Discuss[/b]

is that an order?

I've got a devil's advocate perspective, but I'm afraid I'd be skewered so bad by some on this forum I won't give my thoughs on that, other than to say "no" he's definitely not like Julie Moss.

No, cuz in that same situation....spending thousands of dollars on a race, maybe once in a life time chance, I'd have walked that 5-6 miles, too!

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Paul

I'm gonna have to go with no.

She came to the point of exahaustion and collapse and still managed to gather up the strength to finish. While what he did was very gutsy, walking your bike 10k is not the same as crawling to the finish.

Will he have Julie's impact on the sport??? How many have said they saw Julie's crawl and decided they wanted to do that (e.g., Mark Allen)???

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

No..

Taking nothing away from Chris' accomplishment and determination, BUT Julie's finish was an enduring TV/Sports dramatic moment, AND she was an elite leading the race at the time of her physical meltdown. It's very hard to top that.

It's not? How do you come to that conclusion? Have you experienced either?

She wasn't "exhaust(ed)" and he didn't "walk (his) bike".

Julie Moss began to struggle in the last 5 miles of the marathon. Finally in glycogen debt she fell 20 meters from the finish line. She crawled the 20 meters to finish, but was feeling no pain. Her mind was fine, but her muscles were on empty.

Christian was hit by a motorcycle, crashed his bike and fell to the pavement. He then carried twenty pounds of bike on his one shoulder (with all that weight concentrated on a small area of his top tube) with an arm out in front of him to balance it 9-or-so miles to T2. After walking in that awkard position with that concentrated weight on one shoulder for 9 miles he ran a marathon.

Julie felt no pain... Christian not only felt it, he looked pain in the face and didn't even flinch.

I've got to say Yes. Who among us, if we have a bad crash on the bike, and we're still able to walk and have a chance to make the cut-off won't think of Chris and be inspired? Who among us won't think of Chris, do a quick mental gut check, and start walking? Who won't think, "If Chris could do it in his socks..."

Julie Moss's effort was the foundation for our sport. Chris's effort is no less remarkable.

Since it was just shown, Chris' "walk" hasn't had a chance to be "enduring". Only time will tell.

please.

dudes crash all the time. he wasn't badly hurt, and he walked 6 miles. "carried his bike on a tiny area of his shoulder" ?? good lord. i watched a dozen little kids do that at the cyclocross races while sprinting up steep-ass hills for close to an hour yesterday. anyway, he had the time, and then he went and finished off an event he paid thousands of dollars to experience.


did all the overly-dramatic NBC music/imagery get to some of you, or what?

No

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Also, not to take away from him, but it's my understanding (I could be wrong) he was offered a replacement bike by the official bike support crew. He refused to take it saying HE would consider it outside assistance. The fact is, it would be no more outside assistance than accepting Gatorade at an aid station. Outside assistance isn't allowed by other racers or non-race personnel. It's totally allowed by the official bike support people. He chose to walk (okay, carry) his bike when he could have ridden a replacement bike in (again, that's my understanding and I could be wrong). He obviously didn't choose to get hit by the motorcycle, but he did make things more "dramatic" than they needed to be by carrying his bike in while being followed by NBC cameras the whole way. I have nothing against Chris and am not trying to be a troll. In fact, I give him tremendous credit for finishing the race at all when I'm sure plenty of people would have quit. I'm just sort of sick of media hype trying to turn everything into some incredible human interest "against all odds" story. Okay, flame away . . .

Whether he is or he isn't doesn't really matter (not that it isn't a owrthy discssion). He deserves respect for doing something that 99% of people (despite their claims) would not have done. I appreciate his humbleness. I doubt he's on the internet talking about lowering the IM cutoff, who is or isn't an ironman, what color the ribbons should be, etc ... nor is he likely talking about how courageous he is. He was presented with a situation that could have been an "honorable discharge" and he refused it.

I don't think peopple will see Chris's actions and rush out and try a triathlon ... but if they wreck their bike, they will now be more inclined to "keep going" ... just like Chris.

IMO, Moss's and Sadowski's situations are similar, but not identical ... so I don't see calling him the "Moss of the 21st Century" would be accurate.

For me, the most inspirational stories are the still the Hoyt's and the guy (Mark H-something) that was paralyzed when he was hit by a car ... only to return as a wheelchair athlete.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

He posts on this forum, and since you seem to be an expert on what's going on inside his (and others') head and body, why don't you tell him that?

"For me, the most inspirational stories are the still the Hoyt's and the guy (Mark H-something) that was paralyzed when he was hit by a car ... only to return as a wheelchair athlete."

Marc Herremans. He is an inspiration to me too. Did he race this year?

diablo. in what fashion do you think my observations implied i " knew what was going on . . .blah blah" ?

dude fell off his bike.

dude was not badly injured.

dude walked 6 miles (when he did not actually have to).

dude had the time, and finished an event that he paid thousands to experience.





it is a nice story, and he has watercooler bragging rights for a long ass while, to be sure. but c'mon now.

No, what Chris did was great, but it doesn't compare. I remember 4 years or so back at the Gulf Coast Half in Panama City there was a guy in T2 that had either forgotten his shoes or someone had stolen them. This guy decided instead of quitting that he would just run the 13.1 miles with only socks and at mile 11.5 there was a guy that had finished the half marathon and ran back to him to give him his shoes to finish the race. I tried to find the link in the newspaper archives, but I couldn't get to the site. He was a local dentist there in Panama City. Clay something?

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http://timeoutdoors.blogspot.com/
Photo Blog - App Trail Thru Hike March - Sept 2009

http://www.marcherremans.be/en/

I don't think so.

My lasting image of watching my first Ironman was of Herremans (not the Hoyts). It was Marc sitting there lumped over in his wheelchair at the bike/run transition. You could almost hear the debate in his head regarding whether to continue or not.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

I 'd sure like to know for sure if he was offerered a spare bike....from his comment at the end - 'do you want to film me picking up this bike for the last time' , I sense some bitterness about what happend.



I read in the orlando sentinel this weekend an article about this since he's from winter park...and he commented in the article about wanting to be compensated fully for the bike.



when I saw that he'd been given a 1700 dollar bike by cannondale i though ' whoopee '

if they want to give an ironman a bike, they have to do better than that.



my hunch is he wanted to make sure this incident got attention.



how the hell does a motorcycle hit a cyclist during the ironman anyway?



I'd be pissed off too

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"the trouble with normal is - it always gets worse"

- Cockburn

well, geez, did they DQ him for outside assistance in accordance with the rules? ;)

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Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD

Was it the guy who stole his shoes in the first place?

Now that would be a story.

I know that the great Julie Moss crawl, inspired a great number of people - including a number of past and current greats of the sport to get into the sport. I don't doubt that. For me personally, it did nothing. At the time I saw it as a bit of a negative. My sport inspiration back then was Sebastian Coe in full flight down the home straight trouncing another top field of milers - not someone crawling on their hands and knees half unconcious towards, in the dark a finish line that they could not even see. Sorry, but that's just my personal feeling. When I think of IM inspiration specificaly, I think more along the lines of Mark Allan clawing back a 14 minute deficit to win in 1995( I think) - It's never over until it's over. You always keep moving forward, because you never know what's going to happen.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog