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‘There’s always the pull of the physical’

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MEDIA RELEASE Lee Gruenfeld | Ironman There were no earthquakes heaving boulders onto the race course. There were no winds of biblical proportions threatening to lay low the mountain of Kohala. No defending champions bowed out with sudden illnesses. There were no tsunamis. This Ironman was a race director’s dream, things going the way they’re […]

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‘It’s the Super Bowl of triathlon and its most important brand, and symbolizes the everyday person successfully taking on the impossible. I hope I’m part of it forever’

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By Lee Gruenfeld | Ironman Asking me to handicap age groupers in Ironman events is like asking Dennis Rodman to handicap curling at the Winter Olympics. So why do I keep getting asked? Because I know Jerry MacNeill, who knows more about age group triathletes than anyone alive. Jerry is a Minnesota-based race announcer, race […]

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(Lee Gruenfeld catches up with the ‘Voice of Ironman’) Every major sporting event has its athlete heroes, but sometimes the public persona of the overall endeavor is represented by a different kind of participant. John Madden brought football alive by providing continuity and story lines across the season. For many people, baseball will forever be […]

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(Lee Gruenfeld’s final pre-race blog is a one-on-one with Kona) The Big Island has been an integral part of the Ironman World Championships beginning with the fourth running of the event, in 1981. Prior to that the race was held on Oahu, but the BIIMWC Organizing Committee put on a full court press to bring […]

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(Lee Gruenfeld catches up with the Ironman World Championship race director) Take it from a former professional management consultant: There’s all kinds of executive talent, each with its own set of skills and capabilities, but the rarest is the operations manager who can successfully coordinate a wide array of disparate functions in pursuit of a […]

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Dear Lance: I hear you’re going to be doing Ironman. Neat. But like those women who write their hotel room numbers on their underwear and throw them at Tom Jones, there are triathlon coaches everywhere who are going to be writing their email addresses on water bottles and heaving them in your direction.

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(Lee Gruenfeld offers another of his not-so-serious ways to improve the Ironnman) Having just pigged out on 16 days of Vancouver glory (ask me anything about curling), I couldn’t help but think about the parallels between the Olympics and the Ironman World Championship. There’s much to be learned, so I offer these lessons: 1. Indoors […]

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(Lee Gruenfeld looks back at this year’s Ironman World Championship) MEDIA RELEASE Experience is a harsh teacher — she gives the test before she gives the lesson – and once in a while we need a reminder that toeing the start line at Ironman isn’t an automatic ticket to a l We become quickly inured […]

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(Lee Gruenfeld puts a spotlight on former Ironman world champion Greg Welch) In October of 1994, I sat across the aisle from Greg Welch on a flight from Kona to the mainland, grimacing as I watched a steady stream of well-wishers violate entire chapters of FAA safety regulations in their eagerness to unbuckle seat belts […]

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MEDIA RELEASE They call it “Everyman’s Everest.” Right. If by “Everyman” you mean anyone who can afford to pony up half a yard for the entry fee, fly to Kona and live there for a week. I don’t begrudge the entry fee. It takes a lot of money to put on an Ironman World Championship […]

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In case you’re not familiar with the term from Greek mythology, “ambrosia” was the food of the gods, carried to Olympus by doves, a divine exhalation of Earth itself that conferred immortality upon whoever drank it. Big deal. Pick up any triathlon magazine and you’ll find ads for tons of stuff that’s not only way […]

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