Sunday, June 6, 2010

2010 Ironman Hawaii 70.3 (Honu)

Yesterday was a huge event for the triathletes of the Big Island - the Rohto Ironman Hawaii 70.3 (Honu). The island has been abuzz with talk and training about this event for weeks. For those who don't know, a good performance in Honu can qualify you to compete in the Ironman World Championship in October. In addition to the spots given out to age group winners, there are also additional spots set aside for the fastest Hawaii finishers and the fastest Big Island finishers. So plenty of people who live and train on the Big Island were going for their shot at Ironman.

People who know a lot more about triathlons than I do can do a recap more justice, so be sure to check out Dawn Henry's summary at Ironman.com, as well as the articles in today's West Hawaii Today. My plan for the day was to head to Hapuna Beach and watch the swim and the bike transition and then head to an aid station on the run course that I'd be helping out at for the day. I was able to get several good pictures of the swim, but the camera unfortunately stayed in the bag the rest of the day.
Jason's second favorite weatherman, Guy Hagi, was one of the swim announcers!
Guy hasn't surpassed Tom Skilling yet, the great weather he always gets to forecast doesn't hurt.


The swim start

John Flanagan killing everyone on the swim. That's him on the right behind the paddleboard and everyone else on the left by the orange buoy. Completely amazing to watch.

A pack of swimmers exit the water.

Bike transition area.

Korey Pulluaim

Rani Tanimoto

Carrie Harris
The aid station that I was working came at about mile 8 of the run. The runners then looped back around to catch the other side with 1.9 miles to go. I was hoping to be able to see several of our friends and customers on the course and I was definitely able to do that. Congratulations to Luis De La Torre (6th overall and first age-grouper to finish!), Bree Wee (2nd female overall!), Penn Henderson, Eric Neilsen, Sam Corace, Rani Tanimoto, Kevin Murar, Korey Pulluaim, John Simmerman, Gerd Weber, Jim Moore, Doug Henbest, Carrie Harris, Bobbi Reif-Acheson, Lesley Cens-McDowell, Sarah Higgins, Jessica Abner, Kris Kiser, Kym Kiser, and Ellie Sumic. I'm sorry if I missed anyone either here or on the course! I also haven't heard who received all the qualifying spots for Ironman, but congratulations to all those who qualified!

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