The Ironman World Championship has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978, with an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culmination of a series of Ironman triathlon qualification races held throughout the world.
From 1978 through 1980 the race was held on the island of Oahu, the course combining that of three events already held there: the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 mi./3.86 km), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (115 mi./185.07 km, originally a two-day event), and the Honolulu Marathon. The bike stage was reduced by 3 miles to link it to the start of the marathon course. In 1981 the race was moved to the less urbanized Big Island, keeping the distances the same: a 2.4 miles (3.86 km) open water swim in Kailua-Kona Bay, a 112 miles (180.25 km) bike ride across the Hawaiian lava desert to Hāwī and back, and a marathon (26 miles 385 yards, 42.195 km) run along the coast of the Big Island from Keauhou to Keahole Point and back to Kailua-Kona, finishing on Aliʻi Drive.
Since 1982, the race has been held in the fall each year, before which it was held in the spring, giving two races in 1982. The most recent Ironman World Championship took place on 13 October 2018. Qualifying for the World Championship is achieved through placement in one of the other Ironman races or some Ironman 70.3 races. For the 2017 event there were 40 qualifying Ironman races and 4 at the 70.3 distance.
The current Ironman Hawaii course record was set in 2018 by Patrick Lange (Germany), whose winning time was 7 hrs 52 min 39 sec. The women’s course record is 8 hrs 26 mins 18 sec, set in 2018 by Daniela Ryf (Switzerland). Athletes with disabilities compete in the event in the physically challenged category, which was instituted in 1997, and are required to meet the same cutoff times as able bodied competitors. Australian John Maclean was the first physically challenged athlete to complete the event.
