Apologies to Australian readers – I’ve been slow in putting together my analysis of Ironman Australia 2015. The long standing Australian Ironman celebrated 30 years this time round and with that came a few extra Kona slots. As a side note – picking out anniversary races may increase your qualification odds. Port Macquarie is one of the slower Ironman races in Australia – it’s a tough little course. Here’s a quick look at how this year’s race compares.
Starting with the broad medians across each age group (and in the second chart over multiple years of racing) the trend appears to be towards slower times in most age groups, but particularly the younger and older ones. This may reflect where the majority of competitors lie with smaller age groups being more prone to swings in results. It’s not a universal trend, in some instances age groups come out a little faster on bike or run, but for the most part times are slower.
Comparing the distribution of splits across the race with past events shows a lot of similarities. This year was, if anything, slower than we usually see in Port Macquarie; bike and run are slower and consequentially so are the overall results. It’s not by a huge factor though – differences of 5-10 minutes at the median point on bike and run, amounting to around 15 minutes difference in the overall results.
The front of pack age groupers also present a mixed picture. There is no consistent pattern. some age groups are faster than average, many are slower. It’s certainly not a record breaking year and in some – particularly younger – age groups it’s among the slowest seen. Overall I’d say it was on par at the very front of the field, so for those gaining the Kona slots. Further back it looks like performances trailed off a little further and the overall field was a touch slower than usual at Port Macquarie.
As usual, a Spreadsheet of the full results and splits from Ironman Australia 2015 is available on my Google Drive.
