I was lucky enough to get to see a special early showing of the Kona Broadcast last night. They covered the pro race pretty well. I liked that they showed some penalties being given. The featured stories included former race car driver Alex Zinardi, Boston Marathon director Dave McGillivray, and Lisa Hallett who lost her husband in Afghanistan. They didn’t spend as much time with Apolo Ohno as I expected. The guy I really liked was the mayor of Kona, Billy Kenoi.
I thought they did a good job of showing what the conditions were like. The swim looked a lot rougher than I remember. It was cool to see it from a different perspective. The wind heading up to Hawi was exactly how it felt. It gave me flashbacks.
All in all they did a good job with this year’s show. If you’ve watched it before you know what to expect. They didn’t break any new ground, but told the story of the day with plenty of drama and inspiration. Notably absent from the show was the story of a 51 year old legacy athlete and occasional Slowtwitch poster who fulfilled a lifelong dream of racing the Ironman World Championship.
Congrats on your finish. Very cool.
Someone please ‘share’ it once it’s broadcast. I have no idea when it will be shown in Australia. Cheers.
Don’t tell me who won! Been waiting so long don’t spoil it.
Don’t tell me who won! Been waiting so long don’t spoil it.
Spoiler alert! Not a guy in a gorilla suit, not a guy who pee’d in the T1 tent (as far as I know). Narrows it down quite a bit, huh?
This has an Australian feel to it.
So I just saw it too. I thought last years was better (more heart felt stories). The narrators voice is played out.
I was surprised that even though he came in 8th, FVL gave a hard effort that he blew up on the run (had 2nd for a while). Also Jan F put it in hard with a flat and penalty.
Nice seeing you at the viewing Gary. I was the tall guy.
I saw the production last night at an LA Tri Club event in Santa Monica. We had Kathleen McCartney and Julie Moss speak before hand and that was super fun too. I was pleased that the NBC broadcast will cover the women’s race well - it was a great contest and deserves the coverage it got.
For folks who don’t know much about triathlon, I think it’s a good product. I did find one thing interesting and that this years show has an absence of…“collapse” . Some years we have lots of folks dropping at the finish, being caught/carried by vols and that sort of total exhaustion and that was as prevalent in this edit. This isn’t a judgment of what’s better or what belongs, it’s just an observation.
Ian
I saw the production last night at an LA Tri Club event in Santa Monica. We had Kathleen McCartney and Julie Moss speak before hand and that was super fun too. I was pleased that the NBC broadcast will cover the women’s race well - it was a great contest and deserves the coverage it got.
For folks who don’t know much about triathlon, I think it’s a good product. I did find one thing interesting and that this years show has an absence of…“collapse” . Some years we have lots of folks dropping at the finish, being caught/carried by vols and that sort of total exhaustion and that was as prevalent in this edit. This isn’t a judgment of what’s better or what belongs, it’s just an observation.
Ian
Ian, I noticed that as well. The other interesting thing was that they showed how strong the winds were but they didn’t mention that at least 3 people (that I know of) were blown off their bikes. They showed Harriet and Lew missing the bike cut while in fact none of the females over 75 and none of the men over 80 made the cut but Cherrie Gruenfeld broke the women’s 70-74 record by over an hour. I know they can’t focus on everything in a 90 minute show.
Yeah my pain about the lack of Cherie coverage was eased by the fact that Sports Illustrated gave her a plug in last weeks publication.
I thought it was pretty clear that FVL ran to win. Period. He had a lock on second and “probably” could have cruised in, but instead he pushed to win. Pretty commendable.
I thought it was pretty clear that FVL ran to win. Period. He had a lock on second and “probably” could have cruised in, but instead he pushed to win. Pretty commendable.
yea definitely could have locked 2nd.
Even though im no go USA redneck, the coverage of ben hoffman and andy potts was weak considering they had stellar performances.