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Can I be an Ironman...
tri_tri_again
Posts: 39
in General Chat
...without doing an official IM event?
Reason I ask is that I got the pre-reg E-mail this week, and was really up for IM UK – until I saw that entry is £300!
So my question is this: if I complete an event of the same distance – for example, Big Woody, at £120 an entry – can I call myself an Ironman?
I know there's a lot of organisation involved in any tri, and the longer the distance, the more it takes to set up. I also appreciate that tri is an expensive sport, and that folk can get sick of others moaning about entry fees. But surely not all IM events around the world are this costly to enter? And think how much bike bling you can get for £300!
Reason I ask is that I got the pre-reg E-mail this week, and was really up for IM UK – until I saw that entry is £300!
So my question is this: if I complete an event of the same distance – for example, Big Woody, at £120 an entry – can I call myself an Ironman?
I know there's a lot of organisation involved in any tri, and the longer the distance, the more it takes to set up. I also appreciate that tri is an expensive sport, and that folk can get sick of others moaning about entry fees. But surely not all IM events around the world are this costly to enter? And think how much bike bling you can get for £300!
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I'm doing IMUK but only because its close to my home...otherwise i'd be doing a cheaper option cause 300 quid is a bit steep.
http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/WTC_sold ... m_514.html
So to call yourself an 'Ironman' means you have to shell out the £300 as that is the premium you pay to the people who own the registrerd trademark. Of course completing a long distance event is a worthy feat and you should feel proud. But then there will alwasy be the draw of the dot M and the Tattoo ...
to me it is the challenge that is most important, not what I call myself after (other than an idiot!)
there are loads of great non-branded events as well - outlaw, big woody, challenge events etc
If you really need to you can say iron distance triathlete.
Chrissy's world record for iron distance was set at Roth and i bet she doesn't get to bothered that it was set at a non wtc branded event.
Perhaps with some collective thought we could come up with some word that has the same sort of impact - to me anyone who does an LD is an Ironman or Ironwoman - it's just that the WTC have the trademark.
I think this is one reason why the Outlaw has been named so, apart from the Nottingham connection of course. As you cross the finish 'you are an Outlaw!' How about that OSB - is that the plan?
IMO providing a race is the Ironman Distance, yes you can call yourself an Ironman as that is what the original concept was all about.
Having said that - yeah I would like to do a dot M
But would also like to do a dot M without a doubt - and the Vitruvian
G
If you do the training, put in the effort and do the race than no-one should be saying that you are not able to call yourself an Ironman just because of the branding of the race. After all, being an Ironman should be about the effort that goes into it, not a marketing tool.
On that thought - there was one bloke at Ironman WA who had never done a tri, hadn't trained, and only signed up 3.5 weeks before the race. He managed to get over the line within the finishing time and now can call himself an Ironman. Should people who haven't put in the work have the right to be there and call themselves Ironman for what is effectively 1 days work? I guess he must have been fairly fit already, but to me being Ironman is more about the journey to the start line than the race itself.
As for the original question. Who cares? If the only reason you're doing it is so you can wear the badge, then your probably not in it for the right reasons.
Personally, I think that completing the distance in the best time you possibly can makes you an ironman - if you can get away with not training and get yourself over the line before cutoff then that is commendable, but you'd surely be a little disappointed with your time? If you train your heart out for 6 months and only just make the cutoff, it doesn't make you any less of an ironman than the person who wins - possibly more given that the last person in is out there for twice as long as the winner, you'll know that you've done everything you can.
Bman - if you want to hear what they say, then you'd better sign up and do it
You compete in a few triathlons.
If you score a ton in cricket do you tell everyone you're a centurion? No, you're someone who plays cricket. If you earnt a living playing cricket you might call yourself a cricketer.
But Mowf is right. Why do we have to badge ourselves?
Just do it, enjoy it and don't get too hung up on 'what' you are.
Jellybaby is quite right in that Collins by implication reserved the title of Ironman for the winner. I don't know when the title expanded to all finishers but the WTC registered Ironman and Iron distance in 1990 as they recognised it had a powerful appeal. So much so that you pay well over the odds to do an 'Ironman' as for an equivalent event.
There have been several discussuions about overpriced events and the general agreement is that where an event is overpriced, offers poor facilities, poor organisation etc then they should be avoided. However, we would shun the Chipping Throgsmorton LD if it was held in the middle of a quagmire, with poor organisation and facilities but for an Ironmanthen we would moan but still enter the following year - that is the power of the name brand.
I quite agree to go the distance regardless of branding is a fantastic achievement but WTC own the trademark plain and simple.
Must say something?
The WTC are very twitchy about it however and I lifted this off their website: So Tri247 could be in trouble! and I didn't know about 70.3, that is new to me, and interestingly there is no refernce to 'Iron distance'