TRIJUICE is on the Big Island of Hawaii for the big race this weekend, the 2009 Ironman World Championship. We will work on bringing you coverage (pictures, interviews and more) all weekend long. The race is Saturday, October 10, 2008 at 6:45 AM (12:45 EST).
Highlights from Wednesday
- Went for a swim this morning with all the Ironman athletes. The water temp was very refreshing at 7:30 AM. Several pros were around tuning up for Saturday's day with an easy swim.
- Tried out one of the new Ironman Aqua Sphere Powered Speedsuits (Aqua Sphere Introduces it's New Ironman Speedsuits)
- Swam out to the Coffee's of Hawaii sail boat for some java and a cookie for breakfast
- Ran into John Newsom and Bevan James Eyles from the popular IMTALK.me podacast out on the sail boat.
- Got my necessary media credentials to cover the race
- Ran into Scott Rigsby, the first Double Amputee to complete the Ironman World Championship race. He is here to support Jason Gunter, the first upper and lower extremity amputee athlete to compete in here in Kona and to promote his new book UnThinkable
It's warm out and temperaturtes for Saturday's race will pretty much be like today 85 (feels like 90) and humid.
- Interviewed Hillary Biscay Professional Triathlete Hillary Biscay this afternoon, after just announced that she will not be racing on Saturday in the Ironman World Championship race here in Kona. Just a week ago she had a pretty good day in Barcelona, Spain racing in the new Challange Barcelona iron distance triathlon, she took 3rd. Listen to her interview and see what she will be doing and feeling on Saturday. (Hillary Biscay interview).
- Interviewed Mark Allen today as well, got him to give me his predictions for Saturday.
- Chit-chatted with Chris Lieto and Andy Potts as well
- Missed my opportunity to chit-chat with Chris McCormark
- Got to meet Leanda Cave for the first time, we talked about The Great Athlete Auction for the Blazeman Foundation for ALS that is currently taking place online at eBay.
- Met up with Sarah Reinertsen, the first female leg amputee to complete the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kona. I guess she has a new book as well call "In a Single Bound: Losing My Leg, Finding Myself, and Training for Life". She was her promoting the book and will not be racing, actually she was flying home today.
- The hot topic of the day around town with athletes, spectators and locals was the Tsunami Warning that was issued for Hawaii today. All is safe and the Tsunami Warning was eventuatlly cancelled. It's a direct results of the earthquake in Vanuatu.
- For dinner TRIJUICE hung out with some friends from Minnesota racing here in Kona and Greg Welch, the 1994 Ironman World Champion. It was very cool to hear some of his old strories from racing here in Kona and around the world.
Highlights from Thursday
- The morning started off with the famous Underpants Run, a special event put on every year by Roch Frey and Paul Huddle. The whole purpose is to help the Type-A, uptight, Ironman junkies laugh at themselves and our crazy sport. It also serves as a fundrasing event benefiting the Special Olympics programs here. It was a huge turnout today with some great outfits. everything from whittie tiddies to at least two thongs were present for this morning run. It's open to everyone and draws a broad spectrum of participants, pro triathletes past & present, age group athletes, spectators and many more types including tjnick from TRIJUICE. Here are a few pictures from this mornings event.
- The other thing that occured today was the professional triathlete's press confrence plus a press confrence with the special athletes that will participating in this years race. On the men's pro side there was defending Ironman World Champions Craig Alexander, last year's runner up Eneko Llanos and Terenzo Bozzone. Rutger Beke would have been there since he finished 3rd last year, but he withdrew from the Ironman World Championship race due to a gash in his foot suffered during a triathlon race in early September. Normann Stadler was also scheduled to be present to answer questions but turned down the gig.
- On the women't side you had two-time defending champ Chrissie Wellington, Yvonne Van Vlerken, Sandra Wallenhorst, Linsey Corbin, Michellie Jones and first timer Mirinda Carfrae. A mix bag of emotions where displayed under the spot light, from relaxed / joking around to tense / focused / ready to go. Pictures and Interviews to be uploaded soon.
- On the special interest side they had age group athletes Kyle Garlett, a four-time cancer survivor, and heart transplant receipient. The amazing Rudy Garcia-Tolson, who is here trying to become the first double above-the-knee amputee to compete in and complete a full Ironman race. (Lee Gruenfeld profiles the amazing Rudy Garcia-Tolson via Ironman.com) U.S. Navy Commander David Haas who has never participated in an Ironman race and who did most if not all of his training while out at sea. Lydia Delis-Schlosser, who is in Kona competing through the Janus Charity Challenge, she is raising money for the Steve Larsen Memorial Bike Parking Area.
A truly inspirational young man with a heart and special legs to go the distance no matter what the challenge is. Here is some audio from the press confrence. (Rudy Garcia-Tolson)
John and Bevan from imtalk.me are here in Kona as well and they have managed to snag some interviews along the way. Check out their site to listen to listen to some of their interviews here from Kona: Craig Alexander, Yvonne Van Vlerken, Chris McCormack, Dave Scott, Farris Al Sultan and Belinda Granger are some of the ones they have listed right now.
I was totally caught off guard yesterday when I came across Commerzbank Team Captain Normann Stadler standing around in the hotel lobby waiting for the professional pre-race briefing. So what the heck, I went up to him to see what he's been up to totally unprepared. Listen to him talk about his season, his PB in Roth and his training up to Kona. Listen to his excitement when he talks about his new baby boy. I got his input on compression socks during the race, will he wear them or not? This will be his 11th Kona race, how long will he continue coming to the Big Island of Hawaii? Find out if he's got butterflies? (Normann Stadler Interview)
Linsey Corbin had a breakthrough Ironman World Championship race last year, placing 5th and being the 1st American overall to finish the race. She came to Kona early this year to train like everyone else is doing. She wanted to get to know every inch of the course here and be totally prepared for Saturday. Listen to what she had to say at the press conference yesterday. (Linsey Corbin interview)
Stopped by and talked with the legendary, 6 time Ironman Hawaii winner Mark Allen the other day. I got his perspective on techonology advances made since the days he raced here. It sounds like he will have a nutrition drink coming to market soon, so keep an eye out for that. We talked about the sucess of Mark Allen Online coaching, they had about 50 athletes qualify for this years race but only 40 of them will be racing on Saturday. I also had the chance to ask him for his race day predictions, check it out. (Mark Allen interview)
Highlights from Friday
- Today was like the calm before the storm. Athletes were taking easy up until it was time to turn in their bikes and after that most quietly disappeared back to confines of a relaxing place cause tomorrow is race day, the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship.
- Temps today actually seemed a bit cooler than the past couple of day, but not by much.
- The transition area was finalized while the finish line area was taking shape.
- Bike check-in day means one thing, besides athletes setting up their bikes in the transition area, it’s time to count the bike brands and the gang doing the task was there in full force.
- RUMOR IS, a shoe manufacture, maybe Zoot Sports will be out tomorrow counting shoe brands. Maybe we should count the number of people wearing compression socks tomorrow. LOL!
- Here are some pictures from today:
- Just a few weeks ago a ban was put in place that disallowed the use of compression socks. (Don't Expect to Wear your Compression Socks in Kona on Race Day) The reason was that athletes were complaining that they couldn't tell if the person ahead of them was in their age-group because the compression socks were blocking the markings on the calf. Shortly afterwards the no-compression sock ruling was reversed. (WTC Reverses Compression Sock Ban for Kona) To alleviate the problem, athletes were given color coded wrist bands to help identify their age-group to other athletes.
- Below is the wrist band of age-group and lottery participant Brian Holmes (993) from Minnesota who is in the 40-44 age group.
- For the folks back home in Minnesota. I came across several athletes racing here today while hanging around the bike check-in area. I saw and talked to Terri Olah (1125), she looks relaxed and ready to go. I saw Sue Rubens (1111), everyone was admiring the paint job on her Cervelo, even the Cervelo rep liked it and gave her 2 t-shirts. She was ready to get this over with. I ran into Mark Carey (1208) from Rochester with his dad. He's been relaxing around town staying away from all of the hype around the area. Spent some time talking to Dan Arlandson (1488), he also seemed very relaxed. We talked about all of the aero helmets going into the transition area and then what the pro race might look like tomorrow. Finally, I hung out with Merilee Sander (794) and Brian Holmes (993) for part of the day. Tried to help Merilee with her tire decision to get it replaced or not and earlier helped Brian get his tires pumped up. Then spent an late afternoon having dinner before a last minute run to the grocery store before dropping them off.
- Ironman Team Marketing at it's best, the Commerzbank Triathlon Team Chrysler Town & Country team van all decked out.
