Today was the opening day of race registration for the Ironman, and also the race expo. If you are not familiar, the Kona Ironman expo is sort of the pinnacle event for triathlon. All of the major companies use this as the opportunity to present their latest and greatest equipment (and for today, it was Cervelo uncorking the brand new P5X beam bike… pretty nice piece of equipment for $15,000 if that’s how much you want to spend!). The highlight for us was the Keiki Dip n’ Dash, which was a kids race that both Asher and Ande participated in. The boys were able to start in Kailua bay, at the same point as the Ironman swim start. They swam 150 meters, and then ran 1 mile along Ali’i Drive, essentially covering the final mile of the Ironman course. I assume some day they might understand the significance of who the people were putting on the race, but all along the way, there were the former Ironman World Champions like Paula Newby-Fraser ushering the kids into the water, Peter Reid high-fiving the kids as they were out on the run course, Craig Alexander giving out medals. Overall, the boys had a blast!
The amount of people in town really increased today as Registration and the Expo opened.
Asher and Ande lining up before the start
The boys experienced their first mass swim start. Notice all of the people spectating along the water’s edge.
Ande coming out of the water and headed for transition.
Asher running hard down Ali’i Drive.
Asher nearing the finish line.
Ande nearing the finish line. As he came towards the end, Peter Reid was announcing, and he started cheering for Ande specifically, saying “Alright, look at this young fella… Old School…rocking the Speedo!”
Ande’s favorite part… the chocolate chip cookies at the finish line.