Ironman Wisconsin vs. World Championships 70.3

Personally, I'd rather do Vegas since it's the first time it's been there and it's the championships and indications are it will be harder to qualify for it in the future compared to Clearwater since nobody really wanted to go to Clearwater and rolldown was easy to get when it was there.  I bet Vegas would be cool and plan on trying to get there at some point.  Doesn't look like you are going for a Kona slot at Wisconsin so why not get faster for a year and go back next year.

hmmm, long weekend in vegas for world championships with best athletes in the sport or in wisconsin.  Tough one.

Oprah Winfrey ran a fairly solid marathon. FWIW.

This is B.T. remember.

I didn't mean to diss Oprah.  I should have probably picked on P. Diddy Puff Daddy Sean John Combs instead.  He would've smoked me as well (his 4:18 blew out my 6+ hour marathon).

Anyway, sound advice on the Vegas front.  Kona is not in the cards unless I'm still doing this at 70, so I better get my 15 minutes of fame in Vegas, baby!

Race Wisconsin and give me your Vegas slot!!!

I'm aiming to grab a slot at Buffalo Springs in 2 weeks, but I was thinking I'd need to be under 4:35.  You've given me hope!

If you've qualified once, you can probably do so again.  Follow your heart and do whichever race you think will be most rewarding.  Good luck either way!

x2.  IM isn't going anywhere.  You may never qualify for Vegas again -- take your opportunity and run with it!

Awesome!

I didn't stick around for roll downs but I was curious to see how far they went at Kansas. In 2010 for more than one age group they had to resort to "OK anyone in this AG who wants to go to Clearwater come to the stage... next 2 get the last slots" because no one was there. I could count like... maybe 50 people at the awards ceremony before they started roll downs on Sunday? Crazy.

I was surprised more people didn't stick around.  In some age groups, there were definitely more triathletes at the awards and roll down ceremony than spots (like 18-24).  However, in a couple of age groups, the spot did not get picked up and was reallocated to another age group.  Amazing to me.

I believe that each 70.3 event will only have 40 spots allocated to it next year (instead of 50), so it will be even tougher to qualify. 

The swim at Kansas was brutal because of the waves, but otherwise a beautiful day...

Don't forget "Swag"

But you would be racing the World Championship!!!! Few people get to say they competed in a true WC.  Would an amateur golfer turn down the chance to play in a US Open or a Masters????????

A true world championship?  Hardly.

Don't take this the wrong way, you are way faster than me, but you didn't podium, you got in on a rolldown, and in Vegas you'll be at best a MOP.  Just because a corporation is labeling it a "World Championship" doesn't really mean much, since any pro's there will be looking ahead to Kona.  And depending on the how the course is laid out, you might not even get to see the pro's that you're racing against.  Technically I raced Chris Alexander last year at Racine.  I saw him for the total time it takes for a body moving one direction at 18 mph to pass a body moving in the opposite direction at 27 mph.  But I like to think that for that brief moment, I got in his head.  He was scared.

For me, nothing compares to a full.  Especially when you still have the bad taste of Louisville in your mouth.  I'd say go to Wisconsin and redeem your marathon time.  Oh, and of course brag to everyone that will listen that you qualified for the 70.3 world championships.

I find it hard to fathom that someone would turn down a slot at a "world championship" (acknowledging the mostly made-up corporate aspect of the "WC", but it is what it is) for fear that they might be last in their AG.  But that's just me, I am not in any danger of weighing down the podium, so I would just go for the experience.

As long as you do the best you can, that's all you can expect.  If people are faster than your best effort, so be it.

No question do IM-Moo.  You've already plunked down the $600+ for the race plus you have some unfinished business with the distance based on your experience last year.  Not sure why you even took the slot knowing that you already had an IM planned.  In my mind the IM is a way better experience than any half, even the "world championship".  Also, if you qualified for one 70.3 championship, its likely that another would be in your future if you so desire.

I wasn’t trying to take anything away from him qualifying, sorry if that's the way it came out, and I definitely don’t think he should skip the race for fear of being last.  But he should compare what his experience would be of the two races. One is a freakin’ Ironman, the ultimate endurance event.  The other is a chance for the elite age groupers to compete against their best counterparts from around the world.  If that was a competition that he is going to be in the middle of, then by all means go to Vegas and see how you stack up against the best.  But for him, it’s not, therefore, the race will be just another half with a fancy name.   

If he didn’t have IMWI already scheduled, then go to Vegas.  But as he said, he’s had that bad taste in his mouth from Louisville for the better part of a year.  I personally would not forgo my Ironman redemption just to be able to say I raced in the World Championships, especially when he can already rightfully claim that he qualified.