93 or 94....I qualified at Memphis in May...Olympic Dist.

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

And to your point about qualifying for Kona at a half IM, in the 1990's most of the qual slots WERE from half IM's.



For sure most were from 1/2's, but there were probably about a 1/2 dozen olympic distance races that were in and out of the qualifying process, a couple like Memphis in May and St. Anthonys had slots for a lot of years. You see in the olden days they just sold those slots to RD's, so it was a big revenue source for Ironman. They didn't much care who they went to, just that they got top dollar for the slots, and it got very expensive towards the end of this paradigm.

I along with a lot of other pros always just got our slots at Wildflower. It was the first early season race with some $$ and I think top 10 pros that wanted slots got them there, with a roll down as I recall too.

And yet for the majority of our history we have been able to qualify at olympic and 1/2 distance for Kona. Only recently has it been an almost ironman distance exclusive to get into Kona. So to me it seems wrong that they changed it, not what it is now. All about perspective I guess. Bet a lot of pros wished they could get in the like the old days, one and done and you can set up to have your best race at Kona. Not some season long qualifying process that trashes most and you are just happy to participate come October..

This. I have long been grumpy about the bifurcation of triathlon into Ironman and everything else. I think this has greatly contributed to the demise of duathlon and is not healthy for the sport in general.

He is a good athlete but he does draft on the bike and has a several pacers and a biker with him on the run. I hope he actually does a qualified time at IMTX.

statute of limitations?

statute of limitations? //

At S. Garcia's funeral....

I’m guessing this is it: https://www.slowtwitch.com/...e_on_Macca_5467.html

I always found it odd he never addressed SG's accusation. Perhaps it was about keeping a dignified silence and not humouring gossip, maybe that's what famous people do? If it was me, I'd be moving heaven and earth to let people know I wasn't guilty.

I can't comment on the bike, but I ran with him today for a few miles and he was all alone. I teased him that he brought the heat to better suit him!

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"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." T.S. Elliot | Cycle2Tri.com
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Macca was never charged with any crime and Sunny Garcia (the surfer who started the rumor) has been wrapped up in some pretty scandalous things himself. I obviously can't say whether it's true or not, but without any charges being filed and the only accusation coming from a guy with a questionable reputation, it's hard to shame Macca. If you want to harsh on Macca for the DNF's towards the end of his career before he pretended to retroactively be retired, sure let loose.

Macca is a legend and deserves to be in Kona every October. 4-time world champion (World Cup, 2x IM, ITU LD) who won races that he wasn't supposed to win. 2010 IM world championship is perhaps the greatest Kona of all time. Sure the Ironwar was amazing, but 2010 was the culmination of a defending championing proving his prowess in his generation (Crowie) and the passing of the torch to the new generation (Raelert). Macca was neither protagonist of the story, he played the villain role and in the end you couldn't help but cherish what he had accomplished. Macca was not the best athlete in 2010, but he was the world champion.

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Team Zoot 2023

I competed at St. Anthony's and also the Wilkes-Barre Olympic tris in 1995. They also had lottery slots!

I can't remember how many lottery slots they allocated, but it was at least 4. They picked bib numbers out of a hat. I recall at both races they had to call at least 20 numbers to get the slots taken.

Good times!

Mark

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Fast-Finishes.com
Triathlon and Running Race Timing
Athletic Event Management

The extent to which all the pros on Bahrain bow in worship to their thick walleted "captain" is a little sickening.

Does it not feel reminiscent of the Fox Catcher story with John Dupont?

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Team Zoot 2023

Why would you? He pays them to make a good living and like any sponsor the athletes have obligations. Bowing may well be one of them. Considering the calibre of his athletes I would be saying he is paying them a pretty premium for the bowing service.

Back then an Oly would KQ you. My first KQ was an Oly called Chicago Sun Times. I think entry was $195 then (that sure seemed pricey then!) Flight was around $300 round trip if I recall...or the price of Vaporfly 4% after tax and overnight shipping ;-)

Monty,

continuing the hijack.. but I think 99 mrs Ts in chicago was the final oly dist qualifier for kona.
This stands out bc that is where I first qualified.
25-29 age group had 3 waves. A-J, K-P,Q-Z or something close. 5 slots in my age group. I finished 2nd in my wave and was the 5th slot. No roll down.
I think there were like 5k racing that day.
it was nuts.

daved

Sometime in the 90's, there was an Olympic distance qualifier in Seaside Heights, NJ. Due to high surf, the swim was cancelled and it became an Olympic distance duathlon Kona qualifier!

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

You don't know Macca then. It's not hard to shame Macca as you say. If 5% of the stories came out about what kind of person he really is then you would think differently. If there were no charges then he can be in Kona whenever he wants. Seems strange that he hasn't been back since the incident. He's a dodgy guy, great BS artist, but certainly shouldn't be spoken about with such high regards as you have.

You can be respected as an athlete and still be a shitty person.

The person you replied to clearly is marveling at Macca's athletic ability, not his moral standing.

I guess I don't know his personal stories too well, I know only about his racing career. If you have some interesting stories about him, I would love to hear them. I do hold Macca in a high regard because of his racing career, but I'm not nominating him for any humanitarian awards for his personal life.

I absolutely think he should show up in Kona and relish in that glory of being a former champion.

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Team Zoot 2023

Fair enough. Not many people on that island that like Macca. A few years ago they started lining the waterfront (might have been on the light poles) on Alii Dr. with large photos of all the past winners. If anyone looked at each one of those they would notice that there were 2 missing. Give you one guess which years those were. Apparently IM doesn't like him either, which may have been because he was a Challenge ambassador but still seems strange that they left his out.

I went to Kona in 2016 to spectate and take in the whole atmosphere of the event. While there the Chris McCormack pillar was standing adjacent to the beach. It seems like Bob Babbitt still has a decent relationship with him after all these years.

The only negative story outside of the Sunny Garcia incident was from a guy in a hot tub at the CAC in Boulder. This guy had been around the Boulder scene for years and he was reminiscing about training with Macca back in the day. This guy talked about Chris's affinity to partying and flirting with local girls. The story never got super deep, but that was the worst thing I had heard about him.

Perhaps I don't hear more about him is that he somewhat serves as the hand that feeds to many pros right now. Macca has built a solid post retirement business through foreign investors and those investors have floated a lot of money in the triathlon community. People may protest Bahrain 13 and what they stand for, but if their tune would change if Macca came calling with an offer to join the team. It'll probably be years before we hear any of the true tales of McCormack.

Again, when it comes to Kona, he deserves to be there. 2-time world champion and a firecracker for the brand. I think we all miss and are starved for an open rivalry like Macca/Stadler or Crowie/Macca. We get excited about Lionel saying he wants to win, but we really miss when McCormack said he would win and why others wouldn't.

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Team Zoot 2023

I know more than a couple of "rockstar" agegroupers from the bay area and the east coast that have KQ the past two seasons at 70.3's in China. They have been successful at qualifying and performing at 70.3 worlds, Kona not one bit.