Episode 105: Pro Files with Belinda Granger

In this week’s Another Triathlon Podcast, we dive deep with one of the sport’s most enduring legends: Belinda Granger. From her early days as a gymnastic-obsessed Aussie to dominating the long-course triathlon scene for over a decade, Belinda shares stories of grit, unexpected turns, and the magic of the sport that never let her go.

Now known as the voice of Challenge Roth and the pro liaison for Challenge Family, Belinda opens up about her own pro career, how she built unshakeable durability, and why her win at Roth in 2005 still means everything. We also explore how she accidentally transitioned into commentary, her behind-the-scenes role in making pro racing better, and why Race Ranger is changing the future of fair play.

She reflects on racing alongside Chrissie Wellington and Mirinda Carfrae, shares hilarious training camp memories (including gymnastics after wine at Jan Frodeno’s house), and talks passionately about the evolving women’s field and the athletes she believes will break the 8-hour barrier.

Belinda’s storytelling is as sharp as ever, packed with wisdom, laughter, and a love for the sport that’s downright contagious. If you’re a fan of triathlon history, fair racing, or just want a reminder of why this sport is so special—this one’s for you.

Topics Covered:
✔️ How Belinda got into triathlon (thank you, Bondi Brats)
✔️ Her transition from age grouper to pro athlete
✔️ The 2005 Challenge Roth win that changed everything
✔️ What makes Challenge Roth the greatest celebration in triathlon
✔️ Race Ranger, public drafting data, and athlete accountability
✔️ Commentary tips, athlete insights, and Roth race-day prep
✔️ Chrissie, Rinny, and racing with legends
✔️ Why gymnastics gave her the edge
✔️ The magic of staying in the sport long after the finish line

Follow Belinda Granger:
Instagram: @belindagranger

Timestamps:

00:01 – Intro + welcoming Belinda Granger
01:05 – Falling into triathlon after gymnastics and a uni party phase
03:26 – Age grouper to pro: meeting Justin, turning point at Sydney Olympics test event
07:24 – Gymnastics, durability, and why she was “an old German tank”
13:39 – Training in the pre-Strava era + what made her thrive with Brett Sutton
18:00 – Her most meaningful win: Challenge Roth 2005
20:15 – From racing to commentary + shaping the pro field at Challenge
24:33 – Commentary prep, personal connections, and telling athlete stories
28:55 – Sub-8 for women: who’s going to do it, and Chrissie in today’s era
33:43 – Staying grounded racing legends like Rinny and Chrissie
35:39 – That one time she beat both of them (and tells everyone)
37:21 – Race Ranger transparency: what it is, why it matters, and what's next
48:16 – 20m draft rule vs 12m at Roth: pros, problems, and potential
50:47 – Why Roth is the greatest celebration in triathlon
53:07 – Jonas Schomburg, fearlessness, an

Transcript

Another Triathlon Pod (00:01.394)
Welcome back to the other Triathlon Podcast brought to you by Mana Apparel. I'm Jenna Sarah and joined as always by Josh and Fede, but this week we've got someone on to join us for the podcast and I am sure you will absolutely love hearing some of our stories and it's a voice you'll definitely recognize. So this week we have got the knowledgeable, the talented, the lovely Belinda Granger joining us today. How are you doing Belinda? We're so happy to have you on.

Belinda Granger (00:11.82)
Mm-hmm.

Belinda Granger (00:22.926)
Look, I'm very excited. When you asked me if I had the spare time to do this, absolutely. I've been following this podcast for a while now, so I really love it and it's an honor to be on it.

Another Triathlon Pod (00:36.576)
thank you. We appreciate that. I'm happy to hear that you at least heard of us before, we did everything you've been doing here. But we wanted to get take it back a little bit because obviously these days the generation of triathletes out there will know you as the commentator, how much you do with Challenge Family and the commentating on Challenge Roth and a number of other races. But you started out as an athlete in this sport and that's how I first knew you. So I wanted to hear a little bit just how you got into triathlon and how this crazy journey started.

Belinda Granger (00:40.57)
Of course!

Fed (00:41.049)
Thank

Belinda Granger (01:05.196)
Jenna, now you're asking me to go way, way back. Some of our listeners might not have even been born back in those days, but I fell into the sport purely by accident. I was always a very sporty kid. My parents were both very sporty and I was one of those kids that just wanted to do everything. So, you know, it'd be netball for six months and I'd get bored. Then it'd be swimming for six months and I'd get bored. And I just kept switching and changing. And the one sport that I

Fed (01:07.884)
Yeah.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:13.5)
Crazy.

Belinda Granger (01:34.328)
did love and I did hold on to until I was about 18 was gymnastics. And that was one that I never got bored of and one that I was, I was good at it, but not brilliant. and it got to, I got to 18 years of age, finished school, started uni and of course stopped with gym. And I remember looking at myself in the mirror one day, I think it was probably my second year of university. And I did not like what I, what I was looking at. was not this fit, energetic.

healthy person anymore. was overweight. I'd been, obviously university, you go out, you go drinking. I stopped doing any sort of regular exercise. And before I knew it, I didn't recognize myself and I was so disappointed that I'd let myself go. And I thought, okay, this is it. Second, in the second year university, you've got to find something. And I remember thinking to myself, well, I've done everything. What's going to, what's going to keep me,

incentivized to stay in something for a long period of time. Cause I knew whatever I needed to do, it needed to be something that, that I did for a while because I'd let myself go for so long. And I'd heard of the sport triathlon. I didn't know too much about it, but we had a local club down at Bondi cause I was at Sydney university at the time and I lived in Coogee and Bondi beach had this club called the, the brat club, the Bondi running and triathlon club.

Another Triathlon Pod (02:32.094)
Mm-hmm.

Belinda Granger (02:56.216)
So I had two other young, great, we were the Brats, we were Brats, all of us. And I remember asking friends and saying, hey, know, should we try it out? And we need if we go there just to do the running side of it to start with. Anyway, long story short, I fell in love with the sport of triathlon. It took me all of probably one season and I was absolutely hooked. But only ever thought I would do it again to keep fit, to be healthy. I was very competitive. I always had been my entire life.

Another Triathlon Pod (02:56.241)
Love the name.

Yeah.

Fed (03:00.664)
Hehehe.

Belinda Granger (03:26.062)
But I went into the sport not with that in mind because I thought I'm not going to be very good at it. I'm starting at 22 years of age. But before long, yeah, I was hooked and I started as an age group athlete, made my way through age group worlds, won my age group at Worlds. I remember when they were in Perth, I think that was back in, I can't remember, early 90s. And then by the end of the 90s, I...

I met my now husband, Justin, who actually told me that I would, could be pretty good at this. And if I wanted to, he thought I had what it, what it takes to be a professional athlete. And I remember laughing at him thinking, no chance, but I listened to him and I'm so glad I did. Cause I don't listen to him very often. And yeah, the rest is history. I, I think I turned pro in the very late nineties and then retired in 2015, having had a career in triathlon that I

absolutely never expected that I would have. So that's the short version, but I'm sure you don't want to hear the longer version.

Josh (04:29.501)
And you still haven't left the sport. mean, triathlon is not getting rid of you anytime soon either is.

Belinda Granger (04:34.522)
No. And you know, don't you feel like the sport of triathlon has that hold over you? it becomes such an integral part of your life. Like all of my friends, either still are or have been triathletes. and now a lot of us have moved out of racing, but they're still in the sport. Like you've got Beth and Luke McKenzie, who are two of my best friends who have now their apparel. I've got, other friends, Courtney Acre who works for World.

Another Triathlon Pod (04:40.519)
Yes.

Fed (04:40.557)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (05:04.398)
triathlon and I've got other friends here that have got a running shop or shoe shop. So everyone's still involved in some capacity in the sport of triathlon. So I couldn't imagine my life without it, to be honest.

Another Triathlon Pod (05:18.46)
Yeah, absolutely. And when you're when you're that age group professional transition, what was that point where you decided, hey, I'm actually going to give this a shot as a pro athlete? And how did that feel?

Belinda Granger (05:30.762)
You know, I was lucky. We had the Olympics here in Sydney in the year 2000. And I was on the cusp of deciding whether I should really have a good crack at this. And I remember I was still doing short course at that stage. I hadn't moved into longer distance racing. And I remember they had the test event on the Olympic circuit. And I decided they gave me a start. said, you know, everyone had to put in and ask if they could have a start. And I got given that start.

And I loved it being able to perform on a big stage like that on the test event of what was going to be the Olympic triathlon course. And I don't even remember where I finished, but it was, it was reasonable. and I, and from then on, said, you know what, this is absolutely what I want because I thrived on it. It was, I loved the cheering. loved the crowds that came out and watched and supported. And I just loved the competition. I loved competing and.

I think that was the catalyst that really made me decide right then and there that this was where I was going to put all my energy. It took a few more years before I gave up, because I was working full-time as a teacher, I gave up my full-time job, but I was lucky with teaching because they were so good to me. Whenever I needed to go overseas, they'd let me have time off. So once I got a little bit of finance behind me,

Then I really, and I gave up work and then I really decided that this is it. I'm going to be a full-time athlete for as long as I can.

Fed (06:56.317)
Awesome. So question, you started gymnastics at a young age. Was the Olympic dream always in the back of your head? And when you switched to triathlon, was it like, okay, I'm going to pursue the Olympics now in triathlon now that the gymnastics door has been shot or you walked away from that? Was that like a goal of yours or were you just in it to compete and to have fun and see what was happening?

Belinda Granger (07:12.942)
Mm.

Belinda Granger (07:24.542)
That's a really, really good question. think every young girl and boy, you have dreams and aspirations when you're young. And I used to watch the Olympics, gymnastics in the Olympics all the time. It was my favorite sport. Wouldn't miss it. And yeah, I'd be lying if I didn't say, you know, when I was young, I started gymnastics when I was nine. And when I was a young 12, 13 year old, that was my dream was I wanted to be good enough to make it to the Olympics.

I learned fairly quickly that I wasn't good enough to make it to the Olympics in gymnastics. But you know, but absolutely. But you know, I'm so glad that I had all that time because I truly think that the reason I was able to have such a long career in the sport with very little injury was because of my background in gymnastics. it, foundations and the body awareness you get from gymnastics and that found that court, foundation super strong core glutes.

Fed (07:54.233)
Hey, gymnastics is a tough sport.

Belinda Granger (08:19.702)
I think it set me up for whatever sport I was going to choose. I think it set me up really, really well. And if you look at my career, I had maybe one time in the whole of my professional career where I had to take some time off when I was diagnosed with endofibrosis of the external iliac artery, which is what vanilla language has just gone through. That was literally the only injury I ever had. And I have to account that to my career in gymnastics.

But not rolling forward to the sport of triathlon, I don't think I ever, even when I decided to turn pro, I don't know if I ever thought I would make it to the Olympics in the Olympic distance because it was right at the time when I first started racing professionally, that's when Olympic distance triathlon was non-drafting. I was not a bad swimmer, but I certainly wasn't a great swimmer. I was a good bike rider and an average runner, but.

Fed (09:06.275)
Ciao.

Belinda Granger (09:13.898)
When it was non-drafting, it was fine. But as soon as they changed and it was drafting and I went into the Olympics, obviously as a draft legal, it's sort of, I then that's when I had to decide to move up to long distance. So half distance triathlon, and then eventually onto the full distance into Ironman. So I don't think I had that same sort of dream that I had as a, as a gymnast of making it to the Olympics. But I did know that once I'd done that test event that I wanted to be

Fed (09:27.618)
Okay.

Belinda Granger (09:42.614)
a professional athlete in the sport of triathlon in some capacity. Yeah.

Fed (09:49.347)
That's awesome. mean, yeah, like you said, everybody, every little kid dreams about being in that big stage, whether it is the Olympics or playing at the World Series or the Superbowl. And yeah, it struck to me, I was looking at your career and you seem like a very durable athlete. Like injuries were not part of your vocabulary at all. Like just like the injury you mentioned before that. And I truly believe that gymnastics had a lot to do with that. But when you...

Belinda Granger (09:56.408)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (10:18.434)
Yeah.

Fed (10:18.957)
When you jumped into triathlon, how did you stay durable? Because I know, like I grew up playing team sports and we were always in the gym. When I started doing, when I started doing tri, I forgot about the weights. was like, nah, just swing back and run. Don't, don't, don't tell Jenna. I told you this, but, did you, were you, were you like this as well? Or were you always like very strict to like conditioning your body and making it healthy?

Belinda Granger (10:28.238)
Yep.

Belinda Granger (10:32.878)
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Another Triathlon Pod (10:34.802)
who's helping me with that.

Belinda Granger (10:40.66)
Hahaha!

Belinda Granger (10:50.03)
Yeah, that's a good question. think I did get into after when I was at union, obviously I told you I stopped doing sport and got into the into the party scene a little too hard at the first year. And I think that happened because I'd been so stripped all through high school. You know, I never went to parties. I never went out drinking. It just wasn't part of my makeup. I was always either studying or doing some sort of sport. And I think that first year of university where I met all new friends and

it opened me up to a world that I hadn't been a part of before. So in typical Belinda personality fashion, it was all in or nothing. And so for that first year, I let myself go. And then before I actually found the sport of triathlon, I started going back to the gym and getting back into aerobics because back in those days, aerobics was a big deal. So I started doing that again. And I think that because I did

Another Triathlon Pod (11:40.039)
Okay.

Belinda Granger (11:44.526)
a long period of where I was doing aerobics and concentrating on my core again, getting everything, my foundation strong. When I finally did decide to step into the sport of triathlon and move out of the gym, I had that foundation back. everything, maybe it wasn't as strong as what it was when I was in school and doing gymnastics, but I think I got most of it back and it set me up for being able to go straight into the sport of swim, bike, run and not lose that. And I still,

I still did because I loved it so much. still did go back to the gym and do the aerobic class every now and again. So I think that really helped. And I knew because I'd been doing it for a while, knew the only problem I had when I first started doing the sport of triathlon was really bad hamstring insertion issues, which I think is quite common. But I knew what I needed to do to keep them at bay. And so I went back to the gym and I work on that. So I was lucky in that respect.

Another Triathlon Pod (12:37.841)
if

Belinda Granger (12:42.966)
And it's funny because I remember Triathlon magazine doing an article once and it was, know, Marinda Carfrae's got out of this world running ability. Chrissy Wellington's got out of this world cycling ability. And when they came to mentioning what I had, was nothing to do with swim, bike, run. It was just my durability. Belinda has out of this world durability. that's, that's what I was renowned for. It wasn't that I was a great swim, bike, runner. It was just that I was consistent and I was durable, which, you know, I think

My old, my old coach Sato once gave me a compliment and it was, Belinda, know what you remind me of? You remind me of an old German tank. And I'm like, what? That's a compliment. He said, yeah, you know, the German tanks, they were reliable. They never broke down. like, I walked away scratching my head going, well, okay. I think that was a compliment, but didn't really sound like one. But yeah, I mean, what he meant to say was that I'm just, I'm durable and,

Fed (13:19.673)
Hahaha

Another Triathlon Pod (13:19.888)
you

Belinda Granger (13:39.534)
I never used to break down, I barely used to blow up. so often that's how I would win my races. I didn't often lead races, but I used to be able to stay strong all the way through and then others would blow up around me and then I'd be the last man standing, a woman standing.

Another Triathlon Pod (13:58.322)
There we go. And it's funny you say that a compliment like that from Sutto who definitely had a reputation of throwing all the eggs at the wall and whoever didn't crack, that's who he was going to turn into.

Belinda Granger (14:05.87)
I was one of the uncrackables,

Another Triathlon Pod (14:10.718)
you

Josh (14:12.744)
When you talk about your training, mean, nowadays it's all out there. It's on Strava, it's on YouTube channels. We see everything everyone's doing and then you get the ones that want to hide it, whatever that may be. But what was your training day, training weeks like back then leading into a fall and like, it amaze you what the time that these people are putting into it now? Or you're just like, no, we were doing it then. We just didn't show everyone.

Belinda Granger (14:18.062)
Yeah!

Belinda Granger (14:37.856)
Yeah, well, the thing is back in my day, there was no such thing as training piece. I've still got, actually, it's funny because we're doing some renovations on our house and we've had to put a lot of stuff in the garage and I was going through some old diaries journals and this is how we used to record our training in diaries and you'd basically write in them every day what you were doing and then, but the end of the day, you'd go back and fill in how those sessions went. And I go back and look at them now and you forget, mean, these diaries were

Really? Like I put in a lot of detail. I mean, it must've taken me hours every afternoon to fill these in. but yeah, you go back. I loved training, when I was training with Sato because every day would start the same. He's like, well, you've got to treat your training like it is your full-time job because that's what it is. Same mentality. If you start work at seven, you are expected to be at work at seven every morning. so our job started at seven. We were expected to be at the pool at seven o'clock every morning.

We would swim that we would know and then we'd all get out of the pool and he would tell each of us individually what the rest of the day entailed. So we didn't know ahead of time. So there was no planning. There was no saving ourselves because we actually didn't know what we were doing apart from that swim session. And it was nice because there was no stressing about sessions the night before or overthinking it. You got told that morning and you went home and you got it done. And I liked the simplicity of that. I think we didn't have

lactate testing or any of these other tests that people are doing. There wasn't even wind tunnel testing back in my day. And don't get me wrong, I think it's great. think that's part of the reason we're seeing so many incredible times being set in our sport and for our sport to continue to grow and evolve. Well, it's needed, but I must admit back in the day, I did like the simplicity of it. We didn't have to put it up on social media because there was, mean, I think Facebook existed.

Back when I was in my prime, Instagram I think was only just coming on right when I was starting to wind it down and retire. So you know, you got up every day, you trained, you ate and you slept and it was that simple, which was quite kind of nice, I must admit.

Another Triathlon Pod (16:48.648)
Yeah, absolutely. And before you didn't have to have an Instagram to get sponsors and stuff. was all race results and actually performing.

Belinda Granger (16:52.894)
No, exactly. I think about it. It's so it must, it's, it's funny because, know, I've just watched right before I jumped on the call today. I was watching Sam Laidlaw's YouTube for Roth, which is if you haven't watched it, watch it. It's bloody brilliant as I knew it would be. And I think about the time and effort that's and I know he's got a videographer that does it, but he's still got to invest time into it as well.

And I think far out, know, not only these guys training 25, 30 hours a week, they're doing all the social media and then they're having to put out YouTube videos after, you know, sessions and races. And it's, just this whole production now that I look back and I think, I don't know. I really don't know if I would have had the energy or the inclination to have been able to do it. But yeah, hats off to professional athletes these days. It's, it's, it definitely is a full-time job.

Another Triathlon Pod (17:45.882)
It is for sure. And before we kind of move more into what you're doing now and everything going on with challenge, I just wanted to ask kind of what performances in your career really stand out to you? Like what's something that you're most proud of that you've done in the sport?

Belinda Granger (18:00.078)
I think without a doubt, and I know it's going to sound a little cliche, but my win in Roth in 2005, because that one win really proved to me that I had what it took. Cause I almost felt like a little bit of an imposter because I'd come from an age group background. I didn't have a background in swim bike run. I felt, did get a little bit of imposter syndrome because I'd never really thought about

doing it as a professional athlete. was quite happy just to do it as an age group athlete, do as well as I could in the age group ranks and then just be happy with that. And once I decided that I was going to take it seriously and become a professional athlete, you almost every now and again, you need that justification that you've made the right decision. I mean, I'd gone to university for four years to become a phys ed teacher and I gave that away. And I was so worried what my parents would think about that, whether they'd think it was an absolute waste of time.

They were incredibly supportive, which still to this day, I didn't expect them to be as supportive as they were. But that race in Rost in 2005 really sealed the deal and made me think, well, this is an international race, one of the biggest races on the planet outside of the world championships. And I've just won it. What more justification do I need? So that win was the most significant win in my career, even, you know, all the way through. I raced world championships in Kona 10 times and I placed well, think I placed top 10.

five times, but it never had that significance that Roth had. Obviously that's why I continue to go back there. I think this was my 20 something year. It's crazy, 20th year in being in Roth. So out of madness, but yeah, that was the most significant win of my career and probably one of the most significant times too. And it's funny, you think, why do you need that justification? But I think everyone...

When you're spending that much time on something and you know it's taking you away from family, friends, you sometimes need to have that justification that you're doing it for the right reasons.

Josh (20:03.536)
I think you justified that and you've definitely justified your follow-up career to all of that because we enjoy listening to you. Did you have those same thoughts going into the broadcast world and doing the commentary as well?

Belinda Granger (20:04.001)
Yes.

Belinda Granger (20:15.95)
I literally fell into that world by accident, a little bit like triathlon to be honest. My story, obviously I retired in 2015. I remember being in Kona watching in, I think it was 2014. And at that particular point, Felix Valserfer, who had owned Challenge Family, started Challenge Family, had sold it or moved it onto Zibi Zuflik, who I'd known from a lot of my career because he sponsored me with Powerbar.

and had been very, very generous and wonderful to me as a sponsor. And Powerbar were one of my long, mean, Powerbar had practically my entire career. And I remember sitting down with him and another lady that I work with now, Victoria Murray-Ow. And they sat me down and they said, if you've had a think about what you're going to do when you retire. And I said, no, not really. I suppose I'm going to go back to teaching. mean, that's the only logical, you know, thing to do. And they said, well, would you...

be interested in coming and joining Challenge Family and doing something for us. said, well, yeah, what? And they said, well, we'll let you think about that. You can think about a role that you think you can play within Challenge Family. We're behind you. And so I went back home to Justin. said, can you believe this? They've just basically told me I can make up my own job, which is basically what they did. And so Justin and I sat down in our little condo in just on Alihe Drive.

And I thought, what do I love? What am I passionate about? What do I think our sport needs? And I just thought about my time as a pro athlete and what I found difficult. And one of the things I found difficult was just finding races that would want me helping. And so I really wanted to help professional athletes make it easier for them to get to races, to apply for races, to get pro packages, so support at certain races.

So I went back and said, well, what about a professional liaison? So liaising between our race directors and all of these professional athletes and working both sides of the fence, helping our professional athletes get to all of our events around the world. And similarly, on the other hand, helping our race directors get some great athletes to their events. Cause we know that if you've got a great professional field, there's more media coverage, meaning there's more people around the world know about your race a lot more. That brings on sponsorship. know, it's that rolling, that snowballing effect.

Belinda Granger (22:37.342)
And they loved it. And so I started as the pro liaison. And from there, I think I just accidentally fell into the role of commentary. Back then there was not, there was not a lot of live commentary. Obviously the big races like the world championships had it, but right at that stage, Roth never had it. We just had live updates. So my first few years post racing was spent on the back of a motorbike doing videos, like hanging off the bike, bike doing.

crappy videos of me and like doing this. And I actually loved it, but it's a lot better now that would be a little bit more professional and we have a production company behind it. But yeah, that's how I fell into commentary. And I do love it because I am so incredibly passionate about the athletes that I work with. We're so lucky in our sport that the professional athletes involved are all not just incredible athletes, but they're magnificent human beings.

Some of the athletes I deal with on a daily basis and I'll bring him up right now because obviously I've just come from Roth. The pro athletes that were at Roth and for example, Sam Laidlaw, Laura Phillip, who were the both the winners, truly remarkable human beings, both on and off the race course. And it's an absolute pleasure to be able to help them assist them, work with them. So when I do commentary, I don't, I don't find it difficult because these are people that I genuinely love to talk about. So yeah.

Another Triathlon Pod (24:02.086)
And it definitely it comes across that's something we've talked about on the podcast a few times is something that's missing from a lot of the commentary is, you know, knowledge about the athletes, but you really seem to care about these athletes, you have insights into their lives, you follow what they're doing, you know, about their personal lives, as well as their training and racing, and you come in so well prepared, because they actually mean something to you. And that makes such a massive difference. Now, are you doing a ton of research beforehand? Are you just talking to them? Like, how do you have all this going into

the race day.

Belinda Granger (24:33.292)
Yeah, it's a lot of a lot of everything obviously in my daily job. I'm Liaising and connecting with these athletes a lot So I do get to know a lot about them and because they there is that trust that we've built up with each other now over the years because I think they genuinely know That I have their best interest at heart They tell me things that they might not otherwise tell other people like when they're suffering injuries or sickness or personal problems and

Not that I, not that I blurt those all out on, on the live coverage, but it gives me a better understanding of where they're at. And sometimes I think, Nikki Bartlett was a great example in Roth. You know, she came into the race. Having not had the greatest of years and she's a brilliant athlete and another superhuman being, she's incredibly well liked amongst her peers, which says everything. And so I knew that she was going into, to Roth and it was going to be a bit of a gamble because.

You know yourself, you can be as physically prepared as possible, but if you're not mentally a hundred percent there on the day, it can be a struggle. And I think knowing certain things about people, makes it easier for me to commentate on them. You know, we could see Nikki go through that really rough patch on the run. I think that was when Alana Siffitt was able to catch her. But all I wanted Nikki to do from that point on was just to rally and just to hold what she had. Cause I knew that finishing in the top five, Nikki was going to be a dream come true considering what she'd been through.

I think I do do a lot of research as well. Like I have massive amounts of notes. And the funny thing is I come to these commentary boxes and I've got notes stacked up this high and I do study them days beforehand, but the race is so dynamic on race day. You rarely get a chance to actually even look at all this information. And I think when I came in on race day morning with Sebby and Sebby's like, my God, you've got like a, you've got like a Bible there full of information.

But it's just, more of a safety thing to have it there in case you get a mental blank or something happens. But it's funny, once that gun goes off and the race starts to evolve, I just use my background knowledge that I've having talked with these pros on a daily basis. I do try and catch up with a lot of them race week, have a coffee with them just to see how things are going. I mean, I was lucky enough to stay with Sam Laidlaw, invited my husband and I to go and stay with him for a few days. So I got to see him training in his daily life and

Belinda Granger (26:58.656)
Learn a lot about Sam, that those three days, Sam is the sort of athlete that if all the ducks are lined up in his personal life, you know, with his family, with his friends, then he is capable of anything. And he wasn't lying when he said he went into that race underdone. I know he was underdone. I know he's had really massive issues with his immune system and with sickness and he wasn't lying. He, he'd hardly done any training. And there was that big question mark.

Was he able to, was he physically well prepared enough to win a race like Roth? But I knew if he could mentally put himself in the game, that he's such an incredibly talented and competitive person that he would be able to pull off the win. And it was great to see that unfold because it's exactly as we, thought it would be, but you never know. But this is the exciting part about commentary. We, Sebby and I, we catch up in the days beforehand with the production company and we go through a range of different scenarios.

And we just wait to see what one plays out on race day, which makes it really exciting.

Josh (28:02.002)
Sam might've learned a new way to race too, because now he just needs to know that he's not in first, but think he's in first.

Belinda Granger (28:03.598)
Yep.

Belinda Granger (28:08.494)
Yeah. If you listen to his YouTube, that's it. He goes, he talks about that. We had no idea that that's what he thought, that he had no idea that Jonas was off the front. But, know, I think it's also taught Sam's Sam thought he 100 % relied on his bike. If he didn't get off the bike in first in a race, he thought his chances of winning were next to zero. And he just proved to himself in Ross that he doesn't necessarily need to be this Uber biker that has to be off the front with a X amount lead.

that he can actually win it because he's a bloody good runner as well. And I think that was the beauty of that race that he's now, he's, I think he's got the confidence now going into world champs that he's solid across all three. It's just a matter of this being right on the day.

Another Triathlon Pod (28:55.524)
Absolutely. And we were kind of chatting before the podcast how the last time we had seen each other was sub seven, sub eight. And we got a little bit into how crazy is it that we're seeing these women's performances just level up in a way we haven't seen before where sub eight is going to happen amongst the women.

Belinda Granger (29:08.162)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (29:12.334)
It's funny, we spoke about it quite a lot in the press conference and leading into Roth because obviously Laura had just come from Hamburg where she was so close to doing it and yeah, crazy. And Felix Valser, who obviously owns Roth, loves records. mean, it's always been a big thing. Magnus Ditlef keeps setting new records in Roth.

Another Triathlon Pod (29:26.086)
Insanely close, yeah.

Belinda Granger (29:39.276)
He loved to have, and this year he would love to have had a world record in the women's race, but I have no doubt that it will be done. Laura didn't come into the race with that in mind. And I think it put a lot of pressure on Laura that she didn't necessarily want or need. And I remember talking to her and I said, you know what, just block it out. We don't need any records. We just want some fantastic racing, which is what she gave us. she did, I mean, her race was textbook in Roth. She did exactly what we expected her to do.

But, you know, roll back to those, that sub seven, sub eight. And I remember looking at Kat and her team and Nicola and thinking, wow, this is just, it was amazing. It was amazing event. And, but I remember walking away thinking, oh, we've got years and years and years and years before, if, if it ever happens. And to think that we have got right now, I can think of at least three or four athletes that are 100 % capable on the day.

of breaking eight hours, it's crazy for me to think. And particularly after watching Lake Placid last weekend and seeing Solvig in only her second race over the distance. I mean, this woman is scary good. She's, I have no doubt that who it's going to be first, it's either going to be Solvig, Kat Matthews, Laura Phillip, or Lucy Charles Barclay. I mean, there's that small handful of women that are absolutely going to do it. It's just a matter of when.

Fed (31:05.528)
Yeah, I was going to ask you like, it's a hypothetical question, but with today's technology and bikes and everything that we have right now, who do you think someone like Chrissy Wellington could have gone sub eight in her, in her prime, like in today's day and age?

Belinda Granger (31:21.518)
Mmm.

Belinda Granger (31:27.466)
Yeah, yeah, that's it. mean, we've been discussing, we've had many a conversation over a bottle of wine about that. I definitely think she could have, because back in what people don't really probably don't remember or don't realize. I was lucky enough, fortunate enough to, I was training with Chrissy from when she first joined our squad. And I remember that first day when she turned up and saw her train for the first time and we were blown away. And I mean, this is a woman that won Kona on a bloody road bike.

Fed (31:34.114)
Yeah

Belinda Granger (31:57.078)
with clip-ons back in the day. Remember? mean, and wore a floppy tri-suit. There was no aerodynamics whatsoever involved with Chrissy Wellington and her and many of her wins. She might've started, I think she got on a TT bike, you know, towards the end of her career, of course, but there was no aero testing. There were no carbon shoes. I mean, she wasn't even worried about numbers flapping around on her back or.

Fed (32:03.193)
You

Fed (32:06.711)
None.

Belinda Granger (32:25.396)
or her trisuit being undone so that that was flapping around or aero helmets. There was literally nothing. mean, her hair, you she had that beautiful curly hair that used to hang out and flap around. mean, think about it now. It's insane. She'd still fly past all of us like we're standing still. she was absolutely ahead of her time by years. And it would be amazing to see.

Fed (32:26.062)
Yeah.

Fed (32:39.993)
You're right.

Mm.

Belinda Granger (32:51.064)
I mean, there's a small handful of athletes like that in the women's field that were ahead of their time, that I would love to see now with all the technology we've got now. I mean, it would be incredible. yeah, hypothetically speaking, of course, but I think Chrissy Wellington is a standout in that particular department. Yeah.

Fed (33:02.68)
Right.

Fed (33:07.989)
Yeah, and second part of this question, like to my opinion, you raced alongside two of the probably top three greatest triathletes of all time on the female side, Chrissy Wellington and Marinda Carfrae. How did you stay like grounded or like focused and centered and because you had to go out there and compete and like you mentioned, you were training with Chrissy, she joined your squad.

Belinda Granger (33:21.432)
Mm.

Yeah.

Belinda Granger (33:32.694)
Yeah, absolutely.

Fed (33:35.095)
Like how did you stay true to yourself and not wanting to be crazy 2.0 in a way and just staying true to Belinda?

Belinda Granger (33:43.062)
Yeah. You know what? That's where our coach really stepped up because there was one point there where we had five of the best long distance athletes in the world in our squad. And it could have quite easily have blown to smithereens because you're right. We're also incredibly competitive and who wants to keep going, turning up to race thinking, well, first is first places off the table. We're all racing for second because Chrissy's going to win. But what he, what he was very, very good at doing was separating us and,

pushing us to races that he knew that we would thrive. And so, you know, he would push me off to Lake Placid or he pushed me off to Ironman Canada. And he, Chrissy would stay in Europe and do some of the really crazy mountainous races like climbing and so he'd separate us. And we rarely raced together. I think the only time we would ever really race together was in Kona. And the only other time, funny story, Chrissy had just done her very first

full distance race, Ironman Korea. And the next weekend, was 70.3 Singapore. First time there was ever a 70.3 in Singapore. And we were all doing it. And I thought, is bizarre. The whole squad, our whole squad did it. Now we did, one of our major sponsors was DBS Bank, which was based in Singapore. So our entire squad raced this race. I think it was the one and only time, the only other time I can remember was Alpe d'Huez triathlon, which we all did. But I remember us all racing and I'm thinking, oh, this is going to get a bit.

Fed (35:07.993)
Mmm.

Belinda Granger (35:11.456)
Shirty anyway, long story short, I had a really good swim. don't know what I did, but I out swam both Marindia and Christie that day. And this is back in the day when they used to send pro men and pro women off in one on one gun. We started together. yeah. Yeah. We're talking some time ago now. And I remember getting out of the swim with the lead. think there was, maybe four lead men off the front. And then I got out with the main group of pro men and rode with them. And so.

Fed (35:23.784)
wow.

Belinda Granger (35:39.366)
I ended up getting off the bike with about a six minute lead over Marinda and Chrissie and they never caught me. So I actually won and it's the only time I can actually say that I beat Marinda Caffrey and Chrissie Wellington in the same race. But I tell a lot of people. I don't talk about the 20 other times that they absolutely annihilated me, but that's all right.

Fed (35:53.209)
That's awesome.

Another Triathlon Pod (35:53.47)
Yeah, that's a good feather.

Josh (35:54.075)
haha

Fed (35:58.873)
It doesn't matter.

Another Triathlon Pod (35:59.782)
Not important.

Josh (36:01.224)
Yeah. It's, mean, it's a, a, it's an interesting, it's an interesting topic nowadays too, because now you get the Norwegians doing every race together. They're, the anti of what you guys are literally, they don't go to races without each other.

Belinda Granger (36:02.894)
Doesn't matter, just that one word.

Belinda Granger (36:10.22)
Yes? Yes? Yep.

No, it's crazy. and now you're adding Casper Stonest to that, to that equation as well. mean, we, we're used to Christian and Gustav doing it together. Now you've got a third and it's not unusual for them to do go one, two, three, or at least have the potential to go one, two, three, cause they're that good. And I like it. it takes a very strong human because let's be honest, we're particularly professional athletes are insanely competitive creatures and

hats off to these boys that when they're on that start line, it's each for themselves. But as soon as the race is over, they're able to switch it over to their best mates. I think you think about the amount of time that these three must spend together in training and they truly are best friends. And I think it's kind of refreshing that they are able to do it. And I don't think it's an act. I think it's legit. And I think it shows what sort of people that these three boys are. They're really...

Fed (37:03.065)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (37:13.832)
genuinely good guys. A little crazy, but aren't we all? But yeah, really decent, decent people.

Another Triathlon Pod (37:17.502)
Yeah.

Another Triathlon Pod (37:21.818)
Yeah, it's pretty remarkable to see that that kind of group performing. But we wanted to ask you a question. I know that Iron, sorry, Challenge Roth and Race Ranger are going to have an announcement coming out and they're doing a press conference in a few hours here. Unfortunately for us, it's going to be at 2am with our North American time. So we were wondering if we could get a little bit of an insight into what information you guys kind of got from Race Ranger and how you're using that in the challenge races right now.

Belinda Granger (37:23.384)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (37:38.382)
Oof.

Belinda Granger (37:49.314)
So obviously it all began, we have a compulsory pro briefing on the Friday before Challenge Roth. And it's done very, very well. And at that briefing is obviously all of the professional athletes. We allow coaches, but we do not allow any media. And then we have obviously all of the officials from the DTU, as well as the head official from the team in Roth and myself as pro liaison.

And then Felix actually ends up coming to, he doesn't come to the entire meeting, but he is there for a section of it. And we'd started the meeting. We'd gone through everything and Felix walked in halfway through. think we were discussing drafting penalties, you know, obviously blue cards being shown yellow and Sam Laidlaw raised his hand and asked the question because we said, we're using race Ranger. It will be 12 meter rule, but we will be using race Ranger. And Sam raised his hand and said, well,

Fed (38:26.937)
.

Belinda Granger (38:42.816)
Is this data from race range are going to be made? Can we make it public? And there was a silence over the room because obviously after every race, I'm not sure if people realize this, but after every race that's used race ranger, and we've had a few, obviously we've had quite a few races in challenge family that use it. We are sent that data. So we get to see exactly who spent X amount of time in the red zone or the illegal drafting basically. And that data is ours to keep.

as the race and we can do whatever we want with it. Now we've never done anything with it. We've just tucked it away in our back pocket and life's gone on. And you do find, unfortunately, in its human behavior, that you'll push things, you'll continue to push things till you can't get away with it anymore. And what was happening with Race Ranger and what I felt watching it and being part of race as well was being used is

Athletes were learning what they couldn't, couldn't get away with. They were learning that if there was no official there, if the light was red and no one saw it, did it really happen? So when Sam Laidlaw raised his hand and asked, is there an opportunity where we can start making this data public? Felix then asked the rest of the room, does anyone have a problem with it? Because if no one has a problem with it, we will release this data after the race.

Another Triathlon Pod (39:54.792)
Mm-hmm.

Another Triathlon Pod (40:02.142)
That's a good way to do it when you don't want to be the person saying no at that point. A little bit of pressure.

Belinda Granger (40:05.588)
No, exactly. mean, that's, that's, and so I'm looking around the room and no one dares say a word. so again, Felix asked again, I need to know. And even when we discussed it post-race, cause we've been discussing it since the race finished on, cause obviously we weren't just going to release the data and go, here you go, to the world. Because I think that would have caused more, more issues than good. he sent an email out to all of the athletes again, asking them if anyone had any objection and of course nothing. And so then.

Another Triathlon Pod (40:23.26)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (40:35.478)
We all got together and I said, well, I think there needs to be some education because before we release this data, our audience needs to be educated on what they're actually looking at and what that means and what it looks like. And I said, the worst thing for me, and here I am again, this is me being pro liaison, I'm being mother hen, I don't want these data to be released. And all of a sudden, all over social media, there's gonna be this awful finger pointing. He's a cheat, she's a cheat. Look how much time.

Another Triathlon Pod (40:44.444)
Yeah.

Fed (40:57.529)
you

Belinda Granger (41:00.546)
she spent in the red zone. Look, he only got that place because he cheated and got away with it. So we discussed it back and forth, back and forth. And we finally came up with, you'll see once it's released, obviously by the time this podcast comes out, it will be released, that I think will educate our viewers and athletes to know what they're looking at and to see it. again, on the other flip side, it's...

the athletes, it's asking them to take on more responsibility. And this is something that I think was lacking is that we need, yes, we need good officials at races and we need officials that actually do their job and pull athletes up when they're doing the wrong thing. But I think professional athletes also need to take responsibility back into their own hands. And now by releasing these results and this data, I think it'll be very interesting to see what happens in the next race if they know that the data is going to be released and those numbers will be up on screen.

Because you could already see from last year when we used Race Ranger and Roth to this year, there was less drafting because they knew it was going to be made public. So it's worked already. And the intention is not to point fingers. It's just that we want to have fair and just racing. And Sam Laidlaw, he nailed it. They do. They need to take more responsibility and more accountability for how they race. But Race Rangers got... What's that?

Another Triathlon Pod (42:02.974)
interesting.

Fed (42:05.923)
Mm.

Josh (42:22.61)
I'll let Fede jump in. I'll let Fede jump in next. Cause I know he's, he's big into this and even bringing it into the age group world too. And I just witnessed some horrific trains and drafting at the race I did to the point where people are looking around for motorbikes in the age group world. He wasn't looking back to see if I was drafting. He was looking to see if there was a bike and it was like on and on and on. With the data that's coming out is a lot of it's scrubbing.

Belinda Granger (42:29.174)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Belinda Granger (42:36.654)
It's awful. Yeah! Motorbikes!

Belinda Granger (42:47.266)
It's awful.

Josh (42:52.242)
the fact that somebody might be passing a lot of people. People like to use the Sam Long example.

Belinda Granger (42:56.438)
Yeah, and absolutely really, really good question. And this is the beauty and this is James Alvaryny and obviously who owns Race Ranger. The man's a genius. He's brilliant. And his heart is, his heart's in the right place. His head's in the right place. And I think what he's doing is going to change the sport. what's coming up for Race Ranger down the track is going to be spectacular. And what he's able to do is obviously with the Roth, the dynamic of the race in Roth, there are three climbs.

You know, and the main one being solar, but solarberg and there is no overtaking. You've seen the crowd. There's no possibility. So of course, every athlete going up solarberg is going to be right on the other one's hammer. There's no advantage there. Everyone's going slower. Second lap in particular, when they're stuck behind age group athletes. So James was able to remove the two climbs club Calvary and Berg and also solarberg. And also we have a green zone 500 meters out of T1.

Another Triathlon Pod (43:30.855)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (43:54.542)
and 500 meters into T2, where we were able to discount that as well. Plus he was able to take out every single aid station because we don't want people missing aid stations and we don't care if the lights are red coming in and out of an aid station. So we were able to take all of those sections out. And so what you are left with is the data on the rest of the bike course. So it's fairly, I would say 99.9 % accuracy. The numbers that you see

Another Triathlon Pod (44:03.178)
yeah.

Fed (44:17.517)
Mm. Yeah.

Belinda Granger (44:24.494)
accurate numbers. The only thing it doesn't do is obviously yo-yoing. Yo-yoing is probably the biggest thing. where most people get their time, their illegal time in. So obviously when you move in and the light in front of you starts flashing red, you go, shit, and you move out. But that's recorded because what really should be happening as soon as you get the red, you really should make the move forward. And if you do that, you won't collect any time.

Another Triathlon Pod (44:50.782)
it.

Belinda Granger (44:53.772)
But if you go back that whole time that it's read until you're out of the red, it will collect time. Yeah, it's, it's interesting, but yeah, but it is, it is accurate.

Another Triathlon Pod (44:54.031)
Fed (44:54.457)
Mm.

Fed (45:00.354)
Mm.

Another Triathlon Pod (45:01.074)
That's interesting. Yeah, and you know what, it's really, that is very cool to see. And it's interesting what you said about kind of the personal responsibility and what Sam had brought up because we did see something like originally the T100 started using Race Ranger, but they had never ever given out a penalty. A lot of red lights on Race Ranger for those first few races before they gave out a penalty.

Belinda Granger (45:18.198)
Nah.

Belinda Granger (45:21.55)
And that's what I mean. Why bother having it? And imagine if they were able to release the Most, 99 % of athletes racing have a conscience. There are a couple that don't, but most of them do. And I don't think they want to see, you know, six minutes next to their name. And yeah, okay. By announcing this data, no one's getting a penalty.

Another Triathlon Pod (45:32.317)
Yeah.

Fed (45:33.821)
Hahaha

Fed (45:39.897)
Hmm.

Belinda Granger (45:46.942)
When we move forward with Race Ranger, what it's going to be able to do, they're going to be able to do live updates for the officials. So the officials on motorbikes are going to be able to see it, whether they're there or not. They're going to be able to see certain numbers and then they're going to be able to give penalties out regardless of whether they're there or not. So could be, I think where Race Ranger is heading down the track is going to be, it's going to be a massive game changer.

Another Triathlon Pod (45:54.696)
Yeah.

Fed (46:01.89)
Absolutely.

Fed (46:11.199)
Yeah, I was, I was talking this week with, with, my friends from race ranger and, we went down a rabbit hole of, the things that they can do. And man, it's, it's going to be exciting for triathlon. Yeah. Like everything that they're working towards, I think the future is bright for, for, triathlon and, to make, and to make the races way, way, more fair for, for athletes, pros and age groupers. So I think it's exciting.

Belinda Granger (46:22.742)
It's pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah.

Belinda Granger (46:37.634)
Yeah. Yeah. No, I agree. I mean, it is, and you know, we don't, shouldn't look at this in a negative way. We shouldn't, I mean, it's easy for us to say, everyone's cheating, but I think what's happening in our sport, which should happen is our sport is continuing to evolve and grow and get better and more professional. And that's, that's great. But then what ends up happening with that is you look at Roth and the difference in the men's and women's race, because we didn't have that many women racing in Roth this year, but we had some incredible men.

And we knew that we were going to have a huge pack of men out of the swim because I think it was probably the the best group of swimmers that we've ever had in that race since 1984, since it began. And so we knew that there was the potential of it being a little difficult, uh, in the first, say 20 to 30 kilometers of the bike. And I think race Ranger without race Ranger, could you even imagine? mean, it would have taken.

Fed (47:17.215)
Hmm.

Fed (47:28.546)
and

Belinda Granger (47:34.974)
half of the first lap to separate these groups. But I think with Race Ranger, even though it's not perfect yet, I think it's definitely a deterrent. And then making these results or this data public is yet another deterrent. But yeah, I can't wait till we move forward ahead again. And when it's all live and the officials are able to see it on their phones, on their devices, and actually see exactly who's cheating, then it'll be even better.

Fed (47:54.124)
Yeah.

Fed (48:02.944)
Yeah

Josh (48:04.678)
Is there any discussion, mean, we just had Scott Derruan, we asked him the same question. We know that T100 goes to the 20 meters. Is there any discussion or a lot of discussion around 12 versus 20 within challenge?

Belinda Granger (48:16.227)
Yeah, yeah. Well, it's funny. were actually the first Challenge Family implemented the 20-metre rule. We've been running it for years now. Roth is different. So Challenge Family, we obviously have races all around the world. Wherever and particularly with any new races we have now, we don't give them a choice. We tell them it must be 20 metres. But majority of our races are 20-metre rule.

We're trying to get it. was one of the questions that actually Joe Skipper brought up in the pro briefing at Roth. And I think Felix can be convinced the place we get into trouble with that is the second lap. So the first lap we could implement the 20 meter rule for the professional athletes, not a problem. For the second lap, gets tricky because there's obviously 3,500 age group athletes on course and it gets very crowded in sections. And so,

Our biggest fear, particularly with the professional women, is that, let's say we have Laura Phillip and Grace Tech riding 20 metres apart. What's to stop an age grouper who's running the 12 metre rule, slotting in between? Technically he or she's not doing anything wrong. But then all of a sudden, Grace Tech is now having to move back another 20 metres. She's now 40 metres behind her competition. I mean, we could maybe make a rule that, if...

age group, top age group men catch the pro women. They're not allowed to interfere with their race, but I mean, it's, difficult because how do you, how do you, if there's not an, an official there to, to man that and then they slot in who's to stop it. It's, it's, it's tricky. mean, I still think that we, I mean, I still, my viewpoint is we still should make it 20 meters in Ross. And I would love to see that because I think 20 meter rule in Ross plus race Ranger game changer, absolute game changer.

Another Triathlon Pod (50:03.302)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (50:05.134)
We use the 20 meter rule at our championship event in Samaritan and it makes it so fair Every year it's it's such a fair race because 20 12 meters is you were definitely still getting an advantage massive particularly if you've got a group of 12 15 men all riding it at 12 meters easy 20 meters no So yeah, that's the next step

Another Triathlon Pod (50:25.534)
Yeah, it's crazy. Definitely. Well, it's good to hear. It's great to hear that there is some discussion around that because it definitely sounds like a lot of the pros want it. And actually, over the years, I've done a couple of the challenge races in North America with Atlantic City and Penticton and stuff, but I have not made it over to Roth yet. It's one of those races I've always wanted to do. I have to ask you, is it as good as everyone says? Because it looks epic.

Belinda Granger (50:32.898)
Yeah. Yeah.

Belinda Granger (50:47.79)
I just, it's, you know, I raced at 10 times and I've now worked at the other side 10 times and I will continue going back there till they don't want me anymore. I never get sick of it. I never get sick of it. It's, again, it's, I'm not saying it's the greatest, most important race in the world, but it is by far the greatest celebration of our sport in the world. All week. mean, that expo.

Another Triathlon Pod (50:59.827)
Yeah.

Fed (51:00.419)
Hahaha

Belinda Granger (51:17.644)
There is no expo in the world that is like it. is just, if you can think about everyone that has anything to do with the sport in the world, all congregating in one small town for a week. And I mean, I, I, can't wipe the smile off my face. I absolutely love it. I thrive in that environment and it's the race day itself is, is just the icing on the cake. And it's the only race where every athlete

even though they might be absolutely exhausted or even, you know, after a full distance race off and you're very fatigued, you're sick, everyone comes back to the finish line because you don't want to miss that finish and that laser show that they have at the end. And it's like a festival. It's a week long triathlon festival. And it's just, yeah, it's incredible. And I always love it when we had quite a few first timers this time, obviously in the pro field, which is unusual.

Another Triathlon Pod (51:54.536)
really.

Belinda Granger (52:12.77)
and just watching their faces when one when they cross the finish line and secondly when they came back for that for that for the last athletes to finish and that big show they put on the end and to watch that their eyes well up they start to cry because it's it's the reason that we all got into the sport in the first place and it's just for the absolute sheer love of the sport of triathlon it's amazing i just love it

Another Triathlon Pod (52:27.4)
it was?

Fed (52:28.665)
Hmm.

Josh (52:40.232)
the kid

Belinda Granger (52:40.383)
I actually go through depression afterwards. I literally go through depression for days afterwards.

Fed (52:40.505)
Yeah.

Josh (52:43.044)
I mean, it's like when you're racing too, it's hard to get back to that next training session after a big race and all the emotion that you put into it, especially something like Roth or, or, or worlds. And in my case, just any 70.3 it's, but what this year, I think there was, there was, we've seen in a couple of races now what Jonas has done. What is your impression of that kid and what he's now translated from short course into.

Another Triathlon Pod (52:43.608)
Come down.

Another Triathlon Pod (52:49.66)
Yeah

Belinda Granger (52:51.136)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

Belinda Granger (52:58.702)
Yeah

Another Triathlon Pod (52:59.311)
Thank

Belinda Granger (53:07.149)
and

Josh (53:12.21)
the long distance world and, Kenny hold it all together through a run. you see that coming?

Belinda Granger (53:17.492)
I absolutely do. I he's not as young as we all think. I keep looking at him thinking he's in his early twenties. He's got such a baby face, but he's actually, I think he's early thirties, thirty one perhaps. So he's been in the sport for a long time, but what he brings to the sport and what I love about what he brings and it's his personality is he's not scared to fail. He's not scared to lay it on the line. He was the only one in the press conference that said, I think,

Another Triathlon Pod (53:36.955)
Mm-hmm

Fed (53:37.689)
Hmm.

Belinda Granger (53:43.936)
Magnus Ditlef's record is doable. I think we can do it. I think I can get it and I'm going to, I'm going to give it a red hot crack. And a lot of athletes are scared to lay it on the line because one, don't want to make a fool of themselves if they don't do it, but he doesn't care. And I love that attitude. I love that he's just, you know, he went out with an, on a mission to, win that race and particularly to pick himself up after what happened in Frankfurt, with that mechanical. mean, that was, I mean, what are the chances of that happening?

Another Triathlon Pod (53:47.666)
it.

Belinda Granger (54:12.684)
ridiculous. I had to watch it twice just to understand what had happened to the poor guy. And then I reached out to him. I was actually working at a race in Valsy and I, Felix, Felix text me and said, have you got Jonas's contacts? We need to get done. And so I said, I'm actually working a race right now, but no problem. Anyway, I sent him a WhatsApp while I'm out on the run course, taking videos of the runners in Valsy. And I said, you know what, what are you doing next week? We want you in Roth. And you know, he didn't even hesitate. said, yep.

Another Triathlon Pod (54:22.909)
Yes.

Belinda Granger (54:42.338)
I'm coming. And I love that attitude. And he's, I think we need more of that attitude. It's the reason that I think the women are now going to break sub eight because we've got these, these fearless women that are like, reckon we can do it. Why not? And now we've got Jonas in the men's field who will raise the bar because by having that attitude, by laying it on the line at these press conferences and then by, and then by, actually doing it on race day, these other athletes are going to go, well, shit, if he's doing it, I'm going to do it.

Another Triathlon Pod (54:43.176)
That is all I could.

Belinda Granger (55:11.35)
And this is how we see that bar continuing to be raised because you've got these athletes like Jonas that are not scared to lay it on the line and we need more of that. And then you find all the other athletes rise to the occasion. And I love it. Every year you see it. And I must admit it's when short course athletes make their way in because you know, short course athletes have that attitude. They've got to be red hot. They're either on or they're not. And I love when they bring that attitude to long distance racing. It doesn't always work.

But eventually, eventually it does. I think, yeah, Jonas will definitely be a player up the pointy end of the field in the next few years for sure.

Another Triathlon Pod (55:47.942)
It's so good. I love when the short cross athletes come in. It's almost like they don't know the pain that's ahead with an Ironman. So they just lay it on the line and see what happens.

Belinda Granger (55:55.198)
I love it. should, I should read. I actually reached out to, cause I thought Holly Lawrence had a spectacular, race. really thought she raised so well. And so I sent her, miserable conditions. Imagine that being, mean, I've done like plastic and it is a magnificent course. love the course, the town. It's, it's another one of those races that the town embraces it. They take it on as their own. It's just a wonderful weekend.

Another Triathlon Pod (56:02.142)
Yes.

Fed (56:05.092)
Mmm. Yeah.

Belinda Granger (56:21.868)
But when the weather is like that, it doesn't matter where you are. It's just miserable. And so I just felt for, for all of those people doing their first ones, but she, she wrote to me she's like, Jesus Christ, Belinda Ironman is no joke. nearly quit the whole sport during that race. and she's like, I actually don't know if I forgot what it takes. And I just thought this is just, you know, and anyone that knows Holly, she's just so raw and so honest. And she's like, new found respect for all you guys who were at the top for so many years, absolutely brutal. But that's how you feel, you know,

Fed (56:36.038)
Yeah

Another Triathlon Pod (56:50.526)
I love that.

Belinda Granger (56:51.36)
after your first one, but I can guarantee that this woman will be back and she will absolutely crush it because she's got what it takes. And that first one is often, yeah, you just don't know what you're in for and you're like, my God, what just happened? But yeah, it's amazing. Exactly, exactly. she, you know, and in some ways I liked that her first experience was so tough because she knows it can only get better from here really.

Fed (57:04.845)
Hmm.

Josh (57:04.852)
Less than 24 hours. She was holding that coin. So she's got one

Another Triathlon Pod (57:20.413)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (57:21.262)
Just the mental side of racing in conditions where it's pouring rain. You don't even realize how much that takes out of you physically. It wears you down. you she only needs to do it next one in nice sunny conditions. You should be like, this is a walk in the park. It should be fine. It's pretty amazing. Yeah.

Fed (57:29.566)
yeah.

Fed (57:37.113)
Totally. Now that you were mentioning Rod on the finish line, I think we've all talked on the part that we want to get over there and do the race. All the three of us probably convinced Josh to be his first full, so I think it would be amazing. yeah, be a good one to do. Yeah. But I was going to say a lot of pros.

Another Triathlon Pod (57:53.438)
We need to him sucked in.

Belinda Granger (57:55.436)
Be a good one to do.

Fed (58:02.597)
speak very well of you. Like you're this big sister for them and you always treat them well and you always make sure they're taken care of. But I, I, I'm going to say you're also like that for the edge groupers and you might not remember this, but I think it was challenge Wanaka, which is probably my favorite race of the whole world. Challenge Wanaka. Yeah. 2022 or 2023. Can't remember which edition, but I was, I was dying on the wrong course. was.

Another Triathlon Pod (58:15.859)
Yep.

Belinda Granger (58:21.708)
Yeah, beautiful Wraith, yeah.

Belinda Granger (58:28.256)
Okay, yep.

Fed (58:32.459)
I was, I overbiked obviously, I was pursuing this guys and, you were, you were standing right at the beginning of the run course cheering us on. And, I was like, my God, Belinda Granger, pull it together. You got to fake you're running really well right now. And, and, and you're like, great form, good job. I'm like, no, I cannot disappoint her. need to keep this up for the entire run. Yeah.

Another Triathlon Pod (58:47.913)
You

Fed (59:00.437)
And but you stayed for the entire race supporting the pros, the age groupers, the last person crossing the finish line. So yeah, I can, can speak for myself and for the whole Drafton community that you're there for the pros and for the whole, from the first to finish place, you're always there. So yeah, thank you for that.

Belinda Granger (59:04.206)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (59:20.118)
Yeah, I think, you know, because I started the sport as an age group athlete and not a particularly good one, you know, it wasn't like it all came easy for me from the start. You have respect for every athlete that makes their way, their way onto a start line. doesn't matter whether they're the best in their age group or one of the best pros or, or just trying to make it to that finish line. That's their sole goal. And I think because where are my grassroots where I started to where I made it to and just knowing

what an incredible sport it is and what it's done for me personally. I love it and I don't think, you know, there are people that do the sport then they get out and you never see them again and that's fine. I mean, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that at all, but for me, it always was a way of life. I was just lucky enough to be good enough to make it a profession. So when I see people out on course, whether they're having the race of their life or they're struggling, I've been in both shoes.

And so I know what it's like and it's, you know, so I'm always going to be out there supporting whether you're professional athlete or an age group athlete and particularly a race like Wanaka that I was there. I was at the very first one that ever, you know, I raced the first one and I loved it. And it's one of those events that's just, yeah, yeah. And it was so hard. my God, it was hard. you know, those roads in New Zealand, you stop pedaling, you stop moving, you know, I mean, you know what they're like, they're terrible.

Fed (01:00:26.883)
Yeah.

Fed (01:00:32.813)
When it was a full?

Another Triathlon Pod (01:00:38.063)
Thank

Fed (01:00:44.215)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (01:00:45.87)
But it's such a beautiful race in a beautiful part of the world. And the year you did it was one of the hardest. That's one of the hardest 21 Ks you'll ever do. I mean, it's on a mountain bike course. It's brutal. They have moved it back into town now. So it's still hard, but it's nowhere near as hard. So you can at least be very proud that you did one of the hardest bloody 21 Ks in the world. Oh gosh.

Fed (01:00:56.653)
Man, yeah.

Fed (01:01:06.808)
Yeah, that was intense.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:01:10.782)
Yeah, well, I'm going to pile on what Feday said a little bit here too, because you were a big impact in me getting into triathlon as well. When I started, I was brand new to the sport, joined Macca's team, but you gave so much to the team, just offering advice and encouragement on a Facebook group at the time kind of thing. Definitely made an impression. Yeah.

Belinda Granger (01:01:12.62)
yeah.

Belinda Granger (01:01:28.542)
Yeah, that's right. Loved it. I love that Macarex. It was great fun. you know, Macarex and I, met each other when we were both at university and I literally had just started the sport. And it was the university games over in Perth and he was a very good runner at the time. And he didn't, he didn't, hadn't started triathlon. And I remember sitting on a ferry, we had some party on a ferry one night and we started talking about the sport of triathlon. And I remember saying him, you know, you should see about getting into it.

You know, obviously the rest is history became one the greatest athletes ever, but it's funny how it all starts. And I think it's that snowball effect. So there are athletes that had had a real impact on me once I got into the sport. And then I think you owe it to keep passing that on. And I mean, it's the same with you, Jenner. I'm sure you're doing it now to many age group athletes that are out there. and I think that's the beauty of our sport. And I think it's the sort of personalities that our sport attracts as well. That we're a lot, a lot of us are givers.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:01:56.606)
you

Another Triathlon Pod (01:02:01.438)
Mm-hmm.

Belinda Granger (01:02:26.006)
And I think that's why I love it so much still to this day.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:02:30.322)
the best community. Well, we have taken up a lot of your time here. So we've got a couple of quickfire questions we like to ask the athletes that come on our show here. Nothing too crazy. But we'll start off with what's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten during training or racing? Have you ever just been like bonked in the middle of nowhere or weird country and had something odd?

Belinda Granger (01:02:32.014)
Yeah.

Belinda Granger (01:02:35.982)
Belinda Granger (01:02:50.422)
That's a really good question. It'd have to be if it was it would be something that I ate that I had no idea some packaged good from a 7-eleven and either Thailand Phuket or in Korea because I chained there as well. yeah some packaged sponge cake sort of situation with God knows what sort of custard in between but you you did it'd be it'd be potluck what you what you actually were getting in

Another Triathlon Pod (01:03:00.402)
Yep, in there.

Fed (01:03:01.293)
You

Fed (01:03:08.214)
You

Another Triathlon Pod (01:03:10.746)
So, get your own.

Belinda Granger (01:03:16.366)
Sometimes you'd nail it, it'd be great. Other times you'd like, my gosh, what have I just eaten? But you know, when you're desperate, you'll take anything, anything to get you home.

Fed (01:03:20.129)
Hehehehehe

Another Triathlon Pod (01:03:23.12)
Yup. Love it. If you had to race a trap phone again and partner with another pro to do it, who would it be and why? Now, this could be someone that would make you go faster and challenge you or just someone that you'd want to spend the time that it takes to do an Ironman with.

Belinda Granger (01:03:40.622)
Good question, who would it be? Well, anyone that knows me knows that I never shut up, so I love talking. I think that's the only thing I get criticized on with commentaries that I talk too much. So it'd have to be someone, it wouldn't necessarily be, I think I'm older now, so I'm not as competitive as I used to be back in the day. So it'd be someone that I could just have a conversation with nonstop. So it'd probably be one of my girlfriends.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:03:46.472)
you

Fed (01:03:53.975)
Yeah

Another Triathlon Pod (01:04:01.054)
you

Belinda Granger (01:04:07.758)
either someone like Beth McKenzie, I'm thinking of triathletes now, it could have been any of my friends or even actually you know I love chatting to and I love I went for a long run with a not long ago is Sam Laidlaw's girlfriend Milan Agnew she's half my age of course but we just get on like a house on fire I feel like I I always say that I'm her mother away from home because she actually lives in Brisbane and I always say to a mum whenever we're overseas I'll be a mum for you so I'd love

Another Triathlon Pod (01:04:21.768)
So good.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:04:29.319)
you

Belinda Granger (01:04:36.103)
I reckon Milan Agnew should be good fun because we would not shut up the whole way around.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:04:40.066)
I love it. Now if Traphon had a fourth discipline that gives you the edge, what would it be? Would it be something like gymnastics or the after party? You're pretty good at those too.

Belinda Granger (01:04:45.368)
this is easy. no, it would have to be the after party, my friends. And drinking copious amounts of red wine. Let's be honest.

Josh (01:04:51.058)
Off the balance beam.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:04:53.441)
Hahaha!

I love it when I crunch it.

Josh (01:04:57.764)
And...

Fed (01:05:01.027)
Thank

Belinda Granger (01:05:01.198)
Although the gymnastics side, I got to visit Andorra for the very first time this year when I was overseas and I stayed with Emma Snosel and Jan Frodeno. I hadn't done any gymnastics for, my God, 30 years. And I'd had a couple of red wines at a barbecue and then they've got this backyard and I started doing roundoffs and roundoff backflips, cartwheels and roundoffs, not backflips, roundoffs with their daughter, Sienna.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:05:21.214)
Just as you do.

Belinda Granger (01:05:27.594)
And so I think I could be actually okay in the gymnastics department if we made that a fourth leg as well.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:05:28.67)
Thank

Another Triathlon Pod (01:05:33.788)
There we go. That would definitely be a lot more entertaining to watch. Now, where would it go in the race?

Belinda Granger (01:05:36.142)
You

I reckon you need to do it out of the swim. So you do the swim and then you'd be forced to do a couple of roundoffs, then jump on your bike. And then we'd incorporate some onto the bike. That's right. And then I think, I think if we're talking after parties and drinking, Joe Skipper actually had his beer mile the day after in Roth. So let's not do it the day after. Let's make sure we make everyone do a beer mile. I'll just do it as wine right after you cross the finish line.

Josh (01:05:50.452)
Round off onto the bike.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:05:50.526)
you

Yeah, there we go. Get the flying cap.

Fed (01:05:55.726)
Yeah

Fed (01:06:04.376)
Hmm.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:06:09.672)
There we go. I love it. It was funny when I started Trath on both you and Mac and we're at like the tail end of your careers and stuff. So there was definitely a lot more after parties. so good.

Belinda Granger (01:06:11.534)
So make it five, five legs. There you go, perfect. And I reckon I'd win. I'd be back to winning again.

Josh (01:06:11.614)
Thanks.

Fed (01:06:15.34)
Nice.

Fed (01:06:18.979)
haha

Belinda Granger (01:06:27.15)
I did a whole year, a whole year of after parties. Don't you worry. I just, yeah, crazy. loved it.

Fed (01:06:32.664)
Hehehe

Another Triathlon Pod (01:06:34.142)
Last question here, what's one piece of advice you've been given over the years that's really resonated with you?

Belinda Granger (01:06:42.284)
You know, sometimes we get so caught up in the end result. And when I say end result, that end result is applicable to you and you only. I mean, you get so caught up on times and end results that we forget about the journey along the way. And really great example here is Laura Siddell lined up for Roth last time and obviously didn't have the race that she had anticipated or that we know that she's capable of. And she was pretty devastated because she wanted to put on a

an incredible last performance. But I remember going up to it, the finish line, and I said, you know what, Laura, right now it stings, I understand, but in a year's time, you're not even gonna remember what place you came or what time it was that you crossed the line. All you're gonna remember was the journey to get there and the celebration on the finish line. So I think results are what drive us for sure, know, results and times, but at the end of the day, it is the journey that gets us there. And that celebration, the finish line is simply a celebration of

all that hard work and effort put in and the fun that you had doing it. So just never forget the bigger picture when it comes to that. And I think that, as I said, that applies to everyone, whether you're a professional athlete or an age group athlete. Yeah.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:07:53.47)
I love that. That definitely resonates. I know a lot of us are just looking towards the next goal every time.

Belinda Granger (01:07:59.11)
Absolutely, I mean we need goals. mean short-term long-term goals are absolutely needed but at the end of the day, I mean it's easy because I can look back now at my career and if you ask me, I think I can remember what my fastest time ever was but not to the second and you obviously I can rattle off some of my results, I can't remember all of them and because at the end that's not the important, that's not the most important part.

But you know, I can tell you the best times I had, can tell you the races that I loved, the people that I met at these races, the people I still know from races. So again, it's that journey, not necessarily the end result. Yeah.

Josh (01:08:37.502)
So true.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:08:39.206)
Well, Glinda, where is the best way that people can follow you along and see what you're up to these days?

Belinda Granger (01:08:44.776)
I mean, I'm not, as I was saying before, I'm technologically a little backward, I do have an Instagram account, obviously, which is what I try and update as much as possible. but yeah, that's probably the best place to get me. And obviously when I'm at events, I try and update as much as possible. But next, next race up for me, I think we'll, we've got a race in Uzbekistan, Challenge Samarkand, which is an incredible.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:08:55.815)
Thank

Another Triathlon Pod (01:09:11.518)
What the?

Fed (01:09:11.865)
Mmm.

Belinda Granger (01:09:13.44)
incredibly well run race. And then after that, of course, we've got Challenge Almere, which I'll be going over for, which is the European Long Distance Championship, which I do the live commentary for there, which is always great fun. Yeah.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:09:26.354)
Well, we will look forward to following it. Thank you again so much for taking the time. We sure appreciate it.

Belinda Granger (01:09:29.196)
Thank you so much guys. No, that's wonderful. mean, it's so nice to be able to talk to like-minded people who I know love the sport as much as I do. I'm getting sore cheeks from smiling too much. But yeah, I just, I love it. We've got such a special sport and such an incredibly special community. Yeah, I feel very fortunate, that's for sure. So thank you.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:09:40.611)
Successful contest then.

Josh (01:09:40.693)
heheheheh...

Fed (01:09:41.228)
Hahaha

Another Triathlon Pod (01:09:51.742)
Absolutely have a great day and we appreciate it.

Fed (01:09:52.601)
Thank you.

Josh (01:09:53.14)
Thanks.

Belinda Granger (01:09:55.468)
Thanks guys. Bye.