What's Wrong with the Louisville IM?

I'd never do it as it is historically very hot and humid that time of year and I don't do well in heat/humidity. I'd rather race in 50's than 80's or 90's.

The river swim with no wetsuit just makes me more sure.

We all need to pick races that appeal to us and often we pick what we see plays to our strengths.

Good point ... and Im sure most people would opt for different conditions, myself included  Growing up here, its what Im used to and what I have to work with!  Just wanted to point out that its a great race, well organized, scenic and great community support.  Read through the 100+ race reports out there over the past two years to get a good idea on what competing here is like and make the decision for yourself.

I liked it enough that I'm going back,, it's a great bike course,!!! and while some people might want to wear a wetsuit while swimming the fact that's it's a time trail start is great.. I spent most of the race wondering if I was way off course since there was no one around me. I've been beat up more in my local sprints. Plus we swim in these little texas ponds/lakes that are not wetsuit legal anyway.

It's a new race so it will take time to build up. last years spring IMAZ took a while to sell out also.  I know of quite a few people that were hoping to get into either Canada or WI, and this was their back up race.   

If you look at the Ironman site right now there are quite a few that don't fill up in hours, granted they are not in the USA   

IM weather is very hard to predict.  This year was extremely hot.  I recall doing IM MOO in 2003 when it was very hot as well, and then in 2006 when  it was cold, windy, and wet.  The non wetsuit swim of IM KY was no big deal for me, especially since the vast majority of my swim training is without wetsuit anyway.  I felt that IM KY was a great race venue, well supported.   The biggest criticism I have is the fact that traffic was an issue on the bike, causing me to have to slow down multiple times.  But then again, this is similar to how I train anyway.  My 2 cents.

I live about 65 miles away and happened to be in Louisville the day before this year's race.  Was HAWT and I remember thinking that this year's race would be a monster.  But I like a challenge and just signed up for IMKY 2009 this morning (got a slot).  If everything goes well, this will be my first ironman distance event.

Hope to see you there!

I've done IMKY twice am registered to go back again in 2009.  I have a statistical sample base of 1 so can't compare it to other IM events.  I have wondered the same thing about why IMKY takes weeks instead of hours to sell out.  Mind you, it does sell out....just not as quickly as other venues.  Here are a few theories:

Maybe just the fact that it doesn't sell out quickly contributes to it not selling out quickly?

If I'm not mistaken, it is still the newest IM event in the US and maybe other IM-US events also took a few years to sell out in the early years?

Earlier this year I compared the 2009 entrants list with the 2008 finishers and estimated that there were 226 people who did IMKY both years.  In a few weeks I see how many of those people are signed up to do it a 3rd time....but I know of 2 or 3 BTers who are going back from #3.  I think as time goes by, more and more people will want to repeat IMKY and it will eventually sell out faster.

Personally, I think it is the best kept secret of all the IM events!

~Mike

BTW, as of 1:32 pm CDT 9/13/2009 it is NOT sold out as someone suggested in this thread.  I think the rumor got started that it was already sold out becuase of a thread some idiot posted on the IM board about it being sold out already.