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Ironman: DeBoom says he’s done, age-group records and a 1:52 marathon

Chris McCormack crosses the finish line for his second Ironman world championship. (Photo courtesy of Ironman)

Karin Stanton | Hawaii 24/7 Editor

Alii Drive is back to normal and most of the chalk messages have washed off the streets, yet Ironman lingers about town.

DeBoom calls time on Kona career

Tim DeBoom in 2001. (Photo courtesy of Ironman)

Two-time world champion Tim DeBoom says he won’t race in Kona again.

After crossing the finish line 11 times in the last 19 years, the Iowa native quietly called it quits Monday evening at a post-race party at The Mauna Lani Bay Hotel.

“That was it. I’m done. It felt like good closure this year,” he said.

DeBoom, champion in 2001 and 2002, crossed the finish line Saturday with another two-time champion, Normann Stadler. Their time was 8:49:26, giving them 32nd and 33rd overall.

“That was a good way to go out,” DeBoom said.

DeBoom, who turns 40 next month, said he still plans to run triathlons and is happily settled in Boulder, Colo., but his days of chasing the world title are over.

“The event is changing. For people who are coming to Kona for their first year, it’s all new and exciting,” he said. “And it really is, but for me now it’s getting a little cookie-cutter.”

DeBoom first raced in Kona back in 1992, as an age-grouper, and has five top-5 finishes.

Here’s a look back at his Ironman Kona career:

1995: 10th
1996: 21st
1997: 11th
1998: 10th
1999: 3rd
2000: 2nd
2001: 1st
2002: 1st
2004: 12th
2007: 4th
2010: 33rd

A quick Q&A with some of the Team Mauna Lani triathletes

At the post-race party Monday evening at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel, some of the triathletes were kind enough to share their thoughts on a couple of really, really important questions.

* What’s the first thing you want to eat after you cross the finish line?

Samantha McGlone: Those last few miles, you don’t want to eat anything. Or it’s Sprite and Frito’s. Frito’s go down a treat.

Rani Tanimoto: Honestly, I’d have to say it was Bianelli’s pizza. That’s what I was thinking about. You just want something salty.

Penn Henderson: Nachoes. For some reason, I’m always thinking about nachos or some kind of Mexican food.

Mirinda Carfrae: I was just thirsty. I wanted water.

Tim DeBoom: My problem is I usually have an upset stomach when I finish, so I didn’t actually eat a bite until the next morning. But when we got to the breakfast buffet, we hadn’t even got our seats and I was into the bacon. But if I am thinking about anything during the race, it’s usually a vanilla shake.

* You know how sometimes you get a song or some lyrics stuck in your head? What was running on your personal mental iPod during the race?

Sam: It changes every race. I’m trying to remember what it was this year. Maybe ‘Rock Superstar,’ by Cypress Hill. Or something by Tool.

Rani: Oh, I don’t even know the name of it. A rap song by T. Pain. Just don’t print the lyrics. They’re not appropriate.

Penn: Hmmm, well, lots of the aid stations have loud music playing, so whatever they were playing carried on in my head until the next aid station.

Mirinda: I don’t think there was one particular song. They just kind of come and go.

Tim: You really, really have to be careful about the last song you hear before the race. In 1995, the guy driving me to the start was singing the theme song to the TV show ‘Bonanza.’ I never knew it even had words until then, but I had them in my head for the next 8 1/2 hours. Mark Allen had some good advice. He said to make sure your driver turns off the radio before you get in the car. That was really good advice.

* Spectators in Kona are famous for yelling out ‘Looking good, looking good.’ What have you heard during a race that stands out?

Sam: One time, a guy yelled out ‘Will you marry me?’ That made me feel good, but I never saw him again. And someone this year yelled, ‘Don’t quit.’ I thought, ‘Really? Do I look that bad?’

Rani: Out on the highway as I ran by an aid station, a group of guys called out ‘Hey, nice ass.’ I thought ‘OK, people are watching me, I better pick it up.’ It made me run faster. Sometimes you just get lost in your mind, so it’s always good when someone yells something to bring you back to reality.

Penn: Everyone was saying I had the coolest race number. It was 1234 and I thought it was a pretty cool number, too. And at an aid station, I asked for ice and dumped it into my shorts, which really helps and really cools you off quickly. So I heard a bunch of teenagers behind me, ‘Oh my God, he just put ice down his pants.’

Mirinda: I distinctly remember hearing one guy say, ‘You’ve got this in the bag.’ I was just getting on the bike and I thought, ‘Seriously? Really? Are you even paying attention? Do you know what we’re doing here?’ But it’s always nice to hear the encouragement.

Tim: Well, I’ve had a few marriage proposals. That’s nice to hear. And you do get a lot of ‘looking good,’ which is not useful. I know I don’t look good, I know all the guys around me don’t look good. If you are going to yell something, at least be honest.

* Outside certain circles, the words ‘triathlon’ and ‘Ironman’ aren’t always very well understood. What’s the most remarkable question you’ve gotten?

Sam: The best one was ‘How do you carry your gun on your skis?’ I have had that question in all seriousness. I guess being Canadian, it was easy to confuse with the biathlon.

Rani: How do you use the bathroom? Do you just go on the bike? That one seems kinda weird to me.

Penn: I think it was the massage therapist who was asking me earlier in the week how far do you swim. I said ‘2.4 miles.’ He looked out and pointed to the closest buoy in the bay and said ‘Oh, so just like right there and turn around.’ Umm, no.

Mirinda: Well, there is the big surf and ocean swim in Australia, so that always gets confused with this Ironman. And I used to be annoyed when people would say ‘Oh, ITU?’ Like, that’s only Olympic distance. And now I do Ironman, it’s like ‘Oh, well, not the Olympics, then?’ Right now, it really doesn’t bother me.

Tim: It will always be ‘How do you go to the bathroom?’

New age group records for 2010

Among the new world record holders announced at Sunday’s awards dinner:

Women 40-44
Beate Goertz (41, sales manager, Germany): 10:02:35
Old record: 10:03:06 (2006)

Women 45-49
Lisbeth Kenyon (45, engineer, Rhode Island): 10:01:30
Old record: 10:26:22 (2005)

Women 60-64
Carol Peters (60, consultant, Canada): 12:17:04
Old record: 12:34:52 (2005)

Women 65-69
Cherie Gruenfeld (66, California): 13:16:32
Old record: 13:22:10 (2009)

Men 60-64
Yves Tabarant (61, retired, France) 10:08:15
Old record: 10:20:38 (2008)

Men 65-69
Gotthard Winkler (66, counselor, Germany): 11:37:25
Old record: 11:29:45 (2006)

Men 80+
Lew Hollander (80, scientist, Oregon): 15:48:40
Old record: 16:21:55 (2005)

Hollander said he very happy to finally win his age group, as he has come second so many times.

“I can never outrun them; I can only out-live them,” he said.

Hollander, who has finished 21 Ironman races, said his time this year was 1 minute slower than his first race 25 years ago. And he shaved 34 minutes off his 2009 time.

Hand-cycle and physically challenged Top 3

Physically challenged
1. Loyal Pyczynski 13:15:27
2. Sebastian Cila 13:51:18
3. Rajesh Durbal 14:19:12

Hand-cycle
1. Jeddie Schabort 9:26:04

* One of the most amazing stats of the day: Schabort finished the marathon in 1 hour, 52 minutes and 33 seconds. He was 136th overall.

2. Thomas Fruhwith 10:13:27
3. Oscar Sanchez 12:30:20

Quotes from the winner’s speeches at Sunday’s awards dinner

Chris McCormack

You’re still competitive walking up on stage. I was watching these boys and thinking ‘geez, he’s doing it easy and he’s doing it easy.’ I hobbled my way up here. My legs are absolutely shattered.

Great people make you do great things. And these guys (in the top 10) are incredible athletes.

These guys took me places I’ve never been before. When you come out on top, it makes a victory like this super special.

At 37, and after 20 years of racing, I can honestly say that’s the best I’ve got.

If you think this race was close, you haven’t seen anything yet. Wait for this new group coming up.

In a career, a lot of people come and go. There’s only a small group of people who have been there the whole way. You know who you are. This win is as much your’s as mine.

I love this sport more than anything and I’ll be involved in triathlon until the day I die.

With two Aussies winning, we’re up for making it big night. Giddy up, it’s gonna be huge. I apologize for my behavior now, because it’s gonna get ugly.

Mirinda Carfrae

I think I’ve spent half my life, without realizing it, preparing for this day. Clearly, I didn’t think about this speech.

Thank you to every single person who took the minute or five seconds to congratulate me or wish us luck. Those little messages mean so much. We carry them with us race day.

The volunteers. I can’t say enough. You make this event. I wish I could say thank you to each and every one of you.

I think I won this race because I want to be like Crowie (two-time world champion Craig Alexander).

I come from a big family. Two sisters and three brothers. And I won’t go on about it, but we didn’t have much money growing up. But my mom was at every event. I am the athlete I am today because of her. Thanks, mom.

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