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Timothy Carlson picked out his favorite triathlon images of 2008 and divided them into 3 galleries.
Starting with the National Championships in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Carlson captured the fiercest of competitions, the joy of victory and the agony of a not so prefect race.



Part 2 of "Best of 2008" is right here.
Part 3 of of "Best of 2008" is right here

All images are © Timothy Carlson 2008

The second part of Timothy Carlson's favorite triathlon pictures of 2008 continues with the World Championships in Vancouver, Canada and touches a few races in Colorado.



Part 1 of "Best of 2008" is right here.
Part 3 of of "Best of 2008" is right here

All images are © Timothy Carlson 2008

The final set of Timothy Carlson's favorite images of 2008 covers the 30th anniversary of the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida and returns to Hawaii for the Ultraman World Championships.



Part 1 of "Best of 2008" is right here.
Part 2 of of "Best of 2008" is right here

All images are © Timothy Carlson 2008

Little kids as young as three years old wear floaties on their arms and get to walk through 40 yards of shallow water for the swim. With anxious parents hovering nearby in case of a fall, they dry off, put on helmets, and get on everything from Princess style bikes with glittery pink tassels and training wheels to tricycles and round a parking lot. The run for these pre-kindergarteners consists of a 60-yard out and back holding on to a parent’s hand When needed. At the finish, 2008 elite winners Joanna Zeiger and Simon Thompson hand out green finishers’ yo-yos. By the time the 13-14 year old waves starts, some kids blitz through a 200-yard swim, a 4-mile bike and a 1-mile run with ferocity, others survive with unconquerable smiles.

Many athletes who competed in the 2009 Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis, MN on Saturday, hustled to Boulder, CO later that day to race the 2009 Boulder Peak triathlon on Sunday. For many pros though that just meant to return home immediately after Saturday's event to the big Boulder triathlete town. Timothy O'Donnell won the men's race and Mary Beth Ellis took the women's title.

All images © Eric Wynn www.ericwynn.org

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.

The Handmade Bicycle Show started today in Richmond, VA and and we went there to capture a few images. Since its first year in 2005, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHMBS) has grown from 23 exhibitors and 700 attendees, to 150 exhibitors and 7200 attendees. On the first day of the show organizer Don Walker called Craig Calfee, Sacha White, Nick Crumpton, Mike DeSalvo and Richard Sachs on stage to thank them for having supported his show with their presence all along.


Check out Handmade Bicycle Show gallery #2


All images are © Herbert Krabel / slowtwitch.com

The second day of the North American Handmade Bicycle Show is usually very busy, and today was no exception. The hall opened to the public at 10am and it was key to get most of the photography done before that time. Despite all of that we were able to capture more images of bikes and personalities in Richmond, VA.


Check out Handmade Bicycle Show gallery #1


All images are © Herbert Krabel / slowtwitch.com

While Michael Raelert pulled an upset and upstaged his older brother Andreas's impressive second place debut last year, Julie Dibens redeemed two disappointing fourth place finishes and fulfilled a long held dream to win a world title on pavement. Along the way, Raelert smashed last year's already impressive world record time by six minutes with his 3:34:10 clocking and Julie Dibens broke the four hour barrier for women at the 70.3 distance by 27 seconds with a 3:59:33 mark. However easy the course itself may have been, bereft of hills as it is, the sheer speed left a lot of high quality wreckage outside the top 10. A pre race chilly northeaster whipped up waves and chop, forcing WTC officials to move the swim from the open Gulf to the protected waters of the harbor.

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

Michael Raelert pulled an upset, Julie Dibens redeemed two disappointing fourth place finishes and fulfilled a long held dream to win a world title on pavement and along the way, records were set and many renowned triathletes were humbled at the Foster Grant Ironman 70.23 World Championships in Clearwater.

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

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

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

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

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.

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.

More Ironman Hawaii winner images by Timothy Carlson ranging from Tim DeBoom's post 9/11 victory in 2001 to the "I love Taco Bell" Faris Al Sultan win in 2005.

This era begins with Tim DeBoom’s stirring repeat victories in 2001- 2002, marking the return of an American champion to follow in Mark Allen’s footsteps 7 years after The Grip abdicated his throne. In a preview of Normann Stadler’s coming attractions, Steve Larsen’s dominatingly fast 4:33:32 bike into killer winds in 2001 hinted that male cyclists would no longer remain in a supporting role. Stadler fulfilled that omen, broke the paradigm that the men’s Kona battle always goes to a runner’s, and fulfilled a generation of German uberbikers’ dreams with a killer bike and a solid run to glory in 2004. This is also the apex of the Swiss Miss’s greatness as Natascha Badmann took her third through sixth Kona titles in 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005. During this period, only Canadian Lori Bowden broke Badmann’s string, overcoming a 7-minute deficit to Badmann with a 3:02:10 run in 2003. While Badmann’s 3:13:45 run in 2003 dropped her to second and gave false credence to the canard that she could not run – Natascha’s 3:06:25 marathon in 2005 that trumped Michellie Jones’ 6-minute lead erased those doubts. The shockingly fast race day domination by Nina Kraft in the 2004 women’s race seemed like an earthquake as the great Natascha Badmann wondered if her time was past when she arrived in T2 20 minutes down to Nina the Machina. The good aspect of Kraft’s post-race EPO positive, quick admission of guilt, subsequent two-year ban and prolonged period of disgrace and atonement was that drug cheating at Kona seemed to have a terrible risk-reward ratio. The bad aspect was not so much the dark cloud that visited the Ironman’s previously pristine rep, but the fact that Badmann was robbed of the well-earned privilege of basking in the winner’s adulation on Alii Drive. In 2005, Faris Al-Sultan proved once again that Ironman Hawaii was a multicultural domain when he became the third German and the first man of Arab heritage to take the Kona title.


All images © Timothy Carlson

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

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

Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

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.