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This podcast is for entertainment purposes only and some stories may be dramatized for comedic effect. Enjoy. Hello and welcome back to another episode of Pro Tri News. The regular season is done and it didn't go away quietly. We had Iron Man Kalmar this weekend. Both course records fell. Jonas Schomberg took his first Iron Man victory in a time of seven twenty-two. Good enough for fastest, fifth fastest of all time. ⁓ sixteen minutes faster than Alistair Brownlee's record a few years back. Laura Phillip also went 813 and won by 18 minutes to take 14 off of last year's course record. At least six slots, the last six slots were punched for Kona, and we're gonna dive into that and everything else. So without further ado, I'm the host, Kyle Glass, joined by Mark Matthews, Pat Lemieux, and Talbot Cox. How are you guys doing this weekend? Dude, we got when the four of us show up. For a pod, you know we're in for a ripper. So I mean I think this weekend the the the chat was on. ⁓ i there was a lot of racing going on. I I'm excited to to cover it. You know, I think ⁓ yeah, it w it was a great weekend all around. The the issue we have is is a lot of times we get on it's it's ten forty AM here in Oklahoma. And we talk for ten minutes about guys, should we talk about this on the podcast? Should we not talk about this on the podcast? And there's like rumors flying around and you always gotta like have discretion on what you can and what you can't say. And we also too we have a lot of inside jokes that we threw on the last podcast and we've talked about this before. We can't talk about inside jokes on the podcast. We always do that. Sometimes it leaves fans just like Wha why do you even do that? So we'll try to be better at that as well. But I personally had a great weekend. Was gonna do my best to get out to California. All these thunderstorms in Denver ⁓ made that not possible. So unfortunately stayed home. but yeah. Mark, how'd you get on? Yeah, good weekend. ⁓ a little bit of socializing. Ripped a T T bike ride with Kat this morning, which was fun being back on the bike. I just basically don't like cycling unless it's a gravel bike on gravel or a T T bike. I've realized. I'm not I I'm too fat for a road bike basically because you feel like you should be fast, but I'm actually slow. Whereas I'm quite good on my T T bike and I get that right reward back. So I'm gonna bin all the other bites I've got, gravel bike, T T bike, fuck everything else. ⁓ but yeah, things are good. I enjoy Calma. ⁓ I watched a little bit of the I've watched a lot of the European athletics, I will say. because it's been held here and stuff, it's actually really felt like athletics has a buzz in the UK right now and we've banked shed loads of medals. So yeah, could we can. And Kyle. ⁓ I w my sister and brother in law actually went to a wedding, sh believe it or not, this weekend, and I was on nephew ⁓ duty or uncle duty. So I had a three year old for about three days this weekend and realized that I'm good on three year olds right now, so back to wedding planning for Addy and I and then maybe maybe put a hold on ⁓ on a three year old for a little bit. It was fun. It was fun. We had a good time. We went to the Papa and the B, we went to the trampoline park. And so it was fun. But it wasn't all the parents listening are probably just laughing because that doesn't turn off. It just it just keeps going. You just learn to live with it. But give it three years, Carl. Okay. Yeah. That's fine. Give about exactly three years. You'll be fine. We touched briefly on it. The ⁓ one of the most impressive ⁓ Iron Man results we've seen in a long time and also first win at Kalmar this weekend that the men's race did not disappoint. ⁓ Jonas Schoenberg walking away with the win. ⁓ easy running ⁓ with a five minute lead over Matthew Marquot and Andreas Salzberg as well. Gregory Barnaby in the race and then the response that was awesome to see was Daniel Backagard. The online response of people just stoked that he's back racing ⁓ ⁓ for him to get a conus slot, last second cone slot, the island would feel pretty weird without Daniel Backgard being there. He's just a good character, right? He brings a lot of hype to the sport. He's he's very open about what he does. He shares a lot behind the scenes. Just a big fan of the guy. He's a lovely bloke as well. Yeah, huge. Especially after losing all your sponsors, right? But I'm surprised that anyone thought that Schoenberg could get beat. I'm I just thought it was I w I'm surprised it was that close if I'm totally honest. He kinda held back on the bike. I mean we've seen him blitz the bike in Roth last year and in in many other races. This is probably the first time that we've seen him actually just like sit into the group and and not attack. ⁓ and that that strategy pant panned out pretty good for him. Yeah, an old juice respecter like Robert Callan, he he can let him go. They know they can let Robert Callan go. There's not he hasn't ever shown the run pedigree that they need to worry about that. So if he just marks Marcot, Gregory Barnaby, you know, a couple of those boys, he's he's confident in his run. And I loved the ⁓ clip he put out w through Iron Man, was it? When they were like, you know, talking about his run was his weakness. He was like, I'm a good runner, I've run a twenty nine minute tenk off the bike. Like, well no. Don't don't call me a bad runner. And he ain't a bad runner, as it turns out. In that in that twenty nine minute ten K did he r split twelve minutes to the first five K? Yeah, if not faster probably. Certainly through the first K. I imagine the first K was about two forty. And then ⁓ just died from the 'cause that was if you if you don't know what we're talking about, that was Jonas Schomburg's signature move in short course. Blitz two two, blitz the first K, maybe hang on for fourth. with his run that he is just continue to ⁓ become a veteran of the sport and race with confidence and when he's moved up to this distance it's been so exciting to watch him just dominate and continue to get better and better and so you gotta just wonder when he races like this, I think this only makes someone like that Sam Long group or some Sam Long Sam Laido group get more confident and more excited Let's work together, let's keep these boys out of arms reach. Pat. I'm I've got a did Rob I want to do some time with Robert Callan on the bike. Has it been reported anywhere? Like did he have this did he think that this is where the bike record was gonna fall, or did w did that just all of a sudden kinda naturally happen out on course, like where the conditions where the stars aligned, I guess. I think he's had like qu and someone can look this up, he's had a lot of close fastest bike. Three Robert has three of the top ten fastest bike splits in Iron Man. Yeah. So I think and also the way the course worked, it definitely looked like the last forty K was the slowest part of the course. It was more technical. It looked like they kind of hit the wind a little bit more. So I think no, I don't think he was actually even going for it. I just think that's how Robert rides. He's unbelievably good. You know he's like six what is he six six or something crazy? He's huge. Big boy. Yeah. Yeah, I mean we've obviously been next to his bike. Like I mean it's a bike that I would ride. I mean he's got he's a he's a big boy. I think it's too big for you. That's saying something. It's a big bike. It's a real big bike, you know. he's just got a lot of horsepower. He's from that right area of the world, anyway. Like that scandy kind of part of the world just seems to produce cyclists at the moment and big power, big what sustained, you know. Even in cycling, you look at the way they race, they're the ones that are drilling the breakaway. All day. That sustained huge power and Robert's just a perfect example of that. Talbot, I'm gonna kinda answer your I'm gonna really dig my heels in on the second part of your, you know, the where you had the thoughts or questions. I think that everybody that performed in Callan, or sorry, Tal where was this Tallinn? Calmar Calamar. Calamar. I'm combining Robert Scroll and it's across the Baltic. Yes, yes. ⁓ I think they're gonna struggle to put together a complete race in Kona. All of them. Everyone. Even the w e even the women's race too. I think that this is I think for Jonas Schomburg, I loved his performance in this weekend. I love that he went and like did it and was brave and and and I think it's amazing. But I don't think it yields you a top maybe he gets eighth place on the big island. I think this is something you gotta be really focused on. And so I I think that we're gonna reflect on this and and look back come Kona. And anybody that performed here is gonna pay for it. Anyone from the top ten men or women, like twenty athletes, let's say five. Maybe Mark Hort, Jonas Schomberg and Laura Philip. Catherine Christopher. Yeah, very good. She's she's a top five contender, but she really looked off her form on this. So maybe I'm not sure what to take away from that. But those four, the rest, what do we expect from them anyway? ⁓ yeah, I Mark, you I mean you said it. That's the that's the like let's rip the band-aid off and just say that. I mean, I think that you leave something on the field to play in Kalmar. 'Cause now now you you you need you need at least ten days to kind of recover from this effort. And then now you're now you've got less than okay, so you got another five weeks to build back into Kona before you gotta start coming down again for it. We're less than we're inside sixty days, guys. And which of those are gonna race seventy point three words as well? Laura Phillips? So she kinda has to for this pro series if she's gone for it now. Yeah, and Jonas. Jonas said he's gonna race Nice as well. Makes it really hard. So I think I think y I think the problem Jonas had in a way is he was on for an Iron Man distance world record for quite a long time. Whereas Laura I think I think she ran ten K, like can I run a two hundred thirty nine I think she needed, which she's done in the past. And then realised about ten K and something like that. No, it's not possible. And Philip was like, right, chill out now. And which is still good enough for an eighteen minute win. But there's that There's a video of Philip like telling her to slow down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think maybe she can you can spare a bit, but you're still running a marathon. She still rode a solo hundred and eighty, which I Laura hasn't done that many times, you know. Her riding was impressive, I thought. I thought Laura's riding was really good. It was like a maybe a PB power bike for her, I don't know. But it yeah, it looked it looked like that. And obviously, like, I mean, I guess the th the only one that might make me eat my words a little bit is Matthew Marquad. Like, okay, I d do I think he's gonna top five at Kona? No. But has he demonstrated so much consistency at the Iron Man distance that like if he just puts together what he's capable of, he could still get eighth at Kona, which with the year that he's had, I mean it would be incredible. I mean he just he can turn up, he can go anywhere in the world, he can do an incredible Iron Man performance. I mean what seems to be on you know I think just like really pretty stock standard training and he just puts together these super solid results anywhere he goes. So I think of of those three that we marked, Schaumberg, Marquot, and Laura Phillip, I think that Mark Matthew Marquot will have the best performance on the back end of this weekend in Kalmar. And we're gonna get into a little bit of my reasoning why, but I don't like Matthew Marquot. And I'm gonna explain why. Because it's pretty apparent from some of the comments I've made on the show. He's a Boy Scout and he's basically too nice. ⁓ he's too multi-talented, like he's got all this other successful stuff in life going on. He turns up and he performs better than I I sort of predict every time. And he's like, ⁓ and I've got to go and save some lives after this and cook my wife dinner and I'm gonna self report that the motos were helping me out and be super integral and honest. And I just think, fuck that bloke, you know? so that's why if you're wondering why I bag on Matthew Marquot Boy Scout, he's too nice. I'm not having a view. I mean, well said. If you if you watched ⁓ if anyone on here watches UFC, there was a fight on this weekend. This incredible athlete named Ian Gary from ⁓ from Ireland is just I mean, he's like the new rising star, super young kid, but he fought Islam and it was Islam is like undefeated. Absolutely incredible. And like between every round, he's like trying to clap hands with them, hug ⁓ good fight, good fight. After the fight, Islam's like, Bro, don't hug me in the middle of a fight. I'm trying to beat your face then. Don't hug me and tell me good job. He goes, That's Matthew Marquad. He's just everyone loves them. He's saving lives in between trialons. No, I mean he's but but But Mark, well no matter how you feel about him. I mean D D it is impressive. He is he I mean guys, is he not one of the most consistent Ironman athletes? What is that? I'd say I've been fighting Talbot on this because I'm like, I don't know, like is it Rudy Von Berg? Is it Trevor? Is it Marquot like Marquot is the best Ironman athlete from America and our best shot at a top five and better in Kona. In the men's style, definitely. You obviously have Tane in the women, clearly. But like in the men's Yeah. Without a doubt. It is and he's and he's basically cosplaying as a professional triathlete 'cause he's obviously in medical school. He's got a year left and then he goes into residency. So it's like he's he's doing this almost for the love of the game, you know what mean? So ⁓ and if you look at his season, like he won in South Africa early in the season by fifteen minutes over Joe Skipper. Impressive? ⁓ yeah, sure. ⁓ was fourth at seventy point three North American champs in Pennsylvania, and then second in Lake Placid, four minutes behind Martin Van Riel who is a Kona favorite, and then again with this one who not according to Pat, but Jonas is probably a Kona favorite as well, loses by five minutes. Those are two guys that are gonna be up there in the big fight. So Marquat has a chance to top five either under his own will or play cleanup duty, come the big island in seven weeks. It's WinRepublic co-founder Luke McKenzie here. We've just officially launched our dedicated online store in Europe, making it even easier for athletes to access our latest triathlon, cycling and run collections. With faster shipping, local pricing, and our industry-leading performance apparel trusted by the world's best athletes, there's never been a better time to experience Win. As a Pro Tri News listener, you can claim 15% off any WinRepublic purchase, so head over to WinRepublic.com or WinRepublic dot eu right now. See you at the races. Let's go. Let's yeah, Mark, if you could walk us through the women's race a little bit and take us through the key the key moments there, and then I'd like to probably get into what Matthew was being very vocal about in the race. Let's cover that a little bit. Yeah, so the women's race, i it kind of was to form in a l in a way. Like Rachel Zelinskis had the fastest swim and she was just out front and there's a couple of others in between. And I I I wanna say the swim must have been a tiny bit short. because Laura Phillip had a basically a P B swim with a fifty-two thirty seven, which is a super good swim. Unless it's just perfect conditions, whatever, it doesn't matter. But she came out the swim ⁓ fifty-two thirty seven and behind her about three, four minutes back was ⁓ Catherine Christensen. Now, if you look on form throughout the year, Katherine Christensen's one of the best riders in the field we have at the moment. Like she's so strong. She was amazing in Hamburg, she was amazing in The seventy point three she's done. ⁓ but it the gap started to come down a little bit, but Laura went solo, went straight past Rachel Zelenskis and just rode the whole one eighty solo, pretty much. And Catherine was closing a tiny bit, but then the gap just blew. Like Laura was just on one. ⁓ she got off the bike first and never looked back. She ran a two fifty two fifty-seven, which is honestly sedentary for Laura on what must be a fast course if you know Jonah Schomburg's running a two thirty-four. ⁓ And Katherine Christensen one, you know, ran up three ⁓ six, which is not good running for her. So I think that it was a race of two halves in that Laura was super impressive throughout the day. Jackie Herring, solid result, solid swim bite run to take third. But the one that was off I would say was Catherine Christensen. I I good swim for her to be fair. Like a fifty six, twenty nine is good for her. But after that I think she just struggled a bit. ⁓ and we'll I we'll wait to see what came out of it. So it wasn't the two horse race that we thought could happen, it was a one horse race and Laura Phillip was magnificent. Yeah, incredible just domination of performance. ⁓ I think that it just begs to wonder will we see Laura Phillip try to go to seventy point three worlds for the Iron Man pro series? I think she I don't know why you do this race if you're not looking for the pro series. Unless it was like I feel I feel really unconfident at the moment and I need a good result to prove that I'm on track and I don't trust the numbers, which is valid. You know, some athletes can do that. Otherwise I think she's decided to chase the pro series, like a l a late chase of it. Maybe it was always the plan, but I'm but be surprised if that was the case. ⁓ I think she struggled struggled with fitness through the start of the year, a bit of illness, a little bit of hospital time. And she's just found some really good form up in St. Maritz and decided to race. So I think she'll go to seventy point three worlds because I don't I actually haven't looked. Has she done two seventy point threes already that score Kyle? Sh no, she's only done one. That's that's kind of my thoughts here is like is she gonna go to seventy point three worlds or is her and Philip gonna go back and talk and be like, Okay, let's just go do Zell ⁓ C two weeks before Nice and then give ourselves more time going into Kona. Like the fitness is obviously pretty good for an Iron Man right now. So it's like does she want to go and race like essentially seventy point three worlds and then four weeks later Ikona or race Zell MC, take a down week and then five weeks into the big island? The th the thing I see about it is that I think she beats Solvay in seventy point three. Like I I especially in Nice, I just think she beats her. And If she can just keep Solvay within striking distance, which which is i i everyone knows that she could do that in Kona, ⁓ she could easily win two hundred grand. So Yeah, I I don't know how like no one no one's gonna it the race is between them. Everyone else is maxed out on points and all that. They all have their their Ironmans and all that. The race is between Solvay and Laura Phillip. ⁓ and then you'll have some like late bloomers in there, but I I mean like Sure, I mean surely Laura's thinking about the bike ride that she had when she won a world title there, right? And she's saying like, hey, look. I got an amazing thirty, thirty five minutes on me on that climb. I I I want to go and try that again. I mean r Yeah, 'cause she's in reality, she's three and a half minutes down on Solve right now. That's it. So You know, can she turn that at seventy point three worlds and Kona combined? Absolutely. She could win the Pro Series. It's just like we said, it's hard now f to see a great Kona result racing eight weeks before. You throw in seventy point three worlds recovery train again, like 'cause you now, like you said, ten days, two weeks. The haze in the barn. I mean it's like you can't there's you're just you're kinda doing a couple long rides, you do a thirty K run. I mean that's like you You're just relying on what you did this summer, right? Yeah, I'm gonna say she goes to South I think they're gonna roll the dice. I think personally, I don't think they believe Laura can win Kona. I I think but the thing is she can, I believe she can. But I think maybe they're realising that this is the biggest take home this year, you know. 'Cause the seventy point the the I Man Pro Series title is now worth something. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And it's it's it's very good cash. And let's say that she fails. How much is money is she making for second place? Yeah, like a hundred and twenty something like that, I don't know. Don't sound like a failure to go show start a niece to me. No no. But do you okay, but d do you think she just left a little a little bit too late? Like what what why is she chasing her tail right now? Did that happen on accident? Do you think she was sick? Late season. Yeah. ⁓ she was sick. I don't think what what's surgery? She Yeah, so I think she was just sick. No, she was just sorry, just in the hospital for being sick. Well she basically didn't get 'cause she's it's because she couldn't race Roth, right? Her plan was Hamburg Ross, Kona. Yeah. Couldn't race Roth. It's a bit of a light season. Maybe she needs to re-sign some contracts. You don't know what it is. But do you Okay, so I think okay, here here I'm gonna put I'm gonna put pen to paper on this a little bit. I think she she could go to Nice in the event that she's just solely thinking on this is a Laura V. Solveg situation. Wherever that gets her on the day in Nice is like almost irrelevant, right? If she finishes fourth in Nice but she's four and a half minutes in front of Solvay, she's sitting there going, Dude, that was the right call. Right? A hundred percent. Mm-hmm. So I think like that that to me, and then we're all gifted with this awesome race within the race, right? And so I think like She's a little bit behind the eighth ball, but that might I dunno, just create like a positive pressure to go, hey, look, like I'm actually going really good. Like let's just see what I can do at the seventy point three course. That a happened to be amazing for me when we did a full Iron Man there. So let's let's just see what we get. Let's go for full nerd real quick. Last time Laurel Ray, seventy point three worlds, was in Lati in twenty twenty three and she was nine minutes behind Taylor Nip in that race, got sixth place. That's five hundred and sixty five points. Do you think that she's going to finish better than that? Because if you're only if you're given five hundred points, you might as well just go win Zell ⁓ C. Yeah, it's a risk because also she actually only has to 'cause she could overcome that di 'cause if you think is Sol V gonna drop five hundred points to let's say Taylor wins. Probably. And then if Laura wins pff Zellem Z, but like it's closer. Also when is Zell ⁓ Z? ⁓ Two I reckon I'm going ZMZ, personally, if I'm them. That's what I would that's what I would think. The other thing that you do need to remember is this is assuming knock on wood, both athletes finish the race. Anything can happen in these races. ⁓ a a mechanical, a DNF. W one DNF, you're not only out they don't have the cushion like some of the other athletes with multiple races, ⁓ with two seventy point I mean they have essentially one shot left. So if anything happens, one of them just wins two hundred grand. So why would you not roll the dice? So Agree. It's it's it's it's setting up to be ⁓ an an an awesome pro series and championship weekend. Speaking of other big races this weekend, T one hundred Vancouver was on ⁓ Don't think ⁓ I guess we should do a pretty good recap because there was about eighteen hundred people at the start watching the race, ⁓ on the live stream, which is just so disappointing. it was a great race. Yeah, it was great. I mean, d yeah, to see Julie Duron just mow her way back through the field. for the results, Julie Duron came away with the win. Kate Waugh second place, first time we've seen her race in a in a little bit. Georgia Taylor Brown third and Our favorite Paula Finley and fourth. So Yeah, it was ⁓ pretty it was it was a really exciting race to watch. Like if this was a seventy point three pro series, everyone would have been ooin' and ⁓ and dying over it. But the strength and field score was really good for this one. This is a pro this is a the the viewing numbers are a problem, guys. But it there was no like we've we keep talking about this, but it like it doesn't take into account how many people are watching in Europe. Like I watched it. I don't watch it on YouTube, for instance. I watched it on TNT Max or whatever. Yeah, like most people are watching on TNT Max or Trathlon Live. Okay. So this is essentially Go ahead, Pat. Why was there no media leading into this race? That's what I have a problem with. There's no there was not a single YouTube video like hyping up the race. Going into the T one hundred race in San Francisco For the men. There was three they had three YouTube videos, like race week style videos that like they've been doing. And then going into this race for Vancouver, nothing. We got one sit down interview with Georgia Taylor Brown where she did like almost like a cheap version of Mark's episode, ⁓ Hot or Not. So it it was for me Did she say something to almost get cancelled? no. I mean she was just ranking like triathlon VADs and stuff and she was like, make sure you're not wearing your compression socks like out in public type of situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm Talbot you're that's that's what I struggled with. You're Talbot, you're the videographer. I mean, you you've done this. I tried to work for them and they canned me a long time ago. I've been bitter ever since, but it's not the end of the world. It's very easy to go find anyone with a camera. And run and gun vlog style content and clip stuff. You look at someone like iShow Speed that they literally just shipped around the world to all these different World Cups. He got more views than the World Cup got. I mean, it's it doesn't the problem with the it's the same thing with Iron Man too, even with their AFC stuff. It's so polished, it's so perfect. Like, we don't need that. Just Pull out a freaking iPhone and just start clipping reels. Get, get, get excitement. And that's what's a bummer about this, is and and it's I I guess it could be, I don't want to say partially our fault too. We should get all get more excited for this, but we get hate in the comments about it too, on how we're the Iron Man fanboys, but also too, you take this start list. It's an absolutely incredible start list, and you put this at Happy Valley, you put this at Northern California this weekend, everyone's ooing and on over. What is it? Well so let's do it. Is it the dynamics then? Let's talk about the race. Alright. Like th the swim was pushed out hard. Kate Wolfe had a great swim making that front swim pack. I thought Imogen Swimmins had an excellent swim. you know Sarah Perez Sala made that swim group as well. ⁓ and as did Lena Meisner. Kate then got to work on the bike and I thought she was just gonna go. Like I thought that was sort of it. Just Imogen T Spy V let out the water. Okay, and T S five in the group. I've I'm I've not got no any notes in front of me. This is just off the top of the head recap. You're good. ⁓ and I'll get back to what I hate about Spy V, Waff, and Simmons in a minute. the and someone can tell me what that is. Anyone got that? What do I hate about that? The same f suit. The boring Rizon suit. You can't tell who is who. You you've got to the Rhizon's gotta get over this. ⁓ we're gonna have the exact same suit. You can't tell who they are. They got to work and Kate, I was amazed. She kinda got ridden down by ⁓ Jen Simmons for a bit, who got up the front, and then there was a big push coming from the back of Alana Siffett. We got to see like, is she a one, you know, was R Roth a one-hit wonder? Is she a real T 100 short course contender now? She was pushing hard. Julie DeRon covered on the bike brilliantly. I will say Georgia Taylor Brown just looked a bit off fitness all day. You know, she didn't make that front swim group. She didn't make any dents on the bike, and she kind of struggled to get going from there. ⁓ but then Kate Waff got riding again and she pushed on and it was a really impressive like I you know, I am I am better than you. I'm g I'm gonna get a gap. and she got the gap she needed, but then Kate ⁓ then Julie Duron hit the run and she just did Julie Duron's stuff, which is by that I mean she ran two and I'd minutes faster than anyone else in the race. Kate Waff held on for second. ⁓ and Georgia Taylor Brown found her legs to come in third. A pretty all round good performance for her. I just think she lacks a bit of bike power, but a really good run to finish it off. I still think she would have been dangerous at seventy point three worlds. And our favourite, your favourite, Paula Finlay, took home a fourth with what sounded like unbelievable crowd support and a really good showing from Imogen Simmons in fifth, who just flagged a bit on the run. ⁓ Alana Siffert, who I mentioned, took it in for seventh. And Taylor Spivy was just really let down by a bike. I don't know if there was a mechanical or something on the bike because she lost way more time than I expect. But that was the race. Mm-hmm. ⁓ great job, Mark. I think ⁓ the big takeaway for me on the bike was Paula Finley, phenomenal, fastest bike split of the day. ⁓ in the middle of the race, there were people jostling p for position, Georgia Taylor Brown, Hannah Berry, Elena Siffert, ⁓ Bianca Bogin, Lena Meisner, Sarah Prez, Sala, all like in this weird bunch. Like they called it on the broadcast multiple times. Of those people, I feel like you're either gonna call Everyone for a penalty or you're calling nobody for a penalty. And they ended up calling Sarah Perisala on a penalty and it's like Yeah. ⁓ that's that's where I have a problem. Like ev all of those women were all at fault at one point in that whole like I think it was like three laps total part of the bike. And then they they ping Sarah for it and it's like I I would have either called it for everyone or I would have called it for nobody. I totally agree. Sarah Perasella just got shafted there because what she did was nowhere near more egregious than half the field. Basically just going uphill and what the the big thing that happened was people got overtaken, didn't drop back out of the twenty on the athlete that had overtaken them, re-overtook. and it was just like they weren't dropping in and out correctly. And the ref was right there. What I think he did was actually gave them all a talking to, which I don't mind. ⁓ but then don't pop poor old Sarah. Yeah. Like it does it does feel it. I'm I'll always take a shot at a Spanish person or a French person when I get the chance, so maybe he was just light minded like I am. But I d I don't think she deserved it. compared to the others. Did she deserve a penalty? Probably. But then dish out ten more is what I would say. I agree, Carl. I agree. I agree. And like there was a point in the race where I think it was Alanisfer or ⁓ Julie Duran that was in front. One of them was in front of the other and they were passing multiple people all at once, but then they stayed in the draft zone behind that person. And it's like, bro, you gotta overtake like you can't just sit in the draft zone the entire time you guys are overtaking people. Totally. I don't like this center ride and you always overtake on the right no matter where you're racing. It just looks weird. I don't know, I don't get it. ⁓ I'm sure they put a lot of thought into it, it just makes it visually quite hard to watch compared to other triathlon. I thought it was actually a really like you said, it was a really good race. It was really well raced. The commentary was solid as ever. Some good takes. They pick up athletes quite quickly. but yeah, it just it just felt like a bit of a nothing burger. But then it's a nothing burger that Julie Duron tips up to and takes home fifty thousand dollars from. Great. Yep. Yep. It was a phenomenal I mean, it was a great race. Go Pat. They need a little life support on the media stuff here. I mean this is a this was a group that came in and said we're gonna change the face of media for triathlon and they this week they stopped doing media. Yeah. A and so I'm just sitting here going like guys it's amazing that you're giving out fifty grand. Let's hope it gets paid quickly. ⁓ let but like what are we doing here? Like let's like let's just try and and the thought that we have another year of this split gender stuff, I'm I'm sitting here going like, What are we doing? Because last time we talked about this, I hadn't clocked that it was split gendered again. I'd I'd basically skimmed the announcement and you you you guys kinda told me halfway through the show. I'm bummed about it. It's it's crap. So it's like if we've got these i like again, the c the start list was amazing. But there was just no There was no excitement for it all week. There was so what are they doing? Are they just penny pinching? They're not they're not investing in media. Like what what are we doing here? and I would say it's not only the media, it's not only the fans. ⁓ I won't mention any names, but even chatting with some of the athletes, they themselves were not even excited to race. So it's I mean Th this is it's it's gotta be something's gotta be done about it. And and so i it's just Next year's gonna be another bridge year. Nothing's gonna happen. Nothing's gonna change. Tell me what's gonna change. Yeah. Not a bad. ⁓ what's next? th another race on this weekend was the inaugural edition of Iron Man seventy point three Northern California. Jason West took away the win. Jackson Laundrie second place. Sam Long third. ⁓ and ⁓ Lionel Sanders back racing again in fourth place. ⁓ On the women's side of things, Grace Alexander ⁓ took away the win, Rebecca Clark in second, and Claire Dasso in third place. So pretty exciting race. ⁓ we'll see how if they pick up that one on the pro series next year. Us triathletes love to argue about what the fourth discipline of triathlon is. Is it nutrition? Is it recovery? But I think we can all agree that if you're not sleeping, you're probably not performing. That's where Fitnexa comes in. These earbuds are designed specifically for sleeping. They have a hybrid active noise cancellation to help block out things like snoring, hotel noise, or traffic outside your hotel room that somehow seem to be ten times louder the night before a race. All of us tri athletes travel around the world, and these are great because you can use them on an airplane, you can use them in that noisy hotel room, or anytime you're trying to get some quality sleep away from home or even at home. They're thin, lightweight, and designed to be comfortable, even for people like me that like to sleep on their side. They can also track your sleep and give you better data to understand your recovery. We love to spend thousands of dollars to save five watts on the bike, but we could also spend couple hundred bucks and get a little bit better quality of sleep. So visit fitmexa dot com and learn how to get your sleep in order. But let's get into some hot takes. ⁓ yeah, we're on hot takes after thirty four minutes. I know. I know. Come on. An hour. Fifty five minutes we can rip on this. I mean look, we got a top let let me open I don't know where they're in order, but I'm gonna just s I'm gonna start with what I perceive to be the biggest one after the whole weekend, right? Yep. Our boy scout Matthew Marquot. He was visibly and audibly calling out lead motos in Iron Man Kalmar for being too close to him in front for drafting. For fear of beating a dead horse. This has been a problem that we've been talking about for a while. I'm perplexed. Now this is happening in this is not an Ironman problem. This is a triathlon and a cycling problem. This is not you this is happening more and more in bike racing. This is happening in every brand of triathlon racing. I'm really perplexed as to why there's in triathlon, for instance, there's not a uniform and ⁓ very clear standard for what can be shared with all of the motorbikes. I'm gonna fast forward to a couple things that I think are the problem, right? And this is not specific to Iron Man. This is this is happening, I believe, in cycling and in triathlon. I think what everybody is trying to balance right now is a fear of how we're gonna make this sport visible and a property that we can sell. So this is happening in cycling and triathlon where, hey, if we put these motorbikes where they should be, which is not twenty meters in front of them, it's probably more like sixty to eighty to a hundred. Because remember, a motorbike you've got standalone is three times the size of a bicycle. And in the case of the motor you've got a person driving it and the person running the camera. Right. So they are p they are throwing off a humongous draft. they don't want to create rules or boundaries for these motorbikes for fear that it will ruin the commercial value of the property they're trying to sell. So is this gonna be a thing where you know, you just have we have to suck it up? There's somebody I know real well that does short course racing that says, Look, I got a huge incentive to make the front pack in short course because we're gonna get motorbike help. We know this. Yeah. Iron Man UCI is not coming in and saying motorbikes, this is they're not saying this is a boogeyman. They're just not acknowledging it because they know it's true. So let's I'm try I'm trying to be on both sides here and say, okay, well let's protect the the commercial value of this sport and then let's acknowledge that races are being influenced. If and no no no I'm sorry, I'm gonna close it here. I'm saying here what happened in Northern California, for instance, if we went and looked at the power files of the top four and we looked at some and did some math, I think we could start to maybe suggest what happened there. You've got Matthew Marquot, who's at the front of the race, receiving these benefits, suggesting to the motorbikes, please get outta here. Yeah. We we know this hap we know this happens. And what's frustrating for me is that the leaders in our sport who should be ensuring that the playing field is fair are not standing up and saying, Let's do something about this. And that's what that's where I get really frustrated. And like Carl put in the chat, we're moving on to championship season. World championship titles have in the past been decided by motos. I don't know which, but I guarantee that's happened. I absolutely guarantee it. The the effect is monstrous. ⁓ and as spectators, I guess now we're trying to educate like fans to be like, just be a bit sceptical and then let your scepticism be known. Because on a on a personal example, now it's been a couple of years gone by, when I did that Talon ride, I probably had a motor at thirty or forty metres the whole way. He was just a course course leader. ⁓ it was just a guy on a motorbike. When I got into transition and by that point I've been told I had a twelve minute lead, having pushed pretty dog shit power. As we rolled in and I was taking my shoes out, I shook hands with the guy on the lead motor and said, Thanks, mate. Because sorry to the lads, you know, that I dropped on the bike, but you all ran past me anyway, so don't worry about it. At forty meters, just to go on a bike was enough for this fat boy to ride twelve minutes clear. Imagine what it's like with a camera on the back. ⁓ two bikes, people. I promise you it's huge. And there will be Massive advantages, particularly in Nice, because not only do you get the draft in Nice, you also get to watch the bike enter the corner. You get to watch the bike enter, lean, and break, and you know how hard the corner's gonna be. If the bike's coming to a screeching hole, you know you have to start screeching hole. If the bike's flying into the corner, you know you just because he's got the map in front of him, right? He's got the his phone's showing the route in front of him, he's screaming down. You don't even touch the brakes and you fly down behind him. And then at the draft effect. If you have a moto twenty metres in front of you going down the hill, thirty thirty and it has to be close because it's bendy. So if they want the front shot, they have to be close because otherwise they you get out of sight round the bends. You will go two and a half, three minutes faster. Easy. Mm minimum. And that's un it's not it's not beatable on a run these days. You can't run three minutes into someone. You know, Julie has a tough time running three minutes into Lucy. Lucy's a very good runner, of course, but they're the two people in the race, or whoever it will be. And it's not always the front person that benefits either, so I just Pick Lucy, I I always use her as an example, but she's the one that springs to mind because she's off the front all the time. I'm not implying anything there. But even like the group is affected. And I think now it's becoming a bigger problem in the groups because the bike sits in a pack and it sits halfway in the pack, which is why someone Marquett is going, get out of the way. Like you're properly in our face here. I think it just has to be a policy. We have to just accept more back and side shots or courses that can allow for different types of filming. So Mark, do you believe that the orgs know this problem exists and they're just turning a blind eye to it because they don't want to ig they don't want to acknowledge it, right? And I guess like the di Okay, so here's here's what I'm gonna say. And I and you guys are all gonna wanna die when I say this. But my thing is is that when you have people making these decisions that have not done a physical race themselves They really severely underestimate the difference it has, right? When is the last time that somebody that's designed or done one of these courses has physically gone out and done one of these races? And had the bike. You know, like you might do a draft on, but when do you you've not got a bike? Right. And so I just think about the things with the cones, right? I think about like you're when you're ac you've actually gotta put yourself into one of these scenarios and go ⁓ wow. I mean, again, I don't want to pick on Jimmy. But how many people told them that twelve meters made a big difference? We all knew what the study was gonna say. Because the athletes had been doing it and they refu and he refused to to to listen to I would say the main problem is there's no consequence. 'Cause Iron Man don't care who wins the world champs. They'd rather it was a big name. Because they get more marketing off of it. They want a a KB, a Laidlow, a Lucy, a Taylor, a big name, sure, because they get more marketing. But they don't care which one. So they don't really care which one wins. So there is no impact for them. They pay out the money the same, they get the publicity the same. And it's only positive for them doing it because they get better coverage. There's no downside. Yes, they invest in drug testing. So maybe they do care about some integrity in the sport, and I'd like to see that then re replicated with moto policies. I ⁓ in America we always have to blame someone. I think there's only one person to blame here. It can't be Joe Biden's fault. It's Elon Musk. ⁓ yeah, good, yeah. Hundred percent Elon Musk's fault. If you look at what it used to take to do a live stream back in let's say two thousand five, you needed R F frequency that was a guy on a moto that's sending all the way to a helicopter, that's sending all the way to a studio. I mean that ⁓ for one moto it would cost fifty grand. Now you need homeboy with a camera and a Starlink satellite on the back of the moto and you're live, which costs hundred dollars a month for the Starlink satellite and ⁓ camera, D S L R camera. Well, some of the thousand dollars. So ⁓ I think it's just a cost thing. But w where I think that what that's done is is that's just make them say, ⁓ it's way cheaper now. We can just add more motos to the course. It doesn't matter if it's gravel, doesn't matter if it's world triathlon, UCI. I mean it is in every single sport. What and this is the problem with technology is sometimes it moves so fast we don't look at the consequences. So right now Iron Man is saying Well the production team's like, this isn't our problem, that's an officiating problem. And the officiating team is probably sitting there saying, Well, this isn't our problem, that's a production problem. We're we're commenting on we're we're officiating the race, has nothing to do with us. And so right now I just think we're in this odd time of any guy with a moto that we can throw a Starlink on the back. We're getting a live stream, so we're not complaining, we're giving the people what they want. But what they need to do is is they need a universal policy for triathlon. Yes, we have seen the world try pack it. The problem is it doesn't work because just as Pat mentioned. So what needs to happen is this winter, this fall, World Triathlon needs to sit down with Iron Man for long course and short course and have different parameters. Do it tomorrow. Okay, do it tomorrow. Sit down, different pri and come up with a policy or a educational video that every single motodrike motobike driver that is on course follows and is required to watch. And it's not just for fairness. A big part of this also too, as Mark just alluded to, is for safety. Safety. Totally. That's what's gonna that's what's gonna be the driver here. I think we talked about it in the pre a bit, didn't we? Rather than say safety here. Like if you if you put bikes in amongst groups and some of those shots, Craig Alexander, brilliant, love him on the commentary. Couldn't love Crow anymore if I tried. He basically they did a shot from the side and it was like it was right in the face. The the camera must have been two inches. And Crowie was like, Well that's a little bit close. I don't you know, I don't think we need to see their nose hairs. Like and it was his way of saying, like, come on, do we need do we need this camera here right now? It's a safety thing as well. You just you know, we've we have more and more deaths and horrible accidents in Cyclic at the moment. Young British tarling recently, like, with a car that got on the course. I d ⁓ I just think like this has a secondary It's an easy justify. It's a safety call. It's not just a media call. But can we please do some fun hot takes? Because we actually I got a function. Let me let me do a fun one. Okay. I mean I don't know how fun it's gonna be for this person, but Jamie Riddle on a road bike for seventy point three worlds in Nice. Easy, he wins it. Before you say you can't win it, just think what you're about to say. Think what you're about to say. Who won the last men's seventy point three world championships in Nice? Gustav Eden. And what was a road bike. Bikes have evolved a lot in seven years. I don't think it's that cut and dry. Especially we get a chance, so you've teed us up, 'cause his actual T T bike is heavy as shit. But I don't hate it. I like innovation. Are you saying it's a terrible choice, Pat? I'm gonna say it's a terrible choice. What was the bike that what was the bike that Gustav wanted on? Was he on the specialized? I think he might be on the one you had. Was it a specialized Was he actually he was on that Venge thing that you've got? What's it called? Yes. The Venge. The The Venge. Yeah, maybe the fastest robot ever made, yeah. ⁓ so I think that let's there's a little bit there's a I'm just saying I think it's a mistake. To to to run that bike. I reckon we'll find out afterwards from Jamie himself. But I Okay Pat. Okay, Pat. The row bike version or the T T T bike from Felt? There you go, that's a good question. So what do you what are you saying? I mean I I would ride the Which one would you choose? The road bike with the arrow bars or the T T bike from Felt. I I mean can I be brutally honest with you? No, it you can't say Brace Go to Earn A Living. Well, I'm saying that this is a I mean this is a You may you make this bet a little bit when you sign that deal. I've got to say to him, and I'm gonna t I probably get cancelled for saying it, but I've heard it from multiple people and I not attribute it to the brand. I'm led to believe felt of bringing out a new T T bike and I'm led to believe they thought they would have it for Nice and they no longer are having it for Nice. This is a this is true. Yeah. So the ⁓ so that is not on him. Well I I I think that another thing Pat to f not forget is that the ⁓ the difference in weight as a percentage of your body weight is probably point zero one. Whereas for Jamie as a percentage of his body weight is probably about ten percent. So it actually makes a bigger difference. I didn't answer though. I didn't answer I would ride the T T bike all day. I'd ride the T T bike all day. I can't believe he'd race that heavy ass felt when they launched their new bike to come sponsor the show. We'd love to have you. And they're an American made company. They make all their bikes here in America and I don't want to promote the Chinese brands. So we need to if you want to sponsor, sponsor. All right, ⁓ here's a great one. I've one, now I've one, I've got I've got one okay, I one after you. Iron Man shot themselves in the foot by making Kona the pinnacle pinnacle of Iron Man world champs. The town has a ton of leverage over holding the event and pros need to have a world champs that rotates to different stars instead of rewarding only one athlete that can survive the heat. We've talked about this for forever. I really thought they were gonna be able to wean their audience off of Kona. When Andrew Mesick made this decision. It was clear the the customers of Iron Man, the paying customers, made it super clear where they want to be in its at Kona. I wish it could go around the world. But we saw that when Iron Man was losing over a million bucks a year doing a women's only race in Nice that they could not fill. ⁓ there wasn't up for debate anymore. Those were s those were really clear facts. But what is the biggest signing up group in Iron Man at the moment? Who is signing up more than they've ever had? Eighteens to before age class group. Yeah. Youngsters. They are not tied to it. You have a chance to untie the brand from it. But I it's gonna stay Kona. I like the hot take. I agree with the hot take, but it ain't gonna happen. Here's what they could do. They could try t one of two options. One they could try to rotate it to a different city, like and then go back to Kona. Or two, they could even try to to get more people involved, like split the gender ra do split gender races world championships. And then they could like offset like a random city in Kona. And then they could just see if that's successful. And see if either of those are successful We can it doesn't work. Could there sorry, could there be a world though where they say, Hey, we're gonna make a dedicated world championships for a certain age range and they they say, Hey, we're we're gonna take the eighteen to thirties this year and bring ⁓ somewhere else? No. No. Then they're all sleeping behind. You then we talk about the expo, we talk about all the other shit around it. You know, you don't get a absolute banging daily live show from the podcast turning up in town. These are facts. Yep. Here's here's I think the other thing on what Pat has saying sorry. The thing that what Pat was saying was with it being split, I think that that was like we didn't get a real gauge as far as like what it would be like if they rotated like the world champs around. I feel like they could take it and rotate it and do Kona every four years similar to like an Olympics and then do Ironman New Zealand as like the Southern Hemisphere one. Do Lanzarati as the European one. And then go back to Kona. So maybe like three venues. Three iconic venues. I I think that that could work. But they ain't gonna do it. I I'm with Mark. It would be awesome. We all agree with the hot take, unfortunately it's not gonna work. And it just is because Iron Man is Iron Man. And it goes to this next hot take who Bort's Sports Reports always gives some of the best hot takes, or that or he's paying to click farm for the ⁓ fires. ⁓ aside from prize money for the pros, I don't see a lot of justification for a T two hundred event, especially from an age group perspective. Twelve to twenty four weeks of prep for a eighty-nine percent of an Ironman doesn't seem at all appealing. I'll just go do a full Iron Man. I just think it's what the brand needs to succeed to get some of the big athletes back. It needs a series that's men and women at the same bloody race, obviously. And it needs something that is not It's getting a bit rinse and repeat the T one hundred because the courses seem to just like I don't know, they don't seem to make that much difference outside of San Francisco. So it's pretty much the same results across the board, give or take. It doesn't have that drama that the long distance has where people have massive capitulations. The biggest names in the sport, you know, Taylor, a K from the finish line, definitely gonna win, blowing to pieces and passing out. Christian Blumenfeld vom Guts up. Like it doesn't have this kind of thing that the long distance seems to give us. So I think it would help the brand, but again his point is really good and I agree. What were they doing? Huge prize money, a few races a year and genders together. Boom. Yeah. If they if they go back to that and they have a series a a minor series that gets you in to those two or three races that are doing the million dollar prize purse, that's why that's how we care. But the problem is that's when they thought they could sell the T V rights and make the money back that way. They've realized they can't, they're struggling financially, they depend completely on the age group as now and they're both so they can't do anymore. They can't they can't do that anymore, but what they can do is they can say, Hey, look, we're gonna have a series of races that gets you that guarantees you entry in and that's gonna be the only way to start t the clock over with the athletes that they want, right? If they said what they have to try and do is is what I've always said, they gotta draw a line in the sand and say, Hey The fifteen biggest names in the sport, either they're with us either they are with us or they are not. We're gonna let that be. And then now in this current crop, they're gonna say, hey, we're gonna try and just capture the the biggest names in short course and keep ⁓ in our pipeline. So what are what are we gonna do to make sure Matthew Hauser never leaves our pipeline? Right? That's their that's the only way that it happens. ⁓ and it's gonna be those it's gonna be those million dollar races. Paul Andrew Thornton commented and said T one hundred media team is struggling to push T one hundred. Ninety five percent of their posts are tw previous to twenty twenty five. It's almost like their media team doesn't even know the twenty twenty six season existed. I mean it's goes to what Pat said. If they literally just went and redid the open formats, followed a ranking system and allowed the best athletes to enter the race. I think that we're gonna get the best racing, the best athletes there. Athletes will just randomly turn up when it's convenient for them. don't know. Can you name a time can you name a time when they've listened to their constituents that gave them clear feedback? ⁓ they did adopt the twenty meters and they were kind of forced to do whereabouts drug testing. Okay. Fair enough. Yeah, that did happen. Yeah. ⁓ I've got a hot take. ⁓ Okay. ⁓ this is this is from ⁓ friend of mine that said I trove the I tried the wove saddle that you sent me today for the first time, the flat nose one, and I have zero discomfort and my pre existing sores weren't irritated at all. I'm actually so happy. Like I've come back from my ride in a good mood because I've not been in agonizing pain for four hours. Yes. So if you want to also feel the benefits of woves are they still a sponsor or am I doing an ad read for a sponsor that we don't actually have any genuinely true message I got having sent Her a saddle that Pat had sent me. ⁓ so if you want to also try the benefits of wove saddles, if you've got saddle swords, saddle discomforts, this girl has had them for years and seems to have been cute by them, you can use a code, a discount code to go and get one, Pat, can you? No discount code. Yeah, we're just doing full full retail, but they do have a 30 day money back guarantee. So if you use it and you don't like it, send it back, we'll give you your money back. I think yeah, there's a huge amount of pride that I have being an investor in this company for that real message that Mark just read. Genuinely true message as well, but this is this is ⁓ I I saw that yesterday, he shared it with me and the the amount of pride that I have for for this product that y you know is as simple can be as simp viewed as simply as a bike seat, made it so somebody truly enjoys riding their bike again. ⁓ What what an awesome message to get. So yeah, thanks for sharing that Mark. Pat, just to confirm, Lionel rides a Wove saddle, right? I've got a handful of clients on ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because I've got multiple for men as well, it's equally as comfort. I mean, if you saw the latest video of Lionel, men's comfort on a bike saddle is really, really important. So make sure you guys ⁓ go check out Woves Saddles. I I'm so glad by the way, as I was reading that message, I was gonna read who it was from because she is a listener on the show, but I thought maybe she doesn't want the fact she's had really uncomfortable existing saddle saws for years advertised publicly on the podcast to forty thousand people. So you're welcome for me refraining from reading the name. Right, what's next? Hop take. Come on. Adam Levy says Who cares about bib numbers? Hey we had a lot of no, we had a lot of feedback we okay, we had feedback from last time's show. Peop it was very clear, people do not give a crap about these bib numbers and we're not doing inside jokes anymore. We're gonna own our mistakes. We're gonna spend very little time on bib ranking in order. Can I say one more thing? We're not doing any more inside jokes. Can I just say can I say one more thing about the bib thing? That's also where people are racked, which could be important for other people. Yes. But we'd let's not open that topic either. I don't want to stop doing inside jokes 'cause I find them really funny personally and I only do this show for my own instant. And there is like fifty people that listen to the podcast that do enjoy the inside jokes that we just said. And they really enjoy them. But anyway, moving on. Bi Bruch commented and said I'm scared to openly support PTN because one of you will undoubtedly get cancelled again and make my support look bigoted. Dude, we I hey no no I agree with you. I agree with you. Let me interrupt here. Let me interrupt. I I think I'm the twenty five percent of the pod that in two hundred ninety episodes almost, I have made it through relatively unscathed. So you just take that support, you direct it my way, and come the end of the year favorite host quote. No, you don't you know who to pick for. I need that. It's super simple. You cannot use that as an early campaign for a number one podcast like host in the voting at the end of the year pack. You can't it's bloody o August. You can't start campaigning already. ⁓ I think times have changed. It turns out that as a politician all around the world, you can literally do anything you want and it seems like you can't be kicked out of power or you know, you can do anything. So we're not getting cancelled. You'll just have to say you hate us now and we're gonna carry on like normal. Chin up All right. I got I got one. What do you guys think about skipping awards as professional athletes? Terrible. Hate it. Some someone said Sam Long's trend, which means it's happened multiple times. Sam Long's trend of skipping awards is selfish and shows bad sportsmanship. I don't want to talk on Sam Long specifically 'cause I don't know ha as and when he's missed it. I w I think you should always schedule your flights in to make awards unless you are like a fortieth ranked athlete and there's no chance and cost is everything for you. Get on that cheap Ryanair flight, go home. For big names, you gotta go to the awards or you're a scumbag, is my opinion. Yeah. I have I have missed a couple of awards ceremonies this year for, you know, what would be deemed as like big gravel races. ⁓ and look, my point of view on it is I had a nine hour drive home. I'm a family man. The race is done at noon on a sun on a Saturday. I can be home at ten PM. And awards are at seven PM on a Saturday, so I gotta do an entire extra night where I am, and then I'm home. I miss an entire day with my family on how much did you get Sunday for those races? I got paid zero dollars for that. And so we're gonna acknowledge that. That's definitely part of it. But I just I don't wanna s I don't wanna sit here and throw shade at Sam. I'm not showing I'm not throwing shade at Sam. I mean this. No no I mean in general. I and in general. I'm just saying that like we all have other stuff going on, even professionals. Right. One or two one occasions, absolutely. One off baby at home. Knew this, knew that. Making it a trend of yours not bothering. You go and you couldn't be asked to stay an adult five hours as a priority getting paid to be there. Not a fact. Question for you. Sam made three thousand dollars this weekend at a lower tier Ironman seventy point three race. Where is the cost analysis benefit on staying a full extra day rental car, food, all that. Or ⁓ hold on. What if we just pick a level for Sam here? Iron Man Pro Series be the awards. Here you go. Like Carl's just put Carl, you say it. Don't make me say it. Alright we'll say I I would Sam have been there if he would have won the race? Probably. Sam's missed multiple on winning races 'cause he gets back to his family. I literally was going to Iron Man, California and this tells you how selfish I am. ⁓ the second line I'll cross the finish line, I was hopping in the car and driving straight back to the Sacramento Airport and flying home. I wouldn't even get a wait on anyone else because I was c only gonna be there and I wanna that's a job. That's a job. You're not even racing. I know, but like what I'm saying is is I ha like Pat, I got a family at home and just ⁓ it it just adds up over time. The days you're away from your family, that stuff adds up and when you when you're spending Weeks and weeks away from your family out of the year, it's like money doesn't buy that back. I'm with Sam on this one. If it's a if it's a big race and you're making big money. Next hot take. ⁓ Race Ranger data would be By the way, that's quite har that's quite hard for me to finish on. I tried not to make it about sound people. You dragged me back to that. Anyway, carry on. Race Ranger data would be diabolical if we're on the motos at Challenge Roth. It's cringe that Laidlow and Team keep hyping up his world record when everyone knows there's an armada pulling the lead group at the race. There's not. I've been to the race and I've watched the race. Christian. Christian Blumentfeld submitted that. There's been previous races though, Mark. That they that we gotta acknowledge there have been races in the past where this has happened. Totally true. But the last two years since Pro Try News has been on the ground in Rothschild it hasn't happened. Okay, alright, alright. But let's but let's then take that instead of directing this solely at Sam, let's take it one step further. What happens if we see Race Ranger data From these motos. ⁓ they're trying to do it. What they're struggling with at the moment is the actual technicalities of the Race Ranger because what they don't want it to do is affect the lights of the the riders in front. So if they go in a group, if they pass a group, your light's going mental as the bike passes, if you know what I mean. So they're trying to work the peck out, so they are gonna look at doing it. I will say that an athlete that was closing on the group in Roth with one other very tall athlete from Scandinavia They were making good headway into the group and then they lost in their own words their motto and they started losing time rapidly. So it does so now. So so so what happens if in the case of let's use a let's bring back Matthew Marquad into this situation. Dirty cheater. Tell me more about it. Always at but but always at the front of the race. I'm joking. And what if he what if he put his hand up and said, Hey, put one of these devices on my bike, knowing that they're gonna you're gonna have other corresponding devices at the front of these. And then we'd like to, because I'm volunteering to put it on my bike, you guys can look at this behind closed doors and see what I'm talking about. Yeah, good point. Right, we've done enough mosos though. It's a good point, but come on, let's do some different things. I agree it's a really like they they could also just presumably ⁓ only match the software between his existing device and their bike and not the rest of the devices. I gotta I like this one. It's from Chris Borman. Iron Man is all about community and we'll try to and they try to push that narrative. How about allowing the community to vote for two to three wild cards at the world champs each year? Pros that did not qualify the normal way can be voted in by a slot by the community. I like it. Hold on. It is in the Iron Man rule book that this can happen. I'll I'll pull up the exact definition. Y'all talk about it. I'll I'll pull up the definition. I I I don't know if there's much to talk about. Let's just C C Scott DeRoo. We love this idea. Maybe push it for next year. If you're not watching this on much, when Kyle read this, we all got beaming smiles because we all loved it. But no no pe no no mail in ballots though, because that's how elections are corrupt. Okay, so at the very at the very bottom at the very bottom of both the Ironman World Championship, professional qualify athlete qualification, exemptions, and validation for both Iron Man and Seventy point three. Number six says wild cards. Due to extraordinary circumstances, Iron Man may, in its sole discretion, elect to offer special invitations to participate in the twenty twenty six championship race for both Iron Man and Seventy point three. So We got people that we would love to see in Kona. I mean, everyone loves Lionel Sanders. Like has he had a rough couple seasons? Yeah, but everyone wants for one reason the the the vlogs. I'm all for it. If they gave Lionel a slot, he wouldn't race Kona this year. Yellow Geans people would love to see can I do one? 'Cause I want to also answer it. Hayden World is lost and doesn't know which distance he wants to focus on this year. Racing double TCS T one hundred, seventy point three worlds and now super try. We saw the lasting effects of him racing through illness and not specializing will be even more detrimental to his twenty twenty-six season. One, possibly true. But my main take is, imagine this being so goddamn good that you don't know if you should race Super Try or 70.3 or T100 or TCS, because you are really that talented that you can actually probably win at all those different distances. And just being a young kid that's getting a bit lost in the love of racing and just Scatter gun racing and yeah you a bit but you've got to come back and do super try. So yes, to the to anonymous, probably true. But to Hayden, ⁓ fair fucks. Just do what you love and keep racing because when he turns up on any start line, he's a pen underlined race favourite. You wanna see what he's capable of doing, even if it's a bloody running race. So yes, good point. Maybe he is spreading his seeds a little bit thin, but The talent it takes to have that as a genuine problem is astounding. I'm looking two things on that. I'm looking at who submitted that and it looks like it came from an IP address in Andorra from a Porsche Tycan with a dog. Yeah, go on. Nice call by the way, Hayden. The thing the thing the thing about Hayden is one, that the Super Tri race is gonna be absolutely incredible in Jersey, the final, and it's going to be streamed. A lot of people are upset we didn't get to watch any Super Tri races this year. The start list is unreal. It's the day it's literally it's the best startless I would say that we've seen. And two, that's the start start of championship season racing. So we got the super try, and then we have the seventy point three world championship, and then we have the WTC S grand final. And then two weeks later we got Kona. So it's gonna be an unreal championship season and starting with the super try race. I got one this is this is very interesting one. Best way to retire from triathlon as a professional athlete. What do you guys think is the absolute best way to retire? There's people that giant drugs in the middle. Just go out on a juicy high. No? Is that not it? That's a good one. That's one. That's one for sure. I love I absolutely think it was like textbook. What Sebastian Kinley did. Yeah, I knew you were saying that. Yeah. Yeah. Just I mean to say I'm done with Kona and I'm gonna go do all the races I dreamed of racing and it's you don't have the pressure. You just go out there and you enjoy it and you sign autographs, you take I ⁓ it was just it was awesome. It was awesome. And the most lovable guy that hangs around the circuit has nothing but before Rothcat was all stressed out or something, or there was she was on her feet for a day doing the media thing. And ⁓ Sebastian Keinlay gave up his deck chair and she sat down and he started like just massaging her feet or legs or something. He was like just doing her calves. He was like, You're okay Like in a really nice way. He was like but he'll do it for anyone. Literally if he's never even seen the pro before, he'll help them out. He's just the Yeah, that's the way you go out of sport, 'cause then everyone just loves you forever. Legend. Has any I'm sure someone's gonna message and say, Yes, this has happened before. I don't remember anyone that's won Kona and then just retired. I I don't recall the time that that was happening. That's why Muhammad Ali bless him went out of the way he did. They just seek that one more high. The greats always look for one more high. Yeah, that's fair. I think what you do is you win an Olympic gold medal and then you quit for another sport and then you eventually come back to the sport that you were doing. Triathlon. That's probably the best way to do it. And then when when do you retire Pat? You just never retire. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. You just don't never retire. You don't want to do any the housework, folks. You don't want to do any of the cooking, any of the housework. Why would you ev why would you ever retire? Yeah. Yeah. That is about I mean Craig Alexander practically did that. What do you do? He he retired for like three seasons and just raced a whole bunch of random seventy point threes. Legend. I don't know if he I just still don't know if he's ever announced his retirement. Him and yeah. No, I think I mean Craig would be someone I would vote on for the our community world ⁓ championship slot. Yeah he's also one of the people he might actually say yes as well for a laugh. Yes. He w 'cause he knows you w he knows he'll do great. Yeah. Dude's fit as a fiddle still. He is fit. ⁓ all right. Last one. Henry submitted this. I'm gonna kinda twist it and ask you guys all a question, we'll end on this. ⁓ it says we have all time start lists for Nice and Kona. ⁓ tak I guess the bigger question is and we can all answer it. Do we think that this is the we'll start with seventy point three worlds. Do you think that this is the greatest seventy point three world championship start list we've ever seen? I did this last week, sorry. I said no, just 'cause of Alistair, ⁓ Javi and Jan that yeah. But collectively is this the best weekend? Male and female, yes, probably. Yes. the t that is that is aligning to be the biggest weekend we've seen, right? But are we just living in a a generation of professionalization of triathlon where enough people are making money, there are enough big athletes in the sport. There are enough social media's given us access to athletes that, you know, like often finish seconds, thirds, but they still have big presences in the sport that previously would have slipped under the radar. They wouldn't have been on the cover of the magazines you're buying necessarily? Like are we just living in an era where we know More athletes. I I think that's a great I think that's a great point. ⁓ I also just think I mean we're also it it's unique in the women's side where I think you've got a handful of Titans that are just as likely to be seventy point three world champions as they are to be Iron Man world champions. Agree. Right? So there's an immense amount of overlap between I will call it the big four Kat, Taylor, Lucy, Solveg. Right. So you y and presumably they're all going to seventy point three worlds, presumably they're all going to Kona. And so I just think where there's there's this alignment there that is that it's that's huge, right? That we haven't seen before. You pair that with the the depth that we're gonna have on the men's side, it's it's big. It's massive. Seventy point three worlds is gonna be so damn good. And the course. Yeah. Everything about it. Yeah, yeah. All right, now Kona. Hold on. For Nice as long as we have the helicopter doing this descent and not Motos. Yeah, true. Kona is massive again. Because now you've got Judy DeRon in there on the women's side who's people will sleep on in the prediction stuff, but she's so dangerous to win it. She should be talked about as an absolute favourite. And then you've got the men. There's no one missing. There's no one missing. On the men's side. I don't I don't you could say whatever you want about Lionel and and Yella, but Yella didn't even finish his first Iron Man and Lionel's been injured for the last two seasons. Like everyone that is a favorite for Kona, you could go through ten and switch out five names and it's it's incredible. Yeah. And the same for the women. Same for the world. There's female. There's no one in the world that can win the Iron Man World Champs that is not racing the Iron Man World Champs. Male or female. May Maybe you could say Alanis after her dominant performance at Challenge Rough, but you're clutching. She just got sick for seven for T one hundred race. Like she was amazing and she might win seventy point three worlds. She's all in for it. She climbs great. Whatever. But I there's no one but she's not Lucy Charles. She's not Taylor Nib. Like not yet. There is no one that can win. Either the races that is not racing the races. Speaking of world championships, in nineteen ninety-five, Mark Allen won his sixth title and knew he was going into it to retire after it was his last ever race. So did Chrissy Wellington in 2011. It was rumored she was going to retire. She confirmed her retirement in early 2012. We hope you guys enjoyed the show. This is ⁓ something we Have pride and joy and love to take part every weekend. We ⁓ hope you guys enjoy it as much as we do. If you do, please share it with someone ⁓ in your triath on community, whether it's on your Facebook group or your team club or group chat or whatever. ⁓ we are super, super excited for championship season, just a few more races to go, and ⁓ we will be broadcasting live from France. See y'all soon. Bye. Francais, parlez-vous anglaise dans le cloudest. Yeah, he just left. He didn't even he didn't even end the recording. We're still recording.