World Ironman Championship In Hawaii

While there are more than 20 Ironman competitions held around the World, none compares to the Hawaiian Ironman, which took place in the city of Kailua, Kona, last weekend. Now in its 30th year, this grueling one-day event is considered the toughest and most prestigious of all Ironman races.

Originally held to settle a dispute among 15 Navy Seals as to which sport - swimming, running or biking, produced the strongest athlete, the event now attracts more than 1,800 men and women, who have to qualify by competing in one of the other Ironman events, before they are allowed to participate.

Held every fall on the Columbus Day Weekend, the race's course has changed little since it started, and encompasses three endurance events; a 2.4 mile ocean swim in the Kailua-Kona bay, a 112 mile bike ride across the Hawaiian Lava desert to Hawi and back, and a marathon (26.2 mile) run across the coast of the Big Island. While the Hawaiian event is no different from any other Ironman competitions in terms of the distance, it is the natural environment that makes it so difficult.

With no bodysuits to buoy them, the swimmers have to work harder and while the bike route is relatively level, bikers have to fight strong headwinds along the entire 112 miles. By the time they are done with those two events it is mid to late afternoon, which means they have to run in the blazing hot Hawaiian sun.

This year, the participants ranged from 18-year old locals Tyler Foster and Ariel Henbest to 72-year old Harriet Anderson from San Carlos , California. The overall winner was 35-year old triathlete Craig Anderson from Australia , who completed the 140.6-mile event in 8 hours, 17 minutes and 45 seconds. Craig, who came in second last year, was a distant 11th at the end of the 2nd event. However, he picked up the pace in the marathon and beat runner-up Eneko Llanos of Spain , by just over 3 minutes.

In the women's category Britain's Chrissie Wellington won her second consecutive race, completing it in 9 hours 9 minutes and 3 seconds. Chrissie, who started competing in Ironman events just three years ago, had to overcome a flat tire, where she lost ten-minutes. She made up for it by running the second fastest woman's marathon in the race's 30-year history. Simply Amazing!

Both athletes said this was the toughest thing they had ever done, but ..................they will be back next year and do it all over again!

Sources: theage.co.au, wikipedia.org, mercurynews.com