As the North American Ironman Championship Ironman Texas ia a big race. It draws over 3,000 athletes and offers 80 Kona slots to the fastest age groupers. The course tends to be fast and the race for slots is competitive with major age groups needing times below 9:30 for a chance of a slot.
There have been some variations to the course in previous years. I’ve excluded the results from 2016 in any grouped data as the bike was significantly shortened. 2018 results remain although a less significant reduction to the course was made last year.
Outside of the swim this year’s course trends slightly slower than the amalgamated data of previous years. The change is relatively small, 5-10 minutes at the median in both bike and run. This sums to a 15-20 minute slower overall median for this years race. IT appears 2019 is a slightly slower than average year.
Comparing DNF figures also suggests this year’s race had a higher DNF rate than has been typical. Remembering that blue rows contain data that is purely DNF figures, but red rows incorporate DNS numbers too. Of the blue rows, this year has the highest DNF rate in both bike and run. This would suggest conditions might have been a little tougher.
Median trends in age groups follow the pattern shown in the distribution charts. There is some variation across age groups, but this largely means slower bike and run medians.
While the majority of athletes racing are from the US, the North American Ironman Championship draws a wide field with a lot of potential. Slots appear to have been distributed to athletes from around the world.
Tracking the times for specific age group positions since the race began in 2011 shows that 2019 is largely in line with some of the earlier races. We can see the much faster times of 2016 and 2018 where course alterations had some impact. 2017 is also a faster year. This year’s times tend to compare with results from 2015 and before with times being slower further back in each age group.
Based on the athlete count I’ve calculated the likely Kona slot allocation in Texas. Final numbers will vary and roll down will be a factor. Based on this allocation I’ve then calculated the automatic qualifying time in each age group. You can compare this with other races on my Kona Qualification page.
There’s some variation in the top twenty times in each age group. Broadly times hover around the average for the course. Rarely much faster and in many cases slower. For the front of pack this was largely a typical year of racing for Kona slots though.
You can access a spreadsheet of the full results from Ironman Texas 2019 on my Google Drive.
