Does Bob Babbit have any eyes? 
Increased money, increased promotion of the sport, increased athlete representation and account of their wishes. Still new enough to have good will for mistakes they make and have not lost trust.
Think athletes will be genuine when they want to try make IM to be more like PTO.
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Aye, I know that.
But those Rulez that Ironman and Slowtwitch and some pros on their Instagram have “published” basically say ;
Even though it’s the USA, it’s not the U S OF A.
Kona isn’t the land of the free. There’s some rules to abide by, y’all
At the banquet, I was sitting with some senior marketing bloke from Ford (Americans always ask what job you do, I have never asked a triathlete what they do for a living). Anyway, he suggested that they were going overboard promoting St George… there were 3 St George film clips. He recons that IM are positioning St G as a Kona Alternative. If this is the case it would be a real kick in the face for all other nations.
Of 5000 athletes in Kona, 1600 are from the US, the next country Germany with just over 500 and Aus and UK tied with 333 people. I would love to see the numbers, but think that the US has as many athletes as the whole of Europe… I suspect that Europe has a larger Tri population, so US is over represented
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but really makes it shit for the older (particularly female) age groups, as they get very, very lonely, in fact there’s little chance that the oldest age groups would even finish without the extra assistance from legal draft etc. through the swim/bike.
The race needs a range of speeds, there’s no stress on the course from having a load more slow younger athletes to keep the fogeys company.
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Which is where the Legacy and Corporate pieces come in, right?
No stress on the course, debatable, but I’ve not been and seen it in person.
But from what I’ve heard, the two day event stress on the town infrastructure is Huge.
Good luck tomorrow Matt 
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Well the town is a hole anyway, even more so if there really has been a post covid reduction.
My point is you need those athletes, so as you say it could be legacy / corp athletes, or it could just be from roll down, I don’t think it makes it wrong either way, they’re still not athletes who are winning, why does it matter how they got there?
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Has Sid mott snot got any chance of hitting the tape?
He’s a very good swimmer, mixing with the pros the other day?
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- Ryf
- Haug
- Philip
- Crowley
- Moench
Ryf just too strong, will announce her retirement as she crosses the line. Haug not enough road to run her down. Philip/Crowley close, Moench fades towards the end.
- Blummenfelt
- Currie
- Skipper
- Ditlev
- Iden
All about the run. Blum will just run away, Iden fades to 5th, Skipper steady through to 3rd.
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- Currie
- Skipper
- Sanders
- Blum
- Iden
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Going all out there.
Who’s that Sanders bloke, though?
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Isn’t Sanders that youtube influencer bloke, must have got a celebrity place. He’ll do well to crack 14 hours…
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LIONELLLLLLLLLLLLL The greatest triathlete ever…on Slowtwitch
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I think the 
will either podium or be nowhere. But the signs weren’t good at the last PTO race where he had a shocker of a run in the heat
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Heat and poor Kona record is why I didn’t pick him. 4th/5th at best if races with new found maturity and StG form, but more likely out of top 10
thought G iden comment on BWB about the bike course was perfect , 
!
not a patch on wales or Lanza
That’s Sam Long now isn’t it 
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Haha, yep. And he’s an ACTUAL American.
Though looking at the superleague results the other day, he could get out Americaned by Chase McQueen!!
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Was he the bloke Ali dunked in his last ITU race? If so, the mitigation of that ridiculous christian name should have been factored in…
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