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Ironman World Championship 70.3 race preview
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Clearwater 2008
It’s before dawn at Pier 60 in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Over 1,800 athletes are quietly shuffling into transition – they all look introvertedly focused yet outwardly tranquil, typical of that race day poker face so many triathletes have mastered, but really, they are mostly just trying to enjoy the moment or keep their breakfast down. The music is roaring in contradiction to the many hidden anxieties and the atmosphere is electrifying the fans that are already beginning to crowd in around T1 in the morning light. Thousands of support personnel are awake and charmingly over-caffeinated, and their insistent smiling is disarming to even the most nervous age groupers. Yet for many of the athletes who have trained for the better part of a year to peak at this race, it still feels as if this day snuck up on them. This is it.
This is race morning at the Foster Grant Ironman World Championship 70.3. The Zeitgeist is unparalleled here, aside from Kona.
This is the culmination of the Ironman 70.3 Series season and although it’s not as famous its louder cousin on the Big Island, a win here can elevate a professional career much the same. Just ask wunderkind Terenzo Bozzone or 2008 belle of the ball Joanna Zeiger.
Clearwater is fast and flat, and the competition gets exponentially fiercer each year; this is by far the fastest growing distance in triathlon. This may be a “half” Ironman by distance, but there is nothing “half” about the incredible level of fitness and mental finesse that it takes to cross the finish line of any 70.3. Make no mistake, these are bona fide M-dot races worthy of the highest accolades.
There are now 31 official races worldwide at which one can qualify for Clearwater, from Boise to Brazil, from Antwerp to Malaysia. As fast as it is growing, these venues are still unique and topflight.
Qualifying for the World Championships means that even if you’re not a pro, you’re firmly elite in your age bracket. You are fast, you are determined, and you have likely sacrificed much to be here. Behind every set of goggles at the start line is different story of personal triumph and willpower, each as compelling as it is unique from the next. Triathlon is truly the personification of sports drama. Clearwater is the termination of that narrative.
There is a $100,000 combined prize purse for 2009, and a host of talent will be knocking on the door for a chunk of the spoils. The professional heat seems especially deep this year. On the men’s side Terenzo Bozzone returns to defend his breakthrough 2008 title, with competition threatened by Matt Reed, Joe Gambles, and Richie Cunningham, to name but a few. The men’s race should be explosive out of the water as they hammer each other on the bike for run placement. Altogether 85 male pros will show up en masse for the malay.
Joanna Zeiger also returns for round two at Clearwater to fight 54 other women in a tour de force defense of her crown. Nina Kraft, Pip Taylor, and especially 2008 runner-up Mary Beth Ellis will provide plenty of ammunition for what is expected to be an epic shoot out.
Be sure not to miss the Ironman World Championship 70.3 this Saturday, November 14th, 2009.
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