I have not watched an ironman in a long time.  Mikaela, Chrissie, and I had so much fun!

It was like watching a circus!  There were people, cars, dolphins, horses, bikes, buses, and scooters everywhere!

There tends to be a very strong current along the shore where the swim was held, so all of the buoys were supposed to be shifted to avoid swimming into this current for too long.  It appears that only one set of the turn buoys was moved, though, as one athlete managed to swim 2.4 miles in under 36 minutes.  Sorry guys!

As the athletes made there way out of transition, they were greeted by their friends, family, and the entire population of Cozumel.

It was great – the crowd cheered for every single athlete, but when a Mexican athlete went by?  Holy schnikies!  They went NUTS!  And then there were the sporadic “Meh-he-co” chants, the drum corps, the mariachi bands – the people of the island were genuinely excited to have the race and all of the athletes there!  Every person that we encountered during the week was friendly and spoke far more english than any of us spoke Spanish.  One of our cab drivers translated the lyrics and plot of “La Cucharacha” (while cruising at 80kph down the center of a 40kph street).  I can tell you right now that if a Spanish-speaking tourist asked me to translate “Happy Birthday” I’d be at a loss.

Anyway!  The race was so much fun to watch and looked like it was pretty cool to race.  The bike was three loops around the island (they literally rode the entire perimeter of the inhabited portion of the island).  Two thirds of it were along the coast, with a fierce head/side wind.

The other third came through town with billions of spectators crowding the sidewalks and streets.  It looked liked some of the crazy portions if the Tour with the masses spilling onto the course, leaving a narrow shoot for the athletes to ride through.  It was pure chaos everywhere, but somehow it was also organized.  The bikes had to cross traffic at a couple points.  These spots were very well-manned and the cyclists always (from what we saw) had the right of way.

The run was also three loops.  Actually, it was three out-and-backs, so we got to see the athletes twice each loop.  The road surface that they had to run on, on the other hand, did not look so fun.  It was a kind of coated concrete that was extremely unforgiving and very slippery when it got wet.  The guys said that they lost traction when they went through the aid stations and their feet slipped quite a bit.  A marathon is long enough; there is no need to throw the Running Man in there!

All of our guys managed the elements extremely well and made us so proud!

Our hatch-back crammed with seven people was actually at lower capacity than the average vehicle we encountered.

A Not-So-Fun Side-Note

I must discuss the one negative thing that I witnessed while watching this race.  The drafting.  I’ve seen it before, and it’s made me angry before, but this straight up broke my heart.  The pro women that rode in second, third and fourth, and started the run in the same positions, were blatantly, shamelessly drafting at every point that I saw them on that bike course.  They came through town grouped together.  Twice.  They came past T1 (6 miles away) grouped together.  Twice.  They came off the bike and started the run grouped together.  They accepted their awards with what appeared to be no shame.  How can you accept an award with pride after cheating?  How can you hold your head up and smile and accept the “congratulations” when you know that you did not earn it?  Just because an official did not penalize you does not mean that you did not cheat.  It’s not the fact that these athletes get away with drafting that breaks my heart, but the fact that they do with it with no shame.  On the bright side, it shows the true strength of Van Vlerkin, who dominated the race despite soloing the bike while being chase by a group.