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In Depth Product Reviews
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Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams I Use Daily
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The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
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I am addicted to watching Kona and the full gambit of emotions it brings to compeitiors.
I dream/nightmare about entering it sometimes.
pick me
I remember this memory like it just happened – because it did…. Watching live I saw someone finish dancing with a towel over his head. That is the spirit – first or last, he was having fun.
Watching Julie Moss’ inspiring finish on the interwebs..too young to remember “in person” but the immortalized on Youtube finish is riveting.
No memory of watching Kona, just running and cycling for fitness.
“From that day on, if I was going somewhere, I was running!”
1982 Julie Moss is my oldest IM memory, although Rinny storming back on the run today is certainly a shining performance too.
The good old days of the 80’s. I was about 10 years old with my dad and grandpa; he had cable! I remember Dad telling me how far they swam, biked, then ran a marathon. Was it cool to pretend you had aero bars on your old huffy type bmx bike? Probably not, neither were striped athletic socks.
Chrissie Wellington dominating after the flat. Ridiculous.
Watching Julie Moss crawling it in . . .
The clear blue sea of the swim and the movement of the different packs of the swimmers. What’s more awesome was the cannon starting off the race, gave off a great vibe.
Watching in awe as Mirinda Carfrae dominated the run in 2013 and feeling totally inspired and motivated for my first Ironman 5 months later.
Watching the 2012 documentary and crying like a baby!
Watching Crowie on Youtube and realising what he was famous for!
Watching it on TV to see Mirinda win in 2013 and the amazing perseverance each athlete has ok matter their background
Thousands of ironmans swimming in the sea is just so unforgettable when I first saw it live on TV back at 2007.
Julie Moss crawling to the finish line.
I remember watching Craig Alexander and being awestruck with his running form.
Watching Julie Moss crawl across the finish line from the roof of Stan’s Restaurant (Sand and Seaside Hotel).
Watching Cameron Brown (NZ) get 5th in 2008
Watching McCormack and Raelert fight it out in 2010!
Rmember a documentary from the 80’s.. The people on display where absolute gods. Especially the cycling on the flat, wow
Sian Welch & Wendy Ingraham crawling to the finish line in 1997.
Has to be watching Julie Moss.
I can remember watching a video on YouTube of the classic, totally inspiring crawl to the finish by Julie Moss. At that moment, nearly 6 years ago, I made racing and finishing in Kona a goal of mine.
Chrissie Wellington flatting and desperately trying to get someone to toss her a CO2 cartridge. She ended up getting one and went on to win…classic!!!
Paula Newby-Fraser running into the volunteer, falling down, getting up and continuing to run like nothing happened.
I recall some Kona recaps as a kid in the late 80s maybe in SI, or a wide world of sports type show. But following live is a recent phenomenon, capped off today by ignoring my 5-0 alma mater’s football game to instead refresh twitter and the IM webpage. Seeing the guys exit the water live on my computer was pretty damn cool.
Wellingtons flat then winning
Seeing Frederick Van Lierde finally win last year.
Normann stadler meltdown after his 2nd flat in 05.
First memory that I vividly remember about watching Kona is of Julie Moss suffering terribly just before the finish line, crawling along.
I very much admire the their stamina.
Chrissie… first time
Watching it and thinking i need to learn to swim better. Cos i’d be fine with the run and cycle. Hmm, yeah right
1989 Dave Scott and Mark Allen race I was training for a 10K and it motivated me to keep the training going.
I did my first Sprint then went home and watched videos of different Ironmans thinking there was no way I would ever enter one……and was wrong in thinking that!
For me it was when I saw Craig Alexander defend his title.
And then, when I saw the 77 year-old lady who was completing her 3rd Ironman Race. THAT’s when I told myself: “You can do it too” :)
Rinny Carfrae come from behind spectacular Kona world championship win in 13. This was inspirational for me as it showed that I can come out behind the pack in the swim and still chase the leader/s down and win. Truly inspirational.
Never saw one in my life, but to be running one myself, next year wearing my new Garmin 920XT, sponsored by DCRainmaker
It has to be Julie Moss crawl to the finish line!
Love following the Kiwis at Kona. Go bevan docherty!
Watched my first about 4yrs ago. It got me hooked and I haven’t stopped training since.
Watching Julie Moss fall down while watching on Youtube.
Being Australian and becoming interested in the sport in mid 2007, I naturally became a fan of Macca, so getting up at midnight and watching him run side by side with Raelert in 2010 would have to take the cake.
For me it would have to be when Rasmus Henning passes Craig Alexander in 2012. Great sportsmanship!
Best moments would be watching Miranda Carfrae catching up with Rachel Joyce on the leg run (2013 World Ironman Championship) with a short (i assumed an encouraging exchange between the both) in which Joyce responded with a smile. Carfrae patted Joyce before glided off and eventually emerge the woman champion of the Ironman World Championship 2013. Awesome display of sportmanship!
Definitely many to pick from, but I have to go with Vanhoenacker melting down (literally) in 2012. It looked tough between him and Kienle, but wasn’t to be. I think this stands out because Kinele won this year and Vanhoenacker was the winner at IMCanada this year!
My first memory of watching Kona, I believe, was when when ABC (perhaps, on Wide World of Sports) showed Julie Moss crawling to the finish line only to be passed by another competitor. Moss finishing nevertheless was an ultimate display of courage.
My first and favorite memory will be my brother crossing the finishline in a couple years!
Watching the iron war for the first time!
julie moss – true grit and the crawl to the finish line
Watching Julie moss
Watching Marko Albert
Kona ? A 8 hours youtube feed :)))
Hi Ray,
I saw it first on the TV when I was an undergraduate – somewhere is late 1990’s – and looked for something more interesting then learning Biochemistry. I remember thinking that the people are a bit super-human bit might be a bit loose at the top.
IK
My biggest and first impression about Kona was when i watched Kona 1982 ironman on Youtube. Julie Moss was finishing thriathlon crawling across the finish line. She made it without any special training!
This year was the first time I watched the live coverage. Strong performance of Sebastian Kienle this year. Love the atmosphere around the competition. One more thing to do on the bucket list!
Watching Julie Mose hit the wall. Also the a John Tesh music.
I was flipping through the channels and saw the swim start. I wondered how the all swam together so close with out killing each other.
I remember watching TV about 20 years ago and coming across a documentary about a triathlete. And that point I thought it is amazing what the human body can do.
albino tiger win – hope fitness regains for this year!
2013 was my first time watching Kona. Rinny’s run amazes me, and did again yesterday.
Being inspired to do a triathlon watching the PNF meltdown on TV then 20 years later meeting Chris Lee / Marc Herremans in Kona in 2005 when I was racing there :)
Started watching bits en pieces on youtube when I became interested in triathlon and other extreme endurance sports.
2013 when a a woman competed for Kona to honor her friend who died in an accident.
This year’s Kienle’s victory!
Watched it on a mainstream news many years ago and I thought “Man what a tough race!”.
I started watching in 2012!
Sebastian Kienle bike split at Kona 2014…amazing!
O’Donnell, Tim 2013
I remember watching last year race and seeing the swimmer leading being surrounded by dolphins. Real and happy dolphins. I will do this race because it’s such an amazing course and hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to get the same company during my swim
Since I’m from Germany I really enjoyed this year’s winner Kienle;-)
Never watched it before :/
Last night was definitely the most memorably Konan for me. One of my triathlon friends participated, and a did really amazing race.
Chrissie Wellington cheering on Mirinda Carfrae as she broke Chrissie’s record. #Spirit of Kona!
Ironman Hawai 2006. Macca giving it absolutely everyting is something i’ll always remember
Reading about it in a magazine a few years ago!
then watching Julie Moss crawling to the finish line today!
Amazing!
the 1st I watched was on TV. I remember watching the mass of people moving into the water. That motivated me to start doing sprint & Olympic distance TRI’s myself. Though I haven’t done one in over 13 years (got hit by a car & cracked ribs, didn’t know how bad I was injured until after crossing the finish line) I still remember doing my 1st one.
Ironwar – 1989 Dave Scott v Mark Allen
There was not much sleep last night , then I with excitement followed my friend Björn’s race in Kona. He is a great hero for us club buddies :)
Kona: you are an Ironman!
Watching Julie Moss wobbling in the night
//Peter
Crowie 2008
I really would like to race in kona once in my life!!!
Faris Al Sultan 2005
Followed a Swedish triathlete by chance and thought: that’s insane. A year later, I am doing triathlon myself. :)
Watching Kona live with my sister 2011.
Sometime in the mid 80s when there was a five minute clip on trains world sport on a Saturday morning, eating cereal with my brother, both of us thinking it was just insane.
Done 5 now:)
I remember watching Chrissie Wellington standing on the side of the road for an eternity after wasting all of her CO2, and then after getting a spare from Rebecca Keat, she spanked the field all the way back to the finish line. That was amazing.
Kona!? I can’t even remember the first time I watched it!
I only started watching Kona last year, i.e. during the same year where I started with the triathlons myself.
However the most memorable was yesterday’s Kona where I stayed up all the way up to 3AM to see Sebastien Kienle finish.. :-)
Its amazing to watch how hard people can push themselves and what they are capable of.
Rinny wining for the 3rd time.
Apart from the Magnum PI Hawaii Ironman episode which I remember quite vividly from when i was a kid (reruns though, I am not *that* old), it was propably about a year and a half ago checking out the bike mounts/dismounts.
Long time inspiration from clips and the edited postrace during years. Started watching the live race 3 y ago. Was going to post Rinny-13 but the 14+ minutes steadily catchup by Rinny -14 is the most intense ever even though lousy coverage/production
The best memory is yet to come. Maybe myself? Cause I really do have the potential to be stupid enough.
Kona! Learnt about you on Tube…
I just love pretty much every finish video on youtube, the way it all comes down to the end of the race, going way beyond what we “can and cannot” i can relate to the process. i have just finished my first marathon i know its easier but what matters is i gave it all .
Ps: half an hour after finishing ended up in the hospital dehydrated, im still recovering and looking for my next one so that 920xt is welcome
I read about the history of it, just few weeks ago, and when I saw a video, first was the nature that created goose skin. And the start by canon shot.
From the movie “What it TAkes…and Wingnut crawling …
1982 Ironman watching Julie Moss crawl across the finsih line.