The 2021 IM World Champs in 2022
Last week I traveled out to St. George to assist and spectate at the Ironman World Championship (for 2021 in 2022). I have only been to St. George in a cursory capacity (staying in hotels while traveling through town) and I never raced any of the Ironman or 70.3 races previously hosted here. As such, I wasn’t familiar with the area upon arriving and did my best to familiarize myself with the course before race day. I arrived three days out from the event and managed to ride the bigger loop of the bike course; I then drove the climb up Snow Canyon (smaller loop) and the portion of the course leading into town (where the large and small loops begin). The day before the race, I got out early to run a loop of the course. While I would have liked to have ridden all of the bike course, I did my best with the time available.
On race day itself, I was following the front of the men’s pro race, setting up at mile 5/15 on the bike course, the turnaround around mile 38 in the town of Washington and then posted up at the base of Snow Canyon as the athletes headed into the final 12+ miles of the bike course. Once the run started, I was on my bike moving between various portions of the entire run course. As such, I have a good handle on what was consistently happening within the front 5-10 minutes of the men’s race, but wasn’t able to see much else of the men’s or women’s race in any great detail.
My initial thoughts before race day:
I thought the bike course looked challenging and honest. I felt as though one of the tougher sections of the course could have been between ~mile 80-95. This section actually had a major elevation loss, but if the winds picked up, it would have slowed the course down at a time when athletes might be tired and losing focus. The wind did pick up significantly throughout the day, but from what I heard, the front of the pro men’s race did not face much of it. I am sure the age groupers did and the later they started, the more they were affected by it (the AG race was done in waves from 6:45-8:00 a.m. with Pro men and women starting at 6:15 and 6:20 respectively).
As for the run course, I also felt it would be difficult as it was basically uphill for 50% and downhill for 50% of the time with almost zero neutral/flat terrain. It seemed to me that the uphill section on the second loop from the turnaround in Mathis Park to the high point around mile 23 would be where athletes could really give back time if they were hurting late. That being said, I did think that the course had a good rhythm when I was running it. The uphill and downhill gradients were mostly consistent as opposed to sharp gains and losses which I think can be more tiring. I also thought the wind could play a factor on the run by potentially making tailwind sections very hot and headwind sections somewhat demoralizing.
Race Day
I won’t break down the race itself, but here were some impressions that I was left with:
The bike effort for the men’s race was high the whole time. The front group was pushing with Blummenfelt riding solo in the middle for quite some time with a very strong chase pack behind him. The fact that the gaps were holding on a tough and challenging course like that shows that no one was willing to settle. I was surprised that Blummenfelt actually chased solo for as long as he did given the gap was remaining rather large. In the press conference after the race, he mentioned that he was feeling pretty worked and it was only then that he eased up for a little bit in hopes of regrouping once Wurf/Sanders caught up to him. I have heard some power numbers from some of the athletes and they were high. I’m sure some have released their numbers, but I will allow them to do that on their own instead of me mentioning them here. Basic idea: no one took it easy on the bike at all.
The run course produced some fast times, ostensibly a lot faster than many would have thought given the difficulty of the terrain and the conditions. The temperature was in the 90’s for the run and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The heat index may not have been quite as high as it would be on a race day in Kona, but the terrain was definitely more challenging and the mix of paths/sidewalks/turns was more cumbersome than a course like Kona that uses all open roadways. The initial reaction might be that the course was not as difficult as perceived. However, the reason for the fast times comes from the athletes themselves. There has been a lot of praise of Blummenfelt’s performance (as there should be), but we also need to remember that the top 5 men all went under 8 hours on an incredibly challenging course in adverse conditions. The level of competition and performance is exceptional and that’s where the fast times are coming from (and this trend will only continue further, in Kona and elsewhere).
The athletes missing from the start line were a major talking point pre-race, particularly with Iden and Brownlee pulling out the day before the race. We will never know how well they (and other notable athletes) may have performed or how they would have changed the dynamics of the race, but this happens all the time. It is hard for 100% of any field to show up healthy and ready to go at any race, including the World Championship. Given the stakes of this race, athletes would have been pushing themselves right to the limit in their preparation and that is going to be beneficial for some and detrimental for others. I am sure when Kona comes around in October there will be scratches during that race week too.
Alternative Race Venue for the Ironman World Championship
I think a lot of people are loath to discuss the idea of moving the World Champs from Kona. That debate aside, here are my thoughts on St. George serving as a venue for an Ironman World Championship:
Pros:
Challenging bike course. The terrain here was tough and the athletes needed to be well rounded with fitness and skill. I won’t expound here as I think that was easy to see.
Challenging and spectator-friendly run course. I don’t think a highly difficult run course is as crucial as the need for a challenging bike course at an Ironman WC, but it was still nice to see a course with varying terrain. Moreover, unlike Kona, which doesn’t have many options for spectators for much of the second half of the run on the Queen K, this course was able to have spectators everywhere. Even though the spectators were more concentrated towards front end of the course, there was still support all along the way including the turnaround loop in Mathis Park.
The venue is big enough to provide lots of housing and accommodations for a lot of people coming into town. This is coupled with the reasonable proximity of a major airport in Las Vegas (120 miles away) as well as a smaller, local commercial airport in St. George.
Cons:
The host city is quite large and it doesn’t have the energy of a place like Kona where everyone knows it’s race day. I’m sure a lot of people in STG knew a race was taking place, but I think WC venues need to go beyond basic awareness within a community.
I believe the bike course needs to be completely one loop (by one loop I mean you never lap other athletes, not a loop in a literal sense). I realize there was only a small section of overlap near the end of the course, but the WC needs to have zero overlap, in my opinion.
I believe the run course needs to avoid extensive use of bike paths and when it does, it should be one-way only. For a WC venue, I believe it should be a one-loop (like the bike) run course and it needs to be in open enough areas for media and officials to move around easily at all times.
I really enjoyed the chance to see this race in person and watch such high caliber athletes lay it all on the line; I am hoping to be able to do the same this October in Hawai’i.
-justin