History of Ironman Kona

Welcome to Kona:

2009 Ford Ironman World Championships Stats

On February 18, 1978, 15 competitors took on the challenge that has become the Ironman. Included in the list of pre-race instructions were these final words of encouragement: "Swim 2.4 miles! Bike 112 miles! Run 26.2 miles! Brag for the rest of your life!"

Last year Ironman celebrated its 30^th anniversary in style. Now we're gearing up for the 31^st anniversary of the sport's biggest event and, once again, it's going to be quite a week. We'll bring you lots of stories about the men and women who are going to be taking on that challenge of 140.6 miles. Yes, you've all heard that everyone has a story here at Ironman. We're going to pretty much prove that by the time we're done.

For now, though, we'll let the stats speak for themselves. Sent in by event timer Marc Roy, here are some of the numbers for Saturday's race:

By Gender:Female: 508, which will be 27.4% of the field.

Men: 1345, which, for those who hate subtraction, is 72.6% of the field

CATEGORY = MPRO 101 5.5%

CATEGORY = WPRO 53 2.9%

CATEGORY = MHCYCLE 5 0.3%

CATEGORY = WHCYCLE 1 0.1%

CATEGORY = M18-24 36 1.9%

CATEGORY = M25-29 95 5.1%

CATEGORY = M30-34 152 8.2%

CATEGORY = M35-39 217 11.7%

CATEGORY = M40-44 256 13.8%

CATEGORY = M45-49 190 10.3%

CATEGORY = M50-54 112 6.0%

CATEGORY = M55-59 59 3.2%

CATEGORY = M60-64 50 2.7%

CATEGORY = M65-69 35 1.9%

CATEGORY = M70-74 26 1.4%

CATEGORY = M75-79 10 0.5%

CATEGORY = M80+ 1 0.1%

CATEGORY = W18-24 26 1.4%

CATEGORY = W25-29 53 2.9%

CATEGORY = W30-34 68 3.7%

CATEGORY = W35-39 72 3.9%

CATEGORY = W40-44 80 4.3%

CATEGORY = W45-49 57 3.1%

CATEGORY = W50-54 41 2.2%

CATEGORY = W55-59 31 1.7%

CATEGORY = W60-64 17 0.9%

CATEGORY = W65-69 5 0.3%

CATEGORY = W70-74 3 0.2% CATEGORY = W75-79 1 0.1%

There are 58 countries represented.