From $1,250 to $1,500: twenty percent more is what pro athletes will have to pay in 2025 to compete in Ironman races. This is because they need a pro membership to do so, and that license has thus significantly increased in cost in one year.
With a pro membership, professional athletes buy access to all races within the Ironman label – with the exception of the World Championships for which they have to qualify anyway – and can therefore enter or unsubscribe from races as they see fit. This applies to both full Ironmans and Ironman 70.3s.
With the money Ironman earns from these pro membership, by its own admission around one million dollar annually, it funds – again by its own admission – primarily its own anti-doping program. Licensed professional athletes are not necessarily guaranteed all the participations they want: at Ironman they too regularly have to deal with long waiting lists and thus uncertainty as to whether they can actually start anywhere they want.
By comparison, the PTO and Challenge Family allow professional athletes (based on ranking) to compete for free in races within their labels.
Pro athletes at Ironman can also choose not to go for a membership but simply register for races separately: in that case they pay $250 for a 70.3 and $500 for a 140.6. 70.3 specialists thus earn their pro membership back only when they start seven or more 70.3 Ironmans. As for 140.6 specialists, they must compete in at least four full Ironmans to see any benefit of the $1,500 investment.
