One good thing about how the race in Kona was called this year: It gave a lot of pro athletes a chance to catch up socially with their competitors. Some did a lot of socializing.

No, this isn’t the Slowtwitch swimsuit edition. It’s an analysis of how the women’s race has changed at the Hawaiian Ironman; where today’s best women are slower than those of yesteryear, and where they’re faster.

At 6:45 AM the pros chase glory, at 7 AM the everyday heroes start swimming.

Many legends blew up behind Chris Lieto’s 4:25:10 bike split, but in the end Lieto was the last to fall to Crowie’s run.

Craig Alexander topped off his second straight Ironman World Championship with a race-best 2:48 marathon. Images by Timothy Carlson.

Matty Reed again showed that when he’s fresh and ready, he’s very tough to beat in a no-draft oly-distance race. Lisa Norden bested Sarah Haskins for the women’s title

The Slowtwitch Ice Cream Truck was in Dallas for the fifth Toyota Cup stop of the season. This was the series finale, here’s how we called it.

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

Wellington takes down Paula Newby-Fraser’s 17-year race record with a dominating 8:54:02; runner-up Carfrae breaks CW’s run record with a 2:56:51; Alexander outduels a gutsy, brilliant effort by Chris Lieto on a red-hot letter day on the Queen K.

Friday is pretty much all about the bike check-in and getting rested.

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

Absurdist Kona Tradition purportedly designed to shame Euros into wearing something more modest than Speedos while cruising around town during Ironman week.

What are Chrissie Wellington, Yvonne Van Vlerken, Catriona Morrison, Michellie Jones and Mirinda Carfrae thinking on the eve of battle at the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championships?

Two years ago, Samantha McGlone was the touted rookie who executed a perfect race but lost by five minutes to dark horse Chrissie Wellington. Today, Wellington is the Queen of Ironman and McGlone is quietly returning from injury.

Defending Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander is the odds on favorite to repeat. As perhaps the man with the most professional approach, he’s not keying off anyone else in the field, but ready for anything.

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

Two-time Ironman World Champion Normann Stadler is coming off two disappointing races at Kona. But marriage and fatherhood have given him new strength and he is ready to tear up the Queen K once again.

After her disastrous 2007 crash on the bike at Kona, six-time Ironman World Champion Natascha Badmann went through 18 months of hellish surgeries, painful rehab, uncertainty and doubts. Now she’s 42 and ready to unleash the Natascha of old.

The young New Zealander who took the Ironman 70.3 World Championship crown last November says Chris McCormack didn’t work on his mind while training together in Kona. “I won’t let anyone psyche me out.”

The Parade of Nations and the opening of the Expo and bike demo were some of the highlights of this day.

Kona’s Ironman Parade of great triathletes and sweetly eccentric behavior. Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

The International Triathlon Union issued a six-year ban to Mariana Ohata, Brazil’s top ITU female triathlete, for testing positive for the prohibited substance furosemide – her second anti-doping violation.

Was Timo Bracht a loose cannon, refusing to stop in the penalty box last year at Kona, running it in 5th across the line only to get properly DQ’d? Or was this year’s sensational Frankfurt sub-8 winner just the victim of a misunderstanding?

Looking for a dark horse to challenge Crowie, Macca and Normann? How about this 20-year-old Brit who thinks he might just win this mighty race not just once, but “2-3-4, even 5-6-7 times.”