Indi IM's vs. Ironman events

I have never done a non-WTC or previous NAS IM event. I have done a few independent halfs. From what I have heard, independent races for the most part are very well run and usually have better sawg. You don't get the same level of hype, but I would think some of the more established indies are great races.

I would post about a specific race in the forum for that state/province.  People have likely done the event and could provide answers to all your questions.

I am planning on doing a Non-IM branded HIM next year - I've heard really good things about the race and it will obviously be a smaller event than the IM branded event I did this year. 

I imagine it's like road races - some are great - some just aren't quite there yet. 

think it depends on the race. the full vineman , great floridian, the Roth Challenge and chesapeakeman are independents with good reputations. trifind.com has a good iron distance calendar and BT probably has at least 1 race report out there for every race in existence.

I've done both branded and non-branded 70.3s. The branded ones definitely have more "hype" and atmosphere as there are pros there (Chrissie Wellington gave me my medal at IM Kansas 70.3 this year) and generally a ton more athletes. The non-branded 70.3 I've done (Redman in OKC) was pheonominally-run. Absolutely no complaints - just a slightly smaller race. I'm not sure I'd know the difference if that M-DOT logo wasn't everywhere at IM KS.

I'm sure there are much smaller non-branded 70.3s out there... I agree with checking out some race reports to get a feel for what others have said about a particular race you're eyeing.

 

I have competed in both branded and non branded races. Of the 2 non-branded IMs I have done I have ended up going back to do each of them repeat times.

Non-Branded races - Vineman twice and Silverman twice (will be 3 in November).
Branded races - IMAZ '07, IMAZ April '08, registered for St. George '10.

Both of the non-branded races are run as well or better than the branded races. Silverman has the hoopla of the pros with Chris MacCormack and Dave Scott there along with the allure of a great challenging course. Vineman is the oldest run IM in the continental US.

At the branded races, because the number of athletes is so great, I felt a little more like a cow getting shuffled through the herd. The large number of racers also makes it more difficult for the races to be put on as more volunteers are needed. NAS was running the branded races when I did them.