Ironman World Championships 2000 - Kona

At 7:00 am on Saturday, October 14, a group of 1,585 people, between the ages of 18 and 80, will start swimming. Their goal? Cover 140.6 miles by swimming, bicycling, and running in and around the island paradise of Hawaii. In other words, compete in the 2000 International Ironman Championships in Kona. 

The Ironman course has been mapped, and the race starts with a 2.4 mile ocean swim,  followed by a 112 mile bicycle course, then finishes with a marathon run (26.2 miles). This annual event is always scheduled for the Saturday with the first full moon of October, allowing the slower racers the glorious site of Hawaii in the moonlight - if they can still enjoy it. The fastest finishers will be in after 3:00 p.m., while the slower ones have 17 hours to complete the course; the extra light of the full moon helps during the post-sundown run as everyone heads towards their own historic finish.

There are really only two ways to make it in the race - win a spot by luck, or win a spot by effort. There are 225 winners of the Ironman entry lottery, but they still must complete at least a half-distance event to claim their lottery spot. Occasionally, a few lucky individuals or celebrities are also invited to the event. The effort way to qualify is to place in the top level of your age group at an official qualifying event, like Ironman Canada, California, Europe, the half-Vineman, or any of the other official qualifying races held around the globe, all conforming to the same set of rules as the world championships, which includes non drafting on the bike portion of the race..  There is a third way - win your age group at the championship the previous year. All 1999 age group champions from the previous year qualify for the following year's event. This year's race has 133 professional and 1,452 amateur racers toeing the line.

The top male and female finisher receive a $70,000 cash prize and an Isuzu truck (as well as lots of endorsement offers). Last year, Luc Van Lierde (Belgium) won for the second time on the men's side. Lori Bowden (Canada) won for the first time with a blistering run under three hours, a record for women at the event. The course record for men is 8:04:08 (set in 1996), held by Van Lierde. The women's record is held by Paula Newby-Fraser at 8:55:28 (set in 1992). 

The history of the Ironman event lists past winners including triathletes Dave Scott, Paula Newby-Fraser, Scott Tinley, Scott Molina, Mark Allen, Luc Van Lierde, Thomas Hellriegel, Heather Fuhr, and Peter Reid. The event started as a challenge to determine the fittest athletes between swimmers, runners, and cyclists, put forth by Navy Commander John Collins. The first Ironman was held  on February 18, 1978 by combing the courses of the Waikiki Rough Water swim, the Around Oahu Bike Race, and the Honolulu Marathon. The winner, Gordon Haller, completed the course in 11:46:58.

Who will it be this year? The experts at Extreme Tri review the men's race  and are predicting a repeat for Luc Van Lierde, followed by Peter Reid (Lori Bowden's husband), Thomas Hellreigel, and Lother Leder in the men's race. The women's choices from Extreme Tri are Lori Bowden (a repeat from 1999), Heather Fuhr, Lisa Bentley, and Natascha Badmann. We will all know soon. Then we can look forward to Saturday, October 6, 2001, when it all happens again, and maybe one of you will be there, swimming, biking, and running into the Ironman record book.

UPDATE - 10/13 - Luc van Lierde, pre-race favorite, withdraws two days before the event is to begin (TriathlonLive).

UPDATE - 10/15 - The complete results are in at the Ironman (IronmanLive). Reid, Badmann win 2000 Ironman Triathlon titles, DeBoom, Bowden runner-ups (Nando).

Swim On!