In what may have been a small preview of the 2008 Ironman World Championships, Andy Potts and Chrissie Wellington ruled impressive fields at the 2008 Timberman 70.3 triathlon festival.

It is not easy being a pro triathlete in a country that is home to several active Ironman Hawaii champions, but Germany’s Uwe Widmann keeps plugging away and he just recently finished 3rd at Ironman 70.3 Germany.

Slowtwitch.com heads to Beijing for some coverage of the Olympic Games. Embedded reporter Hector Fernandez checks in with this update from the first week in China.

Jenny Gowans won the 2008 Norseman Extreme Triathlon and was kind enough to send us her race report. She was looking for an adventure and a race she would need to treat with more respect than a conventional Ironman.

Øyvind Johannessen won the 2008 Norseman Extreme Triathlon in Norway and battled a tough course and an unhappy stomach along the way. Jenny Gowans was the first woman to finish the event.

Simon Thompson won the 2008 edition of the 5430 Long Course Triathlon with a fantastic closing run. Tim O’Donnell and Brian Fleischmann rounded out the podium. Joanna Zeiger ruled supreme in the women’s race.

Faris Al-Sultan led the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Germany from start to finish and held off hard charging Enrico Degasperi. Virginia Berastagui won the women’s race and thus defended her 2007 title.

In part five of our series, the Olympics are just around the corner. Canadian Colin Jenkins is packing his bags for Beijing and putting the final touches on his preparation for the Games. And, of course, there is that brand new limited edition Cervelo Soloist…

When Chrissie Wellington recently stormed to a second place overall finish at the Alpe d’Huez triathlon she put her competitors on notice that the Ironman Hawaii win wasn’t a fluke. For our “the bikes of the pros” series we take a closer look at her Cervelo P2C.

Dave Orlowski finished 3rd in the 1978 Ironman triathlon and is currently getting ready to return to Hawaii for the 30th anniversary. He shared with Slowtwitch some of his memories of that first Ironman plus what he is up to these days.

Verily velocity and victory vanquish vocal vacillations over the oft vilified vestments of open water swimming. In other words, speed will make you a believer in XTerra’s Vendetta wetsuit.

Some aerobars, functional is about the best you can say about them. This one, there’s an urgency to (as Pretty Willie sings it) lay your body down. (Does Slowtwitch know hip-hop too?)

Hurricane Bob is a popular triathlon columnist… for another publication. We love to read him on Xtri.com, and we love it when he visits here. He recently posted to an Ironwidow thread, and we asked if we could publish his post as an OpEd.

Friction is your friend, if you’re going around a tight corner on your bicycle and staying upright is your aim. But down there in your cycling shorts, friction is your enemy. What you need is a weapon worthy of the fight. We’re here to equip you.

In Part 2, we talk with TeamTBB coach Brett Sutton about training on his team, general training philosophy, technology and managing egos in the strongest team in triathlon.

Mother nature and safety concerns caused the organizers of the 2008 Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 triathlon to change the race to a duathlon. We followed up with race director Tom Ziebart to find out more about the decision and related topics.

Yvonne Van Vlerken recently broke the long standing record of the great Paula Newby-Fraser over the Iron distance with her time of 8:45:48 at the Quelle Challenge in Roth, Germany. Find out more about this flying Dutch woman.

Marino Vanhoenacker ruled the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Antwerp and with it repeated his win from 2007. Belinda Granger was victorious in the women’s race.

The 2008 Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 triathlon was turned into a duathlon because of very wavy and choppy waters and Chris Legh and Gina Kehr were able to run away with the titles of this altered event.

Shimano officially announced Dura-Ace Di2, a technologically advanced, electronic shifting option for the all new 7900 series Dura-Ace. Comprised of Dual Control type shift / brake levers, front derailleur, rear derailleur, and a battery pack, the new Dura-Ace Di2 7970 components provide precision electronic performance and integrate seamlessly with components from the 7900 series Dura-Ace group while adding only 68 grams to the entire group.

A couple years ago Steve Larsen left his career as a professional triathlete to concentrate on his real estate business in Bend, Oregon. Recent results though have indicated that Steve Larsen may be far from retired.

Chrissie Wellington ruled the 2008 Alpe d’Huez Triathlon with her second place overall finish. Only Brasilian Pro Marcus Ornellas was faster than the 2007 Ironman World Champion on the 2.2k swim, 115k bike and 22k run course.

In the first of our two-part installment, we chat with the enigmatic coach of TeamTBB, a remarkably dynamic squad with 17-members in camp, each harboring as many goals

At the 2008 Ironman Lake Placid, Will Ronco came through with a breakthrough performance and finished 5th overall. After trying to hug anyone in sight at the finish line, Ronco now has his sights set on Kona.