KONA BIKE SURVEY: We look at the bikes the athletes were riding.
DR. WARREN SCOTT: The chairman of the Ironman Medical Conference in Kona since 1994.
KONA DIARY: It was our Slowtwitch editor's first trip to the Ironman in Kona, and while her impressions might ring familiar to others who've been there, they were expressed with imagery particular to her own unique journalistic style.
AGE-GROUP NOTES: Ninety-three percent of the competitors prevailed in wicked conditions. A few of their stories.
AGE-GROUP RESULTS: A look at the battles for age-group supremacy out on the lava fields.
A WEIRD KONA: Says our publisher, who's seen a lot of Konas and knows a weird one when he sees one..
LARRY PARKER: One Kona qualifier chose to stay home this year.
LIVE COVERAGE: The race, as we called it live.
MEN'S PREDICTIONS: This is the most interesting race in years. Any of a dozen men have a reasonable shot at winning, and the presence of Steve Larsen in the ride will certainly affect the outcome of the race, regardless of how he finishes.
WOMEN'S PREDICTIONS: Nobody's going to be able to have a bad day and still win—there are just too many goood women racing this year. Even Paula's back in good form.
AGE-GROUPERS STEEL THEMSELVES FOR SATURDAY'S BATTLE: Daniel Blankenfuland, Susan Burr lead the charge in Kona.
ATHLETE'S RECOVERING BODY PROPELS HER TO KONA: Not only is this Nancy Lipira-Hoest's first race at Kona, it's her first Ironman. Last year a crash shattered her forearm, left her with multiple fractures in her knee, a herniated disk in her neck and a concussion.
BATTERED NY'ERS MAKE THEIR WAY TO KONA: On Sept. 11, David Schneider of Long Island was in Rimini, Italy, preparing for the duathlon worlds. It took five hours of frantic telephoning for him to learn that his son, who works just blocks from the World Trade Center, had escaped harm from the terrorist attacks: "For five hours, I was a wreck," he said.
COURSE CHANGES: The Kona course will change more significantly this year than at any time since the race first came to the Big Island from Oahu in 1981. We outline the changes and their impact on the finish times.
