Kona Diaries - Race Day minus 2

From Sergeant Same: -

Race Day minus 2

Carmen had to be encouraged out of bed this morning after a fitful sleep last night. We had set our goal the previous evening on being at the Kailua Kona pier by 7am to join the throng of trathletes and their supporters for a morning swim. We managed it, just! It was a bright and sunny morning and it felt like the whole of Kona was milling around the swim start area. So we dropped off our gear at the Gatorade tent where there were 10 or so volunteers helping to look after bags etc and then we joined the masses for a two lap swim of the roped-off area beside the pier. The water felt a bit chilly to start with but once we were swimming, the temperature was just nice. We swam out along the line of buoys and we couldn’t help notice how choppy the sea was. Carmen had to stop a couple of times as she mistimed her breathing with the chop and she felt a bit uncomfortable with the swell. Anyway, we soldiered on and eventually finished our swim feeling invigorated and ready for some ‘makan’. Carmen is a bit concerned about the swim especially if the sea gets choppier than it was today. The conditions were almost like a bad-swim-day at Desaru so we are hoping the sea will be a bit calmer on race day.

Before we left the swim area, we watched the customary “underwear race” where participants and supporters do a short run in their underwear to the swim start area. You will be glad to know that I chose not to run in my underwear in case I frightened everybody away but I took note of what looks good in case Carmen is back again next year. A little pink number perhaps!

After all this fun and frivolity, it was down to the serious business of collecting free gifts. There were swim hats, tee shirts, gels, Gatorade drinks and stickers on offer and we got them all courtesy of Carmen’s tenacity. If there was a world championship for collecting freebies, I reckon Carmen would be the world champion. While we were collecting all these freebies, we could not help but notice Faris Al Sultan hanging around looking extremely lean and fit. So, he may be a good outside bet for this year’s champion perhaps.

Carmen and I met up with Michael Waldau (aka to some as ‘red socks’) and his wife Susan for lunch. Michael qualified in the 55-59 category in IM China earlier this year. So, hats off to Michael for getting to Kona and for qualifying in a race that suffered extremely hot temperatures.










We also visited the outside Expo where all the bike manufactures have their displays. Boy, there are some very sexy bikes on show not least the Look tri bike. And not forgetting Cervelo of course. We also saw a Trek TTX tri bike complete with electronic shifters and Zipp disk wheel….. for a child [Simon says: - Do they have two?]. I hate to think what that might cost. Moving further along, we saw the legendary Dave Scott giving an interview under the Triathlete Magazine banner.








It is the carbo party this evening and Carmen and I have chosen to give it a miss in preference to makan at home and an early night to catch up on our lost sleep. Tomorrow is bike check-in day but not before we go for a morning swim with our friendly masses and not before we do another round of collecting free gifts….Hey ho!