PSA: KONA NOW (spoiler with results)

[Jon]

You ought to know, but in case you forgot - Kona is on right now!  Live feed is on Ironmanlive, and is great quality so far.  I will be watching as much as possible all day, so feel free to join me and let me know if your watching  

Cheers

EDIT:  You can also watch on Universal Sports dot com.  I am finding this feed a bit more stable.  Also, once the bike gets crack'n you can watch a live feed of SRM sponsored pros to see all kinds of cool bike data!!  Here is that link: http://kona.ironmanlive.com/#axzz1a9HiSSaf OR http://www.srm.de/...unternehmen/news/677 (not sure if they will be different or what is best yet).

[Sandy]

Finding the feed frustrating!!!!!  So haven't had consistent coverage (also I was working and customers come first :))  Ok did Wellington have a subpar bike or did she have a mechanical AND what happened to Andreas brother...KSwiss was hoping they'd go one, two.

[Jon]

Sorry for the slow reply... had family here for dinner, but tracked this in the background.  The 'direct' feed on universalsports.com is much better, I only lost it a couple times.
Michael Rhalert (sp?) did not race, can't recall if it was injury and/or not qualifying.... but he couldn't race.  Wellington had a sub-par ride, expected her bike crash 2ish weeks ago has affected her performance today, but she has gone on to take the lead in the women's race, last I checked in. 

Amazing performance by Crowie - Kona World Record 8:03:56!!!  So happy to seem him do it - he was my pick for sure.

[Sandy]

Agreed. Glad Craig won, wish Mirinda had a little more time to over take Chrissie>  Good race, I look forward to watchingit uninterrupted.

[Jon]

Yes, I too will look forward to the 'pro' broadcast of the race.  Today's coverage was better than previous years, but still not very good.  The choice of athlete coverage, and allotment of time spent with 'x' athlete, was just painful at times (like showing the 3rd place woman for an hour straight, while things are being shaken up at the front of the men's race during the bike - just one example).  Equally frustrating was the poor commentating job done, especially by Michelle Jones - ugh.  At times, they seemed so unaware of basic race facts - like the race clock!  Right in the final miles, MJ, was like 'Oh no, Crowie is gonna miss the record... if he only knew how close he was...' Then he goes and finishes under world record :/

Anyways, it was an amazing performance by Craig.  He is such a 'pro' and in my opinion has etched himself as one of the best all time.  Wellington's performance was also nice to see - her gutting it out and remaining undefeated in IM racing.  Even when not at her best, she held on and in spite of a slow (for her) swim and bike, ran a 2:52xx marathon.

Ok, that's all for me... gotta go look at some more race results!  Love this stuff.
 

[tire guy]

Great to see Alexander win again & on the bike no less....it would have been sweet to see Mirinda run Wellington down but maybe next year.
My thoughts on Wellington's slow bike split.........paying close attention to her "vitamin" injections 

[Jon]

Dennis, those are fighting words...are you kidding me!?!?  How about crashing her bike 2 weeks ago, being in the hospital for a bit, having bad bruising and still unhealed wounds and being on antibiotics up to and through the race (not a great taper eh.. she didn't swim all week either, and her time showed she is obviously still sore).  Would you ride/race the same in those conditions?  I think not.  There is no way Rinnie (as much as I love her too), even gets close if Wellington is on her complete game.  It was nice to see a close race yesterday for the women, but until I see a healthy Wellington get challenged like that, I put her in a class all her own.     

[tire guy]

well Jon I'm glad my o pinon has got you fired up.
First off I know about the crash & would I race the most important race of the year when it is my passion not to mention my job....of course I would ,I find it strange you would think different
I will say that I respect your view on humanity & wished I shared it I guess I'm just someone who has spent their life working with the public & see how some try to lie & cheat out of a $20 invoice makes me think others would think nothing of lying & cheating just a little when hundreds of thousands are on the line .I hope I'm wrong & they all are playing fair

[Sandy]

I hate to say it but I think there have been too many "ooops I done it again's" for me to be 100% behind a drug free Chrissie.  I see Paula Radcliffe similarily even though she is one of the biggest anti drug proponents.  You know the old "if it looks too good to be true it probably is".  Chrissie's performances are other wordly. 

Sorry Jon. 

[Jon]

Just some good banter Dennis.  I re-read what I wrote there, and the one line read poorly.  I meant would you race at the same level under those circumstances (sustaining those injuries), not would you race at all - I know you would (and most doing an IM are not gonna pull out, unless its really really bad, and I wasn't questioning your toughness).  
I just think it is perfectly acceptable to believe that those injuries she sustained, would hamper her performance (and would hamper most anyone in the same spot).  I know there are plenty of shady people out there, but I'm not going to paint society all with the same brush.  She has done nothing (in my opinion) to warrant accusing her of doping.  If as you are hinting, that was the case and she was 'less doped', how do you explain her still toughing out a near course record marathon run?  Wouldn't her whole race suffer?  I think its more reasonable that her swim and bike were slower due to the injuries that were magnified by those unique movements and positions in the 2 disciplines.  The fact that she could still pull off an amazing run, speaks to her work ethic, talent, and toughness.    

[Jon]

Sandy,

What has she done that is so hard to believe?  She bikes better than the other girls - that is her big weapon.  Her swim is not other worldly, and her run was slower than Rinnie, and only a minute ahead of Caitlin Snows run split (and I don't see people lining up to accuse them of doping).  Actually, there are 1 or 2 other girls who put down some awesome bike splits too, that I dare say Chrissie would be hard pressed to beat (they just can't or have yet too put down the run to follow it up).  
The thing that separates Chrissie is that, while being a beast on the bike, she is also strong in the other disciplines as well.  I am not naive.  I'm not saying its impossible that she dopes.  I'm just not going to accuse/convict her without some direct evidence.  The whole 'everybody else has done it, guilty by elite  performance association argument' is unfair in my opinion.  It doesn't wash in my profession, and it doesn't wash in my personal life either.  Plenty of athletes make world best performances clean, and I have yet to see anything from Chrissie that would suggest otherwise.  I am sorry that drugs seem to have taken much of the satisfaction of elite human achievement from you guys.  Its too bad, but I hope many more great athletic achievements continue to occur and give you cause to believe again, that it can happen - records are made to be broken.      

[Jeff]

Jon I hate to say it but I agree with Dennis and Sandy.

[Sandy]

I guess that's why I was hoping Mirinda would beat her because then at least she would appear human. A less then Chrissie performance because of her accident.  But sadly no she has all those things you mentioned and she comes out and kills the field again.   

[Newt]

I'm with Jon.
As naive as it may seem, I'm always of the "innocent until proven guilty" camp. I'd like to think most people have so untapped their potential.

Peace
Peter

[tire guy]

Sorry boys guess I'm just a negative Nelly,just think that when someone becomes seemingly "unbeatable" in a sport or anything thing in life for that matter I seem to question the means..