I find the running times of 70.3 races really interesting to analyze. You look at them differently, whether you already raced a 70.3 or not. I used to think that those times were pretty slow, but it is not the case anymore 😀
The average run time across Half Ironman races is 2h11 min which translates to a pace of 10 min/mi or 06:13 min/km. The women cover the 13.1 mi in 2h20 min (or 10:41 min/mi or 6:38 min/km) and the men in 2h08 min (or 9:46 min/mi or 6:04 min/km).
I found out that those times depend significantly on the Age Group and the specific course. So let’s check that in more detail.
METHODOLOGY
- I checked all Half Ironman races that happened in 2021 in North America, Europe and Oceania.
- I excluded the ones which were shortened. The final database consists of 74,871 times from age-groupers and 807 from pros.
A special thanks to obstri.com, which is gathering results of all Ironman and Half Ironman events. It made my life easier!
AVERAGE HALF IRONMAN RUN PACE PER AGE GROUP
As you can see in the graph below, the average run pace for the men is 9:46 min/mi. The highest pace is reached in the age group 30-34 (9:19 min/mi).
Once you raced a 70.3, you know that so much can happen on the run course. It can be nutrition, hydration, or simply a lack of form for such an endurance event. After all, when you start the run, you have already been on the course for 3h54min on average (cumulated time of swim+bike+transitions as seen in the following article: Average Half Ironman Time Per Age Group And Gender)
If you want to compete in your age group, you will have a lot to master.
This led to a massive gap between the first and the average age groupers (roughly 3:10 min/mi difference). It is 40min over a half marathon distance!
It is a pretty similar situation for the women. They run at an average pace of 10:41 min/mi, roughly 3:00 min/mi slower than the first triathletes. The fastest age group is the 25-29 with an average pace of 9:59 min/mi.
AVERAGE HALF IRONMAN RUN PACE PER RACE
70.3 Switzerland was the fastest Half Ironman. The average pace over all age groups is 8:20 min/mi for the men and 8:54 min/mi for the women.
The slowest course was also the same for both men and women: Waco, with an average pace of 11:42 min/mi for the men and 11:53 min/mi for the women.
If you enjoyed this analysis, have a look at those two articles which cover the swim and bike legs of Half Ironman races:
