Roll-down for 70.3 world championship slot....what is typical? what is your experience?

Larry Peters

Hi EN,

I'm wondering if I would have a shot at getting a 70.3 World Championship Slot next year. I will be in the Men's 35-39 age group next year (turning 35 in February). It looks like most races have 30 slots for 30 age groups. My understanding is that because several age groups typically don't have people competing (75-79 for example), the biggest age groups sometimes get 2+ slots. 

In other people's experience, how far do qualifying slots typically roll down? Does anyone have experience with qualifying in the men's 35-39 age group? How far did the slots roll down for you? Was the World Championship overseas or in North America that year (the race for which you qualified)?

I got this message from someone representing the Steelhead 70.3 IM this year and it really surprised me (17th place!?!):

"I do know that there ended up being 2 slots allocated for this division (35-39) and they went to 3rd place and 17th place. I do not remember how many slots were allocated initially ( whether it was one or two ).....Because this world championship is in another country, the slots tend to roll father down."

2018 South Africa
2019 Nice, France

So I guess qualifying at a 2018 race (summer or fall) will slot someone for the 2019 world championship, right? I wonder if more people are willing to travel to France than South Africa?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

scott dinhofer

sounds to me like you nailed it. My guess would be that more people want to go to Nice vs SA... makes me think at looking at that! what's the date for Nice??
and yes, they even rolled quite a bit for the Chattanooga WC this year, so expect the to go deep for ones that require foreign travel. 

Larry Peters

Thanks @Scott Dinhofer! Dates for Nice, France: Saturday, September 7th and Sunday, September 8th, 2019 (citation below). You should go for it! We could both represent EN in France. That be sweet!

Well, that is very exciting to me! I figured you would have to at least place in the top 3, which may be out of reach for me. But I think top 10 or top 20 (at least at Steelhead) seems very doable. Of course, there can be a lot of year to year variation in the competition level in a given age group (based on my review of several year's worth of race results from Steelhead 70.3). So we'll see...

Originally from: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/news/articles/2017/04/nice-world-championship-announcement.aspx#ixzz4sJrXvD7G

Mike Roberts

They always roll a lot, especially for foreign WC races, but usually only a lot in older AGs. They've rolled to - and past - me in my last five races. At Raleigh, the sub-30 yos tended to grab them pretty early, but they rolled into the 20s and 30s in some AG's, to the point where they announced, "is anyone here from the ___ age group who wants to go?"  Silence. On to the next AG. But, again, usually just 40+. They also rolled what seemed like hundreds of times at Puerto Rico.  The ceremony took forever.  Just go top-20 in your AG, attend, cross fingers. By the time I decide I want to go, they probably won't roll anymore. 

scott dinhofer

@larry peters, probably doesn't fit my intended schedule for next year.. but you never know. I also have to find a 70.3 that does fit my schedule to qualify, so a double whammy.. 

Larry Peters

Sweet, thanks a ton @Mike Roberts ! I got 21 in my age group (30-34) this year at my first 70.3 (Steelhead), with only ~5.5 months of biking/swimming (a return after a ~5 year hiatus) so I think that I can do it (assuming I stay healthy & keep training). I guess my other 2018 goal, going for as high as possible All World Athlete 70.3 classification will be a more challenging goal, then. I initially guessed the WC qualification would be a much harder goal. Another good reason to have multiple goals .

But looking at other 2017 70.3 race results, I'm thinking Steelhead may not have been as competitive of a field in the 35-39 age group as races like Coeur d'Alene, Costa Rica or BSLT (the three contenders for my 6/24/18 race). So I don't want to underestimate the challenges at hand with only 1 race experience.

Larry Peters

Scott Dinhofer said:

@larry peters, probably doesn't fit my intended schedule for next year.. but you never know. I also have to find a 70.3 that does fit my schedule to qualify, so a double whammy.. 

@Scott Dinhofer Nice is in 2019 .

Francis Picard

@Larry Peters
just stay out of 70.3 MT please

Peter Greagg

I qualified for yesterday's Worlds at Chatanooga in May at Port Maquarie Australia in May. I am in the 65-69 age group and got the roll down slot at 4th.
Interestingly there was a woman in the 40-45 age group at Port who had travelled from Denver to qualify. She came second and qualified outright.

Larry Peters

Francis Picard said:

@Larry Peters
just stay out of 70.3 MT please

ha ha ha! Thanks! I'll take that as a compliment. I was hoping to do IM MT 70.3, actually, but it sold out like a month ago!

Larry Peters

Peter Greagg said:

I qualified for yesterday's Worlds at Chatanooga in May at Port Maquarie Australia in May. I am in the 65-69 age group and got the roll down slot at 4th.
Interestingly there was a woman in the 40-45 age group at Port who had travelled from Denver to qualify. She came second and qualified outright.

Thanks a ton! It sounds like the slots for the Australia WC race were in higher demand --> less roll down. My planned 6/24/18 race will supposedly be for a South Africa slot, but my last two races of the season will be for a Nice slot. I'll be interested to see how much more popular Nice slots are than South Africa slots. Honestly, I think going to South Africa for any reason would be amazing (and for a race would be even better)! But I'd certainly have to save up!

Tom Glynn

I was at IM Santa Cruz 70.3 on the weekend.  There were 30 slots to SA available, so mostly 1 per AG.  Almost all slots rolled at least once, some 5 or 6.  I didn't keep notes, but it seemed to me that women's AGs rolled more than the men's.  Not sure of the younger/older breakout.

Larry Peters

Tom Glynn said:

I was at IM Santa Cruz 70.3 on the weekend.  There were 30 slots to SA available, so mostly 1 per AG.  Almost all slots rolled at least once, some 5 or 6.  I didn't keep notes, but it seemed to me that women's AGs rolled more than the men's.  Not sure of the younger/older breakout.

Cool, thanks @Tom Glynn ! So does rolling once or 5 or 6 times mean rolling to 2nd place or to 5th or 6th place in the age group?

Tom Glynn

@Larry Peters
In my AG 55-59, it rolled once, so the 1st place guy passed on it, giving it to the 2nd place finisher - me
My friend was in the women's 45-49 group with one slot available.  The 7th place person took the slot, so it rolled 6 times (the way I do the calculation anyway!)

Robert Sabo

Tom Glynn congratulations.  I hope to earn a spot and race in South Africa as well.

Paul Hough

Got my slot at Augusta 70.3 today so I get to go back to South Africa.  Taking son #3 for this trip. I didn't stay for the young age groups.  M70 went to 1st place.  No takers for M65 and it passed to M45.  I took M60 with 3rd.

Larry Peters

Congrats @Tom Glynn , and thanks for the clarification! Congratulations to @Paul Hough , too! Thanks for sharing your experience. Hopefully @Robert Sabo and I can both join you!

@Paul Hough , so you've traveled there for races before. My current chance to qualify would be 06/24/18 (probably Coeur d'Alene 70.3). So if I did qualify, it would be only a little over 2 months to plan a trip to South Africa. How crazy/difficult/extra $$$ do you think that would be?

Thanks!

Paul Hough

Larry, I think there will be reduced hotel options but certainly doable.  You can do any of the following:  a)  book your hotel now for any that don't require a deposit, b) wait for a slot then take a room with a travel service like EST, or c) take a room that opens up when the inevitable cancellation occur.  

I can guarantee you people are booking rooms before they have a slot.  And some travel companies are already negotiating block reservations.  CRA is OK timing for buying airfare but do that within a week of getting a slot.  Good luck!!!!