Events

Kona Diaries #4: The pre and post race experience

Written by Rob Heath.

· By Press Office · 7 comments

I’m on a plane somewhere above the Rockies at the moment, and I’m slowly trying to pull the pieces of my race together. For now, I’d like to let you know what the experience is like before and after the race. I’ll get to the experience of the race in the next post.

ccs-62657-0-40914900-1476348629.jpegThe night before. Ali’i Drive with our condo just behind the beach.

The World Championships have been coming to Kona since 1980 (the first two were held on the more populous and smaller island of at O’ahu). This means that the operation is slick. The impressive transition area is housed on a very small pier – less than half a rugby field in size, and the finish line is on the main beachfront road – Ali’i Drive. The whole setup is undertaken on Thursday, and by Friday morning, the bike check-in opens.

ccs-62657-0-16799600-1476348637.jpegBike racking and check in done… Now just an Ironman tomorrow.

Registration was on Wednesday, and our bike check in was on Friday. I went down to transition with my housemate, Iainbio, and the check in was seamless. There are approximately 5,000 volunteers who fly in from all over the world to come and help out on the day. Many came from the States, some came from Europe, and the pregnant wife of one our fellow Saffa guys also volunteered. At check in, you are assigned a volunteer who walks with you to rack your bike, explains what route to run around the pier, where to change, walks you to your bag racking and then takes you back out to the exit.

All through race weekend there are volunteers at check-in, at registration, on the swim course, around town, on race day etc… it really is fantastic to see what these people do to make this race possible.

On the morning of the race, you arrive earlier than most Ironman races, as you have to get body marked with a temporary number sticker and then be weighed. The weighing is partly to determine if you’re too fat to race (I just snuck in). It actually serves as a useful measure to determine your level of hydration or hyponatremia should you collapse during or after the race, or if you are submitted to the medical tent for any reason. Tim Noakes used some of this data when writing his book Waterlogged on the effects of over-hydration in endurance racing. I would suggest anyone coming to Kona reads this book as one source of information when planning your race and travel.

ccs-62657-0-97919400-1476348634.jpegAt check-in with Paul Kaye from South Africa – the first non-American to welcome people home on Ali’i Drive.

The non-wetsuit swim and mass floating start (you’re in the water – not off the beach) both add a different element to the advent of proceedings. The swimsuit that I picked up at the expo (soooo much cheaper than in SA, and you’re going to have a lot of choice) was well worth it. I won’t get into the specifics of the race here, but if you are racing in Kona either borrow a swimsuit or take a few extra dollars along and buy one at the expo beforehand. They are not like wetsuits which may restrict arm movement but more like a very tight fitting tri suit made with water repelling and non-flexible material.

Leaving my race out of the story for now, we move onto the finish line party. A unique part of this race is that there are very few slow people. And I mean this with all due respect to those for whom finishing an Ironman is a challenge in itself. The race dynamic is that 40 odd male pros arrive in under 9 hours. Then about 25 females around the 9-hour mark, and then there is a steady stream of age groupers.

These are the fastest age groupers in the world – most of them have podiumed at one of the multitude of Ironman events and there is very little separating them on the day. However, there are still the mature categories, some physically challenged athletes, a few fundraising slots, and local athletes. From about 10:00 pm, most athletes have gone home to shower, and returned to celebrate these heroes. For me, this was a huge highlight. I saw an 84-year-old Japanese man I’d met at the Underpants Run cross the line with a few minutes to spare, and then he was followed by two 70-something females who were struggling to stay upright.

ccs-62657-0-30739100-1476348631.jpg84 year old in the middle. Oldest Competitor to finish this year – and just before the cut off.

Finally, as the rain that would’ve been welcomed earlier in the heat poured down on Ali’i Drive, the first double amputee to finish the World Champs crossed the line. Without arms, he swam on his back only kicking. Then rode by using his chin for gearing, knees for applying brakes, and steered using his chest… and then he ran home. Perspective….

ccs-62657-0-79979000-1476348640.jpegDestination for post-race swim.

The next day was the Awards function. It was very much like a normal Ironman awards function, except the podium was 5 deep and not 3 and you receive a big wooden salad bowl as your prize!! Unfortunately, this year there were no South Africans up there. We were very close with 2 of my Trifactri training mates achieving a 6th and 7th place.

ccs-62657-0-95708600-1476348645.jpegPost race hydration.
ccs-62657-0-83212600-1476348647.jpegThe worlds most active volcano from a safe distance

Finally, the after-parties became quite raucous. I do have some incriminating evidence of drinking out of salad bowls, crazy dancing, and some general drunkenness – but what happens in Kona…! This is also a really good chance to chat with some pro athletes from around the world. At the closure of one of the last parties, our Dodge 7 seater was apparently the preferred Uber vehicle for the pro’s and their families.

ccs-62657-0-42206000-1476348642.jpegNot bad for a few days post-race R and R.

The next few days were spent swimming with dolphins, turtles, and manta rays, drinking the local beer, eating some horrible fast and delicious slow food, visiting a volcano and packing.

I’ll be writing a race recap shortly and get something out to you soon.

ccs-62657-0-08646100-1476348652.jpeg

Comments

shaper

Oct 13, 2016, 9:32 AM

looking forward to the race report, have seen some of the pics on social media and looked hot and a tough race!

nonky

Oct 13, 2016, 10:55 AM

awesome review - well written!

finallygotabike

Oct 13, 2016, 12:31 PM

fantastic

Renier82

Oct 14, 2016, 5:10 PM

Inspiring :)

gurns

Oct 30, 2016, 10:08 AM

Any idea when the race report will be out?

Or have I missed it?

Nick

Oct 31, 2016, 2:25 PM

Any idea when the race report will be out?

Or have I missed it?

 

You didn't miss it. Just published here: https://www.bikehub.co.za/features/_/news/multisport/kona-diaries-5-the-race-r5759

Red_Zebra

Nov 7, 2016, 8:47 AM

Race report a bit late.. but as Nick says... out now! With video...

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