IRONMAN in the USA: which race to choose

The counts, averages, climbing and cut-offs are read from the catalogue and recalculated whenever a race is updated; the race-day readings quoted come from the ironman.com course pages. Distances, climbing and cut-offs come from ironman.com and the athlete guides. Air and water temperatures are the organiser's averages for the race month. Where ironman.com also publishes the reading measured on past race days, the page quotes it.

The count includes the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship, both entered by qualification only. The United States has 58 races in the catalogue in total, including CLASH, XTERRA and T100: the United States page lists them all. For dates race by race, use the IRONMAN schedule. North of the border, the IRONMAN in Canada page covers Ottawa, Mont-Tremblant, Muskoka and Victoria.

IRONMAN Maryland has the least climbing of the US full distances: 141 m. The swim is in the brackish, tidal Choptank River at Cambridge, the two-lap bike crosses the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, and the three-lap run is flat. ironman.com calls the bike course "flatter than flat". The race is held in September.

IRONMAN Florida in Panama City Beach is, according to ironman.com, the longest consecutively running IRONMAN in North America, held in early November. The Gulf swim is followed by a one-lap bike through Pine Log State Forest and a two-lap run along the coast. The water was measured at 24 °C (75–76 °F) in 2023 and 2024.

IRONMAN California in Sacramento, in October, starts with a downriver swim in the American River. The bike is two flat loops through farm and wine country, and the run finishes on Capitol Mall. The river was measured at 16 to 18 °C (60–65 °F) from 2024 to 2026.

Maryland, Florida and California share a cut-off of 17 h.

2 IRONMAN 70.3 races start above 1,500 m: IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder, IRONMAN 70.3 Ruidoso New Mexico. Ruidoso is the highest, at 2075 m, and Boulder sits at 1579 m.

IRONMAN 70.3 Boulder, in June, swims one loop of Boulder Reservoir, rides two loops of short rollers and fast descents along the Flatirons, and runs around the reservoir on hard-packed dirt roads. Race days have been hot: ironman.com recorded highs of 31 to 35 °C (88–95 °F) from 2024 to 2026, with the water at 20 to 22 °C.

IRONMAN 70.3 Ruidoso New Mexico, in July, swims in Grindstone Lake and rides through town and out to the highway. The water was measured at 18 °C (65 °F) in 2026.

March and April. Texas opens the season with the 70.3 races in Dallas–Little Elm and Galveston, then IRONMAN Texas. Oceanside is on the same weekend as Galveston.

May and June. Gulf Coast, Chattanooga 70.3, Jacksonville, then Hawaiʻi, Boulder and Coeur d'Alene.

July and August. The north and the mountains: Lake Placid, Maine, Ohio, Oregon, Boise and Ruidoso. The 70.3 World Championship is in Chattanooga at the end of August 2027.

September to December. Wisconsin, Maryland and Chattanooga in September, California and Kona in October, Florida in November, then La Quinta and the Florida 70.3 in December.

A water average does not decide the wetsuit; the reading on race morning does. Under the 2026 IRONMAN Competition Rules, age-group athletes may wear a wetsuit up to 24.5 °C, and must wear one below 16 °C. Between 24.6 and 28.8 °C, IRONMAN may, at its discretion and for some events such as those sanctioned by USA Triathlon, open a separate non-competitive wetsuit wave, with no awards or championship slots. Above 28.8 °C wetsuits are banned. Among full distances, IRONMAN Jacksonville, IRONMAN Chattanooga, IRONMAN World Championship have averages in the middle band. The wetsuit rules guide sets out every threshold.

Places go early on some races. On 21 October 2026, ironman.com showed IRONMAN Florida sold out and the general entry of IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside sold out. The World Championships in Kona and Chattanooga are by qualification only. Registration is always done on the organiser's site.