You’re getting this as part of our Monday-Friday Kona Week daily newsletters. If you got this sent to you and you love it, subscribe to get everything all the time. If you just want to go back to your 1x/week Triathlonish emails, don’t worry: Kona will pass soon.
A big thanks to Salomon for flying me out to Kona this year and to Roka for supporting our Kona coverage.
Bonus: You can now win a pair of Roka’s R2 goggles as part of our podium predictions contest. The prize is no longer random things in Kelly’s office. It’s now random things in Kelly’s office + the fastest and most comfortable goggles on the market.
Plus, if you’re in Kona and want to test out their Viper X.3 swimskin — which Lucy Charles-Barclay & Jamie Riddle will be wearing on Saturday — you can demo one Tuesday-Thursday until 9am(ish) at the pier.
Have we hit peak Kona?
The big debate in running is if we’ve hit the point of too many brands, too many activations, too many shakeout runs, too many live podcast shows. Too many. UTMB mayor’s unhappy, New York Marathon’s banning confetti cannons.
Putting together my schedule for the week, it seems like Kona may be reaching this point, too.
On: Their Tuesday morning run from Kai Eats appears to be sold out; they had a whole week’s worth of schedule but it’s disappeared now so who knows. WHO KNOWS.
Salomon: At Kona Heaven Coffee mid-week — come by on Wednesday afternoon to meet Jessie Diggins & Courtney Dauwalter
Ventum + Wyn Republic + the ProTriNews boy: At Laverne’s daily with … live shows & stuff
Rouvy + Precision Fuel: At Kona Coffee & Tea on Palani — Tuesday-Thursday each morning + a treasure hunt
Faster Through Science (Deboer, etc): At Magic Sands with swims every morning
Canyon: At Lava Java with mechanics and … more stuff
Breakfast with Bob, of course, always forever and ever amen: At Huggo’s
And more I’m sure. Plus, that doesn’t count every group doing a pop-up or a swim.
Everyone always says the locals have a complicated relationship with Ironman. But I don’t think it’s that complicated: There are some benefits and some costs; those are not distributed equally and at some point the costs start to outweigh the benefits for too many people. Live Aloha!
Kelly prediction: Give it 1-2 years and Ironman will be trying to regulate non-sponsor activations again. Wouldn’t it be funny if this is the year that finally breaks Kona?
Bonus pro trip: If an activation includes a recreational IV, you should know that is 100% definitely banned.
🐟 Did the jellyfish get you? The practice swim went off yesterday at half the distance and with a slightly adjusted time due to box jellyfish swarms. (Plus, athletes who chose to pull out could get a refund.) We noticed many of the favorites didn’t risk it 👀 — but haven’t heard about a rash of stings yet… let us know
😂 A local’s take that made us laugh: How you know when it’s Ironman week.
📺 What to watch: Bob Babbitt is still at it (Taylor Knibb’s interviews will always be our pick) — but don’t miss Ironman’s Fighting Chance videos either, the Norwegians say so
❤️ Congrats: Word is one of our pros will be celebrating a new arrival pushing them to the finish line!
A (not so) fun fact
There will be 2,548 athletes lining up on Saturday — with 689 women as 27% of the total field.
Thanks to our sponsors
Salomon - Stay tuned for more about their Ironman intentions and what they have planned.
Roka - Don’t forget to enter our podium predictions contest for a new pair of R2 goggles, which I did wear this past weekend and are excellent.