Ironman Western Australia Results and Kona Qualifier Analysis

Those hoping for a better chance to qualify for Kona should consider racing Ironman Western Australia. This year, 40 slots were allocated among 1183 finishers; 3.4% of the field is going to Kona. Great odds, compared to the very many Ironman events that will see around 2500 athletes competing for 50 slots in the 2011/2012 season.

Even better: Ironman Western Australia is one of the fastest courses in the world, according to our rankings. If you race Ironman Western Australia, you might be able to achieve a personal best time. A big contributor: average bike split of about 6 hours. A full hour faster than triathletes experienced at Ironman UK, for example.

Ironman Cozumel 2011 Results Analysis

In the third annual Ironman Cozumel, 2299 triathletes finished in an average time of 12 hours, 43 minutes. Nearly 2900 initially registered for the event, 19% did not start, and of those who began the race, 7% did not finish. The finish average of 12:43 will change Ironman Cozumel's position on our Top 25 Toughest Ironman Course Rankings List: the 13:11 time in 2009 placed it among the slightly more challenging races, but 2010 and 2011 times indicate Cozumel is more accurately ranked as about average in terms of difficulty.

The Long Run: Ironman Marathon vs Standalone Marathon

You've run a marathon, finished in a pretty decent time, and now have your sights set on racing an Ironman. What should you expect your ironman marathon time to be? We crunched the numbers and the results are in Triathlete Magazine's December 2011 issue.

A sneak peak is below. Short answer: add 20-30 minutes, for starters.

For more, see our comprehensive marathon and triathlon stats and analysis section.