How often do you hear people talk about age-group athletes being the life-blood of the sport, then go on to rave about all the pros they saw at a race? It doesn’t have to be an either/ or scenario, though. The inclusion of age group athletes to the Slowtwitch Goodlife Racing Team, alongside the professional athletes and podium-placing amateurs, creates a broader representation of endurance sport (and the companies geared to serve them).

That’s the goal of the Slowtwitch Goodlife Racing team, much like this website. It is a place for people who love racing (and countless hours training toward milestones) to come together, whatever their level or history in the activity. 

With this in mind, I spent a weekend in 2024 with the recently expanded Slowtwitch Goodlife Racing Team to see what it was like at one of their featured races. As a relative newcomer, I experienced the Slowtwitch platform online – including the team spaces set up for connection and collaboration. Meeting peers and long time social media contacts in-person, though, brought a whole new level to the experience. 

Endurance Experiences

There are many ways to experience the endurance community. Often that means braving all the training one has to do to get to the start line as a participant. Sometimes it includes volunteering at the event, or supporting someone in it. Less often it means spectating as athletes, professional and age group alike, compete. 

All parts make up the atmosphere that makes the endurance lifestyle so special, and no component is truly complete without the others. And, while race day itself cannot be underscored, the events leading up to it (like the nerves of travel and pre-race check-in) and after it (picking up gear from transition and the commemorative photos with others), make a race weekend part of what we live for. 

Several names serve as title and presenting sponsors for the racing team, including Slowtwitch, Certified Piedmontese and Goodlife Proteins. These brands are familiar, in part, because of Certified Piedmontese’s support of various endurance events (including select IRONMAN races, along with regional multisport and gravel competitions). Certified Piedmontese’s well-earned social media presence is also augmented by the Goodlife Proteins brand, which offers (and our tastebuds can confirm this) premium, sustainably-sourced meats and other proteins through home delivery. Slowtwitch’s involvement ensures that networks built up over decades can lead to “home field” advantages and friendships across many geographies. 

Collectively, these sponsors facilitate some truly remarkable memories for team members. The Slowtwitch Goodlife Racing Team also benefits from Hyperice recovery tools, Wahoo Fitness and Shimano products, Lazer cycling gear, Challenge tires and Sailfish swim equipment, Zoot for inline apparel, Goodlife Cyclery for anything else you need bike related and of course Goodlife Nutrition for all nutrition needs. These companies also sponsor or support various athletes, which, in turn, promote frequent interactions around common interests.

Race Weekends Where We Gather

In advance of race days, staff from Slowtwitch arrive in town. We hold team gathering that always involve really good cooked food. Professional athletes usually show for a burger or something else off the grill and normal fun personal interaction takes place.

Where possible, pre-race meet ups (and meals) serve as a way to build face-to-face bonding. The weekend I joined included a cumulative 90 lbs (40.8 kgs) of product to sample from Certified Piedmontse and Goodlife Proteins at the more-intimate sessions on Thursday and Friday. There was an even larger cook-out on Saturday for the pre-race gathering that included everything from first-time athletes to seasoned veterans. It also included stars of the sport: Paula Findlay, Sam Long, Ellie Salthouse, Jackie Hering, Eric Lagerstrom, and Holly Lawrence all attended – staying late into the evening. (One professional even took home an entire bag of chips, leaving with a roar of cheerful satisfaction – a lesson that carb loading never stops.) 

Slowtwitch is Our Online Hub

New to the Slowtwitch Forum is the ability for Teams to have their own private category. This allows us to do all the things we were used to doing via private groups on Facebook. Now I don’t have to login to Facebook talk to my endurance buddies. I also have the endless amounts of Forum data that I can search when looking for answers to questions that I have. It also allows me to be more engaged with the endurance community as a whole. We were the first team to pilot this program and so far it’s way better than Facebook.

Joining the Team

Given the multisport interests of athletes, the Slowtwitch Goodlife Racing Team offers a place to find like-minded triathlon, cycling, and running teammates. And the team is only going to get bigger, and experience more race weekends like the one I experienced, in the future. For more information check out the team page here or just sign up today. The team shop is also open and people are excited to hang together in 2025. 

While past iterations of the team apparel (including the Timex, Suunto and TOP teams) have featured various color schemes, the Slowtwitch Goodlife kit this year includes an eye-catching mix of blue, green, and white. These kits are also shipped directly to your door from Jakroo, the custom apparel partner.

Regardless if you are on our team or another we still want to see you at the races. Make sure you say hi to any of us in 2025 and let’s cheer each other on as we find our personal bests.

The post Life With the Slowtwitch Goodlife Racing Team – Join Now for 2025 first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

“If I gave you a hat or visor to run in that would save you 45 seconds per mile, would you wear it?”

The answer, obviously, is YES!

While gaining “free speed” in running is rare (super shoes)—this is not the case for cycling. And, by “free” I don’t mean monetarily free, but free in a sense that by optimizing your bike position, equipment, and nutrition setup, you can ride faster without an increase in form or fitness.

Why Free Speed Matters

In a triathlon, over half of the event duration is spent on the bike. During this time, roughly 80% of our energy is used to overcome fast-moving air, road friction, and other resistive forces. Most of this resistance comes from the rider’s body and the reason we fold ourselves over into the time trial (TT) position—to reduce aerodynamic drag, achieving the most speed for a given effort.

Understanding this concept has shifted the conversation away from the once-polarizing debate of training more vs. buying fancy aero equipment. Today, serious athletes know they need to check all the boxes: proper training, race execution, bike position, and equipment.

Buying a set of fast tires doesn’t mean you can take the week off from training. However, by optimizing your bike position and setup, you can significantly boost your performance—without additional fitness gains.

The Three Pillars of Speed

Achieving free speed rests on three foundational pillars:

SPEED = Comfort + Power + Aerodynamics

If these pillars sound familiar, that’s a good thing. Over 15 years ago, Todd Carver (Retul Co-founder and current Head of Performance at Specialized Bikes) and I introduced these principles during our first time-trial-specific bike fit course for Retul University. While reasonably apparent, we identified that the foundation—and ultimate goal—of the time trial position is SPEED, built on three key pillars.

Since then, these pillars have caught on, influencing the marketing and positioning of numerous products across the cycling industry. I’ve applied them with athletes ranging from recreational riders to pro tour cyclists, age-group triathletes, and world champions. Let’s break them down:

1. Comfort

The ability to sustain your position for the duration of your event.

A good TT position starts with comfort. Comfort is relative to the individual, and those new to the position may find it unnatural at first. However, the unique thing about the TT position is that it is highly adaptable.

2. Power

The ability to apply force to the pedals without restriction.

The goal is to position the rider and their contact points (saddle, bars, and pedal/shoe interface) within a range of accepted biomechanical norms to allow freedom of movement and optimize muscle function, maximizing pedaling efficiency.

While it’s difficult to objectively measure power changes during a bike fit, the goal is to give the athlete every chance at success—i.e., to apply force to the pedals.

3. Aerodynamics

Optimization of frontal surface area and shape to reduce aerodynamic drag.

Reducing aerodynamic drag is the final goal of the fit. I’ve spent hours testing athletes in wind tunnels and velodromes, and making major changes to their position to chase a lower drag number requires a delicate balance. I carefully assess the trade-offs, knowing their position is already optimized for comfort within their biomechanical limits. I ask myself, Can the athlete adapt to this change?

Often, small tweaks—like adjusting head and arm position, elbow width, or hand height—can yield significant aerodynamic gains without compromising comfort or power. Additional factors, such as helmet selection and bottle placement, also play critical roles.

Bringing It All Together

Optimizing these three pillars—Comfort, Power, and Aerodynamics—unlocks your potential for free speed. Each pillar supports the others, ensuring that your bike position and setup maximizes your performance.

In the next article, I’ll dive deeper into the first pillar of speed: Comfort.

Stay tuned!

—Mat

The post Part One: Unlocking Speed on the Bike first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Go big or go home they say. And Wahoo has gone biggest with the ELEMNT ACE.

Whats in the box? User manual, little cute safety strap, USB-c cable, massive (yet lighter) mount and, of course, the computer itself.

One, Two, Three is the current count now when it comes to bike computer options from Wahoo.

ELEMNT BOLT – ELEMNT ROAM- ELEMNT ACE

The above and below will give you an idea on size of the offerings

The new mount really breaks the “mold” and comes in metal instead of plastic.

Elemnt BOLT at 3.05″ x 1.86″ x .84″ with a 2.2 in display and 15 hour battery life.

ELEMNT ROAM with a 3.56″ x 2.34″ x 0.8″ and 2.7 in display and 17 hour battery life.

Now that you have a visual Idea on the size of this sucker the ELEMNT ACE, let’s dive in a little.

With a massive 3.8″, 3:2 aspect screen that comes in with a weight of 208g // 7.4 oz, Wahoo isn’t trying to attract the weight weenies with this new computer. Instead they are after the information-seeking geek that wants to not only see what’s going on, but also has buttons that make getting around the device as easy as possible. This thing even comes with a digital bell: a “ding ding, get out the way” sort of ring to it. This size and spec makes the ELEMNT ACE the largest bike computer on the market today. So what’s inside all of that space and what do we think about it?

WAHOO APP

One of coolest part of the new product offering for me is sort of misleading is the Product Name “ELEMNT ACE.” The reason it’s sort of misleading and exciting to me all at the same time is the this is first time that Wahoo has any of their bike computers sync with the Wahoo App, instead of the Elemnt App. Meaning they are going in the direction of a single app and that now I can pretty much have almost all of my stuff in one app instead of trying to remember what app I need to control my Wahoo tools. And being a triathlete that is entering winter and the pain cave months that is pretty nice to have. As Wahoo continues to consolidate the ELEMNT app into the main and single Wahoo App we will all benefit that’s for sure.

These are going to be all the tools I live by for the next 3-4 months and its nice to be able to see everything in one control center.

Massive Digital Display

First off the extra large screen is not only big but it’s touch screen. It’s not the first or only touch screen bike computer on the market but it is the largest touch screen. And when it comes to trying to mess with your computer while riding your bike ,sometimes having that larger field of play helps you get the touch point just right. Don’t get me wrong; this isn’t like playing around with your iPhone but the touch screen is pretty legit when it comes to moving from page to page. Sometimes buttons just get old. While the screen is larger then its competitor, the Garmin Edge 1050, it does have a smaller pixel count by 80; the Wahoo Ace coming in with 480×720 instead of Garmin’s 480 x 800 pixels. (That’s the photo geek in me.) What impresses me the most is the 30 hour+ battery life that this massive display allows. A lot of this is because of the way Wahoo designed the display using the transflective thin-film transistor (TFT) screen. It provides excellent anti-glare and anti-reflective properties and allows for not only the LED backlight but also the sun to power the device in regards to visiblity.

INTERGRATED WIND SENSOR

Wahoo is dubbing this a category first – and I have to agree that this is pretty freaking cool. Although way more of this will be in our follow up article, but for now does this mean we are going to be able to buy this device and skip the wind tunnel? Probably not. But will this tell you in real time you are getting a solid draft off your buddy that you are sitting behind? 100%. Just look at the 13 minutes I sat right on my buddy Ryan’s wheel going up the canyon while we had a head wind. Heavy airboost on! Don’t worry, I don’t need his wheel; I needed to test the product! What does this really mean? It means that if you are in a draft legal event (triathlon or otherwise), you start to use this tool to help you pace yourself in a pack. Maybe it can also help you figure out what the difference getting in the drops makes.

Using the front facing opening shown below, the ACE allows for riders to not only see real time data while in or in front of the pack,but also post ride ELEMNT ACE provides Wahoo Wind Dynamics (WWD) to the Wahoo App that can be used to analyze performance and to help understand wind speed and its impacts on performance.

Does the computer come with all the bells and whistles of the Air Sensor? Not yet, but the basics are live and the rest will come in the forthcoming updates, some of which are listed at the end of this article.

MAPS

Not only does the ACE support Google and Apple Maps, but the Turn by Turn navigation is now also audio enabled which allows for riders to explore safely. This is where screen size really comes into play. Riders can not only see the direction they need to go, but what is ahead of them with overlays of your desired data points and/or graphs. Nothing drives me more nuts then going on a ride and not knowing if I have a 4 mile climb coming up or not. I really like to explore but in my older age I want to be prepared for as much as possible too.

Using MAPBOX in the new userface really does an awesome job at allowing riders to dive into the what they just completed. Seeing everything in 3D and having mulitple viewing options not allows for riders to get a feel for things, but they can really start to see where they can improve as everyone is searching for KOM and QOM’s these days.

Adding routes from other platforms seems to be about as easy and I have seem. I sync’d this from Ride With GPS.

So if you’re getting maps from friends or your coach, connecting and creating routes is pretty seamless.

The post event data is just a whole new level as well. Everything a Slowtwitcher would want to see.

INITIAL THOUGHTS?

I sort of laughed when I got the package and opened it up. All I could think about was how big this thing was. Then I plugged it in, turned it on and started to use it. I’m not sure I would ever use it in an IRONMAN or a 70.3. I just don’t know if I need that much data and size for a “guided tour.” But I will 100% use it at every single gravel race or long training ride I do. (Assuming I can fit it between my aero bars.) It’s about time Wahoo finally started to consolidate it’s apps into one. That has been one of my only complaints with their eco-system to date. All in all, it’s not so much the idea that I can see a thousand data fields on my screen as much as I can actually see the data I want. I can be a little more safe while trying to navigate in places where I have never been. I can see a little more clearly if an important call, text or email comes in so I’m not reaching for my phone to check it. These are the things that I think are important to a lot of us who live really busy lives that are trying to stay healthy at the same time.

We will have another write up and full YouTube video in the next week or so. Mostly because some of these updates didn’t really come out until the last day or so so I just didn’t have enough time with the holiday to get out and test them the way they I needed to. Below is the latest spec sheet from WAHOO along with their planned updates.

PRICING

• USD $599.99
• CAD $849.99
• GBP £549
• EUR €599
• AUD $999
• JPY ¥99,000

Forthcoming Updates

• Planned December 2024 Updates
  • Strava Live Segments
  • Offline configuration support (to supplement cloud based architecture)
  • “Workout Profiles” rebrand to “Activity Profiles”
  • Additional UI/UX Refinement and bug fixes

• Planned January 2025 Updates
  • Enhanced LiveTrack

• Ongoing Updates 
  • Wahoo is committed to improving rider experience through regular software updates – much of this is from customer feedback, alongside a company mission to keep improving the functionality of our products. There will be regular software updates unlocking new features, levels of performance and data-driven insights.

The post The All New Wahoo ELEMNT ACE first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

It might be his first trip to Australia, but the upbeat American certainly appears in the right frame of mind (and fitness) to be able to excel at the final two races in the IRONMAN Pro Series. While Marc Dubrick isn’t gunning for a top-10 finish in the standings since he hasn’t done an IRONMAN, (like Grace Thek, who we interviewed earlier), he is hoping to earn enough points over the next few weeks to get into the top-50 in the standings, which would provide a welcome US$5,000 cheque.

The trip to Australia also serves as a tune up for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo in a couple of weeks, which has been Dubrick’s “focus the whole year.”

After earning a scholarship at the University of Missouri after walking on to the cross-country and track team there, Dubrick, who had been a competitive swimmer through high school, turned his sights to triathlon. He started competed on the elite draft-legal racing scene from 2018, but would eventually start jumping into some long-course races along the way. He was second at his first half – IRONMAN 70.3 Maine in 2021, and earned his first qualifying spot to the 70.3 worlds in St. George the following year. He continued to jump back and forth between draft-legal and long-course racing until this year.

“I made the switch 100 percent and it has just been so good for me,” Dubrick said in an interview in Busselton a few days before the 70.3 race. “I think I just better at this distance. I really enjoy the community as well. I joined the Real Tri Squad (RTS) two years ago and it just makes every race really fun. We have a nice community growing and the people on the team are fun … It’s just the camraderie around triathlon in general – in long course it seems to be a bit better.”

Preparing For a Fast Day

“I like to compare the course (here in Busselton) to Indian Wells,” Dubrick said. “It’s flat and the pavement is actually better here. And it is pancake flat. We’ve got the 12 m draft rule and an ocean swim, but it’s with a wetsuit, so that will also make for a quick swim. We’ve also got some short-course people coming in, so they’re going to push the swim. Hopefully I’ll be there and helping with that and split it up, because I don’t really want a massive 20-person group on the bike.”

Dubrick is also expecting Swede Robert Kallin, who’s 3:54:33 bike split at IRONMAN Vittoria-Gasteiz is being hailed as the fastest ever for a full-distance race, to blast through the course. Kallin, who is currently in eighth in the IRONMAN Pro Series standings, is just one point behind Jonas Hoffman, and is looking to move up at least one spot in the standings after this weekend.

“I’m sure he (Kallin) wants to make sure he doesn’t get off the bike with everyone because every second counts,” Dubrick saiid. “It’s actually funny because he is literally one second behind the person who is ranked ahead of him.”

So where does Dubrick fit into all this? Now that he’s “all in” on the distance front, he’s looking to continue to compete with the top athletes.

“I have the run background, the swim background, been working my ass off on the bike, so hopefully I’ll be in a position where I’m always coming off the bike close to the leaders and can let the run legs talk,” he said.

Along with those lofty goals, though, is an outgoing nature that makes Dubrick a perfect fit for the RTS squad (and also his part-time gig doing customer service for Magic5).

“Beyond just performance I want to keep meeting people, keep growing my community, keep getting people excited about triathlon,” he said. “I absolutely love this. I just love the multisport community. If I can get people in the sport motivated to chase their goals, whether it is to finish an IRONMAN, finish a half, do an Olympic, whatever it is. Have a good time with it. With the Real Tri Squad, especially, we have a great community.”

While Dubrick is considering moving up to a full-distance race next year, he’s not trying to recover from even one IRONMAN race heading into tomorrow’s race, let alone three, like many of the contenders have done through 2024. If he can help keep the pace moving through the swim, look for the 30-year-old to stay in the mix through much of the bike. If he can stay close enough, who knows what sort of “talk” those run legs can provide.

Mark Dubrick’s Felt IA 2.0

_{Dura Ace 1x drivetrain, with an 11-30 cassette and .}

_{… a Drag2Zero 58-tooth chainring}

_{Dubrick tested this aero set up off the back of his Bisaddle Saint Pro 3D saddle, and the aero water bottle on the top tested a few watts quicker in the wind tunnel.}

_{We’re used to seeing the raised BTA bottle to go along with the Fast TT aero bars}

_{He’s not sure where it started, but he’s leaning into the Marc “The Shark” moniker}

_{We believe Dubrick will be the first triathlete to use the Enve SES 100 wheels in a race}

_{He’ll also be riding the ENVE Disc. He’s using a Continental Aero 29 mm in front with a GP5000 TT 28 mm on the disc.}

The post Marc Dubrick Has a Fast Bike, but That’s Not the Only Reason We’ll See Lots of Him at the Last Two Ironman Pro Series Races first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Van Riel’s Crash

The race in Cozumel wasn’t part of the IRONMAN Pro Series, so there was no live coverage of the event. For those who were tracking the race via the athlete tracker, things got wacky towards the end of the bike. After leading out of the water and then for roughly the first two-thirds of the bike, Van Riel was joined at the front by a group that included (among others) his countryman Bart Aernouts, Leon Chevalier (FRA), Chris Leiferman (USA) and Cam Wurf (AUS).

Towards the end of the bike, though, Van Riel disappeared from the front group, only to hit T2 in 18th place, over 20 minutes behind. Here’s the official statement from IRONMAN:

We are aware of an accident at IRONMAN Cozumel in which professional triathlete, Marten Van Riel, lost control of his bike, veering off course, and colliding with a young spectator who was watching the race from the sidelines. Van Riel waited with the spectator until emergency services could arrive and attend to them both. After following required local law enforcement protocols, Van Riel was able to continue with his race. 

We are thankful to learn that neither the spectator nor Van Riel sustained any serious injuries, and we extend our gratitude to the medical personnel who treated both the athlete and spectator promptly.

Van Riel provided more details in a post on Instagram

“After 175km on the bike I lost control of my bike (on a cateye or hole in the road) and swerved into the side where a little girl was supporting the race,” he wrote. “Unfortunately I hit her at 50 km/h and crashed very hard. Luckily the girl had her family there and she looked relatively ok except for a cut in her finger. The ambulance was quickly there and provided first aid to both of us, later the police also came to take a report.”

Van Riel ended up seeing the girl again when he went to the hospital in Cozumel for stitches.

“After the race I got brought to the hospital to get my elbows stitched and do some x-rays,” he continued. “Cozumel has only one hospital so the girl was also there and I was able to talk with her and give her my finisher medal and a shirt. Her mom told me that every year she watches the race, and I really hope this won’t change that!”

Van Riel would run the day’s fastest marathon (2:39:38) and ended up seventh. There were five qualifying spots for next year’s men’s IRONMAN World Championship in Nice. It will be interesting to see if he ends up trying to qualify sometime next year. One would imagine Van Riel will be looking to defend his T100 world title, so fitting two IRONMAN races into that mix might be a challenge.

Speaking of Crashes

Germany’s Anne Reischmann had a horrible high-speed crash on a descent at the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice in September when a water bottle slipped through her rear cage and momentarily got caught between her frame and rear wheel. She described the crash in detail on her social media channels, and my friend and former colleague Frank Wechsel was right behind her when she went down.

The German bounced back in style to take second at Challenge Peguera Mallorca in October, then returned to the site of her IRONMAN debut in 2022. (She finished fourth that year in 8:56:56.) This year Reischmann improved her time dramatically, especially on the marathon. She took the win in 8:38:08, and much of the drop can be attributed to her 16-minute improvement in the marathon (3:18:44 in 2022 to 3:02:03 this year.)

Bart Aernouts Back on Top After 6 Years

The last time Bart Aernouts won an Ironman race was in 2018 when he won IRONMAN Hamburg (pictured above). Later that year he would take second in Kona. While he’s won at least one race every year since except in 2022, those races have all been over the half-distance. After a fifth at IRONMAN South Africa and ninth at IRONMAN Lake Placid, the 40-year-old finally dialled in a winning performance in Cozumel.

Aernouts has always been a consummate pro, one who’s always willing to take the time for an interview. I got to announce him coming across the line to win IRONMAN Lanzarote in 2017 and then was on hand a few months later to watch him take the win at Challenge Roth. After his runner-up finish in Kona in 2018 I got to spend some time with him at the Laguna Phuket Triathlon, where he was inundated with interview request and appearance requirements for the race organization. He never batted an eye and was good natured through it all, and managed to round out his impressive season with a runner-up finish.

Looks like the Belgian will be off to Nice next year – he finished second at IRONMAN Nice last year, so he’s no stranger to success on that course.

Runner-up Finishes – Impressive Debut and Redemption

Austria’s Lisa Perterer added her name to the long list of short-course athletes who have used IRONMAN Cozumel as a first long-distance race. A three-time Olympian (London in 2012, Tokyo in 2021 and Paris in 2024), Perterer had done three 70.3 races before she went all-in on the long-distance front after competing in Paris. She took sixth in her home-country event at IRONMAN 70.3 Zell am See, then won IRONMAN 70.3 Cozumel and took another sixth at IRONMAN 70.3 Portugal. Now the 33-year-old has nailed down a slot for Kona.

After dropping out of the world championship in Kona, American Chris Leiferman bounced back with a repeat runner-up finish in Cozumel – he was second last year, too. That goes along with his third-place finish on the Mexican island in 2016, the year he won on debut at IRONMAN Mont-Tremblant. Leiferman has quietly racked up a number of IRONMAN and full-distance wins (six), to go along with a couple of 70.3 wins. All-told he’s finished on the podium at 20 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 races, along with a couple of third-place finishes at the Wildflower Triathlon. Now he’s dialled in another chance to compete at the worlds next year.

A First Drafting Penalty for Cam Wurf

The former Kona bike course record holder (pictured above at this year’s race in Kona – photo by Eric Wynn) splits his professional career between triathlon and pro bike racing as part of the INEOS Grenadiers. Wurf routinely rides his way through the field in any triathlon he’s competing in, so he doesn’t spend much time having to worry about getting too close to the wheel ahead.

“In a nutshell, I received buy first career drafting penalty,” Wurf wrote on Instagram. “To add insult to embarrassment, it happened just as we’d finally got to the front of the race. From the absolute perfect scenario, to a worst case race nightmare. In the blink of an eye there is was standing in the bright yellow Sin Bin Tent for 5 eternal minutes.”

Once back on the bike Wurf says he struggled to find his legs. He would get to T2 in eighth, 11:32 behind Aernouts.

A week after taking seventh in Kona, Wurf ran 2:36:22 at the New York Marathon.

“Thanks to my new found delusional belief in my running legs, I started the run at my NY marathon pace,” Wurf wrote. “Alas, it didn’t take long for reality to hit hard and I imploded yet again.”

Wurf would eventually run 2:51:42 and finish eighth.

The post Things We Noticed from Ironman Cozumel (Including the Official Word on Marten Van Riel’s Crash) first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Before I dive into this piece, I want to acknowledge a few things:

• These are static images taken at a single moment in time during a 180k race segment.
• Camera angles can distort positions, and athletes may not be at the same point in the pedal stroke, so these comparisons are made at a high level.

I’m also going to assume that athletes have arrived at their positions through a deliberate process, supported by trial and error, bike fit professionals, and some form of aerodynamic testing—whether in the wind tunnel, velodrome, or using modern field-testing devices.

Observations and Trends

Steep vs Slack’ish

Most athletes are riding steep, with saddles pushed forward or their bodies positioned so they sit forward relative to the bottom bracket. In my fit studio, I use a motion capture system to obtain a measurement similar to KOPS (knee over pedal spindle) to gauge how steeply an athlete is riding. While there is no definitive number, I use a range or established norms to ensure an athlete is in the ballpark. This measurement serves as a key variable I can adjust to optimize their fit.

For this article, another way to assess steepness is by comparing hip position relative to the bottom bracket. In the image above, you can see that Lionel Sanders is positioned further back on the bike compared to Patrick Lange.

A few other riders, like Matthew Marquardt and Cameron Wurf, adopt “slacker” positions. Cameron, racing in the pro tour, adheres to UCI regulations requiring the saddle to be at least 50mm behind the bottom bracket. I’m not sure whether he adjusts his position for triathlon or maintains the same setup, but he does a solid job of rotating his pelvis forward to maintain an open hip angle, mitigating any potential impact on biomechanics.

Hip Angle

When athletes report power loss due to bike position, I typically start by evaluating their hip angle. A closed hip angle can create restriction over the top of the pedal stroke. This closure can result from several factors: bars set too low, excessive reach, a saddle positioned too far back, or a poorly suited saddle that limits anterior pelvic tilt.

For some athletes, a closed hip angle doesn’t pose a significant problem- I can give you numerous examples of triathletes and pro cyclists who have performed exceptionally well with closed hip angles. For others, a closed hip angle can be the root of the power loss issue.

The image above illustrates the contrast between hip angles of Lionel Sanders and Magnus Ditlev. Although their pedal positions aren’t identical, it’s evident that Lionel rides with a more closed hip angle.

Matthew Marquardt is another athlete to ride with more closed hip angles. While this may or may not affect cycling power, the key question is whether this impacts their performance during the marathon. If I were working with these athletes, this would be an area for further investigation.

Back Angle & Reach

Back angle and reach are interdependent. While back angles haven’t changed significantly over the years, athletes have shifted away from the “how low can you go” mindset. Instead, the bars have gone up and out, with athletes raising their front ends an estimated ~40-60mm and extending their reach ~60-100mm compared to positions of the past.

Athletes are also adding 10-20 degrees of bar tilt, which helps support the upper body, relax the shoulders, and create a “pocket” for the athlete to hide their head behind their hands. This configuration results in what I call a solid, “all-day” aero position, allowing athletes to settle comfortably and keep their heads low without reaching for their bar drop.

To illustrate the change in positioning, I’ll use Sam Appleton as an example since I have his fit coordinates from the past several years. Sam’s position looks great in either setup, but you can see how much modern positions have evolved.

These are significant changes. If this trend continues—and I believe it will—bike manufacturers will need to account for the extra length and height in future designs.

I understand this is a challenging task, as creating a bike that fits everyone isn’t easy. Manufacturers have done an excellent job expanding the fit window of their bikes over the years. However, could we see a return to the days when bikes or brands offered distinct fit characteristics—like long and low, short and shallow, or now, long and tall?

With athletes positioned so far over the front end, we need to find ways to incorporate more frame into the design rather than relying on spacers, bolts, and extenders to achieve these new positions. Currently, it’s concerning to see athletes resorting to DIY or third-party solutions to extend and raise their front ends, placing significant trust in these “Lego-like” constructs to support the weight of their upper bodies.

Outliers

Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden have the most unorthodox positions. Gustav has maintained a more consistent position over the years, whereas Kristian’s approach has been more variable. Their setups have shifted from highly aero-driven to comfort-focused and back again.

Not a fan of KB’s position here. I have no doubt that the position tests fast and helps narrow and elongate his frontal aero profile. However, I think this can be done with a position that might be more comfortable and robust.

When Gustav is on the nose of the saddle throwing down power, this position is not quite as “superman” as was expected. Still, I think bringing the front end back ~20-30mm and lowering it ~20mm would be a more orthodox position by today’s standards.

While these positions may test well aerodynamically, a truly effective position must be holistic. I’ll elaborate on the fitting pillars I use when working with athletes in future articles, but I’ll leave you with this:

The primary goal of the time trial position is to reduce aerodynamic drag in the quest for speed, but the fastest positions are rarely purely aero-driven.

Quick Takes on Individual Rider Positions

For this section, I’m going to give you my quick high-level thoughts on the bike positions of the athletes below. I’d love to get your thoughts as well in the comments section.

Sam Laidlow has a great holistic looking bike position. He does seem to put a bit more weight on the front end compared to someone like Magnus, but this is a great “all day” aero position that is achievable by most triathletes.

I really like Magnus Ditlev’s position—it checks all the boxes and looks incredibly comfortable. I don’t see anything I would change, especially knowing the thought and effort that went into the position you see above.

Robert Kallin could be Magnus’s twin on a bike and that’s not a bad thing.

Patrick Lange rides in a steep, compact position. Riders often fall into one of two categories: bar chasers or saddle chasers. A bar chaser, like Patrick, tends to preserve their shoulder angle and may pull themselves off the front of the saddle if the bars are extended too far. In contrast, saddle chasers stay firmly seated and extend their arm and shoulder angles as the bars are pushed forward—think “superman” position.

Leon Chevalier is another athlete with a textbook position. He rides forward with a relaxed upper body and his helmet mates nicely to his back.

I’ve worked with Rudy Von Berg for a number of years and I think his position has progressed nicely. He rides a position that is both long and low while maintaining a relaxed posture and a great head position.

I’ve used Lionel Sanders as an example of a rider sitting further back on the bike with a more closed-off hip angle compared to his competitors. This might be the most aerodynamic I’ve ever seen him, but his upper and lower body appear incongruent. I’d be curious to see the impact of moving him forward 40-50mm to open his hip angle, and slightly adjusting the bars forward to maintain reach. The goal would be to retain the aerodynamic profile of his current position while improving biomechanics for better power production. But, who knows—maybe he can crush it in the position above?

Daniel Baekkegard doesn’t ride quite as long as others, but I don’t have much to critique here. Based on this image, maybe he could work on rolling his pelvis more forward?

Ben Kanute’s arrival at his position was well documented in a recent Slowtwitch article where he visited the Zipp wind tunnel. Ben’s position looks great and I’m glad he decided that going lower in the front end was not going to improve his aerodynamics.

Braden Currie rides in a more traditional, textbook throwback position. He seems to have some room to stretch out if needed, but currently rides with a more vertical upper arm and a larger drop. The newer, higher, and longer positions might offer more comfort and could be worth considering here.

I think the camera angle is distorting Mathias Petersen‘s position. I’ve seen other images of his position and they look much better than what we are seeing above.

Bradley Weiss had a great ride in Kona. My quick take: he looks a bit too comfortable and might benefit from lowering and extending the front end more.

Mike Phillips has a really nice position. If Mike asked for my advice, I’d look to bring his front end up and see if it has any impact on drag. As long as he could keep his head low, I think there would be minimal impact on aerodynamics and he could potentially be more relaxed on the front end.

If I were working with Arnaud Guilloux, I’d add more tilt to the bars. After doing so, I’d probably want to raise his front end 10-20mm.

Matt Hanson has a good position. Something I might try, would be to add more upward angulation to his bars and then raise the front end around 10mm.

Igor Amorelli is riding really steep and basically coming off the front of his arm cups. Looks like he might be doing something with his hands here…like opening nutrition?

Not the best angle of Tristan Olij, but from sitting here at my computer, this position passes the eyeball test.

Reinaldo Colucci is one of the few athletes riding with flat arms—a setup that worked well for Jan Frodeno. As long as he feels locked in on the front end, his position looks solid, and his head position is on point.

Gregory Barnaby rides a long and low position that flattens out his back and does a great job of keeping his head low.

Trevor Foley was having a great ride until an unfortunate crash near the end of the bike leg ruined his day. His position is textbook—he rides steep, maintaining a relaxed posture over the front end, which allows him to keep his head low. In terms of reach, he doesn’t stretch out as much as some athletes, but he doesn’t ride compact either; he sits comfortably in the middle.

The evolution of bike positions and technology at Kona reflects the relentless pursuit of speed by reducing resistive forces—wind, road, and drivetrain. While trends point toward steeper angles, higher front ends, and extended reaches, the goal remains the same: maximizing speed while balancing personalized comfort, biomechanical efficiency, and power output.

It’s exciting to consider where we go from here. From a bike fit perspective, these modern positions appear to not only be faster, but also significantly more comfortable.

-Mat

The post Aero Evolution: Kona Pro Bike Positions first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

As time continues its relentless march forward, daylight is in ever shorter supply here in the Northern Hemisphere. At Slowtwitch’s Tundra Division outpost, we’re at a whole whopping 9.5 hours of light and fading fast. With that means the wind is colder, the shadows longer, and riding time, if you can get it, requires more and more preparatory time.

In fewer words: this sucks, it’s not worth it, I’m just going to ride inside.

It’s not like that is a particularly sizable change for me; after all, I did 95% of my riding mileage leading up to this year’s IRONMAN attempt on my reliable Wahoo KICKR. And although my stubbornness to do something about saddle pain was the likely culprit in my ongoing injury battle, training indoors typically limits injury risk and increases the potential for training plan compliance. After all, there’s little excuse for not knowing how long an interval is supposed to be when you have either a timer, or a structured workout, staring you back in the face.

The indoor training industry exploded during the pandemic. We’ve seen a lot of platforms debut over the last couple of years, entering into a crowded marketplace that includes everything from Peloton to Zwift to myWhoosh to IndieVelo (which will soon be part of TrainingPeaks). One of the newer entrants into this arena is Velocity — and they’ve carved out a niche for themselves that I think will prove to be popular with athletes, coaches, and clubs.

The Big Sell: Coach-Led Virtual Training Sessions

At its core, Velocity currently offers a stable of cycling and strength workouts (either as a plan or a choose-your-own-adventure). It’s not too dissimilar from, say, the library of workouts that you might find on Zwift — although Velocity’s organization of their content is far easier to navigate. You then complete those workouts by pairing your smart device to the platform.

The big differentiator when doing those workouts, though, is that they are virtually led by a coach. There’s a coach video, talking through the purpose of part of a workout, or talking through the execution tactics for that workout. It’s not just some text flashing across the screen as you go along; it’s a person. Better yet, occasionally these workouts are live — where you can join the coach (and other riders) in a virtual setting to work out together.

If this sounds a bit like Peloton, well, you’re not far from the mark — minus, of course, the hefty venture capital backing and the requirement of buying a specific bike or treadmill to do the workouts.

Going for a Ride

Velocity, on desktop machines, is built directly on Google Chrome architecture. It means that you’re running everything off of Chrome; no app to download. Log into the platform, and then you’re brought to the Home Screen to select your workout session.

Once you’ve picked the workout that you want to ride, you’ll click to start it, and then you are brought to the pairing screen. Pairing devices utilizes Bluetooth; my KICKR connected faster than it usually does when I’m trying to ride on Zwift. You’re then asked to turn on your camera and microphone so you can interact with others during the ride (and, potentially, for coaching feedback — more on that in a bit). Once you’ve gotten through those checks, you’re ready to ride.

The main screen view once into a workout is of the instructor. The volume of the recording is high without getting distorted, which is good when you as an athlete may need to turn volume up on your machine in order to hear over your trainer or fan. On the left hand side you find the upcoming parts of the workout. And then at the bottom are the two main “tachometers,” as I referred to them: power to the left, cadence to the right. Each of them gives you a highlighted range for each section of the workout based on the proscribed power/cadence. You also receive a compliance score when in slope mode; compliance mode turns off in ERG mode.

Now, for the data geeks amongst us who have been begging for this kind of information: you don’t only see instant power and cadence. You also get averages. It’s something we’ve seen riders clamoring for from other platforms for years. Well, here’s one that’s in tune to that request.

I personally preferred using Velocity in ERG mode; I don’t like having to manipulate trainer resistance during structured workouts as it takes me away from the gamification of the ride. But from a ride experience perspective, it was otherwise flawless; no lag, no connection dropouts, and no “ERG death spiral” that can occasionally plague other systems.

For Coaches and Clubs

Remember that thing I mentioned about camera analysis? Coaches, how would you like to be able to review an athlete’s position on board their bike, or their body language during a particular session? Or perhaps you simply just want to engage with some of your team at once, and don’t want to have to run both a training platform and a conferencing system and maybe even a chat app like Discord?

You’re in luck. If you’re a coach (or a club) that signs up for Velocity, you can be the coach on screen; host live rides; review athlete data; or connect with your team. It’s a white label platform that includes your company logo and destination for athletes brought in through the portal.

I think particularly for coaches who strongly prefer heavily structured rides that require a hefty amount of athlete compliance, this is a breakthrough offering. Off the top of my head, I know that there are coaches that I have worked with in the past (either on a personal athlete or professional level) who would benefit from the content delivery and community building aspects of this; they may have wanted to deliver a community riding experience but the multiple apps dissuaded them from pursuing it further.

In all, it’s a pretty compelling package for both athletes and coaches/clubs. It’s as if you took elements of Sufferfest, Peloton, and TrainerRoad and turned them into an all-in-one solution. That’s a really interesting place to be — and one we will continue to investigate further over the coming weeks.

The post Getting Started with Velocity: The Data Geek’s Indoor Training Platform first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Created as IRONMAN’s answer to the question asked by the PTO’s T100 Triathlon World Tour, the IRONMAN Pro Series has been an unmitigated success. Pros were clamoring to enter the designated pro races to the point where waiting lists became the norm at the early season events. On top of that, some of the biggest names in the sport chose to focus on the IRONMAN series rather than sign a T100 contract, including this year’s Kona champ Patrick Lange (GER) and one of the most popular pros in the sport, Canadian Lionel Sanders. British star Kat Matthews chose to both sign a T100 contract and go after the Pro Series title.

Pro Series Standings

With two races left – IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia and the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Taupo – Lange and Jackie Hering (USA) sit at the top of the standings. Lange won’t be in Taupo, and it looks like that could be a costly decision. Hering will be in Taupo, but despite being in the lead, it’s going to be really hard for her to take the overall win. After her runner-up finish in Nice, Matthews appears to have the best shot for the overall title.

Points for the Pro Series are based on a total of five eligible races. To push a full-distance race emphasis, three of those can be IRONMAN races, with the final two being 70.3 events. IRONMAN races are worth 5,000 points for the win, with the points decreasing by one for every second an athlete finishes behind the winner. IRONMAN 70.3 races are worth half that. The world championship races are worth a bit more – 6,000 points for Kona and Nice, 3,000 points for Taupo.

With $1.3 million of bonus money on the line, making the trip down under will definitely be worth the effort. Winning the series earns $200,000, with second taking $130,00 and third $85,000. (You can see the full break down here.)

You can see the points standings heading into the final few races here.

Lange’s to lose?

At the press conference after winning in Kona, Lange told us that he wasn’t going to be heading to Taupo in December because it already looked like he’d nailed the Pro Series title. (Turns out he also hadn’t qualified for the 70.3 worlds, so in theory his only chance to up his points total would have been to head to IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia, but the bottom line is he wasn’t heading down under.)

In fact, he hasn’t nailed the Pro Series title. Sure, it doesn’t look like American Matt Hanson, who is currently second in the standings, could earn enough points even with a win in Taupo to move ahead. It’s also a long-shot for South African Bradley Weiss, who currently sits third. A win in Taupo would be enough to put him in front. That’s a tough ask for a guy who finished 16th at 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun and seventh at 70.3 Alcudia-Mallorca.

There are three guys who have a huge opportunity to move to the top of the standings, though. First up is American Matthew Marquardt, who somehow balances med school and pro racing. He’ll be taking time from his studies at Ohio State to take a shot at the IRONMAN Pro Series title. He’s only done one 70.3 race to go along with his three IRONMAN finishes (third in Texas, second in Lake Placid and 15th in Kona), so if he can muster up 2,041 points in Taupo he’d gain enough points to become the Pro Series champ.

Italy’s Gregory Barnaby is in almost as good a position – he’s only 23 points behind Marquardt and also only has one 70.3 race on his list for 2024. Dane Kristian Haugenhaug currently trails Barnaby by 268 points in the standings and also has a race in hand. Here’s the other interesting thing about those two – they’ll both be heading to Ironman 70.3 Western Australia next week and then to Taupo, giving them two shots at earning enough points to move to the top of the IRONMAN Pro Series.

Matthews in the Driver’s Seat

Hering sits at the top of the standings with 18,093 points. Those come from three IRONMAN events (win in Hamburg, second in Lake Placid and ninth in Kona) and two 70.3 races – second in Chattanooga and third in St. George. The problem for Hering is that Matthews is just a few hundred points behind and only has four counting races – second in Nice, wins in Texas and Vitoria-Gasteiz and a second at 70.3 Tallinn. So, pretty much any finish that’s within roughly 45 minutes of the winner in Taupo will get Matthews the title.

Hering can make that a bit more tough with a win in Taupo – that would negate her St. George score and add about 700 points to her total. Matthews would still only need to finish within 30 mins of the winner to take the Pro Series.

It still means that it will come down to one race, which is why I was surprised not to see Matthews’ name on the start list for IRONMAN 70.3 Western Australia. A decent finish there would put her in front of the Pro Series, taking the pressure of having to finish in Taupo. That said, if you’re gunning after the world championship and you’ve raced as much as Matthews has this year, resting up before the worlds makes a lot of sense.

Maja Stage Nielsen, who currently sits third in the Pro Series Standings, is on the start list for 70.3 Western Australia. Moving up to first is very much a long shot for the Dane – if she wins in Busselton and Taupo, she’d improve her score by about 1,500 points, which would put her close to Hering’s total. A couple of good races, though, could ensure she stays ahead of American Danielle Lewis, who is only 177 points behind her.

The Netherlands’ Lotte Wilms heads to 70.3 Western Australia with two races in hand for her points total – she hasn’t done a 70.3 race this year. Wins in Taupo and Western Australia would give her enough points to move ahead of Hering, but probably not enough to top Matthews if she has even a decent race at the worlds. Kiwi Hannah Berry also hasn’t done a 70.3 race this year, so she’s heading to Busselton and Taupo with the podium of the IRONMAN Pro Series in mind.

Pro Series Finale

All of which sets up more than a little bit of excitement leading into the final few races of the IRONMAN Pro Series. By only increasing the points values for the world championship events by 1,000 (IRONMAN) and 500 (70.3) points, IRONMAN has ensured that there will be lots to race for right up to the final race of the season. It means that the Kona and Nice champions aren’t likely to be crowned IRONMAN Pro Series champ, but maybe that’s not a bad thing.

The post After Nice and Kona Some Thought the IRONMAN Pro Series was Settled. Not Quite. first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

The Laguna Phuket Triathlon was created 30 years ago by International Management Group (IMG) as a “made for TV” race to promote the Laguna Phuket Resort. With Murphy Reinschreiber, the former “agent to the triathlon stars” in the mix as one of the race organizers, it was easy to see how the race featured some of the sport’s biggest names. Former winners include Paula Newby-Fraser, Michellie Jones, Mike Pigg, Karen Smyers, Simon Lessing, Craig Alexander, Jan Frodeno and Melissa Hauschildt. As of this year’s 30th-anniversary, we can add Olympic silver and bronze medalist Hayden Wilde to the list – the Kiwi cruised to a three-minute win. On the women’s side, up-and-coming British star Kate Waugh successfully defended her title.

Bucket List Race

With the resort-promotion concept in mind, the Laguna Phuket race is truly a destination race that serves as a race-cation for athletes and families. The six hotels that make up the resort all provide easy access to the 3 km of pristine beachfront. There are lots of top-notch restaurants, an 18-hole golf course, luxury spas and lots of activities to keep athletes, their families and friends occupied throughout race week.

The race also offers a sprint and 6 km fun run for those not ready to take on the off-distance main triathlon. That event begins with a 1.8-km swim that starts from Bang Tao Beach and heads into the Andaman Sea. After a short run across the beach, athletes then finish the swim across a lagoon. The 50-km bike ride heads out of the resort for a scenic, but very hilly, one-loop effort. The day rounds out with a 12-km run through the resort and along the golf course.

Wilde powers clear on the bike

Great Britain’s Tom Bishop led the way out of the water with his 22:26 split, but Wilde and countryman Tayler Reid were only about 30 seconds back as they started the ride. It was there that Wilde put his stamp on the race, flying through a 1:12:57 bike split that left him well ahead of the rest of the field. He followed that up with a 40:28 run, which got him to the line in 2:19:03. That was a shade over three-minutes ahead of Reid (2:22:13), with Ukraine’s Rostyslav Pevtsov (2:23:03) rounding out the podium. Bishop (2:26:44) would hang on for fourth, while France’s Antony Costes (2:29:00) finished fifth. Former draft-legal swim star Richard Varga (SVK) trailed after the swim and would eventually take sixth overall (2:30:05).

Full results are available here.

Waugh runs her way to a second title

Four women finished the swim together, led by Brit Sian Rainsley, Waugh, Switzerland’s Alanis Siffert and Belgium’s Claire Michel. That group was 90-seconds up on the next athlete out of the water, Ukraine’s Kseniia Levkovska, setting up a four-woman lead group to compete for the podium.

Out on the bike it was Siffert who would prove the strongest, opening up a gap of about 30 seconds to Waugh into T2, with Rainsley starting the run about eight-minutes down and Michel trailing by another two and a half minutes. The Belgian was still almost two-minutes up on Australia’s Dimity-Lee Duke, who had ridden herself into the top five.

Once out on the run Siffert was no match for Waugh, who cruised to the day’s fastest run split (47:25) and a 2:35:39 finish. Siffert (2:39:54) hung tough to take the runner-up spot, with Rainsley (2:43:41) rounding out the podium. Michel (2:46:38) would take fourth, Duke (2:50:15) fifth and Levkovska (2:56:34) would finish sixth.

You can see the full results list here.

The 30th anniversary event was streamed live on YouTube – if you wanted to catch up on the race you can see it below.

The post Hayden Wilde Adds His Name to the “Race of Legends” Champions List first appeared on Slowtwitch News.

Today roughly 2,000 athletes will be competing in one of the longest-running events on the North American IRONMAN circuit – IRONMAN Arizona. The first race took place on April 9, 2005, hosted by the City of Tempe and the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. Renowned as a fast course, the race consists of a one-loop swim in the cool waters of Tempe Town Lake, followed by a three-loop bike course that follows the Beeline Highway and is traditionally extremely fast. The day wraps up with a three-loop bike course that mostly follows Tempe Town Lake and is, like the bike course, relatively flat and fast.

The extreme heat of the April event led to a calendar switch in 2008 which moved the race to the November date that we’re now accustomed to. (There were actually two races held that year, not unlike 1982 when the Ironman World Championship changed its date. As the managing editor of ironman.com at the time, I lived the headaches of trying to figure out how to have two sets of results for the same race in the same year up on the site.) Rather than diminish the race’s stature as a pro event, the move raised the profile as athletes looked to either kick off the next season with an early world-championship qualifying spot, or round out an otherwise lackluster season with a big day.

Pro Racing

It wasn’t as if the race didn’t attract some big names over the first few years. The inaugural event was won by Germany’s Faris Al-Sultan, who would go on to win in Kona later that year, while Australian Kate Major, a three-time Kona bronze medalist during her career, took the women’s race. In 2006 it was Michellie Jones’ turn to use the Arizona race as a build up to a Kona title, while in 2007 Rutger Beke, the 2003 Kona runner-up, would take the title.

In 2009 Andreas Raelert made his Ironman debut in Arizona, following on his runner-up finish at the 70.3 worlds just a few weeks before and serving as a precursor to his five Ironman World Championship podium finishes over the next seven years. That same year Canadian Samantha McGlone began the trend of top athletes bouncing back after Kona to compete in Arizona – she took the win after a fifth-place finish on the Big Island. A year later German star Timo Bracht followed up his sixth-place Kona finish with a win in Tempe.

World-best times

It was 2010 that really put Ironman Arizona on the map as the “redemption” race for those who hadn’t performed as they’d hoped on the Big Island. That year Chrissie Wellington (photo above), the three-time defending Kona champ, had pulled out of the race in Hawaii due to illness. Looking to end the season with a big day, the British star blasted to an 8:36:13 finish, enough for eighth overall and shattering the previous IRONMAN best time (Sandra Wallenhorst’s 8:47:26 at IRONMAN Austria in 2008) by over 11 minutes. (And, yes, we know that Wellington had gone 8:19:13 at Challenge Roth earlier that same year – the race in Arizona was an IRONMAN best.)

While no-one has topped Wellington’s time since then (Heather Jackson went 8:39:18 in winning the 2018 race), there have been a raft of speedy men’s times over the years. Spain’s Eneko Llanos was the first man to break the eight-hour barrier at Ironman Arizona in 2011 (7:59:38). In 2014 Canadian Brent McMahon blasted to a 7:55:48 finish, a pre-cursor to his world-best Ironman time set at Ironman Brazil the following spring. In 2016 another Canadian, Lionel Sanders, took the second of his three-straight Ironman Arizona titles in 7:44:29, setting a new IRONMAN record. That performance remains the fastest time recorded in Tempe. (Sanders is another example of athletes bouncing back after tough days on the Big Island with an appearance in Tempe, although his third win came after his runner-up Kona finish in 2017.)

Rudy’s redemption

Pros weren’t the only ones looking to use the Arizona race as a chance to come back after a tough day in Kona. In 2009, double-leg amputee Rudy Garcia-Tolson missed the bike cut off in Kona by eight minutes. He would line up in Arizona for another attempt at the distance, this time reaching the finish line in 16:06:27.

Age-Group only racing

Despite that rich history of professional racing, prize-money events in Tempe have been a bit sporadic over the last few years. In 2019 the race was held as women’s-only pro event, with the 2020 event cancelled due to COVID. The 2021 race was an age-group only race, with around 2,000 athletes racing. In 2022 there were pro men and women on hand as Brit Joe Skipper and American Olympian Sarah True took the wins. Last year, as with this year, sees age-group only racing again.

IRONMAN Arizona remains one of the brand’s mainstay events because of the huge fields it has attracted over the years. The inaugural event in 2005 had 1,682 starters, which ballooned to 2,399 in 2009. (Registrations would have been much higher.) The race would routinely see well over 2,300 athletes start on race morning, including the 2,523 that hit Tempe Town Lake in 2013. Those numbers prove just how popular (and lucrative) the race has been.

The post Celebrating 20 years of racing at IRONMAN Arizona first appeared on Slowtwitch News.