- We're talking about the five biggest Kona disasters.
(swoosh)
Not coming back, not gonna try it, and then he did.
Runs herself to the point of pooping,
that's a sport I wanna do.
What's up, trainiacs?
In honor of today's blog topic,
I'm coming to you from the floor,
because today with also it being
the month leading up to Kona,
we're talking about the five biggest Kona,
full Ironman distance, World Championship disasters
that have ever happened in the history of Kona.
It's tough, there's a long list.
I'm also comin' to you from the floor of the office
because I came to the office today
after a day away yesterday
to find that Mel sold all the chairs in the office
before we shut it down, so I got nowhere to sit.
All right, on to the disasters!
Now, Kona is a damn tough course.
The swim, not the worst.
I've done it.
It's okay.
The bike, however,
you're out in the blazing hot lava fields of Kona,
and apparently, you go into the wind going out,
and then magically, you go into the wind coming back.
The wind hates you in Kona.
It's just the way it is.
And then the run,
I've done that run, just like, half of it.
It is miserable.
It's like being in a sauna.
You can see the heat waves coming up off the asphalt,
and that wasn't even getting out into the lava fields
and the Energy Lab in Kona.
It is probably one of the hardest courses
that is trafficked by a lot of people.
Courses that are typically this hard are like the Norseman,
where there's only several hundred people that go into it,
not hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people
that try to get into it
and suffer through it every single year.
These five triathletes, however,
did try to suffer through it,
and very successfully did suffer through it.
Um-hmm, yeah, the first triathlete to be claimed by Kona
on this list is Marino Vanhoenacker.
And there wasn't really a specific race that claimed him.
Basically every performance that he put in
in Kona was a complete disaster.
I don't even think he finished a race in Kona.
Every single time he went to Kona,
he went there as one of the favorites.
At one point, he actually owned
the Ironman distance world record, all-time,
like he's an incredibly talented
full Ironman distance triathlete.
And then he goes to Kona,
basically melts, having to be pulled off the course
year after year after year,
and just about every single year,
he said, "You know what?
I'm just not made for this race.
I'm not coming back.
Not gonna try it."
And then he did.
The same thing happened.
So thank you, Marino, for your efforts.
- I'm done with this, with this race.
I've tried enough and I don't want to go through this again.
- The second person on the list, in spot number four,
didn't necessarily have a complete disaster of a race,
but he had one of the most unfortunate
Kona meltdowns of all time,
because he was so close to actually winning,
was Chris Lieto in 2009.
Now, Chris Lieto was an incredible cyclist.
He would go out onto the bike
and, as he said it, he's got one play.
It's to bike his face off
and then try to hold off everyone else
from catching up to him on the run.
In 2009, he nailed that bike,
like everything was firing on all cylinders,
and he came into T2 12 minutes ahead of Craig Alexander.
And he held off Craig Alexander right up until
like the final three, four miles of the run,
when all of a sudden, he imploded.
And even though it was just another few miles
away from being immortalized on Kona as a champion,
couldn't do it.
Craig Alexander passed him like he was standing still,
and then several seconds later, he did stand still.
As talented an athlete as Chris was,
constantly putting himself in the front on the bike,
that was as close as he ever got to tasting victory in Kona.
Sad.
The third person on the list and number three
was a legendary Kona athlete,
winning multiple multiple multiple times,
Paula Newby-Fraser.
However, in 1995, she had
one of the biggest Kona meltdowns ever.
Biggest because not only did her body give out,
but her mind gave out too.
She was in the lead for the entire race
and at Mile 20, she was asking who was in behind her,
and it was her competitor, Karen Smyers.
Now, Karen Smyers made it to the finish line
expecting to be crowned as the runner-up,
but then she goes, "Where's Paula?"
Well, it just so happened that Karen Smyers was the winner
because Paula Newby-Fraser was at Mile 20
back on the course.
Karen had ran past her
and there was a group of volunteers
who were tending to Paula Newby-Fraser,
who was lying on the cement
wondering if she was gonna die.
- You're not gonna die, you're okay.
You're not gonna die.
- That's how serious it was.
She didn't know where she was.
She didn't know if she was gonna survive.
She thought her entire body was shutting down.
Huge meltdown.
Now, Paula Newby-Fraser after that said
that she broke basically all the rules of preparation
leading into Kona that year, and she paid for it.
Poor gal.
But don't worry, the next year she came back and won.
Besides that year, she was pretty damn good in Kona.
Now spots four A and four B
are the old jelly legs one-two punch.
You want a little thunder?
How about a little lightning?
By Sian Welch and Wendy Ingraham.
In 1997 in Kona, they were battling it out
for the third spot, that last spot on the podium.
And coming right into the finish chute,
they were still neck-and-neck going side-by-side when bam,
their legs gave out.
And it wasn't just one of their legs that gave out.
Both of their legs gave out.
One woman went down first, taking out the other woman,
and it wasn't like she was like,
"Oh yeah, that's okay, I'll just step over her."
No, all of a sudden they're crawling to the finish line,
at which point they gave up the third spot.
However, Wendy Ingraham out-crawled Sian Welch
to get fourth place.
How's that for crawling over the finish line?
Like, you give it your all, ladies!
You go!
And then finally, the last and absolutely
most iconic meltdown in Kona history is 1982, Julie Moss.
This meltdown, right in the finish chute
of the Ironman World Championship,
was actually something that was televised on TV
and it was a lot of people's first exposure
to the Ironman and triathlon sport.
The single event of Julie Moss falling down
and pooping herself in the finish chute at Kona
is the reason that a huge amount of triathletes
got into the sport,
because they said that if it's that hard
that a woman goes in there and she runs herself
to the point of pooping on national TV,
that's a sport I wanna do.
Good decisions, everyone.
Great decisions.
So yeah, Julie Moss, she spent basically the entire day
out in the lead, clocking through miles
and looking incredibly strong,
right up until she got to the finish chute
and started walking, and then all of a sudden,
bam, went down, could not get up.
Could not move, could not drag herself to the finish line
even though she tried.
And the footage you look at,
and she seemed coherent,
but her legs just weren't going for it.
Maybe if she took a lesson
from Sian Welch and Wendy Ingraham,
she could have crawled her way and maintained
that first place finish,
however, Kathleen McCartney basically had to step over
Julie Moss to get to the finish line first
and win Kona back in 1982.
So there you go, trainiacs.
We are getting very close
to this year's Kona World Championship.
By all accounts, you might see
your favorite triathlon YouTuber there.
Just maybe.
Maybe just maybe, with some luck.
But it's a phenomenal race
because of these stories
and the stories of many champions
who did not poop themselves.
So thank you to all athletes who went out there
and got on this list for our entertainment.
I'm sorry it happened to you all,
but it makes for good videos.
Go Kona!
- I just wanted to finish
because I'm not coming back here, so.