Ironman UK 2017: Age Group Results and Kona Qualification

Latest statistics for Ironman UK

This weekend’s Ironman race falls closer to home with Ironman UK taking place in Bolton. Now in its eighth year there have been a few changes to the course in that time, but Bolton has remained a challenging event. Times in Bolton tend to be slower than the average Ironman, but qualifying for one of the 40 Kona slots available remains tough.

In last year’s analysis I deliberately separated out results from 2014 onwards due to the changed bike course. There didn’t appear to be a hugely significant difference in distributions between the old and new routes though. So, for simplicity, this year I’ve grouped all Bolton results together, covering 2009 through to 2016.

Distribution of Finisher Splits at Ironman UK 2017 Compared with 2009-2016

The distributions for this year’s race mostly fall inline with the previous results. The overall times do trend slower, but not by too large a margin. The swim was clearly slower this year and it looks like both bike and run distribute very slightly slower too. These differences are mostly by the median, the front percentiles are more closely matched with older results.

DNS and DNF Rates at Ironman UK
Listed Athletes Swim Finish Swim DNS/DNF Bike Finish Bike DNF Run Finish Run DNF Overall DNS/DNF
2007 1560 1232 21% 1169 5.1% 1129 3.4% 27.5%
2008 1650 1281 22.4% 1223 4.5% 1193 2.5% 27.6%
2009 1652 1371 17% 1285 6.3% 1260 1.9% 23.7%
2010 1371 1104 19.5% 1067 3.4% 1050 1.6% 23.3%
2011 1276 1080 15.4% 1061 1.8% 1037 2.3% 18.7%
2012 1278 1274 0.3% 1236 3% 1180 4.5% 7.7%
2013 1600 1429 10.7% 1393 2.5% 1355 2.7% 15.3%
2014 1982 1735 12.5% 1643 5.3% 1602 2.5% 19.1%
2015 2157 1856 14% 1758 5.3% 1707 2.9% 20.9%
2016 2094 1817 13.2% 1741 4.2% 1685 3.2% 19.5%
2017 1874 1863 0.6% 1785 4.2% 1717 3.8% 8.3%

DNS and DNF data is accurate for this year’s race, the numbers for the swim are purely DNFs (those years with double digit swim numbers mix DNF and DNS). Rates on the bike appear quite normal, but for the run the DNF rate appears to be at the high end. Overall it would suggest DNF was up very slightly at this year’s event, but not by an exceptional margin.

Median Splits by Age Group at Ironman UK 2017
Median Splits by Age Group at Ironman UK 2009-2016

At the age group level the swim is the only median that’s clearly slower in this year’s results. For the rest of the race there’s more variability across age groups indicating how minor differences are.

Top 10 Nationalities at Ironman UK
Count Percentage
United Kingdom 1754 86
Ireland 57 2.8
France 30 1.5
Belgium 19 0.9
Spain 18 0.9
United States 18 0.9
Germany 17 0.8
Poland 16 0.8
Italy 12 0.6
Sweden 11 0.5
Ironman UK 2017 Predicted Kona Qualifiers by Country
Country Percentage of Slots Percentage of Field
United Kingdom 52.5 86.0
Ireland 7.5 2.8
France 7.5 1.5
Spain 7.5 0.9
Netherlands 5.0 0.2
Belgium 5.0 0.9
Ukraine 2.5 0.1
Italy 2.5 0.6
Austria 2.5 0.1
Poland 2.5 0.8
Sweden 2.5 0.5
Germany 2.5 0.8

Ironman UK is definitely a local race with the vast majority of competitors coming from the UK. We don’t quite claim our portion of the slots though and the distribution here is a little more wide spread.

Changes in Male Finishing Times by Position at Ironman UK
Changes in Female Finishing Times by Position at Ironman UK

Tracking times for different positions in each age group gives some context for this year’s results in relation to the previous 7 years. There’s a lot of variance here though by both placing and division. Generally front placings are more likely to show faster times, but it’s not true in all categories. The mix probably reflects how similar this year’s race was to previous results.

Ironman UK 2017 Predicted Kona Qualification Times
  Slots Winner Average Kona Qualifier Final Qualifier
M18-24 1 9:41:21 9:41:21 9:41:21
M25-29 2 9:36:28 9:37:29 9:38:30
M30-34 3 9:02:54 9:31:40 9:46:33
M35-39 4 9:23:40 9:36:07 9:47:59
M40-44 4 9:42:29 9:50:33 10:04:29
M45-49 4 9:53:57 10:00:37 10:06:40
M50-54 3 10:17:42 10:30:25 10:44:25
M55-59 2 11:01:19 11:13:41 11:26:04
M60-64 1 11:29:13 11:29:13 11:29:13
M65-69 1 13:46:39 13:46:39 13:46:39
M70-74 1 16:17:36 16:17:36 16:17:36
F18-24 1 11:41:16 11:41:16 11:41:16
F25-29 1 10:58:22 10:58:22 10:58:22
F30-34 2 11:05:23 11:05:28 11:05:34
F35-39 2 10:44:28 11:30:04 12:15:41
F40-44 2 12:01:27 12:06:37 12:11:47
F45-49 1 10:50:43 10:50:43 10:50:43
F50-54 1 11:42:14 11:42:14 11:42:14
F55-59 1 13:27:07 13:27:07 13:27:07
F60-64 1 14:12:07 14:12:07 14:12:07
F65-69 1 16:26:37 16:26:37 16:26:37
F70-74 1 14:47:28 14:47:28 14:47:28

Based on start numbers I’ve calculated the likely distribution of Kona slots at Ironman UK and from that the automatic qualifying times in this year’s results. This makes no account for roll down and the final allocation may vary from my calculations. For more information on Kona qualifying times at Ironman UK and other races, check out my Kona qualification page.

Top Twenty Male Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman UK 2017
Top Twenty Female Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman UK 2017

The final step of this analysis is the top twenty in each age group. Here we can see how Kona qualification compared with previous results. For the most part times among the top twenty trended faster than the Bolton average. For some age groups this is more pronounced than others, but nearly every one trended a little faster.

So overall the race looks to have been typical for the Bolton course. I’d note that front runner times came in slightly faster than the norm, but further back the trend was closer to average, perhaps a little slower even.

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