KQ or Walmart Triathlon Club?

Triathlon Forum
1

Watched my first quest for Kona video now. Thought it was pretty cool to begin with because the guy didn’t look like the typical KQ. I always love it when peoples looks are deceiving. Saw him swim, bike and run and thought he might be a lot older than his looks, because that definitely did nok look like Kona material to me.

Eventually his race started and it was obvious that he wouldn’t KQ by the time he hit the water. Not a chance. Just in time for the deadline he walked over the finish line and the episode ended.

I can’t stop feeling a bit fooled/disappointed. Why the Quest for Kona title? Wouldn’t it have been better with “Ex couch potato walks through marathon in his first IM”? Sure, if he does another 11 IMs he will be eligible for Kona, but who would want to race Kona when they can hardly complete an ordinary IM?

And more importantly: are the other quest for Kona videos as disappointing? I would like to see people who are actually able to KQ, not some guy who comes dead last

2

I have watched quite a few of them

I like them.

No one has qualified or even came close to KQ

3

The only one I’ve seen was the NZ guy who did Ironman #12, and because his son got a slot in the ‘Kona at 40’ giveaway, Ironman decided to let him go that same year so he could race with his son…so kind of contrived.

4

Glad someone liked it:) Just not for me then.

5

I watched the first season. Some episodes do follow an athlete who KQs.

6

Seems like the producers want people to identify and pay money to do a regular IM. Quest for Kona is click bait because who quests for Texas, Chattanooga, etc. It’s rather smart marketing on their part.

7

I haven’t watched a single episode. Good marketing, though.

8

Eventually his race started and it was obvious that he wouldn’t KQ by the time he hit the water.

I watched those. I had the same reaction to that one. I started out thinking he must have a legit shot if they’re featuring him, but the first look at him racing said otherwise. Actually, before that when he had never heard of a bike fitting, I was a bit suspicious. It was one of those cloying “inspirational” ones and the guy spoke in cliche’d platitudes. The inspirational angle was that he was a solider with PTSD.

More power to him for going for it, but not sure why they featured him. Maybe if they’d just started with “let’s look at a back of the pack guy doing his first IM”, it might have been more likable. And hey, he finished, so good for him.

Some of the other episodes were good. There was one where I saw the girl running and immediately thought she had a shot to KQ and sure enough she did.

I am interested in the ordinary guy stories and the middle of the pack stories. I have no interest in the inspirational ones. That probably makes me a bad person.

9

The idea is good but execution not so much. Either pick some folks who are genuine contenders or just make the show about every day age groupers aiming for their first finish or a PB. Either way it could be interesting but it is a bit ridiculous talking up the Kona Quest of someone who never stood a chance.

10

Do you have a link to the episode with the girl KQ? I could obviously look through all of them, but Walmart Triathlon Club isn’t all that interesting to me. If there are other KQ or someone who almost makes it I would like to watch that too. So just drop all the links without telling anything about any of them (in case there are more than one).

11

Do you have a link to the episode with the girl KQ? I could obviously look through all of them, but Walmart Triathlon Club isn’t all that interesting to me. If there are other KQ or someone who almost makes it I would like to watch that too. So just drop all the links without telling anything about any of them (in case there are more than one).

I think it’s Suzanne Van Zijl. I can’t watch it right now because when I click it says Red Bull has blocked me from watching it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4O86wc-TTQ&list=PLxTcXRgYJnfQJsF2cp2_8O-QUI0ksHiuZ&index=6

btw, on youtube some of them are mislabeled or have the wrong videos. Kinda a sloppy operation.

12

Blocked in my country too. But I liked the one with Roberto Vieira. Not exactly Kona material, but still not WTC either. Will be fun to see if there are a few other good ones!

13

Damn my ears are burning.

I qualified, as did Adam Hill and Andrew Jamieson in season 1. Still sort of in shock. KQing while being followed by a motorcycle is nerve wracking to say the least. But the show blew me away.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1343273562470125

For some reason Adam and my vids are blocked on you tube but they are on ironman Live on FB.

14

“Ex couch potato walks through marathon in his first IM”

So kind of curious, since you’re busy looking down on people who spend immense amounts of time training to finish an IM race, but take all available time to finish…how many IM’s have you done? As an ex couch potato who lost a bunch of weight before finishing his first IM, I’d like to know.

15

Well you never know, looks can be very deceiving. If you have been around long enough there was a notable male pro in the US who if you looked at him would have never have guess as he was short, stocky, and looked pretty soft. I think he went low 9s in his first Ironman as age-grouper and won his age-group, may have even grabbed a Umeke bowl in Kona. Eventually he would become a pretty legit pro. It is really hard to judge how quick someone is in triathlon at first glance.

16

“Ex couch potato walks through marathon in his first IM”

So kind of curious, since you’re busy looking down on people who spend immense amounts of time training to finish an IM race, but take all available time to finish…how many IM’s have you done? As an ex couch potato who lost a bunch of weight before finishing his first IM, I’d like to know.

Why do you think I look down on people? If you read my opening post in full you would have seen:

"Thought it was pretty cool to begin with because the guy didn’t look like the typical KQ. I always love it when peoples looks are deceiving. "

The reason for mentioning this is that people often don’t believe me if I tell them I do long course triathlons. (I too have a little extra here and there). I fail to see how the # of IM´s I have done is relevant to anything, but I have done 2 full distance races. The first one in Italy in 2017 (10.35. I have been open about being a fat MOP in other threads so I am by no means trying to claim that I am Kona material) and the second one was something called Norseman in Norway (12.41. it is a full distance event but not an ironman branded event. There are some hills on both the bike leg and the run leg making it a bit slower than the traditional Ironman course, but it wasn’t a good day for me).

I am sorry if I offended you. I would probably have liked the video if it said “Ex military veteran takes on his first Ironman” or something similar. I mean, they could have spun it in so many different ways, and it would have been epic. But when I clicked on it I thought I would see a potential KQ, which made me disappointed. That has nothing to do with the guy in the video. My problem with it was the title.

17

I would probably have liked the video if it said “Ex military veteran takes on his first Ironman” or something similar. I mean, they could have spun it in so many different ways, and it would have been epic. But when I clicked on it I thought I would see a potential KQ, which made me disappointed. That has nothing to do with the guy in the video. My problem with it was the title.

Exactly my thoughts.

And it’s not just the title. They keep the trying to KQ narrative going until the end.

18

Calling it the Walmart Triathlon Club is incredibly condescending, so it’s ironic that you’re calling out the name of the show Quest for Kona.

It’s just entertainment. If you don’t like it then don’t watch it. It’s better than being so critical of folks that likely gave their all trying to reach their goals. Sometimes it’s about the journey, not the result. What you find entertaining might be boring AF to others.

Is it more interesting to watch some wealthy middle aged guy with no friends dropping ridiculous amounts of money on wind tunnel testing, a Ventum bike, Debouer wetsuits, Ceramic Speed bottom brackets and pulleys, and training camps overseas or an average Joe on average gear who drops like 100 pounds during training? The whole point of the show is not everyone gets a KQ, and how hard it is to get one.

“Ex couch potato walks through marathon in his first IM”

So kind of curious, since you’re busy looking down on people who spend immense amounts of time training to finish an IM race, but take all available time to finish…how many IM’s have you done? As an ex couch potato who lost a bunch of weight before finishing his first IM, I’d like to know.

Why do you think I look down on people? If you read my opening post in full you would have seen:

"Thought it was pretty cool to begin with because the guy didn’t look like the typical KQ. I always love it when peoples looks are deceiving. "

The reason for mentioning this is that people often don’t believe me if I tell them I do long course triathlons. (I too have a little extra here and there). I fail to see how the # of IM´s I have done is relevant to anything, but I have done 2 full distance races. The first one in Italy in 2017 (10.35. I have been open about being a fat MOP in other threads so I am by no means trying to claim that I am Kona material) and the second one was something called Norseman in Norway (12.41. it is a full distance event but not an ironman branded event. There are some hills on both the bike leg and the run leg making it a bit slower than the traditional Ironman course, but it wasn’t a good day for me).

I am sorry if I offended you. I would probably have liked the video if it said “Ex military veteran takes on his first Ironman” or something similar. I mean, they could have spun it in so many different ways, and it would have been epic. But when I clicked on it I thought I would see a potential KQ, which made me disappointed. That has nothing to do with the guy in the video. My problem with it was the title.

19

I loved your episode. You are so real and relatable. I appreciate how you worked through difficult family challenges while maintaining an incredible training load.

I also thought Adam’s episode was great! Both of you worked your tails off and reached your goals. It was awesome to see! Thanks for putting your story out there to inspire others, and congrats on getting that Kona Qualifier a second time.

Damn my ears are burning.

I qualified, as did Adam Hill and Andrew Jamieson in season 1. Still sort of in shock. KQing while being followed by a motorcycle is nerve wracking to say the least. But the show blew me away.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1343273562470125

For some reason Adam and my vids are blocked on you tube but they are on ironman Live on FB.

20

What a lovely post to read. TY so much. I am unable to train to that level for the foreseeable future as my son is really dealing with some challenges due to his autism diagnosis. This made my morning. :slight_smile: will pass the message on to Adam as well.