Huge ‘no-show’ at Ironman 70.3 Mallorca

Ironman 70.3 Mallorca was a wonderful race with some spectacular battles in the pro field and at the same time thousands of Age Groupers participating, but at the same time it was striking to see the particularly high ‘no-show’ rate. In other words, very many athletes were registered for the race, but didn’t show up and thus ended up not competing at all.

About 3800 participants for the race on the Spanish island: that is what Ironman boasted and something that, for example, speaker Paul Kaye also put on his socials after the race. Striking detail, however, is that ‘only’ 3,000 athletes (estimate, ed.) did start the race. Still nice numbers of course, but at the same time that means that between 20 – 25 percent of the athletes ended up not starting at Ironman 70.3 Mallorca. Given the high entry fee for the race, that high percentage is pretty striking.

Kaye is asked about it on his socials – by several people – and also answers the phenomenon. “I think it’s a global trend for very popular races that sell out very quickly. For a lot of people life happens in between the time of entering and race week. Work, family, life commitments, injury etc.’

Inquiries at other major races that sold out quickly, however, yield a different picture. Organizers indicate that no-shows at their races are not nearly as high as these numbers.