Here are 20 must-knows for Saturday’s IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona:
No. 1: With more than 2,300 athletes registered to start the race on Saturday, this will be the largest athlete field ever at the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.
No. 2: The race is 140.6 miles. The 2.4 mile swim segment begins and ends at Kailua Pier. The bike race travels north along the coast to Hawi, with athletes returning along the same route to transition. The marathon course travels through Kailua-Kona and back onto Queen Kaahumanu Highway. Athletes then run back into Kailua-Kona, coming down Alii Drive to the cheers of thousands of spectators at the finish line.
No. 3: The reigning world champions are Sebastian Kienle of Germany and three-time World Champion Mirinda Carfrae of Australia.
No. 4: Carfrae is vying to claim her third consecutive IRONMAN World Championship victory, a feat last accomplished by Chrissy Wellington of Great Britain in 2009.
No. 5: For the second year, the world championship event will feature separate age-group starts. The male pros kick off from Kailua Pier at 6:25 a.m., followed by the female pros at 6:30 a.m. The age groupers will start even later than in years past, with the male athletes starting at 6:55 a.m., and female age groupers at 7:10 a.m.
No. 6: If highly touted German pro Jan Frodeno comes in first on Saturday, he’ll be the first athlete to win both Olympic gold and the Kona title.
No. 7: The overall course records are currently held by Australian athletes Craig Alexander and the regining champ Carfrae. Alexander set the male record in 2011 with a time of 8:03:56 seconds. Carfrae set the mark for the women in 2013 with a time of 8:52:14.
No. 8: A pair of Americans hold the swim records. Lars Jorgensen holds the male mark for the 2.4-mile course with a time of 46:41 in 1998. In 1999, Jodi Jackson set the bar on the female side with a 48:43.
No. 9: Normann Stadler set the bike record in 2006 on the way to his second IRONMAN World Championship. He came in with a time of 4:18:23. Swiss athlete Karin Thurig is the women’s record holder at 4:44:20.
No. 10: Mark Allen literally ran away with his first of six IRONMAN titles in 1989 with a 2:40:04 marathon. It is a mark that has stood for a quarter century. Carfrae set the run course record — again — in 2014 with a time of 2:50:26, besting her 2013 marathon by 12 seconds.
No. 11: With triathletes ranging in age from 19 to 85 having qualified to compete in the World Championship, the average age of 2015 age groupers is 43.2, well above the average age of professional triathletes at 33.7. The overall average age is 42.8.
No. 12: The United States is the most represented country with 768 competitors, accounting for nearly 32 percent of registrants this year. Athletes from 48 U.S. states are represented, with the greatest number coming from California (138), Colorado (54), Hawaii (49), Texas (44) and New York (44).
No. 13: Australia has the second-most athletes competing with 250, followed by Germany (175), Great Britain (148), Canada (114) and Brazil (98). Countries including Portugal, Singapore, Norway, Estonia and Brazil experienced the largest percent growth in athlete representation since 2014.
No. 14: After losing the men’s title to Europe in 2014, Australia is out to reassert its dominance in the men’s field with six IRONMAN World Championship victories in the past eight years.
15: There will be live coverage of the race available on IRONMAN.com, starting at 6 a.m. There is also live athlete tracking available on the website.
No. 16: The official hashtag for the race is #IMKona.
No. 17: The NBC IRONMAN World Championship special will air on Nov. 14, recapping of the pro race and also following inspiring age-groupers.
18: The first professionals will probably start rolling in a little after 2:30 p.m. But spectators should get there early to get a good seat. Alii Drive gets packed quickly.
No. 19: Long after the professional athletes come in, the finish line comes alive at night. Cheering on final finishers before the midnight cutoff is among the best experiences in all of sports.
No. 20: Full results from the event will run in the Monday edition of West Hawaii Today.