How do you register for an Ironman?

Registration for an Ironman event usually opens the day after the current year's event. Take Ironman USA for example, this year's event was on Sunday, July 22nd, which means registration was on Monday, July 23rd. On-Site registration usually opens at 9:00am (local event time) and On-Line registration usually opens at 11:00 am (local event time).

Registration for many of the Ironman events, close within hours (or less) from the time they open for On-line registration. In-fact some events don't even make it to On-line registration, due to the fact that On-Site registration opens before on-line registration. So you may need to pick your event at least one year ahead of time. This means that planning/scheduling your event registration (if you want a specific event) can be very important. And may even require a pre-event year visit in order to help insure successful registration (Canada is a very popular event and this year it did not make it to On-Line Registration).

At Ironman USA this year, due to high demand of On-Site Registration, officials delayed On Line Registration until 1:00pm and by 1:10pm (notice only 10mins) registration appeared to be closed. (see the official call here) Because I already had an Active.com (the site where you will register for your event) account it made my registration much faster. My account already had my Address, a password, my email address and etc. I think this account kept me in the running and if I did not have the account I may not have been able to make registration.

It seems every detail of my first Ironman year needs to be planned, even the registration without planning would have messed my whole year up.