Ironman Triathlon

The Madison Ironman Triathlon was being competed on Sunday, September 11 when we were in Madison. When we rode our bikes into Madison on Thursday, we saw the set up of the swimming course and the transfer point for the bike ride. We looked up information and saw that the Madison Ironman was scheduled -- note to self: avoid downtown Madison on Sunday. But then on Saturday, we heard cheering before we were totally up and going and found that bicycle riders were racing along the path just a few feet from our rig parked in the campground -- were they practicing? No... there was a 70.3 race - a half triathlon - being competed on Saturday, and its course passed right near our campground.

So, this brought up all sorts of questions:

• When did Ironman Triathlons begin?
• How are they different from non-Ironman Triathlons?
• What is this 70.3 race?
  
• It was very rainy and chilly on Sunday. Does weather ever affect the running of an Ironman? 

I did some research...

• The Ironman Triathlon began in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu, in 1978. Some runners and swimmers discussing which athletes were more fit; one of the folks in the discussion brought up that cyclists could also considered in determining the most fit. They decided to combine "the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 mi or 3.9 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 mi or 185 km; originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.219 mi or 42.195 km)." The bike ride was shortened to 112 miles to better enable the appropriate transition locations. Thus, the race became a 140.6 mile swim, bike, and run test of endurance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironman_Triathlon#History).
• Non-Ironman Triathlons have all three disciplines, but may or may not have the same distances competed; however, they may are not run by the organization (World Triathlon Corporation - WTC) that sanctions an event as "Ironman".
• The 70.3 race is known as a "half Ironman" and the distances are half that of an Ironman -- 1.2 mi swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironman_70.3).
• The only weather consideration that I have found that may impact the running of an Ironman is lightning -- which can shorten components, or make it into a "duathlon" (just two events, removing the swimming).

The weather on Sunday was rainy and temperatures in the 50s, maybe up to low 60s -- cold rain.

I was looking at data after the race:

• The men's winner finished in 8 hours, 36 minutes.
• The women's winner finished in 9 hours, 45 minutes.
• The last person to successfully finish raced for 17 hours and 5 minutes!
• 1451 participants started, 1021 finished. People from age 18-72 participated.
  

I admire anyone who can participate for 8-17+ hours in strenuous activity in chilly rainy weather! Not my idea of a good time!