Help me choose an Ironman for 2013

I recently saw an article that ranked IM courses by difficulty based purely on average finishing times, and if I recall correctly Switzerland was the "easiest" course.

Can anyone else help me out on a link to that article?

Found this site with tons of data and the following graph that seems to support what your saying:

Isn't it odd that the "easiest" 10 races are outside of the United States?  I doubt these results can be attributable solely to the course (i.e. the flattest/best weather/etc.).  I'd suggest part of this disparity is that Europeans that enter these events, generally speaking, tend to be more competitive (i.e. fewer participants just trying to finish in 17 hours) than their American counterparts.  I think if you analyzed marathon times you'd find similar results.  I have two friends who have done IM Switzerland - both have also completed domestic Ironmans - and both claim it is not an easy course compared to others they have done.

That is right on.  I am doing IM Switzerland this year, and have been on that course in addition to some other IM courses.  It is not easy racing.  Not as challenging of a euro race as Lanzarote, but not easy.  The fields in the european events are quite a bit stronger and sometimes smaller.  Part of it is competitiveness, and part of it is that these countries don't have 300Mil people as a pool that they can draw from.  The big disparity is in fitness and stigma - the IM brand is more popular in America and has a mass appeal where any one of 300mil can train for IM.  Tri in Europe is quite different than Tri in America...not in any way more negative or positive.

Don't at least some of those European courses have 15-16 hr cut-offs instead of the 17 for all US ones?Knocking of the last hour or two of finishers would significantly increase the average time.

I read through the linked article, but could not tell how they accounted for any reasons some courses may attract some demographics* more so than others. 2,000-3,000 may seem like a large number, but bias can still very well be present. See the Euro vs US attitude towards fitness already brought up for one example. At least some of the races also have only 1 year of results.  In being able to make this sort of claim, it's necessary to get eliminate or reduce bias as much as possible. Simply not seeing it isn't really that great. It's better to show that it's not present (or less present).

* Demographics may not be exactly the word I'm looking for, but hopefully in the general idea is still clear.

The control has to be consistent from one race to the next. For me, I keep an eye out for familiar names and also balance in how the pro fields do. The Kona factor can come into play as some may be more prestigious and desireable to win, bringing on more contestants A games, but this can be lessened some by knowing this about Kona and to a lesser extent anything with "Championship" in the title.

This may not work as well for everyone because some will handle different conditions better than others. Like heat.

And then it can only still go so far. Which is harder, St George or Cour d'Alene? It's generally considered St George, but some of the pros have said Cour d'Alene can be harder for them in some years. Conditions of the day can really factor in.

I've done Austria and Switzerland.  Switzerland has a 16 hour cutoff.

Both courses are challenging and the scenery is spectacular.  Austria had the prettier swim.

Switzerland has many cows with bells.  You won't be asking for more cow bell!

Switzerland has a large hill in town and you get to find out what riding a mountain in the Tour feels like.  You can't see the road through the crowd and they get out of your way just in time.  It's a rush.

The Austria course seemed more scenic in general.

Austria had real beer at the finish and Switzerland had non-alcoholic beer.

I preferred Austria, and not just because of the beer

If you are not married to an IM branded race, consider Roth in Germany.

Regarding crowds at European IMs versus US IMs, very very few show up at Europe races just to finish.  I think the "just finish" attitude is a US thing.

You don't see very much walking on the run leg.

The crowds seem more intense at the Euro races.

I'm looking at stateside race for 13.  where does texas stack up here?