Matt,

Varying conditions do make comparisons harder, one of the reasons I try to average over races. I compared the 2013 splits against all 9 years of Coeur d’Alene I have in my database and it was only 2012 which differed. It may be the temperature difference you mention, otherwise 2013 swim splits are statistically similar to other races in CdA.

Swim DNF figures are unfortunately much trickier to find as Ironman rarely provides info on the number of starters at a race. It’s impossible to determine if an athlete without a swim time in the athlete tracker DNFed in the swim or DNS. So that comparison is tricky. It’s worth noting in all but rare instances swim DNFs are quite a small portion of the overall race numbers and it would likely be hard to detect a significant difference over the 9 races. If I had start times I could use splits from swim and T1 to get some feel for race congestion. Again it’s a data shortage problem though.

Thanks

Russ

This was my first Ironman so I can not compare to a mass start. However, I have done about 10 other triathlons up to 1/2 IM and this was easily the easiest swim start I have ever experienced. The 90 degree turn prior to entry was not a big deal because timing didn’t start until you went under the arch so there was no rush or pushing. Once in the water I had plenty of room to swim and the course only felt crowded at the turns. I only had 2 people swim over me as I was finishing my 1st loop and the fast swimmers who started before me were finishing their second loops. The second loop was equally uneventful.

I think a look at the swim DNF rate vs an average might be more telling. Again, since the water temperature was so cold in 2012 I’m not sure how valid that direct comparison would be.