Always go to the roll-down for Ironman

This year, so many athletes will skip the awards ceremony and roll-down of Kona slots at Ironman races all over the world, thinking they don't stand a chance of getting a slot. I recently wrote an article on the topic of what times traditionally it takes to qualify for Kona, published in Triathlete Magazine, so perhaps I am guilty of spreading of this thinking.

Of course, sometimes the odds just don't matter and it pays to show up. Take a look at the two highlighted qualifiers below, in the Men's 30-34 division, namely their times and places within their age group: (click on image to enlarge)


Yes, one placed 46th, the other 161st, out of only 210 athletes in the division! I'm sure a lot of guys are kicking themselves right now.

Coach Vance