Winning isn’t everything

If you’re a pro racing tomorrow, there is a lot of money on the table.

Additionally, there are a lot of points to be captured for the rankings in order to qualify for next year’s World Championships. In some cases that may be worth more for athletes who are neither in perfect form this year nor novices nor rookies when it comes to racing on the Big Island.

The added bonus for the winner is that they won’t need to rush around the world collecting points ahead of the July 29th first qualification deadline for Kona 2012. Even better the champion gets a five-year exemption from the ranking system; all he or she has to do is validate the entry by completing one Ironman during the season ahead.

On the women's side, both Chrissie Wellington and Mirinda Carfrae received that exemption this year. And so did Natascha Badmann; hers was a special exemption reflecting the devastating crash she suffered during the World Championships in 2007. Badmann, even though she's a six-time World Champion, will have to qualify within the points system for next year.

While some athletes flourish with a lot of racing, not every athlete copes the same with the physical and mental - as well as expense - related demands that are involved.

So how does the point system work in Kona?

Well Kona is a P-6000 points race; it awards more points than any other.

First place gets 6000 points, second gets 5400, third 4900, fourth 4450 and fifth 4000. It’s a sliding scale for the first 20 finishers and then there are small amounts of points for those who finish between 21-30, 31-40 and 40 plus.

Most of the other Ironman events on the schedule are either P-1000 or P-2000 events. Some of the P-1000 events are Wisconsin, Wales, Florida, Lake Place and Mont Tremblant. Some of the P-2000 events are Arizona, Cozumel, Western Australia, South Africa, Texas and Brazil.

In other words, finishing fifth in Kona is like winning four P-1000 races, in terms of points.

That makes it key to choose one's races wisely. While a P-1000 race may be somewhat less competitive because there are fewer points on offer, you probably will still need to race hard to win and that could make it harder to race at a pending P-2000 event.

And so, a Top 10 finish tomorrow can go a long way to determining which races one should put on one's schedule in the season ahead.

On the prize money front, there’s also a sliding scale - and it’s a bit more dramatic. The total price purse for Kona - for women and men - is $580,000.

The winner will take home $110,000, second place $55,000 and third $35,000. Fourth will receive $20,000 and fifth will get $15,000.

It slides still faster, leaving the athlete who crosses the line in 10th place with $6000 - and those 4000 points.