Posted: November 16, 2004

Triathlon: Ironman Florida - A View From The Sidelines

From: Stephen Fleck:

The Ironman Florida Race, put on by Ironman North America a couple of weekends ago, was a huge success. IMNA has the execution and management of these logistically challenging events down to a science. Just about everything ran smoothly. Below are some random observations from what I saw at this year’s race:

Numbers
It amazed me how big a start field of 2,122 triathletes looks and feels as I stood in the starting area amongst the throng. I recall doing Ironman races back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, when the fields where hovering around 1,000 and that seemed huge at the time.

Special Needs
Special needs bags have been around at IM races for years. When I was racing, I never used them as I found that a combination of what I could carry with me on the bike and the generous and frequent aid stations at most Ironman races served all my needs. At Ironman Florida, the day after the race, I wandered through the bike and run special needs bag retrieval section near the run turn around. I was amazed at what I saw, realizing that all of this stuff was packed away, but never picked up. Here’s a short list of what I found in and out of bike and run Special Needs Bags:

A wide variety of sandwiches, the most popular being peanut butter, but there was some great meat ones there to and a few of those had mustard! Not sure if it was Grey Poupon! Some nice looking bagels. Dried soup mix. Many bike pumps, air cartridges, and spare tires. All kinds of un-opened custom mixed sports drinks. Many bottles of Gatorade( Can’t they get enough of that that on the course?). Spare bike parts of all kinds. Running shoes. Socks. Cycling jerseys. Even a cycling helmet!( Were they expecting to crash!) A watch – Timex Ironman, of course. The chest unit to a heart rate monitor. Women’s sanitary products. Strange little packages containing strange little pills. Zip locked bags of peanuts, dried fruit, pretzels, figs, carrots! . .and some stuff I had no idea what was in there. Athletes, can retrieve all of this stuff the day after the race. Strangely, many do not!

Ironman Can Humble
Over the years, I have become used to the gazelle-like running stride of World Champion, and Olympic Silver Medalist, Michellie Jones. It was humbling to see her reduced to the infamous Kona Shuffle for the last few miles on the run. She was hurting, but she toughed it out to win. Michellie, managed a smile at the finish then walked 5 meters past the assembled media and other VIP’s and promptly hurled up everything that was in her very bloated stomach - her husband Peter Coulsen and Advisor Paula Newby Fraser at her side. Ever the professional, she recovered from this momentary set back and was fielding questions from the media within minutes. Was this a hard race? “ Heck, yea! That was the toughest race that I have ever done. It was really hard. Everything went well until the final miles of the marathon. I came here to get a spot for Hawaii for next year, so to win is a real bonus. I have to thank my Husband and Paula for helping me get ready for this. They have both been a huge help”

Twice is Nice
Tom Evans became the only two-time winner of an Ironman event this year after his win here and at Ironman Canada back in August. Tom’s been around for a few years. He first came on the radar screen a few years ago at Ironman Canada, dropping Peter Reid over Richter Pass on the bike, for goodness sake. He is the real deal now, but strangely people were not talking to him or about him much before the race. His first words to me afterwards were to thank me for interviewing him before the race. “You were the only press person to talk to me before the race”, was the first thing Tom said to me as I approached him in the finish area after the race.

Weather
This was a tricky race to deal with on the weather front. Warm water swim – border-line for wetsuits for the pros. Cool to cold conditions early in the bike. A bit of heat on the run, then plunging temps when the sun went down at 5:15. It was cold by 8:00pm with many, many people still out on the run. Strange to see what triathletes wear in variable conditions like these. Standing at the exit to T1, I saw everything from the standard old-school speedo-and-skimpy-top to full on winter cycling clothing – arm-warmers, leg-warmers, booties gloves, wind-breakers etc . - the whole kit heading out on the bike. More than a few were finishing up the race wearing plastic garbage bags! Not sure if I would want that finishing picture!

The Course
It’s definitely FLAT, but not as fast as you think. It’s strange looking at the times. Many age-groupers set huge PB’s on the IMFL course but, in absolute terms, the pros do not find it that fast. Tom Evans’ time here was 2 minutes slower than his winning time at Ironman Canada. I put the question to Tom – why slower here? “The transitions are longer and the bike is relentless. There really is no spot to relax on the bike. You are going hard the whole way. This course can really take it out of you.” Even super-cyclist, Bjorn Andersson, was skeptical of how fast he could go when I spoke to him before the race. “This course is not as fast as people think. Steve Larsen only went 4:23 here when he was fit, so I am not really sure how fast I can go”. Andersson came close to the Larsen time, going 4:26, but had to retire on the run with ongoing foot problems.

Bella, Bella, Bella
Bella Comerford likes to think of Ironman Florida as her race. After all, she has won it two years in a row. “I am the queen of this course”, she told me at the pro’s pre-race meeting. But she knew she was in for a tough day, up against the likes of Michellie Jones. She did come back big time after the bike, 25 minutes down at that point, to run all the way to second place and even give Michellie a bit of a scare. “This is great consolation after having to pull out of Hawaii, which was the focus of my year. I needed the money!”

The Separate Pro Start
It’ll be interesting to see how this changes things over the course of time. It seems to be sticking, but it is changing the dynamics and strategy of the women’s race dramatically. Witness what happened here at IMFL. Michelle Jones and Andrea Fisher are good enough swimmers that they can swim with the top men and get a great draft, as they did here exiting the water just seconds from the absolute lead of the race. Just about all the other women pros were strung out swimming completely solo, with no draft. Michellie and Andrea had a huge lead by the end of the swim.

The Welchy Factor
If you want to get the inside scoop on what’s going on at a race, hang out with Ironman Hawaii Champion and World Champion Greg Welch for a bit. Welchy knows all: Picking Evans for the win from T2 was easy, but it was Greg, who called Oliver Berhard as the one to really look out for. At this point, Oliver was 9 places and a whopping 25 minutes back, but worked all the way up to second.

Roch & Huddle
Triathlon’s answer to Laurel & Hardy? Perhaps. I have been lucky to know these guys for years and, beyond the slapstick façade, they are two great guys who really care about the sport. They do a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes on the bike and run courses at all IMNA events … work that no one really knows about. They also make us all laugh, so we stop taking ourselves too seriously, which is not such a bad thing, in a sport that can seem way to serious and complicated for it’s own good. We all got to see yet another version of Roch & Huddle’s What-Not-To-Do-Before-Ironman video’s at the pre-race dinner. Nice flexibility, Huddle!

The Janus Charity Challenge
This great program has raised huge amounts of money for many great causes. I was sitting with someone who works in the charity fund raising business at the awards banquet and she was stunned with the amount of money that athletes in concert with Janus have raised this year. Say what you want about the upwardly mobile and wealthy triathlon demographic, clearly, many people care and want to do better for others.

Banquet Dinner Quote
… from IMNA President Graham Fraser
“How does it feel to be sitting, where several thousand sweaty, naked people had been sitting, getting changed, and maybe even peeing on the carpet, just 24 hours ago!”
The changing areas for athletes are in the main Ball Room of the Boardwalk Beach Hotel.

Watch Where You’re Going
Andrea Fisher had an embarrassing fall right at the ½ way turn on the run, in front of hundreds of people. Andrea explained to me afterwards a bit of bloodied and bruised, “I was waving to my Mom on the side of the course, because she has never seen me race an Ironman and I wanted to say ‘hi’ to her, and then I tripped on a course cone. What was most amazing was how everyone went quiet when I fell. There was a big hush.” . . . And then a cheer, when she picked herself up, dusted herself off and carried on to finish in 5th place.

The Football Challenge
The day after the race, a number of key people in the IMNA organization, some sponsors, VIP and media types got together for a casual game of touch football on the beach in front of the host hotel. Teams were decided and the old ‘shirts & skins’ uniforms utilized. Remarkably, there were no major injuries, despite the sad state of fitness and total lack of athletic skills of this group. Great fun was had by all. It was decided, over post game “refreshments” that the challenge would be renewed at Ironman Canada with a street hockey game! IMC Race Director Dave Bullock assured us all that he would put it on the unofficial schedule for 2005.

Stephen Fleck attended Ironman Florida in support of his Girlfriend Paolina Allan, and to write this report. Paolina finished second in the 30 – 34 age-group in a personal best time of 10:03:04.