I think there are so many unknowns that this race can only be predicted with great uncertanty. Several have shown their strenght over time like Reid, DeBoom, and Brown. Others have shown great strength recently Like Al Sultan, and Tissink, and then there are some newcomers, like Evans who have waited until they were ready to contend before they showed up. He is showing up this year. And, just to make things interesting, Larsen is going to be there racing as an amateur, out of sight, out of mind. I'll bet his training has increase a smidge above 6 hours a week since Vineman.

I am sure there are others waiting to mix it up like Lessing or Lieto or others. We will have to wait and see.

I look forward to this race very much.

Frank

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

/Others have shown great strength recently Like Al Sultan, and Tissink, and then there are some newcomers, /





Hey Frank, Did you just forget Stadler, I would say that he deserves a recent strong guy award. After all he did win the race, and has cashed several of the big checks these past years..

Men:

Bell

Macca

Anderson

Women:

Major

Granger

...? skippy

 
Men:

Reid, DeBoom, Bell



Women:

Major, Baddman, Bentley



Stand out AG female:

Marisol

Just a side question. How did Reid qualify? As a pro, does being a past champion guarantee automatic qualification for all subsequent Hawaii IM's?

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Fortitudine Vincimus

you got it!

[reply]Hey Frank, Did you just forget Stadler, I would say that he deserves a recent strong guy award. After all he did win the race, and has cashed several of the big checks these past years..[/reply]

Ugh, yes. my bad. I am sure there are others in the mix also.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Past champions, top 10 of previous year, and age group champions of previous years.

Cheers,
Alex

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First with the head, then with the heart. -- HG

[reply]Macca's genetics will beat him again, unfortunately.[/reply]

Could you expand on this?

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First with the head, then with the heart. -- HG

Men:
deBoom
Reid
Lessing
it's going to be a foot race!

Women:

Badman

Major

Bentley
Natasha is going to crush them all again

LOL...are you from OZ? ;-)

"I see a group with Stadler, Faris, Lessing, Bjorn and Leito (the guys who can swim-bike)."

That would be a surprise as Bjorn is not racing.

Just got back from the future, these were the results :

1. Faris Al Sultan
2. Norman Stadler
3. Olaf Sabatschus
4. Peter Reid
5. Simon Lessing
6. Rutger Beke
7. Tim deBoom
8. Mc Cormack
9. Luc Van Lierde
10. Brown

1. Luc Van Lierde

2. Rutger Beke

3. Gerrit Schellens

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http://www.triathlonranking.com

You forgot to mention on 4th place : Marino Vanhoenacker :-))))))

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Fuck a duck and try to fly

faris is not ready yet he cant kep up with ried and maccca blows him out every time.. go back to the future and re checkyour results

1. Some European guy I've never heard of

2. Some old timer who has already won and usually places in the top 5

3. Some hard luck story who has paid his dues and finally breaks through

Now that's the man to watch!

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http://twitter.com/krepster || http://www.pedro-gomes.com || follow all the action on facebook

Quote : "faris is not ready yet he cant kep up with ried and maccca blows him out every time.. go back to the future and re checkyour results"

I can't, it was a single ticket I bought ;-). I do have to admit it was kinda confusing, I can not tell you wether it was 2006, 2007 or 2008 because the war in Iraq was still going on...

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Fuck a duck and try to fly

]Macca's genetics will beat him again, unfortunately.[/



What I meant here is that there is only so much you can do to improve your tolerance to heat, after that it is just what you are born with. SOme have incredible heat tolerance genitics, others( me for example), do not. We can all race in a certain amount of heat, for a certain amount of time, before the wheels come off. I raced Hawaii 15 years in a row, and have watched it ever since. There will be guys and gals who do great all year long, even in hot weather in other locations, but Hawaii is different. Besides the constant heat and no shade, it is the toughest competition of the year. When Macca wins some Ironman in Budapest or Quatar, it's a relatively easy win. Sure, a couple good guys may show up, but it is nothing compared to the pressure of Hawaii, and that's the straw that breaks the camels back so to speak, for the heat challenged. And the ONLY true test for heat tolerance is HAWAII, and when I see new people come and race, their results speak for themselves. There always could be other factors, like injuries or illness, but after a couple of trys with no apparent excuse, it becomes obvious to me that this person is not in the very small select group of genetically gifted heat tolerance athletes...

I got...ZYEMTSEV, SODERDAHL, REID, FARIS, STADLER, MACCA, DEBOOM, LOVATO and LARSEN! :D In any order! :)

For the gals, Natasha, Bentley, Major, Jones, Fuhr...again in any order! :)

d.w.weston, based upon your predictions, you must be an Aussie!

Monty,

Apart from Macca, what other athletes that were dominant in other races yet had no results in Hawaii? And by no results, I mean never top ten.

Thanks

What????

Sure it has been a few years since he raced in Hawaii, but have you forgotten the painful lessons one Mark Allen had to go thru before winning at Hawaii. Sometimes it's not necessarily genetics, it's a matter of learning how to race in certain conditions. I know it took me a few Ironman's with 95+ degree weather before figuring out how to "race" them and finish with a good marathon. I think Macca and Lessing will eventually break thru at Hawaii, maybe this year, or next year......

Thanks, Monty.

I thought that you might mean that. At the same time, Macca has had great success in Australia (which I thought was hot)... but you're right heat and humidity can be a killer.

Cheers,
Alex

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First with the head, then with the heart. -- HG