I got so invested in watching the Women’s Ironman World Championship yesterday, that I decided to skip my daily blog post.  It was a great race.

I started watching the race at home on my computer, and finished watching it, at a local bar as part of the Pittsburgh Triathlon Club Kona watch party.

As I mentioned, this particular World Championship, turned into a great race and once again, it took a really good marathon run in the heat, to win it.  As with most of the big professional long course triathlon races these days, it seems like the person who runs the best, typically wins.

There are so many great professional triathletes, who can swim near the front of the race and stay in touch on the bike.  The race itself, then really begins with the run.  Some athletes fall back, having gone too hard on the bike to stay near the front, and others start moving towards the front of the race, by running really well.

What was also interesting yesterday, was the officiating.  There were five penalties handed out to people at the front of the race, during the first half of the bike leg.  It is good to see the officials doing this. There have been far too many cases of blatant drafting in other races recently.

Congratulations to Chelsea Sodaro on a fantastic victory.  I can’t wait to do it all again with the Men’s race tomorrow.