2017 Ironman World Championship
Elite pros and qualifying age group athletes converge on our island yearly to celebrate the premier endurance athlete’s dream race-the Ironman World Championship. This isn’t any Ironman Race…this is the world championship of this grueling distance event at one of the birthplaces of the triathlon sport.
Just making it to Kona from home towns around the world once you qualify can be a challenge financially and otherwise further making participation in this elite event hard to accomplish. This year World record holder and Olympian Tim Don from England was on a training ride Thursday before the race, near the Kmart in Kona and was hit by a car at a marked intersection. He suffered a fractured neck vertebrae but is hopeful to continue his career in 6 weeks.
The athletes started this year’s competition with somewhat calm seas as they swam away from the Kona pier toward the first buoy marked by the iconic Royal Kona Resort. Then out to sea and back returning to the Kona pier area. There they transitioned to their bi...
