Ironman Santa Rosa 2019: Age Group Results and Kona Qualification

Latest statistics for Ironman Santa Rosa

Ironman Santa Rosa is a relatively new part of the Ironman calendar with 2019 being it’s third year. It’s a mid sized race with the standard 40 Kona slots on offer. Course changes have been made over its three years which will impact somewhat on comparison of times. This years race doesn’t deviate far from previous results though.

Distribution of Finisher Splits at Ironman Santa Rosa 2019 Compared with 2017-2018

This year’s race gave us a faster swim and a faster run, but was balanced with a slightly slower bike. So the overall distribution is similar to that of the previous two years of racing. If anything is notable in the results here it’s that there’s a particularly large spike in finishers in the 11:30-12:00 range.

DNS and DNF Rates at Ironman Santa Rosa
Year
Listed Athletes
Swim Finish
Swim DNS/DNF
Bike Finish
Bike DNF
Run Finish
Run DNF
Overall DNS/DNF
2017
1886
1845
2.2%
1778
3.6%
1698
4.5%
9.3%
2018
1580
1537
2.7%
1449
5.7%
1410
2.7%
10.8%
2019
1735
1704
1.8%
1635
4%
1570
4%
9.5%

DNF rates remain consistent with previous years. As well as being faster the swim saw a drop off in DNFs. Bike and run DNF rates are mid-range for the course.

Median Splits by Age Group at Ironman Santa Rosa 2019
Median Splits by Age Group at Ironman Santa Rosa 2017-2018

Medians for individual age groups reflect the trends of the distributions. As changes are relatively small we also see variance across the age groups rather than a consistent pattern. Not every bike is slower and how much slower varies for example.

Top 10 Nationalities at Ironman Santa Rosa
Country
Count
Percentage
United States
1605
76.7
Canada
69
3.3
Mexico
50
2.4
United Kingdom
44
2.1
Philippines
38
1.8
France
25
1.2
Costa Rica
22
1.1
Japan
21
1
Germany
15
0.7
Australia
14
0.7
Ironman Santa Rosa 2019 Predicted Kona Qualifiers by Country
Country
Percentage of Slots
Percentage of Field
United States
60.0
76.7
Canada
7.5
3.3
Serbia
2.5
0.1
Ecuador
2.5
0.2
Bermuda
2.5
0.1
Chile
2.5
0.4
Finland
2.5
0.1
Norway
2.5
0.1
Germany
2.5
0.7
Ireland
2.5
0.3
Czech Republic
2.5
0.1
Brazil
2.5
0.6

As we’d expect Santa Rosa is predominantly a US race with a selection of other nationalities present. Kona slots mainly stay at home, but a third went outside the US.

Changes in Male Finishing Times by Position at Ironman Santa Rosa
Changes in Female Finishing Times by Position at Ironman Santa Rosa

The changes in age group times for specific positions show modest variations over the three years for the major age groups (M35 through to M50). Front of pack athletes show smaller variation over the three years than those towards the back.

Ironman Santa Rosa 2019 Predicted Kona Qualification Times
Age Group
Slots
Winner
Average Kona Qualifier
Final Qualifier
M18-24
1
09:03:49
09:03:49
09:03:49
M25-29
2
08:51:27
09:02:22
09:13:17
M30-34
3
08:56:47
08:59:56
09:03:54
M35-39
4
09:07:27
09:13:44
09:21:37
M40-44
4
09:26:02
09:29:17
09:30:49
M45-49
4
09:22:32
09:30:22
09:38:02
M50-54
4
09:32:03
09:57:37
10:09:59
M55-59
2
09:54:10
10:15:24
10:36:38
M60-64
1
10:48:35
10:48:35
10:48:35
M65-69
1
11:39:23
11:39:23
11:39:23
F18-24
1
11:32:15
11:32:15
11:32:15
F25-29
1
10:30:20
10:30:20
10:30:20
F30-34
1
10:16:23
10:16:23
10:16:23
F35-39
1
10:16:05
10:16:05
10:16:05
F40-44
1
11:04:37
11:04:37
11:04:37
F45-49
2
10:31:00
10:33:22
10:35:44
F50-54
1
10:46:56
10:46:56
10:46:56
F55-59
1
12:17:54
12:17:54
12:17:54
F60-64
1
11:41:14
11:41:14
11:41:14
F65-69
1
14:12:04
14:12:04
14:12:04

I’ve estimated the allocation of Kona slots to age groups in the above table and from that calculated the automatic Kona qualifying times. The exact allocation may vary slightly although I believe the algorithm I’m using currently matches the method used by Ironman. Roll down is not taken into account in these times. You can compare with other races at my Kona Qualification page.

Top Twenty Male Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman Santa Rosa 2019
Top Twenty Female Performances and Kona Qualification by Age Group at Ironman Santa Rosa 2019

There’s some variation in top twenty age group performances, but broadly 2019 isn’t too dissimilar to 2018 times. Age groups vary whether this was faster or slower than average. That variance and the fact many tried close to average suggest that for the most part this years Kona race was comparable with the last. There are exceptions: a particular fast M45-49 or a flat M40-44.

You can access a spreadsheet of the full results from Ironman Santa Rosa 2019 on my Google Drive.

Latest statistics for Ironman Santa Rosa

Kona Qualification

Compare qualification times across the Ironman Calendar.

Kona Consultancy

Individual race analysis and guidance for Kona qualification.

Support the Stats

Support the continued development of these stats.

Comments