I guess that makes her a segregationist. I prefer doing races with men and woman and would never, ever, sign-up for an all men race. To each her own.

i'm a dude and i agree with her sentiment!
i will never do a men's only race again.

you can understand why a 60+ woman might feel that way though, right?
(no, not because she's a 'segregationist', jeez)

---

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

For real, sheesh. Thanks for sharing all of this.

---

KJ
Swim and Triathlon Coach
AllTerrainEndurance.com
KJ@allterrainendurance.com

A few things:

1) The Women's only IMWC in Kona was one for the ages. From a performance perspective the women absolutely hit it out of the park!

2) Reflecting on Sharon MacKinnon's comments, I heard that the vibe in Kona was VERY different without the men and all that testosterone there. I have Announced at a few Women's only Triathlon's and the vibe is very different. One thing I recall is that ALL the women hung around for the Final few finishers to come in. That never happens at mixed races. The vibe Kona seemed to be more wholesome, and we-are-all-in-this-together - then the look-at-me nonsense that is so much on display with the men during Race-Week.

3) It took a while for this to leak out. However, if you knew what you were looking for in the Livestream coverage, you could tell, there were WAY fewer people on the course cheering, as there was back in 2019. Also, other than core IM Partners/Sponsors, very little else going on with brands, in Town and the Expo was a shadow of it's former self.

Was not there myself, and after being to Kona many times - racing, supporting, working but it's doubtful that I would ever go back for the race/event any more! My wife and I have been a few times on our own, for extended stays completely AWAY from IM Race-Week and we love Kona and the reasonably chill organic vibe that it has all on it's own!

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I was at Kona this past October (my first Kona) This was my third all women's race (also did two worlds 70.3 races - Chatt and Nice and loved the women's races) Nothing against men. I love my husband and have many male friends. But it was really great having a women's only race at Kona. I won't get into the reasons as I think many should be obvious within the swim and bike courses especially. But overall, the vibe before, during and after the race was just fantastic with an all-women's event where the men weren't there and racing the next day. That was special I think (again, no offense guys, just being honest). There are plenty of mixed races we can all do together but having a few races with just women is really nice for us. Oh my gosh I can't really put it into words properly. I hope some other women can articulate this better than myself here :-)

I did hear from several people in town that the locals thought it was the best race ever and that the athletes were so much more polite, considerate, respectful and appreciative compared to past years. I've been to a lot of IM branded races all over the US, Canada, and Europe since I started this journey in 2016 (halves and full distances). Kona was one of the best experiences. And it had the best athletes ever in regard to quality of racers as well as just being really good human beings.

---

Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

Just when you think you’ve seen everything the internets have to offer, an ST poster steps in.

---

"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Having 5 older sisters who all helped raise me

A grandmother who moved into our house the day I was born

A fantastic single mother

And 26 women bosses over the years

Has helped lead to an amazing life for me. I definitely understand

I mean, it's intentional provocative, but imagine someone saying( as they did for years), "Augusta shouldn't allow women, it will change the feel of the event." Sexist? Discrimination?

"Women shouldn't race with men, it will change the feel of the event."

I can see both sides and I'm not bothered by either. If anything annoys me it's the people who pretend they can be inclusive and tolerant while excluding others because, "they are different in a negative way I don't like..."

But the reality is as it's always been and there is a valid justification for excluding men from women's events and even excluding women from men's events.

My take on the Kona 2023 race is it was great, and if the women like it that way, great. The issues that it creates for race couples are not more pressing than the benefit of giving women (and men) their own day and allowing more women (and men) to race world championships.

Maybe in a few years Kona figures out they want all the $$$ and they have the men's and women's races a month a part in Kona. Either that or Ironman carries on with this rotation which isn't bad as I'd be happy to race a WC that wasn't Kona and a bit easier to qualify for too.

Sadly you don't have to spend more than a couple minutes around here to realize why a woman might not want to have many male triathletes at her race. I can't think of a reason I wouldn't sign up for a male only race. Why are you all so adamant that you need to have women at your races?

If you read my post and concluded I'm adamant that I need women at my races either I can't communicate or you can't comprehend what you read.

But just for internal dialogue simply ask yourself how this question sounds if you replace a few words:

"Sadly you don't have to spend more than a couple minutes around here to realize why a woman might not want to have many male triathletes at her race. "

male triathlete => Muslims
male triathlete => Blacks
Etc

We know those questions are beyond the pale. We know that there are differences, on average in various populations that lead to unfair discrimination when we consider population differences and apply them at an individual level. And we further know that the very types of negative behavior we are discriminating against in the target population is also present in the host population, albeit, stereotypes would suggest it's less frequent.

I think any justification other than: men and women aren't in direct competition with each other so they shouldn't share the same course since it creates a detrimental affect on the bike and occasionally the swim, and more men and women can race a WC this way; is unnecessarily discriminatory and relies on harmful gender stereotypes.

Pretty sure they just commented on the last post rather than to to you directly

Then option 3 is I'm too limiting in my options :)