Fraser Cartmell: Now there is no denying that 2020 is going to go down in the
record books as one to remember. Let's be honest, not for many good reasons, either.
However, it has not all been a case of doom and gloom, and we did want to remind ourselves of
some of the good bits. When we sat down to think about it, we realized that there's
actually been quite a few of those. Without any more delay, here are our triathlon highlights of
2020. [music]
Right, then let's cast our minds back to the beginning of the year, which
indeed seems like a lifetime ago now, but crucially, one where races were happening
entirely normally, and we had no reason to doubt that they wouldn't continue to do so.
Well, who'd have thought when we went back to march Ironman New Zealand wouldn't just
be the first race of the season, but for a long time throughout the rest of the year, it might
appear to be the only race of the season. No, I certainly wasn't imagining that. That's for sure.
As it quickly became apparent that there wasn't be any racing for the foreseeable future,
the PTO Professional Triathletes Organization started to put their money where their mouth was.
They stepped in quickly and offered all of the pro athletes who had suddenly lost any ability
to race and earn an income from that some cash. They had a yearly ending bonus pool of 2 million,
which they increase to $2.5 million and they distributed that immediately with at least $5,000
be paid out every athlete within their top 100 ranking listings, rather than them having to wait
to the end of the year, as was initially the plan. This wasn't the only support that the PTO would
be offering and we'll hear more about that a little bit later.
As the summer quickly disappeared and even the most positive among us were starting to despair,
there was some light starting to begin to appear at the end of the tunnel. Races were starting to
reemerge. Now the ITU had had to cancel virtually all of their flagship WTS series of events.
However, Hamburg did manage to survive, albeit not in its usual city central location or with
the huge numbers of crowds lining the streets as it was renowned for. It was also promoted at
the 11th hour to become the World Championship event rather than the usual means of crowning
the winner of the series, not without some complaints from some other athletes, notably
those from the southern hemisphere who simply weren't able to travel due to the restrictions.
However, the show must go on and Vincent Luis was successfully able to defend his title from 2019
and Georgia Taylor Brown was able to add her name to a long list of British women's winners. Aside
from the draft-legal racing, there were some other events starting to appear again too. To
help things along the good folks over at the PTO started to provide some support. This began with
a $15,000 professional prize purse which they gave to a small but very unique event here in the UK,
by the name of Helvellyn. Incredibly, this event was won by Alistair Brownlee, who had just the day
before in Hamburg raced to a top 10 finish. This race was just to be the beginning
because the PTO has since supported or extended the support to some 15 races
globally. This has provided in excess of $300,000 in support for the pro-athletes
and also brought that big race buzz back to many grassroots events all over the globe.
Now, happily, there was racing happening elsewhere too, and a superb story that only caught our
attention but went viral all around the world was one from the Santander Triathlon in Spain.
What a superb gesture of sportsmanship this was. British athlete James Teagle sprinting with local
Diego Mentrida for the final podium position but in the finishing shoot, Teagle took a wrong turn,
sensing he was probably going to be beaten in a fair match. Mentrida stopped just short of the
finishing line to let his rival cross first, which was a superb gesture of sportsmanship,
so much so that the race organizers paid out to both of the athletes anyway.
[music] Now, the beginning of
October traditionally means one thing in the world of triathlon and that is the hype and the build-up
towards Ironman World Championships on Hawaii, but this being 2020 of course, they were canceled.
However, if GTN couldn't go to Hawaii, then we figured that we would try and bring a little bit
of that Pacific Island right here to us. The team enlisted the help of rising pro star Kat
Matthews and took on the challenge of trying to beat Jan Frodeno's course record time as a relay.
Now that relay did look like a tough day out for the guys and boy, did they get close to
dipping under Jan's time, but yes, close, but not quite any cigar. It really is a testament
to how impressive Jan's time is that the guys weren't quite able to beat that as a relay.
Now evidently it wasn't just GTN who were missing out on that racing buzz in November. No, we also
had Lionel Sanders who pitted himself against the cycling's ultimate race of truth, the Hour Record.
Now, Lionel had boldly stated his goal of trying to break the Canadian record, which for somebody
let's not forget with zero velodrome or indoor track cycling experience would be no mean feat.
Nobody was doubting his engine, but would he have the physical or technical capabilities to ride
that fixed gear bike for an hour? Well, the answer was a resounding yes, because Lionel executed an
outstanding race and Julie smashed that record with a distance of 51.3 kilometers,
which absolutely was a stunning performance. Okay, into November and we had one of the few
events to happen since that first Ironman New Zealand back in March, and that was
Ironman Florida, and Panama City, which was a real story of determination and commitment,
and in the process provided us with a new Guinness Book world record because Chris Nikic became the
first person with down syndrome to complete the iconic 140.6-mile endurance event that is the
Ironman, a truly fantastic and heartwarming story of perseverance in this year of such turmoil.
Then as we hit the end of the year, while we perhaps had the most anticipated race of 2020
and that was Challenge Daytona. [music]
Yes, now, this was a highly anticipated event, and even at the beginning of the year,
when everything was supposed to be happening as normal, there was a lot of excitement about
this event. It was, after all, the very first PTO organized event and they were stumping up
one of the biggest prize purses in the history of the sport but then as virtually the entire
triathlon season got canceled, the importance of Challenge Daytona suddenly took on a whole new
meaning, not least for the athletes themselves, but also for the fans at home who were
promised by the organizers one of the best broadcasts we had ever seen. On both counts,
it did not disappoint and Challenge Daytona was certainly the triathlon racing highlight of 2020.
Now with a few exceptions aside, we had all of the top-ranked athletes on the start line with
the very best ITU short course athletes pitching themselves against middle and long-distance racers
over a unique distance it has to be said, and all within the iconic grinds of the Daytona Speedway.
This was all being broadcast via some superb coverage with up to the minute live leaderboards
to keep the audience and viewers engaged. Now as for the racing, it was enthralling
from start to finish. In the women's race, we had Ironman Hawaii Champion Annie Haug,
overcoming a penalty that she had to serve, charging through the run course, and
not quite managing to upset a fantastically well-deserved win for Paul Findlay. Whereas
in the men's race, we had Ironman 70.3 World Champion Gustav Iden proving that he was no
one-hit-wonder with that victory. He took first place ahead of a pair of athletes,
Matt Hanson and George Goodwin, who, by running themselves into the race by their
own admissions created quite a surprise. It is safe to say that Challenge Daytona
salvaged something and managed to wrap up the 2020 year of racing. What do you think?
Was there some best bits of the year that I have forgotten? Or do you agree with my roundup so far?
Please get involved in the comments below and let me know but either way, I hope you have enjoyed
this video. Please hit that thumbs up like button and don't forget if you haven't already done so,
to subscribe to GTN here on YouTube. [00:08:51] [END OF AUDIO]