Celebrating 20 years of racing at IRONMAN Arizona

Today roughly 2,000 athletes will be competing in one of the longest-running events on the North American IRONMAN circuit – IRONMAN Arizona. The first race took place on April 9, 2005, hosted by the City of Tempe and the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. Renowned as a fast course, the race consists of a one-loop swim in the cool waters of Tempe Town Lake, followed by a three-loop bike course that follows the Beeline Highway and is traditionally extremely fast. The day wraps up with a three-loop bike course that mostly follows Tempe Town Lake and is, like the bike course, relatively flat and fast.

The extreme heat of the April event led to a calendar switch in 2008 which moved the race to the November date that we’re now accustomed to. (There were actually two races held that year, not unlike 1982 when the Ironman World Championship changed its date. As the managing editor of ironman.com at the time, I lived the headaches of trying to figure out how to have two sets of results for the same race in the same year up on the site.) Rather than diminish the race’s stature as a pro event, the move raised the profile as athletes looked to either kick off the next season with an early world-championship qualifying spot, or round out an otherwise lackluster season with a big day.

Pro Racing

It wasn’t as if the race didn’t attract some big names over the first few years. The inaugural event was won by Germany’s Faris Al-Sultan, who would go on to win in Kona later that year, while Australian Kate Major, a three-time Kona bronze medalist during her career, took the women’s race. In 2006 it was Michellie Jones’ turn to use the Arizona race as a build up to a Kona title, while in 2007 Rutger Beke, the 2003 Kona runner-up, would take the title.

In 2009 Andreas Raelert made his Ironman debut in Arizona, following on his runner-up finish at the 70.3 worlds just a few weeks before and serving as a precursor to his five Ironman World Championship podium finishes over the next seven years. That same year Canadian Samantha McGlone began the trend of top athletes bouncing back after Kona to compete in Arizona – she took the win after a fifth-place finish on the Big Island. A year later German star Timo Bracht followed up his sixth-place Kona finish with a win in Tempe.

World-best times

It was 2010 that really put Ironman Arizona on the map as the “redemption” race for those who hadn’t performed as they’d hoped on the Big Island. That year Chrissie Wellington (photo above), the three-time defending Kona champ, had pulled out of the race in Hawaii due to illness. Looking to end the season with a big day, the British star blasted to an 8:36:13 finish, enough for eighth overall and shattering the previous IRONMAN best time (Sandra Wallenhorst’s 8:47:26 at IRONMAN Austria in 2008) by over 11 minutes. (And, yes, we know that Wellington had gone 8:19:13 at Challenge Roth earlier that same year – the race in Arizona was an IRONMAN best.)

While no-one has topped Wellington’s time since then (Heather Jackson went 8:39:18 in winning the 2018 race), there have been a raft of speedy men’s times over the years. Spain’s Eneko Llanos was the first man to break the eight-hour barrier at Ironman Arizona in 2011 (7:59:38). In 2014 Canadian Brent McMahon blasted to a 7:55:48 finish, a pre-cursor to his world-best Ironman time set at Ironman Brazil the following spring. In 2016 another Canadian, Lionel Sanders, took the second of his three-straight Ironman Arizona titles in 7:44:29, setting a new IRONMAN record. That performance remains the fastest time recorded in Tempe. (Sanders is another example of athletes bouncing back after tough days on the Big Island with an appearance in Tempe, although his third win came after his runner-up Kona finish in 2017.)

Rudy’s redemption

Pros weren’t the only ones looking to use the Arizona race as a chance to come back after a tough day in Kona. In 2009, double-leg amputee Rudy Garcia-Tolson missed the bike cut off in Kona by eight minutes. He would line up in Arizona for another attempt at the distance, this time reaching the finish line in 16:06:27.

Age-Group only racing

Despite that rich history of professional racing, prize-money events in Tempe have been a bit sporadic over the last few years. In 2019 the race was held as women’s-only pro event, with the 2020 event cancelled due to COVID. The 2021 race was an age-group only race, with around 2,000 athletes racing. In 2022 there were pro men and women on hand as Brit Joe Skipper and American Olympian Sarah True took the wins. Last year, as with this year, sees age-group only racing again.

IRONMAN Arizona remains one of the brand’s mainstay events because of the huge fields it has attracted over the years. The inaugural event in 2005 had 1,682 starters, which ballooned to 2,399 in 2009. (Registrations would have been much higher.) The race would routinely see well over 2,300 athletes start on race morning, including the 2,523 that hit Tempe Town Lake in 2013. Those numbers prove just how popular (and lucrative) the race has been.

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