The third and final Ironman race to analyse is Japan, the first qualifier for the 2015 World Championship. Now in it’s second year at the Lake Toya venue, results proved to be much like the first. Finish times remain at the slower end of the spectrum for Ironman events and 2014 splits largely matched those from 2013.
The only difference of note comparing the median splits from the two years is the consistently slower swim times at this year’s race. Other than this there is no consistent pattern across the age groups.
The similarities are clearer with the split distributions. Only the swim displays a noticeable shift from the 2013 results, otherwise bike, run and overall splits largely line up.
At the front of the race, with a couple of exceptions, there’s not much variation in results either. For the most part finish times tend to fall close to the 2013 results. The M35-39 and M40-44 age groups are the only two that are notably slower than the previous year.
A relatively easy piece of analysis – so far Ironman Japan has been consistent. The course is clearly not the fastest and with a relatively small field for an Ironman race it may not be the most competitive either. You can view a spreadsheet of the results and splits from Ironman Japan 2014 on my Google Drive.
