Ironman Lake Placid Kona Qualifying Times Analysis

At Ironman Lake Placid 2011, 65 outstanding triathletes qualified for Kona, earning the right to race at the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii this October.

Here's our analysis showing the last qualifying time (LQT) and number of qualifying slots distributed by age group, since 2004. [also see our complete Ironman Lake Placid 2011 Results Analysis]

Competition was tough this year, but we were surprised at how many age group qualifying times were similar, if not a bit slower, compared to 2010 results. The differences, even compared to earlier years, jump out when graphed from 2004 to 2011. One explanation for the slower times might be that only those who did not complete the swim in a wetsuit were eligible to qualify.

Note: we were able to identify 64 Kona qualifiers directly, and we estimated that the 65th slot was awarded in the M70-74 age group, which had multiple finishers.

For more, see our Qualifying For Kona analysis, and our complete Ironman Lake Placid race coverage.

Ironman Lake Placid: Kona Qualifying Times 2004 to 2010

How much harder is it to qualify for Kona in Lake Placid? We ran the numbers, comparing Kona qualifying times -- the last one to earn a slot, in each race division -- from 2004 to 2011. For most male age groups, it's significantly tougher. Surprisingly, not nearly much variance for some women and older male divisions.

Ironman St. George 2012 Results Analysis

With a record-breaking 29% DNF (started but did not finish) rate (compared to 19% in 2011), Ironman St. George remains at the top of RunTri's Toughest Ironman Course list (though Ironman South Africa's conditions and 13:43 time rivaled St. G this year). Of the 1432 starters, only 1024 finished. The frustratingly choppy water forced 6% of starters to DNF; wind gusts up to 40 mph forced another 19% to DNF, and finally, another 4% did not complete the run.

Those who did cross the finish line did so in an average of nearly 14 hours. At 13:52:55 average finish time, St. George 2012 was 16 minutes slower than in 2011.