I DNFed my spectating of the 2013 Ironman World Championships around the time the pros started the run. Choosing sleep over the exciting race that was developing between the sponsor breaks on the live stream (who knew there was an Ironman blender?). This morning I was back in front of the computer waiting for the final finishers so I could fetch and analyse the results of this year’s race. I said we could expect a competitive age group race and if the conditions were right fast times; conditions were definitely right and there was some very fast racing for the podium places.
First though some of the top level numbers:
| Total | Males | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered Athletes | 2134 | 1569 | 565 |
| Finishers | 1959 | 1439 | 520 |
| DNS | 67 | 49 | 18 |
| DNF | 101 | 77 | 24 |
| DQ | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Male | Female | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starters | 1569 | 565 | 2134 |
| Swim DNF | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Swim DNF Percent | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Bike DNF | 19 | 8 | 27 |
| Bike DNF Percent | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.3 |
| Run DNF | 74 | 22 | 96 |
| Run DNF Percent | 4.7 | 3.9 | 4.5 |
| Total DNF | 95 | 30 | 125 |
| Total DNF Percent | 6.1 | 5.3 | 5.9 |
The DNF rate at Hawaii is quite consistent and this year doesn’t deviate. Exact DNF and DNS numbers may vary. Figures are based on information available in the Athlete tracker and assume that those athlete registered who didn’t record a swim time (and weren’t indicated as DNF) did not start. Allowing for this discrepancy we still see a typical DNF rate.
Comparing the split times from the 2013 race with the previous 8 years of results shows distributions slightly skewed towards faster splits. This is most obvious on the bike where there are large increases in the proportion of riders finishing between 4:45 and 5:15 over the previous years. The swim shows a similar shift and while the run does show an increase in faster finishers there’s also added weight at the slower end too. The overall result is a faster set of finisher splits with more sub-10 hour age groupers than usual (see table below).
| Total Finishers | Sub-10 Finishers | Sub-10 Percent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 1688 | 368 | 21.8 |
| 2006 | 1624 | 363 | 22.4 |
| 2007 | 1684 | 313 | 18.6 |
| 2008 | 1637 | 309 | 18.9 |
| 2009 | 1652 | 284 | 17.2 |
| 2010 | 1770 | 458 | 25.9 |
| 2011 | 1774 | 461 | 26.0 |
| 2012 | 1887 | 345 | 18.3 |
| 2013 | 1976 | 625 | 31.6 |
The median splits for each category also reflect this leaning towards faster times.
Comparing Kona 2013 with past results from this event (2005 onwards) and the median split times are for the most part faster this year. The pattern is strongest on the bike and weaker for the swim; it largely holds true for the run, but there are a few exceptions. The bike appears to have been the biggest area of gain this year, the run doesn’t show such a distinctive shift in times.
| Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | Finish | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 01:14:35 | 00:04:29 | 05:56:10 | 00:05:13 | 04:18:04 | 11:38:14 |
| Male | 01:10:47 | 00:04:29 | 05:28:00 | 00:05:20 | 04:05:50 | 10:54:27 |
| Overall | 01:11:48 | 00:04:29 | 05:35:28 | 00:05:18 | 04:09:05 | 11:06:04 |
The top 20 splits for each age group present the clearest picture so far.
Comparing 2013 (blue lines) with the finish times seen since 2004 (average red lines with range of times indicated) it’s quite clear that at the very front of the age group World Champs times were quicker than usual. More often than not finish times are the fastest seen for that placing in the last 9 years of results. Finishing times from the qualifying season suggested a strong front of pack, with good conditions on the day the outcome was a particularly fast race.
That’s my preliminary analysis. As with last year’s race I’ll attempt to dig deeper over the next week and further break down this year’s results. So far it’s quite clear that for whatever reason Kona 2013 was one of the faster editions of this event. For those who want to examine the results in more detail I’ve upload the full results and splits from the 2013 Ironman World Championship to my Google Drive.
