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DC Photo Gallery

In search of races that would play on TV for their new World Championship series of eight worldwide events, the International Triathlon Union sought out internationally renowned cities on four continents with iconic backdrops for the action. They scored a hit when Washington DC organizer Chuck Brodsky worked got permission to hold the North American leg in our nation's capital. So Olympic medalists like Simon Whitfield, Jan Frodeno, Bevan Docherty, Emmas Snowsill and Moffatt came to race. On a cloudy to sunny day, rising star Alistair Brownlee topped World Champion Javier Gomez and Miss Moffatt topped her renowned training partner Snowy. Meanwhile, a still recovering from injury Sarah Haskins held US honors with a strong fourth place finish and Andy Potts (4th) and Hunter Kemper (5th) finished ahead of Olympic and World Championship medalists Whitfield (DNF) Docherty (DNF) Frodeno (6th) and Daniel Unger (11th) to represent the red white and blue on home ground. Photos by Timothy Carlson.

Industry faces at Interbike

Inside Interbike 09 gallery 1

The 2009 Interbike show opened the doors at the Sands Convention Center and here are images from the first day.

Image galleries from Outdoor Demo
Day 2
Day 1

Inside Interbike 09 gallery 2

We have been roaming the halls to find more interesting bits from the 2009 Interbike trade show.

More galleries
Inside Interbike 09 gallery 1
Interbike 09 Outdoor Demo day 2
Interbike 09 Outdoor Demo Day 1

Inside Interbike 09 gallery 3

Many more pictures from the 2009 Interbike trade show. Bikes, parts and people.

More galleries

Inside Interbike 09 gallery 2
Inside Interbike 09 gallery 1
Interbike 09 Outdoor Demo day 2
Interbike 09 Outdoor Demo Day 1

Interbike 09 Outdoor Demo 1

The 2009 Interbike started officially today with the first day of the Outdoor Demo in Boulder City, Nevada. The early morning wasn't too busy, but as the day went on, more and more dealers and industry folks showed up to see what they could test ride in Bootleg Canyon. Temperatures had cooled down from the 108 and 109 temps of the last days to a more civil 99 degrees plus a good breeze made conditions a bit more comfortable. But the wind was less fun for the cyclists on the course and the vendors positioned on the dirt.

Interbike 09 Outdoor Demo 2

Day 2 of the Interbike Outdoor Demo was quite busy. The official program started at 8am with the Interbike Tour of Lake Mead, also known as the Hangover Ride. That meant that many brands were ready by 7am to set up people for this ride. Not sure if anyone counted the participants but it easily looked like 250-300 folks riding.

After the ride there was moment of calm but then more and more folks showed up and several brands started to run out of bikes for people to test. Conditions were not super hot, but quite windy.

Ironman Hawaii 2008 Expo

Ironman Hawaii winners, movers and shakers 1993-2000

Timothy Carlson has been at Ironman Hawaii since 1993 and has captured stunning images along the way. This is the first part of a gallery honoring the Ironman Hawaii winners and key contenders and ranges from Mark Allen's win in 1993 through Peter Reid's 2000 victory. Plus it has all the winners in between, other standouts, interesting bike technologies and curious fashions.

This is really more than one era at the sacred stage of Ironman Hawaii. You might call it the Passing of the Torch to the Second Wave of the Giants – or pseudo-scientifically, the Middle Konazoic Period. It begins with the final bows and curtain calls of The Man ('94 and '96) and the Grip ('93 and '95) and the final wins (’93, ’94, ’96) of the incomparable Paula Newby-Fraser. It includes the 1994 victory of triathlon’s Incomparable Imp, Greg Welch, over a noble 40-year old Dave Scott. In Natascha Badmann’s 1996 baptism on the Queen K, she offers stiff resistance to Paula Newby-Fraser’s 8th win and then begins her own dynasty in 1998 and 2000. In that same epochal year of 1996, rookie Luc Van Lierde jolted the Kona landscape with his shocking 8:04:08, smashing recently retired Mark Allen’s hallowed course record. The next year, the daring cycling power of Thomas Hellriegel, who pushed to the brink both Mark Allen in his 1995 farewell and Luc Van Lierde in his 1996 hello, was merged with a top run. That combination allowed Hell on Wheels to become the first German to take the Kona crown. This era also includes the arrival of the Canadians into the halls of Kona greatness, led by Heather Fuhr’s breakthrough win in 1997, followed by the derring-do of Canada’s Iron Couple, Peter Reid (1998 and 2000) and Lori Bowden (1999). This photographer deeply regrets that his crazy quilt filing system misplaced photos of the great Karen Smyers’ brilliant 1995 win.

All images © Timothy Carlson

Ironman Parade Photo Gallery

The Kona Ironman Parade is a sweet annual affair that honors great triathletes and eccentric behavior.

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Kansas 70.3 Photo Gallery

After last year's rains flooded parts of the run course, the 2009 Ironman Kansas 70.3 stayed mostly dry and fast thanks to cloudy mild temperatures and light winds.

After a sixth place thrashing at the Olympic distance Columbia Triathlon a few weeks prior, Chrissie Wellington was relieved to pull out a dominating win in 4:14:52. But she took even greater pleasure in her disaster-free NASCAR-style 4-minute pit stop to replace a flat, demonstrating that her endless practice mastering the deployment of the CO2 canister to inflate the tube had not been in vain.

On the men's side, Luke Bell, Tim O'Donnell,Paul Matthews and Stephen Hackett broke away on the bike. O'Donnell made a brave move to lead the run until Luke Bell ran him down with a mile and a half to go and finished in a swift 3:49:35.

All in all, a good hit out for all concerned.

Kona 09 Friday

Friday is pretty much all about the bike check-in and getting rested. Many Pros who have been seemingly in hiding showed their faces for the first time in public, plus it is always interesting to see how the age groupers roll up.

Related other galleries

Kona 2009 images from Thursday
Kona 09 underpants run
Kona 2009 images from Wednesday
Images from the Parade of Nations
Kona 2009 images from Tuesday
Kona 2009 images from Monday

Kona 09 Friday 2

Even more images from the 2009 Ford Ironman Hawaii World Championships bike check-in.

Related other galleries

Kona 2009 images from Friday
Kona 2009 images from Thursday
Kona 09 underpants run
Kona 2009 images from Wednesday
Images from the Parade of Nations
Kona 2009 images from Tuesday
Kona 2009 images from Monday

Kona 09 Monday

While quite a few triathletes are already in Kona, the next two days are the days when most of them arrive.

Kona 09 Race Day - 1

Craig Alexander said that his second Ironman World Championship title was more rewarding than his first thanks to the dig deep effort he had to make to out-duel Andreas Raelert and overcome the big lead Chris Lieto earned with a 4:25 bike. Showing that nothing is a sure thing on the Queen K, Crowie found that Chris Lieto offered even more resistance than he showed in their killer duel at Boise Ironman 70.3 earlier in the year.

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Kona 09 Race Day - Men's Bike

In 2004 and 2006 Normann Stadler proved you can win it on the bike. But as Stadler proved, you must also reserve enough energy to defend that lead on the run. This year Chris Lieto's 4:25:10 bike appeared to be the possible equal of Stadler's 2006 course record and probably a better effort than Torbjorn Sindballe's swift 2005 trip up and down the Queen K. That's because October 10 was sneaky hot with an aggravating dose of not so brisk winds that kept shifting in the riders' faces all day long. The resultant wear and tear led to DNFs for an all-star cast -- Tim DeBoom, Patrick Vernay, Thomas Hellriegel, Michael Goehner, Marino Vanhoenacker, Normann Stadler, and a wicked noble but achingly slow 5:38:43 marathon after a third-best 4:31:36 bike for 6-foot 5-inch Ain Alar-Juhanson.

So Lieto earned his best-ever second place finish not only with a great ride, but also for reserving enough energy to hold off Craig Alexander's run until the 22nd mile of the marathon.

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Kona 09 Race Day Part 1 - Swim

Tension, impatience, relief and sheer exuberance fill the air when the waiting is done and it's time to slip in to the waters of Kailua Bay and await the cannon's blast. For triathletes, the dawn of Ironman Hawaii is birthday, Christmas Day, graduation day, wedding day all wrapped into one big aerobic test of physical readiness and personal character. Awaiting the start, some cope by meditation, others make a few jokes, others retreat into a wall of silent focus before they go out into the blue sea and bright yellow sun to confront the inevitable dark places within themselves that scream "Quit!"

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Kona 09 Thursday

Ironman Hawaii is creeping closer and many people started this day with the underpants run. But there is more to this day.

Related other galleries

Kona 09 underpants run
Kona 2009 images from Wednesday
Images from the Parade of Nations
Kona 2009 images from Tuesday
Kona 2009 images from Monday

Kona 09 Tuesday

The Team Commerzbank breakfast at Lava Java jump started Tuesday and the Slowtwitch / Retul bike lounge at the Sheraton filled out the day until the Parade of Nations. As the Parade came to a close the Expo and Bike Demo area were jam packed with athletes, friends and families.

Kona 09 Underwear Run

Paul Huddle and Roch Frey founded the Underwear Run with the purpose of shaming Euros into wearing something les revealing and more respectful than Speedos during Ironman week in Kona. Obviously, this has gotten out of hand.

Captions are superfluous.

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Related other galleries

Kona 2009 images from Wednesday
Images from the Parade of Nations
Kona 2009 images from Tuesday
Kona 2009 images from Monday

Kona 09 Wednesday

A very busy pier started Wednesday with a bang and the Slowtwitch gathering at the blueseventy home closed it out in style.

Related other galleries
Images from the Parade of Nations
Kona 2009 images from Tuesday
Kona 2009 images from Monday

Kona 09 – Men’s Finish

Yes, it’s an easy shot, the Ironman World Championship finish line at Kona. The later afternoon sun shines on their faces. The men give their best finishing gestures and smiles and leaps in ecstatic celebration and hands held high in triumph or understated workmanlike quiet pride. The pros rarely show the extremes of emotion, but underneath the mask there are subtle clues about their character and how the day had gone. Look closely, read them. There are lessons about the human spirit to be learned.

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Kona 09 – The Run

The Ironman Hawaii run starts in a windless steam bath during a 9-mile out and back along Alii Drive. This provides a handy opportunity for contenders to see how far they are ahead or behind when they reach the turnaround near the cozy little seaside place of worship called St. Peter’s Catholic Church. With a few places where the run passes open seashore, it’s also a magnet for photographers. Then the course climbs up the half mile hill at Palani before turning left and entering a six-mile stretch on the Queen K Highway which includes the beginning of the signature lava fields – although development has dampened the sense of magnificent isolation that still pervades the bike. Then they hit the 4-mile decent and climb out of the Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii which includes some of the hottest temperatures at a pivotal point in the race. It is also a second significant chance for runners to get a fix on the margins of lead or deficit – just hit your watch when you pass your rival and multiply it by two when you hit the turnaround.

The final stretch is a little over 10k to go. Just under five miles along the Queen K. At Mile 24, everybody knows that is the start of Mark and Dave Hill – the spot where Mark Allen made his move on Dave Scott in their epic 1989 Iron War. At the top of Palani, it’s about 1.2 miles to go. Down the steep declivity of Palani, left half a mile along Kuakini, right on Hualalai where Karen Smyers passed a reeling Paula Newby-Fraser in 1995, right on Alii at Uncle Billy’s (where Julie Moss and Paula stopped dung their meltdowns. Then turn right for a quarter mile or so along magical Alii Drive.

Photo gallery by Timothy Carlson

Kona 09 – Women's Finish Line

It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. The easiest photograph in sports. But somehow it never grows old, it’s never a cliché. It’s the Hawaii Ironman finish line.

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Kona 09 – Women’s bike

There were a lot of good women cyclists in Kona trying to challenge Chrissie Wellington’s domination. But at the end of the day, the Wellington Express left the station by Mile 20 on the Queen K. Wellington built a Newby-Fraser-esque 15-minute lead by T2 after a 5th-best-ever 4:52:07 bike. What the day required was beating a sneakily irritating, albeit not-quite-mumuku strength wind that rotated to be always in the face, and a salt-sucking heat and humidity. It was a measure of Wellington’s obvious greatness that the bike splits of certifiable Hall of Famers like 6-time champion Natascha Badmann (5:19:48) and 2006 champion Michellie Jones (5:23:11) and 2008 runner-up Yvonne Van Vlerken (5:16:41) and double-digit Ironman winners Belinda Granger (5:18:05) and Bella Bayliss (5:17:23) not only were 20 or more minutes in Wellington’s wake, the effort to produce those times left every of them in the DNF column.

Still, while Wellington flew through her third Ironman bike swiftly and without a flat tire incident, it was still behind Newby-Fraser 4:48:30 and Erin Baker’s 4:50:16 bike splits in 1993, Olympic gold medalist cyclist Karin Thurig’s 4:50 splits in 2003 and 2005, and Natascha Badmann’s 4:52:00 in 2005. “Records,” said Wellington, putting her deeds to back up her mouth, “are made to be broken.”

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson


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