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Poet.
Joined: 06 Aug 2013 Posts: 390
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 8:20 am Post subject: |
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I took a look at costs and was astounded at the IM branded races.
Living close enough to Bolton to train on the course, I quite fancy that next year or the year after...
...but I’d also like to go to Barcelona to draft my way to a 9 x.
Seems fairly cheap once you’re there, too.
But it’s definitely at saturation point. Far too many people have now “done” an Ironman (16+ hours) and it dilutes MY achievements
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JeffB
Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 1406 Location: Middlesbrough
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Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2019 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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Challenge have also downgraded a few events to half's (Wanaka) and aren't a few now both distances? Other than Roth have they got an event that sees more than about 1500 entries?
They also had the US disaster as well, but some of their races are still in scenic places.
Ironman races have gone up quite a lot in recent years and yes the big event experience is good, but the fact they are offering incentives like multiple payments is a sign of the times & cost.
I still do some local races, the Always Aim Higher (Slateman\Sandman) were excellent events and the traffic wasn't too busy. I did Castle Howard last year, the race and organisation were good but marred by the appalling and dangerous swim.
There's the long established races that sell out quickly like Frankfurt, Austria (probably now add Barcelona) and a few others that get good participation but then aren't selling out immediately like Nice, Lanza, Wales, even Bolton.
I think there'll be several that just come and go due to numbers, similar to Maastricht, I think Cork won't last that long.
There's a lot of half's on reasonably fast courses, but the tougher courses seem to get lower numbers, e.g. Wimbleball, Edinburgh which didn't last long, and when numbers fell at Wimbleball it was soon dropped.
Probably giving them a miss this year, but I'm 50 next year so possibly looking at Frankfurt, Austria or Hamburg, would like to try for a reasonably fast time again.
Jeff
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ttowel
Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 4127 Location: Swim School
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 9:55 am Post subject: |
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stenard wrote: | Bluepoolshark wrote: | It has to be a cost thing, Lanzarote is currently €646 to enter, that is an utterly obscene amount of money for one race  |
Blimey. That shocked me, so I looked back at how much I paid for Copenhagen. I seem to have just blanked out that it cost me £500!
I see Barcelona is already sold out, unless you pay an inflated Nirvana entrance fee. That one is a staggering EUR 697. Clearly draft-fest pb courses are very appealing.
One thing that was strange about Lanza is it seems to be the only one I'm aware of that's still on a deadline based price hike basis, not tiered in terms of when spots fill up. |
Been to Barcelona 3 times. Not because its a flat draftfest, which it is if you are in the 10 hour band, but because its about £50 to get there, can get apartments for £100 for 4 nights, easy to get to, everything walkable in terms of transitions and finish area and its logistically very easy. You can practice swim, run the course, ride 90% of the course and plenty for spectators to do.
Very few races can offer that.
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Laufmann
Joined: 17 May 2010 Posts: 175 Location: Peak District exile
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Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2019 11:06 am Post subject: |
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Too expensive!
When I had a young family, it would have been difficult to justify the expense, never mind the training time. Now that I am old, I have the time to train, but I can't guarantee I will make it to the start line months after paying.
Seriously though, people at work are gobsmacked when they discover how expensive it is to put yourself through all the torture. Let's face it, it is an expensive sport anyway and Ironman does not cater for people on average incomes. My nephew has a young family and having bagged his one Ironman last year, he has now moved on.
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twhat
Joined: 28 Oct 2011 Posts: 1271 Location: London
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 9:51 am Post subject: |
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Seems ludicrously expensive to me. I've only done the one (no Tattoo sadly) and that was Wales in 2012. I'm pretty sure that was about £180. Thats one hell of a rate of inflation....
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stenard
Joined: 04 Sep 2013 Posts: 2063
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:00 am Post subject: |
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ttowel wrote: | stenard wrote: | Bluepoolshark wrote: | It has to be a cost thing, Lanzarote is currently €646 to enter, that is an utterly obscene amount of money for one race  |
Blimey. That shocked me, so I looked back at how much I paid for Copenhagen. I seem to have just blanked out that it cost me £500!
I see Barcelona is already sold out, unless you pay an inflated Nirvana entrance fee. That one is a staggering EUR 697. Clearly draft-fest pb courses are very appealing.
One thing that was strange about Lanza is it seems to be the only one I'm aware of that's still on a deadline based price hike basis, not tiered in terms of when spots fill up. |
Been to Barcelona 3 times. Not because its a flat draftfest, which it is if you are in the 10 hour band, but because its about £50 to get there, can get apartments for £100 for 4 nights, easy to get to, everything walkable in terms of transitions and finish area and its logistically very easy. You can practice swim, run the course, ride 90% of the course and plenty for spectators to do.
Very few races can offer that. |
Fair point. One of the selling points for me with Copenhagen last year was ease of travel (I got there for only £30 using some reward flights) and ease of logistics, with it being right in the city centre, and so close to the airport. Accommodation wasn't that cheap, but at least there was a lot to choose from.
_________________ My blog: https://stenardstuff.wordpress.com/
Random stuff and race reports
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Poet.
Joined: 06 Aug 2013 Posts: 390
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:04 am Post subject: |
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Where are these flights to Barcelona for £50?
Or, do you fly to Gerona-Costa Brava, then drive down?
ttowel has just made this an easy sell...
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Whisk
Joined: 09 Jun 2005 Posts: 8739 Location: London
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:42 am Post subject: |
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twhat wrote: | Seems ludicrously expensive to me. I've only done the one (no Tattoo sadly) and that was Wales in 2012. I'm pretty sure that was about £180. Thats one hell of a rate of inflation.... |
I doubt if you paid as little as £180 for IM Wales. When I did my first IM in 2006, I paid about £130 for the 70.3 at Wimbleball and my entry for IM Austria worked out pretty much double that at about EUR300. I think IM UK was about £250 that year.
IM entry prices seem to be pretty consistent around the world, regardless of the location.
_________________ 2019: Just riding my bike....
Hot Chillee ride captain (sponsored by Specialized, Sigma Sports, Kalas, Wahoo, One Pro Cycle Insurance)
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Jorgan
Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 18226 Location: alles was ich bin, alles was ich war
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:48 am Post subject: |
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Poet. wrote: |
But it’s definitely at saturation point. Far too many people have now “done” an Ironman (16+ hours) and it dilutes MY achievements |
What achievements? You haven't done an Ironman...
_________________ 27 Years since it all began....
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SGreg
Joined: 30 Jun 2010 Posts: 1112 Location: High Peak
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:53 am Post subject: |
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Whisk wrote: | twhat wrote: | Seems ludicrously expensive to me. I've only done the one (no Tattoo sadly) and that was Wales in 2012. I'm pretty sure that was about £180. Thats one hell of a rate of inflation.... |
I doubt if you paid as little as £180 for IM Wales. When I did my first IM in 2006, I paid about £130 for the 70.3 at Wimbleball and my entry for IM Austria worked out pretty much double that at about EUR300. I think IM UK was about £250 that year.
IM entry prices seem to be pretty consistent around the world, regardless of the location. |
Pretty sure Wales was around £400 in its first year.
Even Outlaw was over £200 in 2012!
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twhat
Joined: 28 Oct 2011 Posts: 1271 Location: London
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 11:13 am Post subject: |
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Whisk wrote: | twhat wrote: | Seems ludicrously expensive to me. I've only done the one (no Tattoo sadly) and that was Wales in 2012. I'm pretty sure that was about £180. Thats one hell of a rate of inflation.... |
I doubt if you paid as little as £180 for IM Wales. When I did my first IM in 2006, I paid about £130 for the 70.3 at Wimbleball and my entry for IM Austria worked out pretty much double that at about EUR300. I think IM UK was about £250 that year.
IM entry prices seem to be pretty consistent around the world, regardless of the location. |
I must have it wrong...apologies, i've turned into the 'twas all better in my day ' guy already. It was a good day out to be fair.
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Jorgan
Joined: 12 Nov 2007 Posts: 18226 Location: alles was ich bin, alles was ich war
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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There used to be a good €100 difference between Roth and the Ironman races, but now the difference is only about €40 if you enter an Ironman early.
_________________ 27 Years since it all began....
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FatPom
Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 5411 Location: My happy place
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Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 6:38 pm Post subject: |
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twhat wrote: | Whisk wrote: | twhat wrote: | Seems ludicrously expensive to me. I've only done the one (no Tattoo sadly) and that was Wales in 2012. I'm pretty sure that was about £180. Thats one hell of a rate of inflation.... |
I doubt if you paid as little as £180 for IM Wales. When I did my first IM in 2006, I paid about £130 for the 70.3 at Wimbleball and my entry for IM Austria worked out pretty much double that at about EUR300. I think IM UK was about £250 that year.
IM entry prices seem to be pretty consistent around the world, regardless of the location. |
I must have it wrong...apologies, i've turned into the 'twas all better in my day ' guy already. It was a good day out to be fair. |
I entered the first IMUK which I think was 2005 and I'm sure it was £225 because my Dad drove to Tri UK and got my 100% refund (couldn't get the leave from Oz in the end)
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ttowel
Joined: 30 Sep 2008 Posts: 4127 Location: Swim School
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 1:32 pm Post subject: |
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Poet. wrote: | Where are these flights to Barcelona for £50?
Or, do you fly to Gerona-Costa Brava, then drive down?
ttowel has just made this an easy sell... |
My mistake, £62 but can get cheaper.
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Poet.
Joined: 06 Aug 2013 Posts: 390
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Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2019 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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Bike is £90 return (does your wetsuit, helmet, shoes, spares etc all fit in a bike box?)
Flight is under £50 from John Lennon - which is incredible value!!!
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