A two-day running of the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona in 2023 is not set in stone, Hawaii County Mayor Mitch Roth said Friday.
A review of the 2022 event will take place in the coming months to determine whether holding a two-day race in 2023 is “feasible,” Roth said. The mayor’s comments came in the wake of hours-long traffic back ups amid Thursday’s race as well as other issues in the days leading up to the largest running ever of the world championship.
“We told (Ironman) that we would evaluate, so we are evaluating that situation,” Roth said when asked if the decision to hold the race over two days was finalized for 2023, despite Ironman already moving forward with awarding slots for the triathlon.
The mayor noted that while some changes implemented to traffic patterns appeared to help Thursday, others did not work so well. Roth was among the hundreds of vehicles stuck for over an hour trying to exit the downtown area Thursday evening. Traffic on Saturday was a bit better.
“We are re-evaluating whether we do (the race) either two times, or whether we do it on a weekday at all because we realize there were a lot of issues that came up because it was on a weekday, or whether we just do it one day. But we’re trying to get through this week,” he said. “We are going to be discussing a lot of it and we have been discussing a lot of it with the people at Ironman. I think they understand as well that there was some things that happened that didn’t go as planned.”
Though Roth said a two-day running hasn’t been finalized, Ironman officials said Sunday that the Florida-based company is already planning — and awarding slots — for races on Thursday, Oct. 12, and Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. Based on qualifying races to date, 540 slots have been awarded for the 2023 race days.
“We announced the two-day format for 2023 with the support of the County in July of this year and have athletes who have already qualified since the 2023 cycle began in August,” Ironman said in a statement to West Hawaii Today. “For over 40 years, we have worked with the community to create an event that redefines what is possible, unites all through sport, is synonymous with monumental achievement – and does so while providing significant benefit to the Island of Hawaii while minimizing the level of disruption to the lives of people within the community.”
Ironman said there is a lot to learn from hosting the first two-day event, adding the company is “always looking at ways to improve upon previous editions.”
“We are committed to working with the community to improve the event experience for all and have already begun to implement changes for 2023. We look forward to the continued work in the coming months with the Mayor and County of Hawaii, town of Kailua-Kona, and all other constituents to minimize the impact of the event as we meet the needs of the community,” the statement read.
Ironman also pointed to a July 28 press release announcing two-day races in 2022 and 2023. That press release, according to Ironman, included a quote provided by Roth and was “reviewed and approved” by the county before distribution.
In the prepared release, Roth praised the county-Ironman relationship, adding “with the 2022 VinFast IRONMAN World Championship occurring over two days in October, the County of Hawaii is excited to once again host these champions in Kailua-Kona and Kohala, and looks forward to another epic VinFast IRONMAN World Championship in 2023. The partnership with IRONMAN has stood the test of time and we are grateful and humbled that the culture here has fed into the culture of IRONMAN, reflecting the aloha spirit and the theme of Holomua — to move forward — for the 2023 IRONMAN season.”
The 2022 Ironman World Championship marked the first time in the triathlon’s over four-decade history that the event was held over two days. The decision to race on Thursday and Saturday was made to accommodate some 5,256 athletes who’d qualified since 2019 for the prestigious event that was postponed in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roth on Friday admitted that “discussions,” but not community meetings, were held prior to the county committing to the two-day race. When pressed on whom outside the county and Ironman was involved in the discussions, Roth said “some people in Kona helped make the decision. There was some community members.”
“I’ll take the responsibility. I think we probably should have had more community discussion than we did — the things you look back on hindsight is always 20/20. A lot of decisions were made coming out of COVID with some of the difficult positions we were seeing — some of the struggles our community members were having at that time,” Roth said later noting this year’s race was expected to bring contribute over $100 million to the economy.
The mayor committed to more community involvement going forward, noting he’s heard the community’s sentiment “loud and clear.”
“If we have a two-day race — it is definitely being reassessed — if we go forward with a two-day race there will be much more community input,” he said.
Ironman has been held on the Saturday closest to the full moon in October since it moved to Kona in 1981, three years after the first race was held in Waikiki. Ironman’s move to the less-populous West Hawaii was in part due to fewer traffic hazards on the course, which also presented more of a challenge to triathletes.
Since the move, both the number of people residing in West Hawaii and number of athletes taking on the Ironman World Championship has grown exponentially.
Since 1980, the population of the three districts that the course directly impacts has grown 222% from 21,604 to over 69,600 as of the 2020 U.S. Census. The majority of that growth was in North Kona, home to Kailua-Kona — the start and finish line of the Ironman World Championship.
Meanwhile, the number of Ironman competitors in the world championship also grew — but far faster. Between 1981 and the event’s 40th anniversary in 2018, the number of registered racers increased 525% from 400 to 2,500, respectively. This year, there were 5,256 athletes and supporters — a 1,214% increase from 1981.
According to the Ironman website, there are 17 qualifying events for the 2023 world championship with 2,600 slots available to male and female athletes and an additional 1,200 slots slated for qualified females. That equates to about 3,800 athletes.
That’s 27% fewer athletes than participated this year, but still 46% higher than its last pre-pandemic world championship race in 2019.
