Fueco wrote:
As a comparison, lets look at the 1988 Ironman World Championships versus 2017.
1988
1 Scott Tinley Male 30-34 USA 0:52:48 5:05:04 2:43:36 8:44:13
2 Ray Browning Male 25-29 USA 0:52:21 4:55:31 2:54:21 8:44:39
3 John Hughes Male 25-29 NZL 0:57:05 5:07:42 3:02:53 9:10:23
4 Brent Snellex Male 30-34 NZL 0:52:58 5:15:14 3:03:12 9:13:34
5 Trent Hiles Male 18-24 NZL 1:00:52 5:10:27 3:02:43 9:17:15
6 Lewis Stevens Male 30-34 NZL 1:00:53 5:16:35 2:58:13 9:19:13
7 Bruce Baxter Male 18-24 NZL 1:06:41 5:17:31 3:02:18 9:29:21
8 Mat Brick Male 25-29 NZL 1:06:48 5:14:11 3:07:46 9:33:05
9 Glenn Davies Male 25-29 NZL 0:56:04 5:23:37 3:13:50 9:37:26
10 Jim Bedwell Male 25-29 NZL 1:02:21 5:15:15 3:22:14 9:42:15
2017 Men
Lange, Patrick DEU 1 1 1 00:48:45 04:28:53 02:39:59 08:01:40 5000
Sanders, Lionel CAN 2 2 2 00:53:41 04:14:19 02:51:53 08:04:07 4970
Mcnamee, David GBR 3 3 3 00:48:40 04:28:55 02:45:30 08:07:11 4933
Kienle, Sebastian DEU 4 4 4 00:53:44 04:14:57 02:57:11 08:09:59 4900
Cunnama, James ZAF 5 5 5 00:49:09 04:21:02 02:56:46 08:11:24 4883
Bozzone, Terenzo NZL 6 6 6 00:48:41 04:26:20 02:53:47 08:13:06 4862
Potts, Andy USA 7 7 7 00:49:01 04:31:02 02:50:26 08:14:43 4843
Nilsson, Patrik SWE 8 8 8 00:48:34 04:29:02 02:55:51 08:18:21 4799
Hoffman, Ben USA 9 9 9 00:48:52 04:22:00 03:04:16 08:19:26 4786
Stein, Boris DEU 10 10 10 00:53:48 04:23:59 03:00:42 08:22:24 4751
Note that the 10th place man this year would have beaten Scott Tinley by almost 22 minutes... Also note that the slowest marathon from the top ten men is 3:04.
For the women, note that the 10th place woman this year would have won the 1988 race by over an hour. Nancy Harrison's time from 1988 would not have been among the top 60 female times this year.
1988 Women
35 Nancy Harrison Female 25-29 USA 1:01:57 5:59:14 3:22:43 10:28:10
64 Susie Douglas Female 25-29 USA 1:01:55 6:00:00 3:48:20 10:54:39
87 Karen Williams-Greaves Female 30-34 NZL 1:06:32 6:19:42 3:49:03 11:22:05
112 Sue Price Female 30-34 NZL 1:19:26 6:33:38 3:38:22 11:37:33
124 Renee Thomas Female 30-34 USA 1:09:12 6:20:49 4:11:22 11:49:37
136 Josie Sinclair Female 25-29 NZL 1:19:42 6:16:35 4:12:56 11:58:15
144 Maree Greenwood Female 30-34 NZL 1:08:47 6:43:24 4:03:16 12:06:41
148 Teresa Bogan Female 18-24 NZL 1:12:23 6:40:50 4:09:19 12:08:53
152 Alison Batcheler Female 25-29 NZL 1:13:58 6:52:22 4:02:10 12:17:09
157 Julie Rooney Female 35-39 NZL 1:19:34 6:39:40 4:19:22 12:26:28
2017 Women
Ryf, Daniela CHE 1 1 33 00:53:10 04:53:10 03:00:02 08:50:47 5000
Charles, Lucy GBR 2 2 38 00:48:48 04:58:19 03:08:09 08:59:38 4893
Crowley, Sarah AUS 3 3 41 00:53:07 04:57:51 03:05:36 09:01:38 4869
Jackson, Heather USA 4 4 45 00:57:58 04:53:54 03:06:19 09:02:29 4859
Sali, Kaisa FIN 5 5 49 00:57:53 04:59:50 03:01:33 09:04:40 4833
Cheetham, Susie GBR 6 6 72 00:57:54 05:03:27 03:09:25 09:16:00 4697
Lester, Carrie AUS 7 7 80 00:57:51 05:00:31 03:16:35 09:19:49 4651
Lyles, Liz USA 8 8 82 01:00:08 05:04:10 03:11:21 09:20:31 4643
Luxford, Annabel AUS 9 9 85 00:53:02 04:59:15 03:24:06 09:20:58 4637
Mccauley, Jocelyn USA 10 10 87 00:54:31 05:04:34 03:16:41 09:21:08 4635