Your Kona Picks - 2019

I have only done one sea swim and that was the first Dublin 70.3 (AG wave starts), same swim as the Dun Laoghaire 70.3 and it was much less traumatic than I thought it would be. Once you got away from the little (very little) bay/beach you start on, the water was fine and you just had to time your sighting with being on top of the wave or you just saw waves.

with Kona, I know that until I can put consistent training together there’s no point thinking about it. For a combination of family, work (starting own business whilst working P/T) and study it has been difficult. Now whilst my business still gets in the way the main obstacle is poor sleep habits that mean morning training is difficult. If I can nail that, then consistency will follow and I can see where I am at. Honestly not sure I can afford it but being able to not take a slot would be better than not getting one.

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Like others I would LOVE to go to Kona. I just need a genie to burst out of a bottle and make me good enough. Also he would need to convince my wife to part with the £xK it would cost because I’d want to take the family.

That would be 2 wishes, for the 3rd I’d probably ask for world peace or something easy.

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Same for me hearing Tom’s story. Granted he’s clearly got the natural gifts you need, but hearing took 45 minutes off 2015 to 2019 is exciting. And shows to everyone that can improve, especially the swim given he spent most his break just cycling.

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I can potentially see me doing 12 IMs at a lifetime stretch but certainly not branded unfortunately. Much more likely to enjoy sport and enter local events until the year I feel ready to give the KQ a try with work and family for training, and financially to be a one off holiday.

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I am not so fussed about going but I would like to know that I was good/lucky enough to qualify…I wonder what it would be like at ceremony when your name gets called to come and take your slot…
“No Thanks just glad that I am good enough”…nah I would be running up there and smashing the plastic!

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Funnily enough, no.

It has each year and in expectation of the same I planned starting my training this year in Kona week but the expected va-va-voom has not manifested. :confused:

The Delph Eccleston is so clear you can see the fishes…
And divers underneath you

The fishes are very friendly !

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I am keen to give it a go, watching the event itself didn’t really inspire me, course looked pretty dull, run was hot and had no shade, swim looked nice though. However, another good friend is trying to KQ and it would be good if we both made it.

I am pretty firmly in that group of athletes who on a good day, with a bit of luck and possibly a roll down might just earn a place. My best performance could get me anywhere between 5th and 25th place, it just depends who turns up on the day

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Just think, in entries alone, those (minimum) 12 Ironmans will probably cost you £6-7k.

Only 5 of mine have been ‘Ironman’ so I have another 7 just to get on the list; given my age and the age of my kids, it’s probably a better and cheaper strategy to just wait until I’m 70 and hope all the fast people are burned-out. I probably wont GAF by then anyway :sweat_smile:

I think you’ll find it’s 15 you’ll have to do in all. Somewhere in my hazy memory, I thought there was a limit on how far back you can go to get some of the races counted? Could be ‘mis remembering’ though.

I know you have to take these blogs with a pinch of salt … or CW is THE greatest tactician and observer of athletes known to man! haha.

Not sure if he’s trolling at his best again in that last paragraph!?

Still enjoying throwing shade at Lange. He really does not like that guy!!!

http://cameronwurf.blogspot.com/

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Looks like he isn’t trolling re. ITU :astonished:

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From Wurf’s blog: “guys like Jan who was there to make the race & not simply sit back & wait for others to falter as we’d seen in the last couple of years

Urm, I’m pretty sure that’s how Scott & Allen won most of their victories in Kona. He really doesn’t like Lange does he. I’m not convinced the ‘love’ is reciprocated by Jaan either.

:sweat_smile: I predict he’s going to get trounced with that swim/run of his.

I think CW tried the mind games before the race this year, and it didn’t affect Jan at all. So now he’s flipped it the total other way to see what difference (none) that will make.

Ryan Sissons, Richard Varga and Igor Polyinsky are the only three other names i recognise from that start list SO not a strong field. But you would still expect there to be enough swim and run power to ensure CW gets nowhere. Super bike domestique for everyone that swims behind him!

A lot of people think he’s hilarious, but I think he tries to hard; as a result for me he’s not actually that funny. He has some gems, and wearing the LS ‘No Limits’ shirt around Kona is one of them. But I think his attempted banter with the Germans is falling on deaf ears; Jan is not laughing with you Cam. I thought calling Stein a ‘douchebag’ in the Press conference was pretty sh!t humour too; although I realise he didn’t really mean it.

Now if I was TO, I would have jokingly whispered in Jan’s ear at the conference “yeah you bastard, why didn’t you wait for me at the airport!:rofl:

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I’m with you there, I think it’s fine to mouth off and ‘trash talk’/top bantz but you have to deliver and whilst 5th is very good, it’s not trash talk good IMO. If he was actually witty it wouldn’t bother me at all. I don’t like Tyson Fury but he’s very good at finding funny ways to get in his opponents head.

He’s clearly on an upward trajectory though, that probably buys him a little more bragging rights than he might normally deserve.