Race Guide - Ironman World Championships

As I'm working backwards in date order through my races, next on the list is the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. Granted not a race on everyone's agenda, what with having to qualify at an Ironman race in the same year firstly, but mainly because the cost of doing the race is the same as that of a small car. 

Nevertheless, if any of you are ever lucky enough to be planning a trip to the Big Island, either for a race or just as a really nice holiday, this might be of use to you, or at the very least will pass away 5 mins as you drink your morning coffee.

I'm lucky enough to have been to the race twice, in 2022 (for the 2020 race) and in 2018 so I've had two experiences which will add an even greater level of usefulness to this race guide...... 

The most appropriate place to start is the ordeal that is actually travelling there. In 2018, I was a last minute qualifier (August for an October race!) and had already made travel plans to the US for a normal holiday, showing what confidence I had in getting a slot, so ended up flying Dublin-Boston-LA-Kona. The only advice I can give about this route, is not to do it, go direct to LA from Ireland!! As I qualified in late 2019 for the 2022 race, I had a head start on the pack booking flights and accommodation and was able to fly Dublin-Seattle-Kona, this was a much better route and I would advise trying to get to the West Coast directly to pick up the flight into Hawaii (6 further hours from the West Coast) All options will require a lay over before the leg to Kona, this is a good thing as it helps get rid of some of the jet lag en route. 

That paragraph was even an ordeal to write.

The biggest concern with travelling in 2022 was all the horror stories circulating about people's bike boxes being mislaid on flights and not ending up in Hawaii with you, as this was the first (and last) year Ironman ran a double race day, it meant that 5000 bike boxes were flying into the bus station that is Kona Airport. Luckily it arrived on my flight. 

Now is actually a good time to discuss something which will be on most peoples minds when booking this trip, and that's when to go. Your social media will be full of people out there 2/3 weeks early "acclimatizing" to the heat etc.. and the FOMO will be next level!! So let me give you my side of the coin, I arrived on the Tuesday afternoon for the Saturday race, pretty much as late as you can leave it, I had 3 and a half days to acclimatize, not ideal, but not the end of the world either, so don't worry about it if you cant be out there for weeks before hand, the fitter you are, the easier it is to adapt the heat, and that's a lesson for all hot races, heat adaption sessions are fine, but the fitter you are going to these races, the better you will cope. I ended up being the fastest Irishman that day and just outside the Top 200 (that's including the 50 Pros)

But that's enough about me ;-)

Flying into Kona is cool though, the mountains and the greenery and the blue/green water. It really feels like paradise. And the airport is mad, its all outdoors, there's roofs and shaded areas, but no walls, its a mad place!! Its also quiet a rural island so you'll have to hire a car, or a van/jeep more like, and not all of them take a bike box so be very careful when choosing. In 2018, I had rented a bike over there (something which is getting harder to do) so as everyone coming into the Island was needing big cars, we managed to get a convertible Ford Mustang instead (yes I was that guy, all I was missing was a cowboy hat!!)

Anyone travelling to the race for the first time, you HAVE to stay in Kona town, the buzz is incredible, if you're into triathlon, this is it, every brand has a house or a stall there, there's a couple of different expos, if you've a race band, the swag is unbelievable, every pro is in town, Breakfast with Bob is on over at Huggos, the prancing and posing that goes on up and down the main street has to be seen to be believed, so much so, that they have an "underpants race" in the days before it, google it, I won't ruin your coffee with any of my pics from it. Its triathlon turned up to 11!! 

Everyday is triathlon heaven, get up early and go down to the pier for a swim, the water is a colour blue that's hard to describe, you swim over shoals of fish and turtles, you can swim out to the coffee boat where you thread water and have an espresso, swim back in, try get some selfies with some pros, head for a gigantic pancake stack and get some Kona coffee into you.

Back for the bike and get out onto the (in)famous Queen K Highway for a spin, and its exactly that, a highway, where the locals are going about they're daily business and don't have time for lycra clad tourists, killing themselves to get that killer shot for the Gram!! Try a run in the afternoon to get a feel for the heat you're gonna be running in, even an easy 20 minutes has you feeling like you've had a shower.. how am I gonna do this on Saturday. Doesn't matter, you're gonna have to!! In the evening, head off to places like this...

In 2022, we stayed in Waikoloa, a resort village about 30 mins outside Kona, if you're lucky enough to visit more than once, then this is the place to do it!! This is more like the Hawaii you see in the Adam Sandler films, the palm trees, the lush surroundings and beating crickets. The blue lagoons to swim in with the multicolored fish life, the locals, way more relaxed and less frantic, proper holiday feels, if you're bringing family (I imagine you will be) this is place to bring them. 

The race itself,

In 2018 I had the "privilege" of starting in the last ever mass swim start in Kona. A deeply unpleasant experience. In 2022, I was in the first wave after the pros, which was great, gives you a clean course. 

So after a middling swim, climbing those famous steps, a much more efficient T1 than the 2018 saga, I was out on a reasonably quiet course, I say reasonably, the majority of my AG were already on it. After the small out and back through Kona Town and up Palani hill, all of a sudden you're on the Queen K, and you're gonna be there for a while!! 

On race day its a different beast though, no contemptuous motorists, nothing ahead of you just miles of empty exposed motorway. In 2018, the thrill of being on this road for this race was the overriding emotion and probably spent more time taking it in, rather than treating it like a race, in 2022 it was different. As Sean Kelly says in his broken english, "I was with a good feeling in the legs" and it was one of those days where it really was a struggle to keep the watts down, so after an hour of feeling like I was holding back, I just left go the leash and embraced it, knowing that no matter how conservative you ride this course, you're gonna be shook by the end of it. Stayed on my nutrition, emptied a full bottle of water over myself at every aid station, only to be bone dry again 5 mins later and just trucked on.

*Side Note* Kona is the only race I've done where they give you full bottles of Coke at the aid station, aside from Dublin City Triathlon, which is the only race where you get unlimited coke at the end of the race....

The bike was great though, felt good the whole way through, was passing people consistently throughout the leg which is a great incentive to "stay on it" The wind out at Hawi wasn't particularly strong, little bit of a cross tailwind coming down the climb, which, if you commit to it, is one hell of a ride!! 10/15 Mins at 60/70 km/h all the way down. Just to note as well, people talk a lot about the crosswinds out at the far end of the bike course, yes there are winds, but anytime I've cycled there, they have never been any worse than the worst winds we get here, I know there has been a couple of windy races there over the years, but from what I've seen and heard, this is blown (yes I meant that ;-) )  a little out of proportion, and is not something you should dwell on too much before the race.

Back into town, feeling good, knocked 7 mins off my T2 time from 2018, no outfit change this time, it doesn't make a difference, you're gonna be uncomfortable for the next 3 hours or so, just embrace it.

Came out of T2 into that wall of heat and all of a sudden you get some truths, this is why this race is as brutal as it is, no wind chill, just the midday 30 Degree Hawaiian heat, the first section in town isn't great, but in the context of whats the come, its a park run! Good bit of shade, people with garden hoses spraying you, the female pros fresh from their exploits on Thursday cheering you on, official and unofficial aid stations, an incredible buzz and atmosphere that's hard not to get carried away with, you then hit the famous Palani hill, if Soler hill is the Triathlon bike equivalent of the Tour de France climbs, Palani hill is the run equivalent, huge crowds going bananas cheering you on the whole way up, its a steep climb, not a long one, but by the time you reach the top, your HR is through the roof. And then...

The Queen K, an open, exposed monotonous motorway through the middle of nowhere, mile after mile of nothing, in the baking heat, no shelter from the sun, no wind chill, you can see for miles ahead and you know that you've no option but just to keep going, and it gets even worse, you head downhill into the Natural Energy Lab, a section of volcanic ground, where they harvest the heat from the ground to generate energy for the Island, yes that's right, the heat from the ground, that you're running on, with the air temps in their 30's and the humidity in the High 90's. And this is when the cruelest part of all comes, when you turn to come back up hill out of the Energy Lab, knowing that this is the furthest you could be from the finish point, that even if you want to give up, you actually cant because you still have to get back to town anyway, you don't have any other options but to keep suffering, its such a mental mindf**k.

The death march back in the Queen K is like a death of a thousand cuts, its a war zone, the fittest people on the planet, slowly both figuratively and literally melting down, weaving all over the road, collapsing, emptying cooler buckets over their heads (and this is basically wave 1, whats the place gonna be like by the time 6 more waves hit) eventually you make it to the top of Palani, at which point I was totally gone, running down hill at this point was an ordeal, a "quick" lap around the town and down the finisher chute and over that famous finish line at the Pier in Kona, where Mike Reilly calls your name and tells you, "You're an Ironman", two finish line helpers (everyone gets them) come over and literally carry you to the athlete area, get you anything you want (a new body please) and you lie there, both simultaneously elated and questioning some of your life choices. As finisher areas go though, its at a small beach beside the pier, and its without doubt the best finishers area you'll ever see. 

It was definitely the most shook I've ever been crossing a finish line, went deeper than I ever did in a race, which is something I would not recommend if its your first visit, your first visit should just be a victory lap, take it all in, soak up the memories, because as hard and as brutal as it, there is no race like Kona.