So we left the hotel at 4:45am. :) Yuck! That time of the morning is no fun if you aren't the one competing! LOL I can't imagine the stress of being an athlete at an Ironman; Let alone the World Championship.
Kenny and I first made our way to the sea wall at the swim start and lord were people already our in droves. We were lucky enough to snag some real estate behind a great group of spectators and eventually managed to cram like 8 of our friends up there with us. It was a bit cozy.
Here I am early in the morning sitting on the race wall
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| So so Dark. We sat on the wall for a long while. |
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| The Calm in the Early Hours Before the Pro Start |
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| Pros Getting in the Water |
Watching the pro start was really cool. It is neat to see them in their practice before the cannon and to just notice that they get jittery too. However the awesome part cam with watching all of the age groupers get into the water. There were hoards and hoards of them. With only one set of stairs to get in the water it took all of 30 minutes to get each of them in the water and up to the start line.
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| Age Groupers Entering the Water |
Because some were in the water upwards of 20 minutes, they found creative ways to hang out so that they weren't treading water forever and wasting energy.
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| Hanging out before the start |
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| Hanging on to an outrigger |
Somehow Joe found us on the sea wall and managed to come and great us all with the Matchette Family Salute. We chatted for a few before he went out to start his race day.
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| Joe Before the start |
And then they were off. This is only a portion of the start area. They spanned the entire bay.
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| Age Group Start |
This picture was taken before the swimmers started getting into the water but you can see just how far the spectators were lining the bay to watch the swim start. We had an awesome view. Once everyone was in the water. swimmers spanned the majority of this entire bay in preparation for the swim.
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| A Sea of spectators |
And yes, much like a 10 year old, I was very amused by the fact that ford put a car on a float in the middle of the swim start. A Real Car! I halfway think that would be an amazing view of the start or a really scary encounter!
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| Yes, that is a real car! |
Gen and I managed to snap a picture together before heading our separate ways to do our respective cheering.
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| Always the best photos with Gen! |
After the swim start Kenny and i I made our way out on to the bike course to get photos. We were able to snap some good ones but had many failed attempts. Here are some that turned out good.
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| Andy Potts |
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| Marino Vanhoenacker |
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| Henning, Mckenzie and Bell |
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| Chrissie Wellington |
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| Mirinda Carfrae |
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| Crazy Joe! |
After Seeing the Athletes off we opted to head for some breakfast at the U-Top-It Restaurant in Downtown. We both has omelets and would highly recommend this place for a meal. They have some really neat and unique menu items.
Next we made our way down to the finish line and hung out with our friends Scott and Tami while watching the race action on the finish line jumbo tron and tracking Marni and Joe on our cell phone.
Once the Pros neared the end of their bike we made our way over to transition to watch them begin their runs!
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| Chris Lieto |
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| I Love Caroline Steffan and Her Pink! |
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| Chrissie and Her Smile (& Muscles!) |
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| Mirinda Heading Out on the Run |
From that point it was getting later in the afternoon and Kenny and I knew that we needed to make our way back to the car in order to collect our volunteer shirts for the 8pm-11pm shift so that we would have time to change. We also wanted to make sure that we gave ourselves time to catch Joe and Marni on the run down Ali'i Drive. However, we made it back from the car in time for the Pro Finish! That was an amazing sight to see and the atmosphere was crazy.
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| First Came Craig Alexander! |
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| Finishing Strong with a Huge Smile on his Face |
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| Chrissie Grabbing a Flag for the Finish |
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| Just Seconds Behind Chrissie was Mirinda |
Then to Ali'i Drive for Marni and Joe. Well unfortunately timing was a bit off and we missed Marni but we did Catch Joe!
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| Joe, Always Smiling- I love it! |
We enjoyed some more time with Scott and Tami as we had a great dinner on the water at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Funny thought, 3 of us had chicken, only one had shrimp!
From there we made our way back out onto Ali'i Drive to try and catch Marni as she was heading into the finish. I am sad that the only pictures I was able to catch of her that day turned out wonky but the four of us had a blast cheering her down Ali'i.
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| Marni a quarter mile from the finish |
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| Always Smiling and ready to pass a competitor! |
From there we had to leave our friends and make a dash to the car to drop the camera and all of our belongings for our volunteer shift. So unfortunately no more photos! We did make a mandatory stop at Starbucks for some much needed caffeine and water. It didn't matter how much water we carried on ourselves all day long, we could not stay hydrated!
We did have the opportunity to stand on the "Hot Corner" after the sun whent down for about 20-30 minutes to cheer on runners as they were coming in and making their way toward Ali'i drive but more importantly to cheer on those who were heading out to the energy lab. I wish I could have caught some photos of the amazing determination on the faces of each athlete as they passed by this area. They could hear the finish line, they had already been on this corner three times before and they knew they still had 16 miles to go on their marathon. It was quiet but you could each each individual voice standing out on the road cheering. Amazing!
As soon as Kenny and I knew were were heading to Kona, we immediately signed up to be a volunteer. Our first choice was to be a finisher at what we predicted would be Joe's finish time but unfortunately we didn't not get that shift. Instead we were assigned to the 8pm-11pm shift. We missed seeing Joe on the hot corner while we were out cheering but as luck would have it, we arrived at our shift about 15 minutes early just in time to get our orientation and hear "Joe Matchette, You Are An IRONMAN!" We shared some hugs back behind the Jumbo tron and then off to volunteer we went.
Kenny and I were finish line catchers. For the un-Ironman-initiated, these are volunteers who greet each finisher at the finish line and escort them through the finish area. Sometimes these means literally catching someone so that they don't fall (140.6 miles is a lot to endure) and sometimes it just means walking with a competitor, chatting with them and showing them where to go. We had our share of competitors who needed medical attention and then we had many others who were just happy to see a smiling volunteer and the finish line.
If you want to relive the finish line, here is a video sponsored by Universal Sports which is coverage of the whole day. All 18 hours and 10 minutes of coverage!
http://www.universalsports.com/video/assetid=035aaa7a-3c4d-49fa-90f2-845ca20de1cf.html#watch
To highlight my friends and my volunteer experience, look at the video at the following times.
(These are video times, not finish line times. Look at the actual video timer in the bottom right hand)
Marni Sumbal- 12:02:00 (She Jumps at the Finish Line! My Coach, so proud of her!)
Joe Matchette- 13:37:40 (Mike Reilly Talks about him for a long time, He Stops to hugs is family. Congrats Joe!)
Tara Costa- 14:56:15 (Biggest Loser Competitor)
Darryl Lem- 17:18:57 (The best competitor we caught all evening! So Happy and Thankful and I swear I know him from somewhere. And you can see us!)
Scott Rigsby- 17:21:35 (Double Amputee from Atlanta!)
Lew Hollander- 17:45:20 (Oldest Male Finisher)
Harriet Anderson- 17:55:20 (Oldest Female Finisher, Greeted by her Husband and you can see Kenny and I catching her!)
The Last Unofficial Finisher- 17:59:25
And that my friends is a wrap. Sorry it took so so long but look at it this way; It is just one more way to relive the world championship until next year's triathlon season!
Until then, thanks for reading!
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| At the amazing outdoor airport, leaving kona :( |
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