Boston Marathon Qualifying Interest Reaches 100 countries, 3,500+ cities

Featured in Runner's World

Not only has interest in qualifying for Boston Marathon 2014 soared to unprecedented levels; now it's become a truly global. In the first few days after the bombing, our site received visits from visitors from 3,500 cities in more than 100 countries (see list at bottom of post), all to see the same article: Qualifying for Boston 2014.

The 2600+ US Cities

We've created an interactive map, indicating the location of each city that's been to our site. Click on the red dot to reveal stats about visitors from that city: how many visits, how long was the visit. Scroll, zoom and move around the map using google maps tools on the upper left side of the map.

Notable is the extremely high number of people visiting for the first time. strongly suggests the response to Boston is kicking off another major running boom. With new visitors representing more than 70% of the total volume to the Qualify for Boston 2014 page, it seems to be a leading indicator that thousands and thousands of individuals have decided to start running. -- for the victims in Boston, for the people of Boston, for the chance to run Boston, and for the chance to dedicate themselves to a new and highly beneficial pursuit. They're out there in droves; the map proves it.

The 100+ Countries

Ranked in order of visitors to Qualify for Boston 2014: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, France, Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Singapore, Ireland, Spain, New Zealand, Korea Republic Of, Switzerland, Brazil, Hong Kong, Denmark, Sweden, Senegal, Philippines, Europe, Thailand, Japan, Colombia, Mauritius, Poland, Iceland, Belgium, Costa Rica, Argentina, Russian Federation, Czech Republic, Austria, Malaysia, Norway, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, India, Israel, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Finland, Greece, United Arab Emirates, Slovakia, Romania, Dominican Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Isle Of Man, French Guiana, Guatemala, Chile, Portugal, Nigeria, Panama, Lithuania, Turkey, Indonesia, Kuwait, China, Luxembourg, Serbia, Turks And Caicos Islands, Belarus, Peru, Guernsey, Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Maldives, Cayman Islands, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Pakistan, Kenya, Jordan, Jersey, Georgia, Ghana, Macao, Barbados, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Satellite Provider, Jamaica, Morocco, Latvia, Timor-leste, Oman, Antigua And Barbuda, Ethiopia, Guam, Iran Islamic Republic Of, Uruguay, Trinidad And Tobago, Satellite Provider, Jamaica, Morocco.

For more, see our complete Boston coverage at www.RaceBoston.com

Ironman 70.3 St Polten Results Analysis

At the 2013 edition of Ironman 70.3 St. Polten, converted to a bike and run duathlon after harsh conditions led to the decision to cancel the swim, 1,686 athletes (after 16% DNS and 2% DNF rates) finished in an average time of 4 hours, 50 minutes.

The 2012 Ironman 70.3 St. Polten event saw 1600 finishers cross the line in an average time of 5 hours, 38 minutes (a relatively fast time compared to the average Ironman 70.3 finish time of 6:00). The difference between 2012 and 2013: a 43 minute average swim and savings of about 5 minutes due to only one transition.

Here's the fun question: how much difference is there bike and run splits in an event with a full swim (2012) and one without (2013)? 

The Answer: about 5 minutes on the St. Polten course --  the average bike split was actually 1-2 minutes slower in 2013, but the run split was 6-7 minutes faster.

We ran the St. Polten 2012 and 2013 numbers to review, compare and contrast performance by year, by swim, bike, run, and by division. Here are the results. 

[For more comparisons, see our similar analysis when Ironman 70.3 Steelhead 2011 also had a cancelled swim, our ranking of Toughest Ironman 70.3 Events, our complete archive of Stats/Results/Analysis or visit our site map]

Tony Kanaan Wins 2013 Indianapolis 500

Tony Kanaan has won the 2013 Indianapolis 500 mile road race. Finally. He's suffered ever-so-close finishes in the past, where potential victory seemingly slipped away in literally the last seconds. But now he's an Indy 500 Champion. And he's an Ironman Triathlon finisher. Kanaan is a true inspiration that with drive and determination, anything can happen.

Tony Kanaan in 2009, in the #11 car sponsored by 7-Eleven

TK is one of the more popular drivers on the IndyCar circuit, and has 600,000 Twitter followers. We've gone back to 2004 to profile Kanaan's popularity in google searches.