Hoss TriYear in Review 2011

Hoss TriYear in Review 2011

I will do a quick rundown of the things that left an impression on me in 2011. Let me start with triathlon. I will do it in a top 5 format.

Top 5 Triathlon Performances

1. Paula Findlay’s 3 ITU World Championship Series wins.

- despite an injury plagued second half of the year, she served notice that she is a medal threat for London this summer. She is classy and humble too.

2. Craig Alexander’s Ironman & Ironman 70.3 World Championship wins.

- not much else to say here. It is extremely tough to pull off both but he did it.

3. Chrissie Wellington’s record breaking performance at Roth, and her 4^th Ironman World Championship win.

- I witnessed her race in Roth first hand and she is phenomenal. That course is not flat. And her 2:52:41 marathon in Kona proves she can run too (just 32 seconds slower than Mirinda Carfrae’s course record run).

4. Jeff Symonds third place at Ironman 70.3 Worlds.

- I met him in person for the first time while covering Ironman 70.3 Texas a few years ago and it has been great to see his progress. I’ve been waiting to see him use his run to break through and it happened it Nevada. Hopefully, it is a sign of more big things to come.

5. Three way tie: Heather Wurtele, Kyle Jones, and Brent McMahon.

- Heather defended her title at Ironman St. George and made the trek out east to win at Ironman Lake Placid – both course record performances. She is also one of the nicest persons you will ever meet.

- I’ve been a big fan of Kyle Jones and it was great to see him pull off 3 wins this year on the ITU circuit. He building up nicely heading into the London Olympics and he is back with Coach Joel Filliol.

- Great to see veteran Brent McMahon come back from injury (that almost forced his exit from the sport) to great some great results and his first World Cup win. I certainly hope he and Kyle earn team slots for the London Olympics.