google map, so you can move the map, Zoom in, Zoom out, to find your city. Click on any red dot to see that city's:

Total number of finishers
Average Swim time
Average Bike Time
Average Run Time
Average Finish Time

For comparison, averages for all finishers were: 0:28:09 Swim, 1:11:25 Bike, 0:50:00 Run and 2:34:42 Finish. How did your city do compared to others? vs overall average times?

USATriathlon Age Group National Championships Finisher Geographic Density Heat Map.

For another look, we developed a USATriathlon Age Group National Championships Finisher Geographic Density Heat Map to illustrate where the distribution of finishers per city across the country.

The shades vary from

Red: most finishers in the area; 90 cities had finishers ranging from 78 finishers (in Chicago) down to 5 per city) to
Yellow: more than 400 cities with generally around the 2 to 4 finishers to
Light Green (reflecting areas with fewest finishers by city; about 900 of the 1368 cities had 1 finisher)

USATriathlon 2015 Age Group National Championships: Photos

By Raymond Britt

The USA Triathlon 2015 Age Group National Championship featured exceptional triathletes competing with inspiring intensity in pursuit of unparalleled results.

I was there, photographing the entire International Distance event, from 14 different locations on the course. A set of 100+ photo highlights are posted on my Photography Web site. Below are select photos from my day on the race course. See the complete highlights folio.