Another Triathlon Podcast

Episode 60: supertri Chicago Highlights, Good-bye Ironman Canada & NYC Run Adventures

August 28, 2024 • Jenna-Caer • Season 2 • Episode 60

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In this episode the hosts dive into all things supertri Chicago and the series!
They discuss the challenges faced by the athletes in these races, including weather conditions and course changes. They also touch on the future of the sport and the potential impact of the supertri series. The conversation covers the supertri Chicago discussing the challenging bike course, the technicality of the race, and the extreme heat. The hosts also talk about the team dynamics in the race and the importance of team points. 

Chapters

00:31 Training Updates
03:22 Importance of Recovery
04:13 Race Plans for Next Year
06:18 Changing Up Distances and Modalities
08:29 Jenna's Break from Training
10:42 supertri Race in Chicago
14:05 Ironman 70.3 Tallin Race Recap
20:18 Ironman Canada and the End of an Era
25:12 Results of Ironman Canada
31:43 The Future of the Sport and the supertri Series
33:42 supertri Chicago Race Conditions
41:48 Team Dynamics and Points in Super League Triathlon
56:11 Cancellation of Ironman Canada
59:39 Controversy in Challenge Race
01:03:22 Preview of Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun Race

Jenna and Josh discuss their recent training and racing experiences. Josh shares his training updates, including a half marathon and a long run in Central Park. Jenna talks about taking a break from training after her race in Australia and her plans for the future. 

They also review the Ironman races with 70.3 Tallin and the final race in Penticton with Ironman Canada. They mention the social media post of the week, where Ironman roasts one of their own athletes for a bike dismount mishap. They also discuss the cancellation of Ironman Canada due to weather conditions and the controversy surrounding a challenge race in Norway. Finally, they preview the upcoming Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun race and make predictions for the winners.

supertri Chicago results
Enduro – Elite Women

Enduro – Elite Men

  • 1. Hayden Wilde 52:44
  • 2. Léo Bergere +2s
  • 3. Vasco Vilaca +3s
  • 4. Matt Hauser +16s
  • 5. Tim Hellwig +22s

Updated team standings

  • 1. Podium Racing – 165pts
  • 2. Crown Racing – 160pts
  • 3. Brownlee Racing – 130pts
  • 4. Stars & Stripes – 109pts

Support the show

Stay connected with us! Follow us on social media - @anothertriathlonpodcast with hosts Jenna-Caer, Fede and Josh to keep up with the latest. And if you have any burning questions for the coaches, feel free to shoot them over to Jennacaer@maunaendurance.com

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to another triathlon podcast, the podcast that brings the electrifying world of triathlons right into your headphones. Journey into captivating conversations, share the excitement of race recaps, enjoy the humor only a triathlete would understand, and join us as we debunk myths and bring you the bare, thrilling truths of the triathlon world. Myths and bring you the bare, thrilling truths of the triathlon world. So feel your heart pound, breathe in anticipation and get ready to dive into the world of triathlon. This is another triathlon podcast. Enjoy the ride.

Jenna-Caer:

Here we are with another triathlon podcast brought to you by Mauna Endurance. We're back, as always, to break down everything that's happening in the triathlon world and chat a bit about our own racing and training at the same time. But if you heard, we are sponsored by Mon Apparel and stay tuned to their social media because there is going to be a couple things announced in the next little bit that you are not going to want to miss, especially if you like free stuff. So definitely go give them a follow and stay tuned for their big announcement coming out soon. But we will jump into everything going on. I know you guys are just dying to hear what's going on with our training and racing. We'll eventually talk about the pros, but let's jump in with Josh. How is everything going these days?

Josh:

Another good week of training and it was really cool. We took a quick trip down to New York last weekend to really support Janine in a half marathon that she, in her culture, talked about her doing, just kind of getting ready for her Chicago race. At the same time I had a 16-mile long run so we were thinking about whether or not I would do it alongside or spend the money to enter and run and then run a couple extra miles, but ended up working out well. She did the race with a friend of ours. Two of them were dropped them off at six o'clock in the morning and then I went to central park. She did the race and rep lines and I went to central park and one of our former guests, matt whoopers, joined me for the first six miles of my run. So I got to find out what trails and what routes he uses in Central Park and just a really neat experience picking his brain and he picking my brain while we were off running. And it's a difference when you run with somebody how quick it goes by Six miles and I was like, wow, that was a nice quick warm-up. And then I had, uh, four by 15 minute race pace, marathon goal time intervals.

Josh:

Um, after he took off, while I was running, there was also like a 12 mile new york city marathon race going on. So people had aid stations and all that. So it kind of distracted me and I was kind of running against it and running with it. But really cool running in central park and had some hills for sure. I had about almost 900 feet of elevation over 16 miles. So some pretty good efforts there and was able to hold pace and had a good run. And then, uh, had a big brunch and met some friends down there. But, uh, overall it was a great week. The miles are getting up. I got close to 50 for the first time.

Josh:

I got up 46 miles last week, plus the bike and plus the swimming. A lot more strength work recently too, whether it be straight-up strength or doing hill workouts, short hill workouts, a lot of A skips, b skips, strides, different things that we do. Tonight I just finished an 8, no 10 by 800 session with 400 jogs in between, so no real downtime and was able to hold 630s, which is kind of the goal for those. So another really good workout. Kind of lost my voice a little bit Working hard and now waiting for a big dinner after the podcast, but it's been great staying healthy and bouncing back and recovering and being able to go hard on the hard sessions.

Jenna-Caer:

Well, that's the big part. Just putting in the work is one thing, but recovering so you can keep putting in the work is definitely a holding from beast and really what makes or breaks you at the end of the day. So that's awesome to hear that you're getting after it, staying healthy, and I like the activation work that you're doing in there, making sure all the muscles are fired up, and you're working on making sure there aren't any imbalances, which is key yeah, I'm pretty happy with the balance and and everything that we're doing right now.

Josh:

The body's responding and at the same time I did sign up for my first race next year as well. So we've jumped in the relay team from 70.3 Maine has now gone individuals and all three of us are going to do 70.3 Oregon. So I don't know what to do. Oregon. It's going to be my sub-five attempt, so that is the first race on my calendar officially next year.

Jenna-Caer:

Wicked Getting after it. Already we're halfway through this year. It's further along now. This year is flying by. It's absolutely insane.

Josh:

Yeah, that race is like 11 months away. It's crazy.

Jenna-Caer:

Well, you're prepared and you've got lots of time to get ready for it. Exactly, you're counting down to chicago. How far out is it now? Like five or six weeks?

Josh:

six. Yeah, that's the inside six weeks now. So we're uh, we're on that big final bed. I think I got about 18 something on the calendar for this weekend too, so should be over 50 this week. I'm already at 16 or so, um, so it'll be over a 50 mile a week, which will be really neat to do, because I haven't done that yet. I look back at last year when I did those two marathons and had the injury in August, and the September race didn't go well, and then the end of October race went really well nowhere near mileage wise I mean maybe close to 40 once, but it's it's really neat to step it up and step it up with the paces that I'm doing. So we'll definitely be comfortable. Just need to have a good strategy and good weather and I'll be as confident as confidence can be.

Jenna-Caer:

If I can stay healthy, the bubble is going to go up pretty soon there we go, and that's the biggest thing is it's incredible to see the changes year over year, because you are still fairly new chargers sports, you're definitely seeing those big jumps where something like 40 miles before is causing injuries and issues and now you feel great or good. That is so good to see and just speaks to that consistency and putting in the right work for covering.

Josh:

Go at it again so you can do all the fun stuff yeah, exactly, and I think we talk about the burnout and people will be like well you're, when do you take a break? When you, I don't need to because I keep changing up what I'm doing. So I've done sprint, I've done olympic, I've done 70.3, I've done some road racing and I've kept things interesting by changing up the distances and I mean technicalities of what I'm doing and modalities, and it's really helped keep me going and keep me interested. But at the same time, when you are focused at different aspects, I think it helps keep you injury free too, because you're not just doing the same thing.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, absolutely Well, good to hear it and exciting to hear everything's going well in the build towards the Chicago Marathon.

Josh:

Yeah, excited for it. So I would imagine, with all the traveling you've been doing, there hasn't been much training since Australia, but you have had plenty to talk about.

Jenna-Caer:

Definitely. Let's see, take a guess, how much I've run in the last week.

Josh:

I've run in the last week so my guess is, depending on how much running you did from the transition area to the beach and the pontoon and back in Chicago, that would probably be the extent of it.

Jenna-Caer:

You're absolutely right. Yeah, since the races in Australia, I have done exactly zero biking, zero running and zero strength training. Uh, yeah, needed a little bit of a break from the training to take the time away and just kind of enjoy some of those travel. It's been pretty hectic and I'm not often on the other side of the world, so I took the week completely off, although I definitely did get more than a few miles in, uh, running around watching super try in Chicago this weekend. But yeah, I'm at the point where this year is always going to be a little bit less racing because things were hectic with a few other projects and did my big goal race for the year.

Jenna-Caer:

It's going to take a couple of weeks to just kind of do what sounds like fun, what sounds good, and see where the head is at after that and see if I jump into anything late season or go back to my favorite thing just starting to build that base again to get back to Ironman next year. That is definitely my favorite distance and favorite intensity, like I mentioned before. So looking forward to getting into some heavy strength training, starting to build back some base. Eventually I'll have to get back in the pool, but I've been away so long that I'm actually kind of missing it. I kind of want to go to the pool so that's definitely a good sign and get started towards, yeah, looking at racing triathlons again next year and really getting after it and having some fun. Finding a little bit more life, work, training balance would be good.

Josh:

Yeah, I think you've been away from the pool for a while. It'll probably be a nice refreshing new thing for you again and then something to look forward to. It's going to be a struggle for sure. I mean even like even the, the weeks where I go like a monday swim and then a sunday swim, you can tell. Just taking those five days off in between is just a little difficult, but you've been doing it for so long you'll pick it right back up. It's never going to be easy for the three of us, as I think we've talked about a little over again, but we're getting better at getting consistent when we are training, or something we all know. You can qualify for Worlds and get right back at kona.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah it should be fun. Next year I'm gonna try to actually qualify for nice change up. That bike course looks like fun, so I always like the hard and brutal one, so gonna try to go for that nice qualification, which you should be able to do. And actually you know what I've had? I'm looking at it right now, this devour wetsuit sitting here and the weather is nice and the lake isn't freezing Well, unlike other places in Canada at the moment, apparently. But I actually want to go do an open water swim and test out that wetsuit. So I'm going to be doing that as kind of the first few swims back to ease back into it a little bit. No lane lines, no wall flocks, just swim, ease back into it a little bit. No lane lines, no wall fox, just swim.

Josh:

I can get out there, you're gonna roll the wetsuit I'm very excited.

Jenna-Caer:

It looks badass so it must be fast. That's basically my reason. Yeah, no, it'll be good. Yeah, this weekend was pretty crazy. I ended up getting home from australia around midnight, I guess guess technically Friday, just after midnight on Friday, was home all day Friday and then left for Chicago, uh, in the morning, saturday morning, so popped right over there and you know what? I love watching these super tri races, so it's a good excuse. It's not too far from home for once, direct light over, which is too bad, and just catching up with that super tri crew and getting out there to get a little bit more of that behind the scenes content, talk to some of the athletes and just be in the energy.

Jenna-Caer:

These races are so much fun to go to. So I was lucky enough to snag a media test. Josh connected me there and it was really fun to get all the behind the scenes. So basically had free reign to go anywhere, which always makes it fun, and then got a chance to talk to a bunch of the athletes, get their thoughts about the course and what the difference was between chicago and boston and what they're looking to do on the team tax taxing side. So sharing some of that.

Jenna-Caer:

We will definitely dive more into it. But it's just really fun to see up close and personal how fast these athletes are going, how hard they're working and some of the uh, the camaraderie between the athletes behind the scenes and a little bit of the tension too. So that's always fun to watch, although the tension was more between the team managers than it was the athletes this time. But we'll dive a lot more into that. End up, I have not had the most travel luck recently. A very canceled and delayed flight and eventually made it home about 2 am this morning and getting all back into it, happy to get back into the routine. As much fun as traveling is, it's kind of nice to just be back home, can get back into the regular schedule and, yeah, start to get moving again.

Josh:

I'm assuming the bike made it back from Australia.

Jenna-Caer:

The bike made it back, thankfully. Yeah, so I have an AirPod that it travels with. It gave me nothing the entire time it was missing and then, as soon as it was with me, it popped up every single time and told me when I'm away from it. But then it must be defective or something. Same thing happened. It was showing it was still in Australia until it arrived in front of me and then connected and popped up oh it's here. Oh, that's not very useful If it's only in range.

Josh:

If it's only pairing when it's next to your phone it's not helpful at all, uh.

Jenna-Caer:

But yeah, bike made it back. I haven't unpacked it, so hopefully it's good. I've got a nice new crack in my bike box, which is not great, but it's around the handlebar so I'm hoping nothing else is broken. Been a little too jet lagged and scared to check yet, but I will get it unpacked and make sure everything's still moving along.

Josh:

There should be fine I'm sure it will be. You've had good luck with your bikes. It's whether or not they show up on time or not, but you'll uh, you'll get a dial back in when you're ready to get back absolutely definitely planning on starting to play around more with the gravel bike and getting out there on that as things start to cool down here.

Jenna-Caer:

it's just fun to get off road and do something a little bit different. As much as I love my TT bike, sometimes it's nice just to be able to connect no power, cruise outside and ride for the sake of riding and seeing some nice views.

Josh:

Especially where you live too.

Jenna-Caer:

It's pretty hard to complain in the Rocky Mountains. Here We've got some stunning views and no lack of vertical, we'll definitely say that. But that makes the downhills a lot more fun. My favorite part. Let definitely say that. But that makes the downhills a lot more fun. My favorite part. Let's jump into it here. We had a few races to go over and I'm sure we'll be talking about super try, but first we'll chat about some of the other events that went on this weekend that might have been slightly overshadowed by super try. I don't know if that was just me or the race themselves, because I was so distracted. But, josh, why don't you run us down with Ironman 70.3 Talon, one of the 70.3s in the Pro Race series?

Josh:

Yeah.

Josh:

So Ironman 70.3 Talon was on Sunday, ironman Talon was the day before and that was just an age group race.

Josh:

But they started having some issues with the swim earlier in the week and they had moved it to an open water ocean swim and then they had to realize that, based on the depth of the water and the shallow tide, that they would have to put it off of a pontoon. So they had to get the athletes out to a pontoon. So the Ironman race went off the pontoon, no problem, but still a very shallow swim and a long swim or a long run into t1 through the water, um. But overnight apparently the weather picked up and the pontoon got blown away. So when it came time for the pro 70.3 race, they weren't going to be starting up pontoon, they're going to be starting up the beach and having to run even further through the water. So if you haven't seen it, you need to go look this up on the arm and, uh, social media which we'll be sending to you sending you to anyways, um, but the videos of this are completely it's like literally people running on water.

Josh:

Um, is what it looks like and if you've ever done a 70.3 and most of our listeners have at least an idea of what it looks like that first buoy is pretty good ways away. These guys and ladies were running all the way to that first buoy at least, and then and then doing some dives and getting back up and diving again, but it was pretty much to the first pool before they were swimming and then coming back out of the water, the same thing. So it's not easy running in water. It jacks the heart rate up and typically your heart rate is at the highest it is in the entire day at the end of a swim anyways. On the run to T1, these guys were even further higher Until you get to the finish line. But impressive, impressive day for the ladies.

Josh:

Kat was in it for most of the day but Carolyn Poole led wire to wire Out of the water in 25.10. A 2.11.50 bike and Kat was 2. 212.46, so just about a minute behind her on the bike. Still had a minute behind her on the raw on the swim, so she was two minutes back going into the half marathon and they both ran 120. So carolyn held off cat. Um, obviously cat's been racing a lot and this wasn't an A race, but really just trying to get some points going into Worlds. And she's got Nissan next, which is obviously an A race for Kat, but great race for carolyn pool.

Josh:

Uh, these were all marvella qualifications and pro series points, so kudos to her cat. And second um so big wolf set from norway. And third um a few minutes back a cat, grace deck, who we've talked about a lot, from australia. And fourth and kate kern and if so, pretty good race all around. Most of them were about 120 half marathons. Pretty decent Swims were around the 25-27 range, nothing spectacular, but most of the bikes were in the 210-220 range. Nothing really crazy in that race, but a nice new name to see up top and Kat holding her own yet again doing what she needed to do for the first series man.

Jenna-Caer:

She just shows up race after race after race format and definitely has solid days out there. But it was good to see, like you said, a new name up there and seeing a little bit of a change up because with so many race series we are starting to see some more unfamiliar names near the top and then it gives them, I guess, that opportunity to kind of make their way through the ranks, starting at getting performances at races that aren't part of the pro series because you don't have the top names doing those, and then starting to level up and compete in the actual pro series races. You know you never know what, you never know when you're going to have that good day where it all kind of comes together and I don't think many people would have picked her to win no, definitely not, and it's it's going to come down to like we keep talking about.

Josh:

It's going to come down to nice and to topo. Um, for the woman in the in the event, um, especially the woman, I think it going to go. You're going to have people qualify for Taupo that are going to be in that race, where some of the players in Taupo on the men's field, like we've talked about, might not be qualified at the tournament. They end up just sitting and waiting to see how the results work out. Really cool to see. And the men's race was a barn burner all the way to the finish With. It was a barn burner all the way to the finish with Greek Panagiotis Vittatos outrunning Leonard Arnold from Germany, so really close swim. A whole big group coming out in the 21-50 range, so pretty decent swim.

Josh:

Yelly Gaines, who was my pick to take it home, was was right there, um, in that lead pack, and lennon all of them was probably a minute or so back, but he then threw down a two-hour bike and took the lead on to the run course. Everyone else was kind of 202, 203 coming off the bike and then potatoes threw a 109 half marathon down and everyone else was in that 111, 112, 113 range, so he just ran himself right to the tape, um, but. But it ended up being god, they were only 30, so seconds, 36 seconds apart, um, first and second place, so and he got us, uh, in first. In first, leonard Arnold. In second, yelly ran his way up to third, kasper Stepniak in fourth and Justice Nuschleg, from Germany in fifth Again, some different names, which is cool to see, and Yelly's had some battles this year, so it was good to see him up there. But kudos to Butatos and Arnold, getting their spots in Marbella for sure and having a really tight battle on the run course.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, that definitely makes it more exciting to watch. Well, we had another race going on the weekend under the Ironman brand. Typically we've just been talking about kind of Pro Series, t100, wtcs, supertribe, because well, there's so many races to talk about anyways. But I have to talk about Ironman Canada because it is practically the local Ironman and it just has so much history. If you haven't heard, ironman Canada in Penticton is soon to exist no more. They are ending that race, which really is a shame.

Jenna-Caer:

It was something like I think it was the second or third iron man that was actually being done. So it's been around for so long. And if you've been to penticton, it's really cool because in the by the big peach on the beach they have a memorial kind of showing all the different race winners over the years in this, I guess, guess, stone setting. So it's really cool to see some of those names from back in the past. And it just has so much history over in Penticton when it comes to Ironman. So it's a shame that it's not going to be there anymore.

Jenna-Caer:

But unfortunately the past few years have been kind of plagued with weather issues, smoke, and it's been canceled. I think one too many times for people to really buy in and sign up for it, not knowing if it's going to happen or not. And it's one of those races. It is a really tough bike course but the descents on it are so much fun it makes it worth it and you want to go do another round along. Um, I think that's another thing too.

Jenna-Caer:

We've been seeing a lot of these races getting trending more towards flat and fast. Those are the ones that kind of sell out quickly and that was never going to be a 10 ticked in. But we will say goodbye to that as they open up Ironman Ottawa next year, moving it out east. But that means there's no more Ironmans in Western Canada, which is unfortunate. But on to the good stuff. We did have a pro race here this year, and no surprise in the men's side. Well, first off, the swim, if you didn't see it, was canceled. Unfortunately, the water temperature was around 12, 13 degrees, people were saying, and then the air temperature was also around 12 degrees. So if you haven't swam in those temperatures, I don't know what that is in Fahrenheit.

Josh:

So I did actually see there was a recap. I saw real quick when it was like on Wednesday. It was like 70 something degree water temperatures a few days before the race and then it just kept getting colder and colder to the point where it dropped into the low 50s in Fahrenheit. And that's when they dropped it to a 900 meter and then canceled it all together.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah. So what they do there is they have this chart, um with the national federations and stuff that basically say if it's this temperature, this water temperature, this air temperature, you have to shorten it to this distance and it goes all the way down. Same for heat Um, if it's too hot out there, and that basically determines for them whether the swim is going to happen, how long this one will be, if they do have to shorten it. So their hands are a little bit tied there. If the water temperatures do get too low, if you haven't swam in those temperatures, you basically got a half hour before you start losing motor function in your fingers, which is not fun.

Jenna-Caer:

I do a lot of early season swims, and by early season I mean like May, june in Canada. But those temperatures it gets pretty cold, pretty fast, and when you have so many age group athletes that Canada is a popular one for first timers or haven't had the experience, then that can get dangerous out there, unfortunately. So with those water and air temperature combinations, if it had been super hot outside with the air temperature it probably would have had a swim if it was shortened, but with the combination of the two they did have to cancel the swim altogether. So what that means for both the pros and the age groupers is they end up going off in a time trial start on the bike. The pros will go off individually, but then the age groupers they typically send off like three to four at a time two, all the time okay, and the pros there, yeah yeah

Jenna-Caer:

so they'll send them off. It's a blind draw for the pros uh what order they'll go in. But it makes it all a little bit more complicated because you don't know exactly where your standing is within the race. If someone started a little bit ahead of you, a little bit behind you, it's not going to do that head-to-head racing, which is unfortunate. But today's race or this weekend's race, that didn't really matter. Anyways, when they had the time trial started and the men set off and really from there with no swim, it was Lionel Sanders' day. I mean, I don't think anyone's too shocked by that at all. That no swim, lionel takes the win over there in Canada.

Jenna-Caer:

It's a tough bike course and a good run. Sounds like he was just putting time in on the bike from the start, from 43 seconds at 24k, and then it ended up being over 10 minutes ahead of Sam Appleton in, I guess, technically t, technically T1. There was no initial T1. But going from the bike to run, he had over 10 minutes going off it and really it was just a case of unless he totally blew up or started puking out everything like we've seen in some other races in there, he was going to be good for the win. So it was good to see him have a solid result and I think that'll definitely give them a fair bit of confidence heading towards uh, the ironman world championships, which will be sex stole there. But we had sam appleton in second. And then we have to give a shout out for jason pole. He's actually a local from where I am and he's been working hard for the last few years, had some injury issues, but it was so good to see him put together a solid race day and come in third. And also a mona apparel athlete, so good to see all of his hard work pay off and get a decent result in there. And then on the women's side it sounds like it came down to a three-way battle on the bike.

Jenna-Caer:

Third way through the bike was Jodi Robinson. She led the way from the USA and kind of the funny thing about this race was it was like 80% Canadian but there were a couple other people around different countries in and there was about a minute back to Debra Eckhouse and Sarah True. Then at 110K, robertson had almost doubled her advantage, with True at 15.51 back and Eckhals at 2.26. And they came into transition. But everything changed when it came to the run. So the deficit turned into 1.14 advantage to Sarah True after five kilometers and it just kind of settled in from there. So we end up with the end result of Sarah True in first, jodi Robertson in second and Deborah Eckhouse, from Canada, in third.

Jenna-Caer:

Definitely this course is never easy. They have a crazy hill on the run in the first fit of the run. So it's one of those ones where it's kind of mean because you're just getting started into the run and you have to go straight uphill, which sucks. But coming downhill hard on tired quads in the first like 10k of a marathon is just mean. But that's one of the fun parts about this course.

Josh:

It is brutal and awesome and fun and we're gonna miss it it is sad to see it go um, but, like you said, it's been a lot of struggles um at the same time. So it's not surprising, but unfortunate at the same time. It was definitely a destination race for so many years. That will be tough. It's hard for me, newer to the sport, to not be able to have some of these destinations to go and get. After that, we are starting to lose. So that's why I'm starting to do a little bit more of this do the destination races first before I pick them up. There you go.

Jenna-Caer:

Sounds like we need a team race to rock to make sure we all experience rock.

Josh:

I don't think you lost going anywhere, though Get my swim a little better. Maybe that will happen. For sure we need to do that. But just a quick update on the pro series standings. I pulled those off. We had no change in the top 10 for the men, um with talon. But on the women's side, cat jumped up to fourth overall, maya stage nielsen jumped up to third overall and l's jumped up to eighth. So l's didn't have a great day. She finished like 10th, I believe, but she was able to grab some points and move up uh four spots to eight. So jackie herring and daniel lewis still won two, but we had a couple moves in the top five there, with cat jumping in for the first time this year, I believe, um since texas. So, um, we've got an even closer battle than we had going into this week as they get ready for Nice.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, absolutely. It's interesting to see all those changing, but we're definitely going to see some drastic moves when we get into Nice. And then the Ironman World Champships in Kona for the men. It'll all come down to the 70.3 World Champs in December for a crazy long season of racing. I don't know how these pros are doing it with all the other race series such an extended season in there.

Josh:

I think it'll be a battle of last man standing by the time it comes down to 70.3 worlds yeah, I think it's definitely gonna be interesting how this rest of this season plays out and then, after listening to sam long's interview with Jack Kelly, it's going to be very interesting how people approach next year, starting with the PTO and T100, and how they handle contracts next year and how the Ironman Pro Series, if that continues. We don't know if these are going to continue, but it really does sound like the sponsors are still long course fakers, um, and that's what they're looking for. So how does that change the dynamic of everything going into next year? You've already seen it change. There's been a lot of those t100 athletes who are like nope, I need to get in the pro series as well. So it's definitely and that's why they've been racing so much um, it's gonna be interesting yeah, and there's been a lot of chatter too, like what does the T100 look like?

Jenna-Caer:

And I know it's been put out there by a lot of people that they are looking for another round of funding. So will they be able to sustain what they've been doing so far? Is the model viable? I absolutely hope it is, because it's been great to see this race and get a lot more attention with some of these athletes and it's fun to see that series format where we're seeing them battle it out fairly regularly, with some wild cards popping up to keep it interesting. But I think a lot of athletes are kind of hesitant to go all in on t100 is what it seems like because they don't know what the future holds for it. Right, which is fair, especially as a pro triathlete when your career is relatively short. We're at a peak kind of have to make money where you can and, yeah, you want to see them get behind t100.

Josh:

But I can definitely understand why a lot of them are still racing ironman series when it comes to sponsors yeah for sure, and I I bet you we've got a lot of long course athletes that are now wishing that the Super League Super Tri series was around or kicking the way it's kicking after this weekend when they were younger and racing short course. Because, if you haven't heard, short course is back and Supertri is a big reason behind it. So I think Jenna can kind of walk us through what went down in Chicago and just kind of the hype behind all of it and it sounds like it's around through the Olympics, like this is it? I mean they're going to be here through LA 2028 doing what they're doing, scooping up other triathlons and bringing back short course racing for the masses and the age groupers.

Josh:

Um, I mean, how many people raced chicago over the weekend? Like 8 000 between the kids race, the age group races. I mean insane. Um, I mean boston was only like 1200 1500 of us that did that. So chicago is huge, um, in comparison. And supertri owns chicago triathlon now too. So boston's still a partnership and hopefully that'll change going forward everything. But why don't you talk about chicago? Because it has been the talk of a lot of other uh podcasts recently where we've been doing it for a while now yeah, absolutely.

Jenna-Caer:

It was, like I said, so good to be down there, but a couple things stood out that I don't know if it really got across on camera when you're watching the races.

Jenna-Caer:

One how hot it was there like crazy hot. I think it was mid 30s, which I think is 90 to low 90s out there, and at the top of the heat you had the wind going at the same time too. So, especially when you're dealing with kind of an out and back course, that definitely affects the athletes, but more so. One of the funny things was on the bike course. It's out and back along the side of the lake. Now, between the wind blowing and being so close to the edge of the water. They actually had lifeguards along the bike course just in case any of the athletes overcooked a corner and ended up in the water or got blown into it, which which you would hate to see. But at the same time I was like that that is even a possibility is one of the things that makes super tri so crazy with these tight technical courses and there was only three loops on the bike, as opposed to the normal four too.

Josh:

So chicago was definitely a different race in terms of the technicality, especially on the bike, but I mean, even the swim was a little different. I mean, all these courses are different. Um, and we only had one accident on the bike course, which was yeah, I don't know if they were taking it a little cautious, but uh, only one crash, and they thought there might be a whole bunch of hay bales and lifeguards. They were ready for more lifeguards for the bike course.

Jenna-Caer:

That's something I I haven't heard up until this point that you need lifeguards for the bike course. So I definitely kept it interesting and, like you mentioned too, uh, it was on the lake and well one, because it is so big and it is windy, has almost a current of its own. So we saw a lot of chop on the water, which we didn't see last weekend. So I was curious to see how that would affect certain athletes, and even you probably saw it on the broadcast like they were being blown off course as they were swimming in there. So a couple of course corrections there and a few people lost some feet during that and lost some time in the swim as well. So it was more like the Paris course just trying to hold their line than it was some of the other swims we've seen in super try for sure. So it definitely changed it up.

Jenna-Caer:

Talking to the a lot of the athletes beforehand everyone I talked to their first thing they said what's different about this race is the technicality. So while it doesn't have up and ups and downs, it was or cobblestones or anything. It was those tight 180 turns because they were crazy tight, like it looked tight on camera. It looked even tighter in person. So just trying to go full gas, get some speed on the straightaways, make up some time to breaking her and trying to make around these tight corners I think definitely was a challenge for a lot of people and I think it started to zap a lot of athletes legs just that full on off, on off, because you don't have a long time to really get any momentum on those straightaways and then you have to do all of that spiking your heart rate in that heat. It made for some time for racing. I was feeling the heat and I was just running out of the camera, never mind racing.

Josh:

They may even had a special rule in place because of the heat, where the managers were allowed to pour water on the athletes as they came through transition and things like that, which is typically not allowed.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, so that happened just like right before the start of the race, um maca ended up putting in uh like an alteration to tomo, the head rep there, saying like we need something to help keep these athletes cool. Now the issue with that was it was so last minute and I don't think they're expecting these kind of temperatures. They didn't have anything to keep the water cool and they didn't have enough water essentially. So luckily um bradley racing team uh shared their water cooler in there, so them and crown were using a water cooler to keep the uh water az cold. And then um actually mecca's daughter uh ran out to try to find more water because even bi key was out of water. They didn't have enough there because they were just going through so much of it in these temperatures, but she managed to track down some more so that the managers could keep pouring it all over them. Didn't matter bike or run, they were just dumping water on these athletes to try to keep them a little bit more cool, which is no easy feat when your heart rate is going up to 190 and they're just going full gas on and off the entire time. So you know it was cool to see with super tri. They do adapt when those kind of conditions come up and they are dynamic enough that they can do that.

Jenna-Caer:

So this race too, it was um the enduro format. So they're doing swim bike run, swim bike run, swim bike run. That is one thing I'm a little bummed to not see. I think I said it before the switch up in formats. I liked all the crazy. You never kind of know what to expect. I think it changes that for athletes a bit but make.

Jenna-Caer:

My main concern there was that we'd see the same people at the top all the time, and that was not the case at all. Luckily, the course and conditions made enough of a change in there that we definitely saw some changes at the top of the rankings. Uh, when it came to race day, I guess we'll start with the women here. Um, it's always a little tougher to watch it on the course. I think I missed a few things on the actual broadcast so I'm gonna have to go back and watch it. But so much fun to see it out close and personal and they definitely have some entertaining commentators on course that I think we're starting to feel the heat a little bit. By the end they're getting a little punch drunk.

Josh:

But and they both raced in the morning too right, so they're there that is crazy.

Jenna-Caer:

I can't imagine going from racing that morning racing on a mountain bike yeah and then uh, michael, one of the commentators there, ended up winning his age group. So it was impressive and like I'm exhausted after a sprint, like going full gas, like that, but spending hours in the heat commenting, that's its own endurance sport. That could be a new brick workout there you go oh, but no, it was good.

Jenna-Caer:

We had um georgia. Taylor brown ended up taking the win ahead of Cassandra Bogrand, and they're both in the Crown Racing team, so they definitely got some points and we had a happy Macca there. And then we had Taylor Stivey in third, olivia Mateus in fourth and John LaHare last week's winner down in fifth. Really, the whole day it was just back and forth and we saw with the women's race, a lot more women kind of fell afoul of that 90 second rule and I think that was just because of how hot and technical it was. You were either in the group and cruising around with them or losing time as you went. One thing I will say it was very cool to see the support Taylor Spivey had from the American crowd down there in the stars and stripes uh, uniform it like they just lost it for her and it's so well earned because she is one of the like sweetest, nicest people in triathlon. It was good to see her get that support and finally get that podium.

Josh:

It's been a while and she did the same thing this week. She's and I think she even mentioned it afterwards. She said, yeah, got to stop coming from behind. She had an awful first leg and was way back compared to where she would normally be. But yet there she is going into the final run with the short chute and being right up there in front and she ends up getting caught by both of the Crown Racing Georgia Taylor Brown and Cassandra. But it's amazing. I mean she's a firecracker. I mean you don't know how small she is until you actually see her in person too. I mean she's tiny, but it was really cool to see her hold on to get the podium. But Livvy Mateus, I mean what an awesome race for her too, and her and Beth Potter kind of saved the day for the Brownlee racing team because the men did not have a good day.

Jenna-Caer:

No, and it was so good too to see George Taylor Brown back. She's had a couple of years where she's been a bit more up and down and it's good to see her back performing at that top level again. And, yeah, just getting the job done at Crown Racing. And especially, I'm sure she would have been happy as much as Cassandra is her teammate in this regard. It definitely had some battles over the years separately, so it was good to see her get the job done and really impressive that Cassandra is still at the top level here. I can't imagine all of the obligations that went in after winning the Olympics. I think if I won the Olympics I'd be on vacation right now. Like just saying.

Josh:

And here she is. I mean it's not like she's just going into a 70.3 and kind of going through. No, this is back-to-back weeks red line two weeks after the Olympics and not the greatest performance last week in boston, but coming back to have in to finish it with that run where she was, I mean, if that was another lap, she wins that race yeah, absolutely, it was good.

Jenna-Caer:

So we saw like, uh, spivey and matthias were leading on the bike or leading after taking their short shoots and really kind of pushing it. And there was a question of could sandra make it back up and get back to the front? And you know she absolutely did, but was just bested by Georgia Taylor Brown at the end of the day.

Josh:

So it was some fun racing to watch for sure so Macca made the right pick this week on that short shoot because she ended up getting the points at the first and second, whereas I mean Georgia Taylor's like can I get a short shoot here please? But the strategy of getting team points certainly played out, because I don't think Cassandra gets to second if she doesn't have that short shoot Just the whole confidence build that you get getting that little shortcut.

Jenna-Caer:

Absolutely. That'd be a huge, huge mindset shift, knowing at least you get a little bit of that advantage. Such fun racing to watch, and it was definitely full gas, as always.

Josh:

I like that the short shoot was in transition this time too, whereas in Boston it was out on the course and you couldn't see it from transition. Yeah, so it was really neat that it was right there and everyone could see what was going on.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, you heard some gasps as they took the effort, short shoots, and they're like wait what? I think people who hadn't really watched the race. I'm just like wait what's going on. But it definitely, you know what. It makes the team kind of step up and plays in different tactics than just racing from the front, and I think it keeps it interesting. I know people love or hate the short shoot. I absolutely love it. It adds another interesting dynamic to it. You know, just a commentator, something to talk about too, which is good. The one thing I would like to see is how, like a gcast or something on them so we can see how fast they're actually running, because they are covering that ground quick.

Josh:

It is absolutely insane how fast they're going it's interesting that they don't because they have the double chips. I mean, they have ankle bracelets on the left and right and I think part of it is a they might lose one because they're going so crazy and going in and out of the water and saying, but I think there is some gps getting bellies and they just haven't tapped in yeah, I think it's go through them because they're using a number of different action crews to get these going in different locations and it's a matter of getting that all kind of tied in.

Jenna-Caer:

But absolutely should be something that should be on there and make it a lot more interesting to see. Just chicago.

Josh:

The production, the actual video production of the race itself was made even more challenging because of the democratic national convention being in town. So they couldn't get clearance to have a drone, and until like midnight the night before and at that point they didn't have time to actually see where the drone would work so they decided not to go with it. And then the motor flight that they had in boston filming the lead pack they couldn't use in chicago because of the technicality of the course. So they lost two of their main pieces of videography along the course.

Jenna-Caer:

Um, on the bike, yeah that definitely makes it a little bit more challenging there, for sure. Especially drone shots are so good with this racing because it is so tight and technical. I hadn't heard that part, though. That's interesting.

Jenna-Caer:

That definitely adds another level of complication. Let's jump into the men's side. There is definitely, as always, some dramatic racing. We saw less eliminations in this race. People kept it a little bit closer throughout the event, but we finally had Hayden Wilde get that win over Alexi that he has definitely been wanting for a while here. Yeah, the falcon kind of flew his way to the front of the race and took the win. After just being consistent throughout the whole race, we slowly saw Alexi kind of being gapped off the back and it sounds like Hayden came at this with a much more well, much less aggressive, actually race strategy than he's done in the past taking it a little bit easier, playing within the groom a little bit more and not pushing as much from the front. It sounds like he was a little worried about the heat after what happened in Paris, so he played a little bit more conservatively and that got him the win, although from hearing his interviews afterwards, he hated racing like that and does not like to do it.

Josh:

So I'm sure he's got some conflicted feelings about winning with that um tactic he had some help from vasco this week too, because vasco was certainly pushing the bike and it was kind of like vasco was in the mindset of I play. I raced sick last week. I didn't have everything, I was the first one eliminated. So I'm just gonna go and keep going until, and so hayden can't complain about not having any help on the bike this time very true.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, like you mentioned, we had uh, hidden with the wind leo berger in second, vasco black he definitely pushed the pace to get up to that podium in third, which I'm sure he's very happy about, and then matt hauser in fourth and tim hellwick who he's who went down on the bike, was it?

Josh:

he goes down on the bike, gets back up still bloody yeah, that is seriously impressive and he barely lost the lead pack too. So he was kind of up front going into that corner. So a he was great he didn't take anyone else with him and goes into the hay bale, pops back up, probably had about a 10 or 20 foot gap between him and the back of the pack and immediately caught back on. So I was like super yucky um. But at the same time he worked and and ran him. At that point he was probably eighth or ninth and ran himself back up to fifth again and I think he's now second overall in the standings unreal.

Jenna-Caer:

that is seriously impressive to see him come back from that. But he won't be in london, that's unfortunate. It was, um. We saw definitely at the field grace um, aggressive racing from the front with maddie hauser and chase mcqueen kind of trying to fight each other for that initial short shoot in the first round. There they were pushing out like pushing each other, elbowing each other out of the way to try to get it um, but actually it was kind of cool effort. Saw a moment between them at the end there in the athlete cool-down area and was over there with his partner, spencer and stuff and Maddy Hauser came up and said, hey, sorry about kind of muscling you around in there. Chase McFernan was like, oh no, robin's right, it's all good, it's just a healing moment kind of thing. So they had a little that could turn into something where maybe there could be some rivalry there that they're just like, yeah, no one's part of the game, all good. So it was cool to kind of see that moment.

Josh:

It won't be the last time we see the two. I think Maddie was the first one out of the water, chase was the first one into the transition area, but then Chase kept running and running right past his bike and that's one of the coolest things. I mean, you see some really bad mistakes in transition. A lot of people didn't know where their bikes were and it happened a lot. I think the heat and the level of heart rate and everything just played some really big factors into some slower transitions or mistakes in transition.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, and you know one thing too is because they're making the switch from the women's race to the men's race so quickly, it's not the men actually bringing their bikes out and setting it up, it's they kind of have the crew coming in and doing that as they're warming up in the water. They kind of have the crew coming in and doing that as they're warming up in the water. So I think if you have more of that opportunity to get all set up and organized, you kind of have that time to really get that positioning right. But because it is such a quick switch between the men's and women's race, that probably made it a lot more difficult to really cement in your head okay, here's where my bike is and go from there. And everyone's got brightly colored shoes these days anyway anyway. So it's a little hard to pick out bikes and shoes and where you're actually gonna be in there.

Jenna-Caer:

I think the big surprise here was alex. You just didn't have the day he wanted out there. Um, I think a lot of that was kind of down on the bike and so at a point the brownlee racing team was kind of rallying around either in a little bit of group of three of them. But they just could not get back up once. They lost that front bike group just off the back the rest of the day.

Josh:

Yeah, they were the last four on the bike off the first swim and, like you said, it was just from the back the whole way and a couple different portions where it looked like Alex might be able to bridge back up, different portions where it looked like Alex might be able to bridge back up. But then they just made the decision as a team to then just full send it on the run and grab a few points for the fastest run splits and sure enough, they were able to salvage the day with a few points by having the fastest, and Stars and Stripes is kind of doing the same thing on the bike. Those little strategies are going to come in huge. At the end of the day. When you get to Neom and the points are what they are, you're going to see a lot of those little nitpick points are going to be a big factor.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jenna-Caer:

And if you haven't looked too deep into this, now the teams they're not the individual athletes aren't getting prize money at the end of the races.

Jenna-Caer:

Now the teams are getting points and then the teams are paid out a bonus at the end depending on the ranking within the series. So there's a lot of incentive not only to have your athletes be at the front of the race, because that will get you some decent points, but if you can't get that, it was really impressive the in the moment switch up of tactics to get those run points, because you know all that matters at the end of the day really is those team rankings and how many points they're getting through the events, because there's a big difference in how much the teams get paid out based on their positioning within these events. So I think we're going to see a lot more moves like that as we move on, especially if we kind of have any front runners cemented as we go throughout the series. It's going to become a battle at those points at the end of the day and we saw a lot of the same people in boston and chicago.

Josh:

Um, obviously it was great to see leo berger back. Um london will be interesting to see who goes. I know, um tim hill will not be there because it's the german national championship, so they'll be partaking in that. They also don't have to do every race, but there is a bonus for those who do do every race as well, and you've got to start slotting in some of your u23s as well. So, um, fanny had a great race, I mean, I mean she's 16 years old and she finished what?

Josh:

seven? Yeah, I mean, she's unbelievable. So the other teams are going to have to slot their U23s in as well, which means you're going to have some different dynamics in some of these races, which will be neat going into London in two weeks and then Toulouse and Nyon a month after that as well. So they'll get a little bit more of a break after London.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, absolutely. I guess we saw a little bit of controversy in there too. Well, first off, we had some penalties with Matt Hauser and Dorian Connix. They got penalties for having swim caps outside of the box.

Jenna-Caer:

But the drama and the tension is not between the athletes themselves but those team managers who are battling it out for those team rankings. There was some strong discussion between Tim Don and Macca or, yeah, team managers who are battling it out for those team rankings. There was um just strong discussion between tim don and maca out there with um some discussion around shoes. Maca kind of took out a couple pairs of shoes and adjusted them nicely in front, in front of the athletes box, which is not allowed by the uh, by the rules in there.

Jenna-Caer:

Before team managers were able to go around just steering and bikes and stuff and that's not allowed anymore. So he got his hands slapped a bit there and tim don was not happy about the whole situation, definitely made it known out there. That kept it interesting. You see how invested these team managers are in the outcome. They're not just there to be a figurehead, they are all in heart and soul, like they're as competitive as these guys are, and that's kind of the fun of having ex-athletes being these team managers, because that competitive spirit has gone nowhere yeah, it was.

Josh:

It was really neat to to see up close in person in Boston and then to watch Chicago live and start to hear the interviews and hear Tim talking about. There's not much you can do about the penalty they got. They were legit caps outside the box. I mean they missed. It's one of those reasons why a lot of people will carry their caps and bring it with them. So it was unfortunate because they were podium. Racing was like one, two, three, four at that point too, and then they they lost the top spots on that penalty box.

Josh:

But yeah, he was upset with things that Macca was touching, like you said, with the sneakers and apparently one of the bikes he was helping get racked. And it is an interesting dynamic and and Macca got his hand slapped this time. So maybe next time it'll get a penalty. But they're all in for their athletes and it's to get each one of them the best possible day that they can have, or the team the best possible day. So the team dynamic is just a big game changer for so many of these athletes and they're in on the team's piece of this because, like you said, at the end of the day the team that wins this thing is going to get a ton of money. Um, the individual winners get a good amount of money too. I think it's like 80 000 or 85 000 for the first place overall in the series.

Jenna-Caer:

But the big money comes from the team, and I think it's 75 or it's a good chunk of the team winning purse that has to go dispersed to the athletes too, before it goes to the team and other areas no, they're definitely all in on it and it's good to see some of those rivalries, as the athletes are, like I said, probably more friendly than the coaches at some points, but it keeps the the tension going and there's going to be some weight raising right through to the end at the end of the day, they're all hanging out together and chilling around these cities and being tourists.

Josh:

They're all friends, so it's really cool to see that piece.

Jenna-Caer:

Oh yeah, some great after parties after these events too. They all have some fun and have a few drinks afterwards and it's all good at the end of the day. We have a few other things to go through here. We've got our social media post of the week. Josh, why don't you tell?

Josh:

us what's going on there. Okay, fresh and hot off the presses iron man. As I mentioned, we would be sending you to uh check out the iron man try social media page. Uh, they, they had fun roasting. One of their own athletes this weekend is uh mark the shark, known for his swimming and his running. Uh, apparently needs to do a little work coming into t2, getting off the bike and uh, all of us age groupers have certainly had it happen at one point.

Josh:

Another, dropping our bikes as we run with it. He was uh dismounting and went right over the front of the handlebars and took the bike down with himself and then got up and had to go back and grab a shoe and then get into T2. But they went slow-mo with the video. They completely grossed them. Good friend of the podcast and love to see him back out racing after he'd been battling a little bit of an injury and had a top 10 finish. We knew that the run was probably not where it needed to be, but good to see him back out there. They had some fun.

Jenna-Caer:

He needs to go jump into SuperTri so he can practice his transitions.

Josh:

You can't mess around with transitions in SuperTri.

Jenna-Caer:

Absolutely yeah, go give it a look. You know what it just goes to show even the best of the best, the top pros, they still mess up in these meds too. So if you have a crap transition, remember even the people being paid to do it have those terrible transitions at times, and at least yours isn't on camera. That's all I can say as that leads us into what the f of the week. You know what this one is. Just I gotta go back to iron man, canada. What the f?

Jenna-Caer:

The race that is being stopped because it keeps getting impacted by weather. On the final year, closing on the legacy of one of the longest run triathlons is turned into a duathlon because of weather. So it's a shame it couldn't have gone off with an amazing day out there and everything going right, but it had to and unfortunately, with more weather issues, we're sad to see it go. And you know what? I'm curious to see how they go with ottawa in 2025.

Jenna-Caer:

I'm happy to hear we will still have an iron man in canada, but we will definitely remember all some good battles and great racing over in penticton over the years and it just yeah, it has so much good history I know I'll still be over there in training, so it's a great place to go over there and just get some hill work out for sure, and some great memories. Over the years it's had a few iterations between a Super Tri race there, challenge races there, ironman races there, the WT or W World Triathlon, world Champs. That's where I ended up getting my gold medal for Canada and just had the Facebook memories pop up today. So so definitely some good memories and we will see how it goes. Maybe we'll bring something back in western canada eventually, but for now it's moving out east and it's always been a good place to go sorry to see you go like I said, but uh, apparently another wtf there too.

Josh:

I happen to see one of the pros um had female pros had an issue with bike mechanical and couldn't get any help from the pro techs. They just wouldn't send somebody out that far. She was way out at like 70 kilometers or 80 kilometers and she ended up getting a ride from a mother and a daughter back into town. That's sad to see, because usually you can at least get some tech help with the pro race.

Jenna-Caer:

but yeah, apparently not, and that's one thing. The community in penticton was always the best. I've been rescued by a random actually my daughter before too just on a training weekend out there. Um, I think that's the saddest part. It's just the community's so got behind the race. When there's so many races where they had to fight, you know the locals aren't happy about it being there.

Josh:

This was such a different feeling there, so and I just thought about our honorable mention challenge. The challenge race this weekend had to be canceled because locals in the community started removing the roadblock signs and didn't want it. It's like this is. I mean, you're talking about some of the areas of the world and Europe that are just built off a triathlon in Norway. Come on now and these people are out there picking up the road signs because they didn't want to have to deal with being stopped in traffic and they had to cancel the whole race.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, that is so crazy. At least they realized that it was going to be an unsafe situation. It sounds like cars are just going to turn you on, ignoring going through it and stuff, which is crazy. But man, that could have gotten very dangerous very quickly if they hadn't realized it. But you never want to see that happen. That's pretty shocking actually it is yeah well, let's jump into another 70.3.

Jenna-Caer:

We kind of got one race going on this weekend with uh ironman 70.3 zellemsee capron. That's a new project, but they've got over 100 professionals are going to be getting started in the austrian lake town of Zalemsee for the 15th race in the Ironman Pro Series, and this will take place on September 1st 2024. It's also the last race before the World Championship race gets started in Nice and then Kona for the men. So this will be a last shot to get some points before they head into those long distance pro series races. And we've got decent start lists across here. So I'll start with the women's side. We got danielle blamo, lottie wilms, hannah berry, kate curran, ellie salthouse, lauren madison, els visser of course is racing as she races everything uh, lauren brandon and a number of other uh names on there. It's actually like a solid women's list with 48 women racing over the weekend, which is good to see. Who do you think, josh? Who's got the win here?

Josh:

I'm going to rule Els Visser out this week. I'm not going to go with her again. Back to back.

Jenna-Caer:

You never know.

Josh:

You never know, though I would imagine she is racing um. Ellie saltos has had a really good year in 70.3. I think she's got an opportunity there in her, but danielle blamal is the defending champ and I'm gonna go with her and she's gonna run it back good call, especially when you know the course, they're familiar with it and just have that confidence in defending champ.

Jenna-Caer:

That's definitely hard to go past here. I'm going to go Lottie Walms, she'll head over and have a good race.

Josh:

A lot of people have her doing well in the Worlds too, so I think this is a big race for her going into Nice.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, just tune things up and get ready to go, because Nice is definitely not far away. They'll be three weeks out, I think, from Nice's halfway Craziness. It's good to have a nice tune-up to remember how to race and a lot lower intensity at Ironman after going through a 7.3, which is always kind of a fun feeling that you get to slow down a little. On to the men's list, we've got Jan Stratman, nicholas Mann, arnaud Gale, gregory Barnaby, matt Mignon, dela Gaines, stan Gostelauer, andreas Lopez, bradley Weiss, edith Schro, bart Arnaud, mike Phillips Got a big one on here. What do you think, josh? Who's going to take the win here?

Josh:

Again. I mean we've got a bunch of people racing back-to-back or. Greg Barnaby just did Frankfurt a couple weeks ago, yelly did Tallinn last week. It's interesting to see them back up the racing right into this final pro series race before the world. Yeah, just trying to get those last few points in.

Josh:

Yeah, and and some of them might already have a couple 70.3s on the board um, like nicholas man, I think he's got two wins and two 70.3s, so he's trying to get a third um on the board. So I I'm actually I'm gonna go with nicholas man. He's had a heck of third on the board, so I'm actually I'm going to go with Nicholas Mann. He's had a heck of a season in 70.3 distance and I'll stick with him there. And some of these other guys are probably just trying to replace a lower 70.3 score with a better positioning.

Jenna-Caer:

Yeah, fair enough. It's getting tough to tell. Everyone's raced so much and seems to be up and down this season. We really haven't seen any consistent blow-away performances from a lot of athletes this year. We've been seeing a lot of races kind of surprise winners or it's just consistently putting points on the board is that everyone.

Jenna-Caer:

That seems to be the key here. You know I'm gonna go come in. You know he's gonna have a good day out. Get it done for the win. Well, I think that wraps us up for this week here. Anything else you want to chat about in the triathlon world? Josh?

Josh:

No, I think. Just keep your eyes out on Mon Apparel for some announcements coming up. We did get an internal sneak peek of the 2025 kit as well, which is amazing, and I love the color scheme, and we all know that the Monokit is one of, if not, the fastest out there.

Jenna-Caer:

so, um, kudos to the team for what they've worked on absolutely and, like I said, if you like travel and stuff and maybe want thousands worth of it for free, just stay tuned to the monokit account. That's all I'll say at this point. I definitely have some fun announcements coming up there, so go follow Luna Peril on social media and you'll really want to be paying attention this week Awesome. Well, thanks, as always, josh, for joining me, and we'll be back next week to chat all things travel and have a great night.

Josh:

Have a good one everyone.

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