You do realize if you start a thread like this, you have to answer the question first...

Macca and Larsen (for rocking the boat)

Cam Brown (for proving slow and steady can win the race)

Cam Widoff (for leaving everything on the course, no one "races" harder)

Zack, Macca, Spencer and Norman Stadler. Mostly because they let this old timer ride with them, and after they blew me away, they still waited up the road for me. Very cool guys that like to train hard, and have a lot of fun at the same time.

Throw Greg Watson into the mix too. If you're counting duathletes as well.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

I like how Peter Reid came back after a difficult time. And Chris Mc Cormack is a great athlete over all distances.
Then there are the Swiss: Natascha Badmann, Karin Thurig, Oliver Bernhard, Christoph Mauch

Felix, Switzerland

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http://www.weilenmann.ch.vu

Badmann
Deboom, Tim
Bowden
Walton
Brown

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I'll assume that you mean currently racing pros or Dave Scott and Greg Welsh would have to be added to this list.

Lisa Bentley (I ran with Lisa and Steve in university and their talk of triathlon made me interested enough to try the sport... that was 13 years ago..... plus she's tough as can be)

Macca (love his attitude)

Zack (when he walked Hawaii a few years back my opinion of him grew huge amounts)

Reid (can win any way ... hard bike or run... glad to see him back)

Badmann (she is just plain awesome)

Don't think I can pick 5. Here is 1.

Tyler Butterfield. watch for that name in the future. 19 years old, silver medalist at Junior worlds 02, super talented, a great work ethic, and a nice kid to boot.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Lori Bowden, Peter Reid, Lisa Bentley, and Simon Whitfield because Canuckleheads rock!

Also Macca for the pure hell of the guy.

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TonyG

What is Enoch Root?

Hellreigel is awesome. Got to include Marc Herremans - that's alot of heart and guts. Deboom is a classy guy. Macca cuz he's cocky but can back it up most times. And of course, Wendy Ingrham because she's got great legs.

Barb Lindquist - Chris McCormack - Ivan Raña - Peter Reid - Simon Whitfiled

Peter Reid for pushing his limits, then coming back after he fell of the cliff.

Karen Smyers - Classy lady.

Macca/Larsen - The sport needs more personalities.

Badmann - Class of the field, and she's always so darn happy!

Whitfield - I hate ITU racing, but the Commonwealth Games win was pretty cool.

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You've got to like Thomas Hellriegel. Such a nice polite, quiet man. A bit hapless, but a real consistaent player. Macca is the new guard, he is cool. Some of the current athletes lack a certain "panache". The whole aura surrounding Mark Allen was so mystical and "invincable". That was cool. He was like a Merckx. Paula ia another all time favorite. She's incredible.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Though I don't see it specified, I assume this is talking about CURRENT pros. Still I can't resist and I'm going to date myself and in no particular order:

Scott

Allen

Molina

Newby-Fraser

Pigg

Oh, add Larsen to my list. The dude is bad. Also, who is the Telekom guy who did IM Hawaii a couple years ago? I give him a vote. Also, I will say De Boom is de bomb. And that Lothar Leder fella, first sub-8 hour guy- that's huge. Bryan Rhodes is a bad dude too. And Alek Ruksoyev (sp?).

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Here's my favorite. On his way to a 1999 win and fastest bike split. Note that it's a 73.5 degree road bike. Hey Dan, how do you explain this one.

http://swimming.about.com/...e/99imhi%2Dpics.html

Ok, ok, FAVORITE current pros:

Reid, perseveres through adversity

Bowden, more wins than PR, how can you argue with that?

Badman, sheer dominance. Like Lance at the Tour, she appears to own Kona.

Lindley, ok, so she is "retired", but I'd bet she's not done with tri...

Zack, for showing the way on the bike

If you asked for MOST EXCITING PROS, I'd give you an entirely different list with names like Macca and Larsen.... but thats another forum.

Steve Larsen--A bit arrogant, but he can change the face of triathlon RACING. I like watching him race, but like Macca I wish he'd think before he speaks.

Macca--More than a bit arrogant. He's willing to step up to the plate and RACE. He was cool to meet at the Clif Bar tent at WF last year.

Mark Allen--The first triathlon I ever watched wasn't IMH. It was the Worlds in Nice when he chased down Molina during the run (after Tinley decided not to continue on the bike because of fear of rolling a tubular following a flat)...I believe that was his 5th or 6th World Championship before he ever won IMH...I just loved his style. His mental/spiritual approach to the sport continues to intrigue me.

Lori Bowden--Spent 30 minutes talking to me at IMC in 2001. The NICEST Elite I've ever had the good-fortune to meet. And she hammers from February until October (it's the same reason I love Erik Zabel...Consistency across a long season).

Tim DeBoom--He gets NO respect and keeps plodding away. He's continued to improve for 5 straight seasons (3rd, 2nd, 1st, 1st is not a bad career at Kona). He and his brother represent the United States well. He wins with grace (although, I do think most of the top pros have become a bit too conservative and willing to draft, but that's an entirely different problem in our sport).

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http://wattieink.com/elite-team/
Raising funds to help wounded veterans and racing RAAM 2013 with http://team4mil.org/
"If you are gonna charge... CHARGE HARD!"

[i]Here's my favorite. On his way to a 1999 win and fastest bike split. Note that it's a 73.5 degree road bike. Hey Dan, how do you explain this one.[/i]

exception to the rule. i'll make you a deal. i'll explain the exceptions if you explain the rules.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Karen Smyers. She's one tough lady. :)

I make no promises that I'll stick to 5.

Lori. What did she do, like 4 IM's this year? including the 3rd fastest ever for a women? incredible.

Natascha. Love that smile. she's so happy when she wins. I wanna be like that.

Macca. pure excitement. Makes me wanna train harder.

Reid. I'm not sure why I like him, but I do. I'm glad he's back. I like him even more now that he's gone through some adversity.

Smyers. Speaking of adversitey! Even ignoring the whole cancer angle, I really like her because she just wants to race. She doesn't really win anymore, but she keeps at it. I can relate to that a whole lot more than some flash in the pan pro, who hangs it up and never races again. I hope I still have the desire to keep racing after that many years in the sport.

Larsen. Tearing it up and bringing the bike back into the sport.

Watson. I wished he'd been in kona this year.

"exception to the rule."

Seems to be a lot of exceptions.

I'd like to put some votes in for some fellow Michigan triathletes...Olympian, Sheila Taormina and new Pro and new Team USA member, Matt Kowalski (I don't know much about him, but he's a local guy so I felt I should mention him).

Tom - I believe that the Telekom cyclist to whom you were referring was Udo Bolts. I agree with you that it was pretty ballsy (sp?) of him to take on Kona.

Both Matt and Sheila are pretty amazing. I was chatting with Lew Kidder and Karen McKeachie in our store yesterday (Karen was borrowing some photos for her excellent cooltri.com website and the Gran Prix postcard for this season)and Lew was telling me Sheila current training schedule now- It's unfathomable, that girl is going to be flying. Matt will be at a new level this year also. We sponsored Matt K., Todd Briggs and some other hot Michigan guys at Irontour this year. They had a good race but old Todd fell off his bike. Geez, I'm rambling. Time to build a bike.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Macca: he's just cool and exciting to watch, and I love his confidence and attitude!
Zack and Thomas: because I like the Germans biking.
Craig Walton: He's the nicest pro and I love his swim, bike combo.
Larsen: Because he's an all American bike powerhouse.
And I agree that Weny Ingraham is a babe!