Ironman Triathlon Qualifiers for 2009+

Currently you can qualify in two ways for the Ford Ironman World Championship (triathlon) held every October in Kona, Hawaii. You can enter and finish with a qualifying time in one of many Ironman qualifying races. Qualifying races are held year round, throughout the world and are open to citizens of all countries. The Ironman lottery is a random drawing for athletes who didn't win an entry at a qualifying event, awarding a slot to compete at the World Championship.

Qualifier races vary in length, from full Ironman distance (3800 m swim/ 2.4 miles, 180 km bike/ 112 mi, and 42.2 km run /26.2 mi) to half triathlon distance called the 70.3 (half of each distance both metric and English: 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run). Ironman slots go to top age-group finishers, and some professional slots.

The Ironman half triathlon 70.3 race series also has qualifying races, concluding in a world championship. Some 70.3 events also are qualifiers for the Ironman World Championships (full distance) in Hawaii.


Qualifying races for the rest of this year follow. As of this writing all are already sold out except for Ironman UK and Ironman Western Australia.

Ironman Switzerland
Sunday, July 12, 2009 - Zurich, Switzerland

Ironman Lake Placid
Sunday, July 26, 2009 - Lake Placid, New York, USA

Ironman Canada
Sunday, August 30, 2009 - Penticton, B.C., Canada

Ironman Louisville
Sunday, August 30, 2009 - Louisville, Kentucky, USA

Ironman UK
Sunday, August 2, 2009 - Bolton, Lancashire, United Kingdom

Ironman Wisconsin
Sunday, September 13, 2009 - Madison, Wisconsin, USA

The 2009 Ironman championship is scheduled for October 10, 2009.

2010 Ironman Qualifying Events held this year:

Ironman Florida
Saturday, November 7, 2009 - Panama City Beach, Florida, USA

Ironman Arizona
Sunday, November 22, 2009 - Tempe, Arizona, USA

Ironman Cozumel
Sunday, November 29, 2009 - Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico

Ironman Western Australia
Saturday, December 5, 2009 - Busselton, WA, Australia

• Fitness Fixer article with links on training in healthy ways for swimming, biking, and running: Triathlon
• Related Article: Ironman Triathlon
• Coming up: Triathlon training, and triathlon sportsmanship
• Coming, not next but soon: Are triathlons healthy and does it matter?

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Ironman Triathlon

This is fun - this article is the 600th Fitness Fixer post.


Yesterday's post started a series on Triathlons. Triathlon races of different names, organizing bodies, and distances are held year-round. The Ironman is a trademarked name of one particular triathlon and its qualifying races.

The Ironman Triathlon is a long-distance race of a 2.4 mile swim (3.86 km), 112 mile (180.25 km) bike, and a marathon run of 26 miles 385 yards (42.195 km), continuously, in that order.

Fifteen men competed in the first Ironman triathlon in 1978. Then, it was a known "Fitness Fact" that women could not do hard athletics. Several sports of the time banned women. Magazine articles appeared regularly that women had special problems that made doing athletics more dangerous and less possible. Scuba magazines printed (and reprinted) bizarre myths by reporters, that women were physically predisposed to injury from heat, cold, exercise, and decompression. Even chapters in medical books had separate "woman sports" chapters with "proofs" such as shorter legs and less testosterone and blood volume. Currently, teen Asian girls are beating the times of big Western men from that era. Injury rates are shown to be not from gender as much as training. I am a former anatomy and physiology professor. Don't try to snow an anatomy professor about joint angles and limb length as proof of athletic prowess or injury. Future posts will dissect these myths from a physiology basis.

The name "Ironman" and related "Iron" labels are official property of the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The WTC hosts other triathlons around the world that are called Ironman. Who owns what name seems to change, and can get confusing. Several events formerly called Ironman no longer use the word due to aggressive trademark protection. Readers can comment to keep us current.

The Hawaii Ironman Triathlon (various alternate names) hosts the Ironman world championship and owns the race held each fall in Hawai'i. Last year's 2008 Hawai'i Ironman drew over 1700 athletes. The 2009 Hawaii Ironman will be held October 10, 2009. Qualifying races required for eligibility are held throughout the year. Several qualifiers are going on right now, this June and July.


Next - Ironman Triathlon Qualifiers for 2009+

More - Click the label Ironman, below, for all articles on the Ironman, and each label, swimming, biking, running, and others for all Fitness Fixer on each topic.

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Ironman Finisher by Jeff Kastner

Labels: biking, ironman, myths, running, swimming, triathlon

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Swimming and Pulmonary Edema Part II

In Monday's post on Swimming and Pulmonary Edema Part I, Katharine, an Ironman Triathlete, told of having pulmonary edema of swimming twice this year and asked if warm up or fluids were involved. US Open Water Swimming also interviewed me about pulmonary edema. Here are some things they asked.


1. What is pulmonary edema and why should swimmers know or be concerned about it?

Edema means too much fluid accumulation. Fluid suddenly fills the lungs. The left side of the heart is not pumping properly. It can cause you to have to stop a race. It can sometimes cause serious illness and death.

2. Is it more likely to occur in cold water?

It seems to be more likely in cold water. It has occurred in surface swimmers and scuba divers in both cold and warm water. Cold is only one of the several proposed causes.

Causes or contributors seem to be things that increase cardiac preload and afterload, including immersion in water, cold water, heavy exercise, negative pressure breathing (like breathing with a snorkel, and swimming with the chest below the surface and even the slight elevation of the head to breathe in), and drinking too much water or other fluids before swimming. Don't drink lots of water before swimming.

3. What are the signs and symptoms?

Unusually shortness of breath (not just fatigue) and coughing bloody froth. No chest pain.

With a stethoscope you can hear rales, an abnormal rattling breathing sound. Chest x-rays show the classic pattern of pulmonary edema. When blood oxygen in the arteries is checked, arterial O2 may be lowered.

4. Do wet suits provide any measure of protection against PE?

Difficult to say since it has occurred in people with and without wet suits. I haven't seen charts where the numbers of each predisposing possibility, like protective garments and temperature, were compared.

5. Can medical personnel easily detect PE?

Pulmonary edema is not subtle. The person is usually gasping and spitting pink froth, and asking for help with a worried look.

A swimmer who develops shortness of breath and cough in a race may have something else like exercise induced asthma.

6. What is the first aid if PE is suspected?

Get them out of the water. Sit them up to elevate the head, if conscious. Give them 100% oxygen by mask, and get them to the emergency facility.

7. If PE is untreated and the athlete continues to the race/swim, what could happen?

Depends how serious. Symptoms can resolve on their own or they can get worse. I wish I knew the future for them, but it's like other injuries. There have been deaths. We wonder how many people who suddenly went under were not drowning but developed pulmonary edema. We have no way yet to tell. Drowning also produces pulmonary edema (after the fact). Repeat cases of pulmonary edema can occur in the same person.

Interestingly, the frothing pulmonary edema occurs in racehorses after hard races. They are blowing bloody nose froth all over, but veterinarians have reassured me that the horses are fine. Any readers who are veterinarians, please tell me more. If a person is frothing, get help.

Related Posts:
Subjects Invited for Immersion Pulmonary Edema Study
Swimming and Pulmonary Edema Part I

Labels: circulation, cold, fix pain, injury, ironman, pulmonary edema/oedema, swimming, triathlon

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Swimming and Pulmonary Edema Part I

Reader Katharine asked:

"I am an Ironman Triathlete and have recently experienced symptoms of swimming induced pulmonary edema on two occasions this year and am trying to find as much information about this condition as possible. I have a background in swimming and have not experience this phenomena until recently. In both instances, my breathing became labored and fluid built up in my lungs during the early stages of a competitive triathlon swim.

"The most recent instance of what I suspect was 'SIPE' (Swimming Induced Pulmonary Edema) was on July 22nd at Ironman USA in Lake Placid. After the swim portion of the event, I had to be taken to the hospital as I was unable to breathe and was coughing up a 'pink frothy foam.' I felt normal within 24 hours and have still been able to continue to train as normal –initial ECG and Echo tests of my heart are normal, as well as a lung scan and x-rays of my lungs, throat and sinuses.

"The problem has only occurred in 2 out of 4 triathlon’s I have been in this year – and both instances occurred at approx. the 750m mark of an open water swim.

"It doesn't seem to be a common ailment so I’m trying to gather as much information on SIPE as possible from anyone who has studied it. I'm primarily trying to find out how to prevent it from happening. I am fine in training in the same 'open' cold water as I race it, so why is it happening on race day... Perhaps not enough of a swim 'warm-up' and an immediate elevation in HR... that along with added fluids in the days leading up to a long distance event such as an Ironman."

Warming up does not seem to be related to developing pulmonary edema. Why pulmonary edema can happen with swimming, what fluids have to do with it, and what to do, follow on Wednesday - click Swimming and Pulmonary Edema Part II .


Related Posts and Comments:
Swimming and Pulmonary Edema Part II
Subjects Invited for Immersion Pulmonary Edema Study

Labels: circulation, cold, injury, ironman, pulmonary edema/oedema, swimming, triathlon

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