TriOurWorld

Though there are many amateur triathlon competitions with competition across all skill levels, one race remains, including of Olympic competition, to still distinguish the men and women from the boys and girls, better yet the ironmen and ironwomen from the other still very physically fit and motivated men and women. The Ironman World Championship has been held on the island state of Hawaii every year since 1978, bringing out the toughest competitors on the planet to try their hand at this grueling course. Even the athletes who are awarded gold medals for their efforts in the Summer Games would need to significantly step up their efforts in order take home similar honors in the Ironman field, as the Olympic event known as the Triathlon covers a course of a .93 mile swim, 25 miles cycling and a 6.2 mile run. The Ironman Triathlon, by comparison, requires completion of 2.4 miles in the water, 112 miles on the bike and a full 26.2 mile marathon by foot.In order to finish an Ironman race as officially recognized by the World Triathlon Corporation, an athlete must not only complete the limit-testing lengths as listed but also do so within the capped time of 17 hours. With a standard start time of 7:00 AM, all aspiring Ironmen and Ironwomen must cross the finish line by midnight of that day in order to have their time count. Though many competitors will take their full allotment of time, in hopes of merely claiming bragging rights for a finish rather than placing in the competition, particularly astonishing performances have more than cut the required time in half. The course record for men, set by Luc Van Lierde of Belgium in 1996, stands at 8 hours 4 minutes and 8 seconds, while the women’s record, set by Chrissie Wellington of Great Britain in 2009, is 8 hours 54 minutes and 2 seconds.The event is open to any individual regardless of professional or amateur status, but in order to be entered into the race, one must either qualify by means of finishing one of the several Ironman Triathlon qualifiers staged worldwide over the course of the year or through a lottery process. The year 2010, for example, will see 24 Ironman Triathlon qualifying races, including 7 held in the US, 7 held in Europe, 2 down under in Australia, 3 on the Asian continent and 1 a piece in New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Africa. The lottery system will require a bit of luck in addition to the endurance and training necessary to compete, as there are only 200 spots up for grabs next to an average estimated pool of 30,000 entries. Of these 200 lottery spots, 150 are reserved for United States competitors with the remaining 50 set aside for international athletes.All competitors who can put their bodies through such exhaustive efforts and cross the finish line immediately earn the eternal respect of all endurance athletes across the globe, including the entire triathlon community. Finishing an Ironman race is no small feat, thus the famous event’s now signature tagline “Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life.”