What is an Ironman?

I have been asked a few questions about the Ironman by different people over the past few weeks and wondered if others had questions too.  So here are a few tidbits about the Ironman with some specifics about the Louisville IM (which I am doing). 

There are many Ironman races throughout the world.  The one most people know about is in Kona, Hawaii, the Ironman World Championship.  To race in Kona an athlete must qualify by placing in the top 1-X spots in their age group in another IM event.   The process for picking the age group athletes is interesting.  The day after their IM event they must show up at the transition area where IM officials call out the names of people who have qualified in a particular age group.  At that time, the athlete must say “Yes” or “No” to going to the Kona World Championships.  If they say “no”, then the next name on the list is called and this continues until all the slots are taken .

Ironman is a triathlon that combines swimming, biking and running events which all need to be completed in one day.  Total distance = 140.6 miles!

• Swim: 2.4 miles
• Bike: 112 miles
• Run: 26.2 miles (marathon distance)

Ironman races typically start at 7:00 a.m. and must be completed in 17 hours (midnight the same day).  There are some exceptions to this start time – the Louisville IM starts at 7:30 a.m. and still must be completed by midnight.  The later start times usually apply to races in the fall after Daylight Savings time kicks in – they don’t want people swimming when it’s still dark.

All Ironman races have cut-off times for each event.  Following are the cut-off times for the Louisville IM.

• Swim - must be completed in 2 hours 20 minutes
• Bike - The Louisville bike course is shaped like a lollipop and the lollipop loop is done twice.  There are two cut-off times for the bike:
• 2:45 p.m. - Must be at mile 60 (starting 2^nd loop of the lollipop).  7 hours 15 minutes after starting the swim.
• 6:20 p.m. - Bike course officially closes
• Run - The Louisville run course is 2 laps of 13.1 miles.   There are two cut-off times for the run:
•  Lap 1 – Must be completed by 9:45 p.m.  14 hours 15 minutes after starting the swim.
•  Lap 2 – Must be completed by midnight – the course officially closes.

Do you have any other questions about the IM?