Hello, Feisties.

Here at home and here in Kona, it is episode five of We Are Back, and we are here with Joanne Murphy live from Kona Canoe Club.

Yay.

Hello, Feisties.

Aloha.

Aloha.

Okay, before we get started, we need to thank our sponsors.

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And Joanne, I feel like we saw you at the beginning of the week back back in ages ago, and you had so much energy and we were jumping.

How.

What have you been up to all week?

Well, I'm afraid that the whole podcast would be taken up with my diary.

My show show week.

God, I can't even remember.

So we met on Monday.

We were Irish dancing by the Kona.

Sign, and it made it into the reel.

If anyone hasn't seen the real on.

Feisty Triathlon, check it out and damn.

Right I should make it into the reel.

It was the best part of the whole thing.

It.

So.

So we bit Monday, but I landed on Friday afternoon from Ireland.

39 hours of travel, including a little.

Little gap of a break in LA overnight.

And then we had the Kona town fun runs.

We'd 5k run on Saturday.

Sunday was the Hawala swim.

We saw Lucy Charles skip into the water and then walk out.

Like, people need to know.

They told them to walk slowly into the water.

Standing there, they had a whole talk about it.

And then everyone was like, what's happening?

Yeah, but Lucy, just like she sk.

She did.

She was just, like, loving it.

Yeah.

So that was Sunday.

Then Monday was.

And these are all just like the public events that we did.

So we did Heroes of Hawaii.

Tuesday was the parade of nations, but also there was the cakey dip and dash.

I wasn't involved in that when kids.

Yeah, yeah.

We had to teach one of our.

Oh, we've got to teach people some.

Some new words.

So Ekoma Mai is welcome to Hawaii.

Welcome.

So then that was Tuesday.

Wednesday I hosted an incredible event with Daniela Ryf, the North American premier of her new documentary, Life After Elite Sport.

I'm trying to think that was Wednesday.

What else happened Wednesday?

Oh, the legacy reception on Wednesday.

Wednesday evening, we inducted Sheree Grunfeld into the Ironman hall of Fame.

Yesterday was the press conference and the ECOMAI banquet.

Today I'm with the Feisty.

Today's Feisty media podcast.

Yeah, what else do I have?

Today bike check in, race day.

Tomorrow, press conference, finish line.

And then Sunday is the awards banquet, and Monday is the mahalo party for our volunteers.

So they're all the events that I'm fronting or have led and have worked on across the.

Across the week.

I am wildly impressed by your memory.

Yeah, me too.

To keep track of all that, well.

On Wednesday evening, at the.

The Aloha reception where we inducted SRI Greenfeld, I listed some of the things that we had done, and I was like, it's actually only Wednesday.

Right.

You know, we still have all these things to go before Saturday, but it's been a lot of fun, and it's great to see so many people, so many friends from all around the world who've qualified, and I've made it here to the Big island, so it's been pretty cool.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And we saw you.

I mean, we briefly saw you at the press conference yesterday.

Yeah, we texted you.

We liked your dress.

It was a nice dress.

It's so bright.

I love it.

Yeah, neon's coming back, and you're helping that way.

Yeah, it's not even a neon color.

It's just the way the lights work.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

But actually, what I really liked about that dress yesterday was that Jasmine, who.

Who is our CEO's executive assistant, she did my hair, and she put the braids in my hair.

And I'm not sure if people at home realize just how hot it is on stage here in Kona.

Even though there was, like, a little bit of drizzly rain, the humidity wasn't as bad.

But when you're standing on stage and you've got the bright lights and a dress on, when your hair is as thick as mine, that's sitting on your neck, you are sparkling.

Profusely.

I'm not gonna say sparkling.

There was no breeze last night.

There was no.

Was a breeze.

Yeah, there was.

We did get a breeze.

Were.

Well, we.

Every day, we were like, is it getting hotter?

Are we.

Are we un.

Acclimating what is happening?

So my.

My.

My rationale for running as much as I could as well was, you know, okay, I got to be able for race day, you know, fit for Kona.

But the more you run on the island, the more you get acclimated to the.

To the heat.

Is that a thing?

Is that a real thing?

I don't know.

Science.

You know what?

I'm manifesting it.

It's like a regular podcast.

We're just going to manifest that.

This improvement.

But, yeah, it.

The heat.

So.

So Jasmine did my hair, and it just kind of adds to the fun bit of the occasion as well.

And yeah, we had.

We had great fun.

And of course, Tammy Barker was on the team with us as well.

First time in Kona, she was with us at the Ironman 70.3 worlds in Topa.

And she's just like a live wire.

She was brilliant.

Up on more of a live wire than you.

100.

Oh, my God.

Okay.

Yeah, I think if you, like, magnify me by maybe 200%.

200.

No, she's just cool.

She's co. We love her.

Yeah, she's brilliant.

We talked to.

This is Brandon, but we talked to Jasmine earlier and she was listening to us.

Like, she's worked for a long time at the company.

She's done all the different jobs and she was telling us which jobs she will no longer do.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah.

And I think braiding your hair is probably like a good job.

Working the transit changing tent.

She says she doesn't do that.

One of them was.

One of them was scraping up the roadkill before the race.

Yeah.

Could you imagine?

I was like, fair.

But, you know, people will probably come out and take that roadkill, you know?

Have you ever seen that documentary where.

People eat the road pill?

What?

Yeah, yeah.

It is a thing here.

Not part of Iron Man.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Everyone will be like, Google eating roadkill.

We are feisty.

Fun fact for the day.

Yeah.

So it's been a fun week.

I mean, the vibe is really good, despite all of the stress underneath and behind, like, all the stuff that we do.

You know, it's been really good fun and I've really enjoyed it.

And look at.

At the end of the day, it's a privilege to be here for everybody to be here.

But for.

For me in particular, you know, it's been such a journey to get to the finish and to get to the Ironman World Championships.

I joined the team in 2022, officially when we were in Utah.

And then Mike retired at the end of 2022 in Kona.

And then suddenly there's a women's only race and it's like, well, you're the female announcer.

Let's go.

So that was insane in 2023.

But I think I've been.

I think I've grown into my role a little bit more.

I've kind of got a bit more confident and I'm really enjoying it all.

And it's.

Yeah, it's just.

It's really cool.

Like, it's a privilege to be here.

It really is.

And after all this time.

Well, not all this time, but after these couple years, three years, does it feel a little bit more smooth?

Like do you roll through the week like you know what's coming or how much, how much prep goes on behind?

I know a lot of prep goes on.

Yeah, well, I know how much prep we do for the, for the podcast every week.

I mean we do a bit of prep every.

We don't just turn around and not and just talk.

I mean we do actually do a.

Little bit of prep.

So kind of an hour before.

We.

Have to plan for, but this is it.

So you've got to prepare so much because you know you mentioned there about the things that I remember in my head, but you.

It's like doing an exam.

So anybody that studied for an exam, like and especially an exam where you have to remember facts and figures like history or geography or English, all these wordy exams, that is what it's like.

It's like studying every single day.

So what I, what I tried to do was get as much of the information on the professional athletes in my head as possible before we got here.

So by Monday, instead of focusing on, oh my God, I don't know anything about one of the professional athletes, I was like, just get as much done as you can, even on the plane, the last few bits and pieces.

So I have like my cheat sheet of like the top facts for every single pro athletes.

So when we see them it's like a quick reference sheet.

But then you've all of the events, like the legacy event is with some of our hall of famers.

You know, you have all these legends of triathlon and the information needs to stay in your head.

But what year did Julie Moss crawl across the finish line?

82.

Good answer.

You know that was an easy one.

I was joking.

One of our people like, oh, you have to like immediately know every person and, and their most recent race.

Yeah, they had a mechanical like just off the top of your head you're like, oh yes.

So you had seventh at France, you had a bad race in Hamburg.

Like how are you feel?

I know, but this is, but this is what we want to do.

We want to know it.

But yeah, but the biggest event obviously is the.

In terms of the pre race prep is obviously race day.

But you're, you can have your notes in front of you on race day press conference is a totally different ball.

Is like your big race day.

That's what I was going to ask because we were there.

Yeah.

And I know you're very.

Yeah, it's, it's like your starting line it is.

It's probably the.

It's probably not that it's a bigger day than race day because race day is race day and it is the biggest day.

But you're the person that Ironman hands their event to, asks you to be the front and center to host a press conference to feature the global superstars, the athletes.

So we know everything that we can do about these athletes.

But a curveball can come or a question mightn't suit an athlete and they don't want to answer it.

And so the.

Then you're like, well, where do I go next?

Because we have questions.

But then you have to be able to listen to the answer that an athlete gives so that you can maybe delve off scripting.

There is so much thinking on your feet.

There is.

There is a lot for sure.

Yeah.

But no, I, I really enjoyed the press conference yesterday.

I think, I think our, our eight athletes that were on stage yesterday have proved that there's going to be some show on Saturday.

You know, they are so ready and there was a bit of fun and oh my God, Taylor was just like on fire.

Is always Taylor.

Right?

But she was brillian.

I always have fun with Taylor.

Yeah.

Afterwards she was like, whatever in passing, but she was like, oh, there's a whole story, Kelly.

And you're like, oh, well, now I want to know.

Yeah.

Like all the rest of the detail.

Like, I'm sure there's a lot of stories that happen all of these athletes in training, but before the race is not the time.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I got injured last week.

Like no one is knowing.

No.

That's why the best conference is like, you asked, like, why, like we didn't.

I didn't ask a question yesterday because I was just like, I was like, I don't feel like they want more questions right now.

Like, they want to go home.

Yeah, they don't want to talk about it.

Some.

One of the other people who is in the back was like, why did you ask?

Like, who.

Who's mad at who?

Like, who wants to be who?

I'm like, they don't wanna.

They don't want me.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But that's funny actually, because the vibe is totally different at the post race press conference.

So that just rules, you know.

Whereas my most nervous, like, and I do get nervous.

I mean, I'm sure most people get nervous and a lot of people don't like public speaking.

So then they think, wow, you're up there doing whatever.

But we do get ner.

Don't believe that we don't, because you do.

But my.

The most prep up to yesterday is yesterday, you know, but what I was going to say, actually, just before talking about the press conference was I kind of had to compartmentalize every event, so I couldn't.

I would study the day before for the event that's happening on the next day, and then get up early in the morning, maybe try.

Get out for a run, try and maybe do half an hour before I go running.

So when I'm out running, I'm thinking about what's happening in the day, so thinking about the questions I might be asking or the facts and figures I'm trying to remember.

And then if there's something that I don't remember, like for the press conference yesterday, there was one athlete, and I won't say who it is, but there was one athlete.

And I was like, oh, wow, I can't remember what actually happened in that race.

That meant she didn't get to that finish line.

So straight away, when I came back.

You'Re like.

Yeah, why?

Why was it.

Oh, and.

And what were the answers to two other questions in my head about that athlete?

So straight away, you come back in, you're like, okay, yes.

No, I was right.

So you're just.

It's about reaffirming that.

Your knowledge that you're passing, too.

So I completely understand.

Even though running really just like, forget it.

So today actually was quite relaxed.

Oh, good.

Today I ran for fun.

Yeah.

And I also got into the bay.

Oh, good.

Dolphins or dolphins.

I would have lost my life if the dolphins came here.

Yeah, no, they've been.

They've been.

If you came to Feisty Headquarters, we promised dolphins.

They've been jumping dolphins, giving a show.

Right off here every single day.

Jumping.

Yeah.

So it's been cool.

But we did want to talk about the.

We do have some clips from the press conference today for people who didn't watch it live or weren't there in the stifling heat.

I know, yeah.

So, speaking of Taylor, you had asked her about her expectations for the race and both in 2023 and for this year.

And then she talked a little bit also about growing up in a triathlon fandom family.

Is this the helicopter answer?

Yes.

I love it.

I don't know if I should tell the story, but I was having breakfast with Lisa Bentley in London and she was talking about 2005, and she's like, that's your Norman one.

Right?

And I was like, no, he won in 2004 and 2006.

Baris Elsa Ton won that year and she just like, looks at me like, okay, shocker.

Like, but that's like, I grew up with it.

And that was like, whenever there's a helicopter, Norman Saddler had a line that like he likes to chase the helicopter because that's the front of the race in Kona.

And that's what our family says every single time there's a helicopter.

Like, it's just not that it's.

But it's just a massive fan of the sport.

To get to a part of it, to be a part of the race and like to see it, it's just.

It's really special.

And you also.

I think it's a part of history in a sport where we're still very young.

But you realize that I see Mark.

In the front row.

Like some of the challenges that everyone on this stage will face on Saturday, you face those challenges in some way, shape or form and the many years you've raced here.

And so that's also like the shared experience both over the course of the day.

And you talk about the valley with age groupers.

Like, everyone racing out there will have a shared experience, but also throughout generations.

And whether it was your one of this or you're.

It's 45, right?

1978 was the first one.

Oh, then I missed it.

But you're better at maths than I am, I'm sure.

Yeah, I don't know.

But also with the women's race, like, it wasn't first women, so just kind of like that shared experience of.

Because with Kona, you just don't know what you're going to get.

Absolutely.

Well, we wish you the very best of luck on Saturday.

Taylor, everybody.

I will say so.

Taylor's mom has stopped by the feisty booth as we.

We chatted.

I told Taylor that and she was like, oh, I heard so apparently.

But they are racing together again this year and I think like she mentioned they.

She grew up with this race.

She like her parents raced it, she watched it on tv.

It's a thing.

Yeah.

Isn't it incredible that one of the rising stars of our sport gets to race a world championship with her mom on the same race course.

I mean, I just got goosebumps and shivers when I said that.

Ye.

Yes.

And I was also thinking about how like that kind of family fandom we didn't generationally is new.

Like, she would be the first generation that would have that because of.

Because triathlon's still such a relatively new sport.

So.

Yeah, I think she's Gonna do well.

I love how we're like, we do a lot of, like, judging how people, like, do they seem calm?

Do they seem relaxed?

Yeah, I do.

I thought, actually, I thought a lot of the women, they seem relaxed, seem.

They're ready to go.

Very ready, Very ready.

I think if we said the cannon is going to go in the next two hours, those women would have said, let's go, let's go.

Yeah, they were ready.

There was a lot of, you know, what's that meme?

Like the.

The dog that's, like, attached by its chain, like, to a fence.

Ready to go.

Ready, like, yeah, like, that's what that was sort of the energy of the.

Room, when you think about it.

I mean, the focus for so many of them have been on this race.

It really has for the year.

Like, Kat Matthews came straight out at the top of the year saying, kona is my goal.

I think the very first feisty podcast we did, I let it slip that I wanted Kat Matthews to win, you.

Know.

So, you know, and you can see it by their racing as well.

I mean, Laura's only race, three races.

Cat has raced four races.

You go back and you look at what Cat raised last year across the T100 and Ironman Pro Series, it was insane.

You know, Laura has not.

Laura.

Lucy has only raced a few races this year as well.

I know she did really well in the T100.

But these athletes are.

They're ready.

Yeah, they're ready.

And it's almost like there's been a shift in the.

A shift in the preparation in terms of what's going to work and what's not going to work.

Like, it'll be interesting to see will the resting or the lack of racing play to their strengths or play to their weaknesses?

And you actually did ask.

We also have a clip from Cats.

You did ask Kat about her change.

In coaching, and she also commented on being coached on the run by her husband as well, which was very cute.

Oh, as well as you asked her about her crash, too, and some of the things that she learned coming out of that.

So let's watch that clip.

So I was with my previous coach, Bjorn Giesman, for four years.

In the first four years of my career, I realized that I am.

I haven't got 10 years of experience, which I'm feeling a bit nervous about now.

And it was the right time to try and look at how can we change the training stimulus?

How can I make, you know, myself adapt better to something harder?

And we look.

Looked at the biggest Gap.

You could argue it was the swim, but potentially the bike is where I'm losing the race or was last year.

And Alex was a sort of, well, an easy idea to ask and luckily he was dead keen.

So I think it was a real, real fortunate for me to be working with one of the best ever known time trialists in the sport.

And, um, sort of pulled together really well.

We chat about it in the morning and we go, yeah, let's do about that.

And I suggest maybe something less.

And he goes, no, we're doing more.

So that's been really fun.

Who usually wins the argument there?

We agreed in August someday that he had total control and I would do exactly on the run.

On the run element of training.

And I would do exactly as he suggested was the best training training for that day.

And how has that worked out?

Totally fine.

I haven't broken since and I'm feeling really, I'm feeling really good about it.

There's a nice element of spreading the risk there as well because I don't feel like it's just me and me setting my own gung ho paces and effort and heart rate.

Whatever I decide is appropriate that day, it's Mark controlling it a little bit more ampersand so I'm able to be like, well, if it goes wrong, it's your fault.

So it's actually quite nice.

I feel like I have fully embraced what has happened in my life.

Like, I'm sure everybody has to go through those phases to come to terms of issues.

And I think that that's where I am now, is that I'm very comfortable to talk about what happened and the challenges that I went through and still continue to face as we all with injuries on a daily basis.

And I think that I've learned that there's.

It can't get much worse in terms of physical injuries in my mind.

So I feel a little bit liberated by the idea that I could tackle anything that hit me.

And it gives me a freedom to sort of say, well, let's see what I can do.

Know.

Yeah.

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Yeah, so we've just seen the clip of Kat Matthews and what an absolute superstar.

You know, for those of you who aren't aware at home, the theme of the Ironman World Championship here is resilience.

And Kat is the essence of resilience.

And the Hawaiian word for resilience is ho' o ikaika.

So I hope she brings lots of ho' o ikaika to her race on Saturday.

I was so proud of you for learning.

I mean, she was trying to learn.

It phonetically the other day and It, Diana was trying to teach her.

As well.

You, you did very well.

Yeah.

But look at, you know, you look at what Kat has done, what she's come back from.

You know, she jokingly says, you know, I'm ready for whatever will hit me.

And she kind of laughs about it.

But what an incredible depth of character that she has to, you know, not, you know, the fear that she must have had of getting back on her bicycle after that crash must have been so insane.

And to have the ability and the mental resilience to get back to where she is and to now be correct me if I'm wrong, but she's the second fastest female in our sport at the moment.

Iron man distance.

Yeah.

And I will say the other thing is, and if you, if you were here two years ago, right, when she was asked about it, it was a lot more fraught and it was a lot more.

And she definitely seems like she kind of even talked about it there.

She's like gone through that now.

She's embraced it.

She's like.

And she does seem, and this is.

Always the joke, right?

Like how relaxed everybody is.

She is.

I've never had a low key, chill, relaxed, fun conversation with Cat before race until this week.

And she is, she is having fun.

She's having a good time.

She is ready to go.

Yeah.

She's having fun, but she's doing everything she can to get here.

Oh, no, I'm saying that is good.

Yeah.

People should be, the other athlete should be concerned.

Yeah.

She looks relaxed.

Yeah.

And enjoying it and having fun and jumping on a trampoline.

And that was something else that somebody else said yesterday and I can't remember who it was.

It was about the importance of having fun.

I think it was solvay, you know, she talked about having fun and how important it was to have fun because yes, it's you girls know, it's the profession, it's your career, but you need to be having fun.

You need to be passionate about it.

Especially when you think about what they put their bodies through every single day and what they're going to put their bodies and their minds through on Saturday is going to absolutely test, test every fiber of their being to get to that finish line.

And I feel like a lot of people, like, obviously you, you walk around all race week and you like, judge how people and you're like, well, Chelsea looks like she's having fun.

Kat looks like she's having fun.

Yeah.

Taylor, relaxed.

People should be concerned.

Yeah.

That's why, I mean, when everyone says or when someone was saying, was it Laura saying it could be a sprint finish?

Right, right.

Or like people are saying, oh, we don't know who.

We really don't know.

There's no standout.

Like, there's five women who could win the race, to be fair.

How can we tell here?

Yeah, because we don't know what the island is going to throw at the exact.

Well, we, you know, you always say that, but then sometimes, you know, you.

Kind of know Danielle is probably gonna.

Win, you know, but then look at 2018.

Sometimes you kind of know probably gonna win.

Like, yes, you get a jellyfish sting and so win.

But yeah, you know, someone's had a.

Bit of a run niggle that no one's talking about.

And of course you don't talk about it publicly either, but you kind of know that's in the works, so you maybe wouldn't bet on that person.

There are no secret injuries.

And then I think what's.

As well as if we take a little look at the men's race and the influence these short course athletes had and what they did out on the swim and the bike course.

Like, you look at Martin Van Real and Jamie Riddle and what they did in Nice, and then you look at who's coming up from the shorter course racing.

So you have Solvay, but you have Lisa Percherer.

You have a couple of other, a couple of other athletes that are coming through there, though.

So how are they going to impact this race?

Who is going to try and stay on Lucy's toes?

How is the bike going to be impacted?

Who's going to get out of the water ahead of Kat and Laura that are going to impact the.

Their ability to bridge the gap to get to the front.

Yeah.

And who's going to go harder than they should because they're trying to stay with the groove.

Who's going to blow up?

We've seen some massive blow ups along, along the Queen K, especially on that way back in from Javi.

So, you know, you can never tell.

You don't usually see as big blow ups on the bike in the women's race.

Yeah.

But maybe this year's the year.

Maybe.

What's the whole thing?

Like the women always like race with like pacing and calm and the men are always like, oh, I have to go for it.

Maybe this year may have been so relaxed.

It's like just gonna.

All right.

But we lastly, we did hear from Lucy because of course the big question that everyone's been like, is Lucy just gonna win?

You know, Gun to Tape again, like, is that just, like, we're all talking about all this and then she's just gonna, like, go?

Yeah.

Who knows?

Who knows?

She also talked about her run training, too, because this is the first year she's had a consistent, consistent running.

And I feel her.

She's also celiac.

So.

Yeah.

Let's hear from Lucy.

Oh, I mean, Gun to Take was pretty amazing in 2023.

I think this year I'm just excited to see what I can do.

I haven't really put any pressure on it.

I know I'm in great shape, but anything can happen on this island.

You need to have your best day.

You need the island gods on your side.

You need to be lucky.

And, yeah, I'm just gonna go out there and try and soak up every moment, hopefully respond well to different race dynamics that happen.

And we've got this incredibly strong field here.

I think in 2023, we said it was the strongest, strongest female field ever.

And then this year we've come back and it's even stronger again.

So I'm really excited to test myself against these amazing women sat here.

And, yeah, I'm sure we're going to deliver an amazing show for everyone.

I'm sure you certainly are.

Yeah.

I think this is probably the healthiest year of my entire career that I've had since finding out last year that I had celiac disease.

It really was a big learning curve, but it also was such a big change for me, and I think.

I think every other year of my career, I had to have weeks off running, and this is the first year I haven't missed one week of running.

So I definitely feel really happy, really healthy, and I've definitely probably had the most fun training this year just alongside other athletes like Marjolaine.

We've had loads of fun in Lanzarote training together.

And, yeah, I think that joy comes out, and then with that, you just are able to perform better every single day.

Yeah.

So Lucy coming to this race with her first full year of run training healthy is very, very terrify, especially given how she won here in 2023.

Yeah, it's insane.

What's the whole week people should be.

The other athletes should be concerned.

Yeah.

My big question is, obviously, Lucy knows how to win.

Gun to tape.

Other athletes know how to, like, try and, like, be behind and try to make it up.

We have seen Lucy come back after she's get caught, Gotten caught, but only for, like, lower down the podium.

If she gets caught, will she come back on Them on the run.

Can she for the win.

I think that's where it's going to be, like, interesting.

I mean, she can.

Obviously she's capable.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think she can.

I mean, I think Lucy's one of those really, really mentally tough.

I mean, they're all mentally tough out there.

But we've seen her, like, race with a stress fracture, which is hard for me to even imagine.

You know, like, it's.

I don't know.

I think she.

It's a little bit.

What do you call.

It's a little bit of an illusion.

You know, she's.

She's.

She's kind.

You know, she's there in the press conference and whatever, and then, like, but on race day, I mean, like, everyone.

Very, very tough and aggressive.

She is so tough.

Like, you think about it out on that marathon course here in 2023, and she's a mile in, and she's literally thinking, I can't finish this.

And Reese's like, dig deep, basically.

And she goes out with a small.

A small injury, and she just digs so deep to take that win after four second places here.

That girl is unstoppable.

She really is.

And you see what she did in the T100 to win this year as well.

She's running strong.

She looks.

Looks good.

She looks really fit and healthy.

And she's smiling.

She is smiling every single day.

Like, you know, so if she's coming into this race for the first time in I don't know how many years without any injury worries, imagine how cool and calm and collected she's feeling right now.

Yes.

There's a lot of pressure on her shoulders because she's the most recent winner here in Kona.

That's what Laura said.

She thinks Lucy has more pressure than her.

Yeah, I think, think, you know, I think we are going to be in for an ultimate showdown.

And again, as I just mentioned, I think it's what's going to happen behind Lucy that's going to affect the biggest effect of what's going to happen.

The dynamics that's going to happen behind her with some of those shorter courses.

You asked the question I wanted to ask the press conference, but then I decided they didn't want me, was if Kat and Taylor and Laura have talked about how they're going to work together to catch Lucy.

And then I was like, no, they're not gonna.

They're not gonna answer.

That's what I wanted to know is if they're like, like, here's what we're Going to do.

Yeah, but you'd wonder, you know.

You know, the way.

This might be very naive of me, but you know, the way the Norwegian boys, they came out in the press conference, and the Gustaf and Christian Basley said, we three are going to work together legally, obviously, as far as we can until we get to the second half of the marathon, and then it's every man for himself.

Imagine if.

If l. If, you know, imagine.

But imagine if athletes work together.

But even if you went back to.

To say Cash.

Indie Lee, Stephanie Clutterbuck is probably going to be out of the water really early.

You know, imagine if she got out there and she was setting the pace for the race.

And then you have Indie Lee and Cat, and they kind of all work together to, you know, like, get to a certain point, and then it's every woman for themselves.

You know what I wanted to ask?

But I thought, yeah.

Maybe we'll be like.

So.

So obviously, we've been talking about.

We have you here.

There's a lot of work that goes in.

And earlier in the.

This whole week, we've been talking the pros mostly and kind of like the vibes, but I feel like day before, we should really talk about all the work that went in.

So earlier in the week, we did meet with Diana Birch, who.

I mean, her official title is vice president.

Is the senior vice president, Championship event.

We just told her.

The woman in charge.

Yeah, she's in charge.

Yeah.

But she's been race director here for one teeth in charge of this event for 20 years.

Over 20 years.

A full two decade.

I mean, that is absolutely incredible.

Talk about resilience.

She is an incredible leader and an inspirational woman.

She really is.

Absolutely.

So let's hear from her.

We are here with Diana Burch, the senior vice president of World Championship Events.

Did I get that right?

Got it right.

Yay.

First.

First thing.

Check.

So, Diana, I wanted to ask you, when did you first come across Iron Man?

Like, what was your first instance of knowing what it was and your first impression?

So I was here in Hawaii.

I was on vacation, and this event happened to be going on, and there was this hustle and bustle, and race day was the day we were flying out, so I came down to the pier, stood on the seawall, and watched the event.

And at that point, I was like, I have to do that someday.

Oh, wow.

That was your immediate impression?

I need to do this.

Like, watching that swim start, like, I still get chicken skin thinking about that moment.

It was just unbelievable.

Still is unbelievable.

All these Years later, still get chicken skin.

And now I get to stand on the seawall, like, front and center in charge.

We call you the woman in charge when we're, you know, around town.

Well, that's very nice, but it's definitely.

It's not me.

It's this amazing, incredible team that I.

Get to work with.

It blows me away, what they do.

Yeah.

And so what.

What year was that when you were on holiday and then how long before you actually did the.

So that was 1990, and then I had the opportunity to cross the finish line in 1995.

Oh, wow.

Well done.

How many times have you raced here?

Once.

Good choices.

It was amazing, but I'm not fast at all.

And so I had this incredible opportunity, and then in 1997, started to work for the company and definitely have my fulfillment on the other side and being a part of producing the event.

And we know it takes a lot to.

Sorry.

If anyone can hear the loud rap music.

That's part of the Kona experience, Right?

Like trucks driving by with loud music.

Definitely trucks.

And definitely on Ali' I drive, there's gonna be some loud music.

We're bringing it to you real here.

So from there, what was your first job with Ariman?

When did you first start working here?

1992.

I started to volunteer, and I think that I've done every volunteer position that there is, and.

And you learn what you like, and you learn what you're like, wow, I don't want to do that again.

So volunteered in 92, had the opportunity to do the race in 95, and then started working for the event in 97.

Was with the company for three years for the event, and then I went into the resort business.

Worked at Hualolai Four Seasons in Kukiyo.

In 2003, I got a call back, and they said, hey, we'd like to know if you'd like to come back and be our race director.

So we know you have a great team here in Kona, and we've seen.

I mean, I have personally seen them execute on this race for, I don't know, close to 20 years now, which is kind of wild.

But what does it take?

I mean, this is a huge, loaded question, but behind the scenes, like, what does it take towards, like, getting towards a great race day?

Oh, it is a loaded question.

And it's truly, you know, when I talk about it and, you know, people say it isn't one person, it really is a team, and that is bigger than you can describe in a little interview.

But we have probably on staff and vendors and crew for this event, close to 400 people that are here.

Outside of that, you have your volunteer directors and assistant directors.

They bring on key coordinators, and then that builds into that.

Over 5,000 volunteers.

You got, like, leaders within your group.

Do you have leaders that repeat and come back and who volunteer here?

We have some volunteer directors that have been doing it for over 40 years, which is just crazy to me.

And they still are smiling, and they're the ones that really paved the way for us to be able to do what we do in this community.

But it really is something that when you break it down, like, if you go out and you take.

Talk to somebody that's in transition and understand what it takes to plan for it, build it, execute it, and then you take that and you take every department there is, it's pretty incredible.

Something that is an incredible challenge and really fulfilling, and you have to probably thrive a little bit off of adrenaline.

When do you start preparing for this race?

Like, after this one's done, you know, when do you start looking at 20, 26?

We already have.

Like, you can't just wait for that year to come.

So we've been talking about 26, you know, at least a year.

You know, you get into it, and then this week, I probably drive my team crazy a little bit because I say so.

That looks like that now.

But let's think about what it's going to look like in 26, and how do we manage it and how do we manage it differently if we need to?

And I'm really curious about.

I mean, I'm sure that you've overcome some large challenges over the years.

Like, are there moments that stand out where you had a challenge, whether that's race week or prior to race week, that your team overcame it would probably.

Everybody says you should write a book, right?

There is so much that happens on any given day.

And as I think about that, and I'll tell you, remind me to talk to you after this race and I'll share some of the challenges that we had on Tuesday.

But I will tell you, if I look back at that, probably the most incredible challenge as a team that we faced was 22.

And, you know, it's one of those things that what I really love about what I do is that I'm a part of an organization that says, hey, let's try.

Let's see what we can do.

But trying is great.

That doesn't mean you're always going to get it right.

And then you learn that you have to pivot and what is it that you do next to change and to find that success again?

2022 was definitely the hardest thing that I've ever done.

Working for this company, had the two days.

Two days of racing.

Yeah.

And so if I say that to, like, my key leaders, they just look at me like, we don't want to talk about.

We don't want to relive trauma, definite trauma from 2022.

It's just doing something that, you know, the team has been.

They're so committed to excellence and the challenges that we faced.

And I think number one is learning that doing a race on a weekday is not ideal.

But the bigger problem is you have this team that basically did not sleep for, I feel like, four days, you know, and, you know, you set up, you produce the event, you basically tear some things down, reset, and you do it all again.

And you just.

It was a challenge.

But on the other side of it, what I continue to be amazed by my team is they did it.

And when we were put in that position because of the change in the world and the pandemic, when we were faced with that, when I initially presented it to the people that would be responsible for really making it happen, not one of them questioned it.

They were all in.

And that's the thing that's amazing to me.

Again, you know, some of the things that have just transpired today, every single person that I've gone to and said, this is where we're at.

What can we do?

They have solutions.

They're all in.

They don't question it, they don't complain, and that's what makes it work.

This year, we have a women's only race.

What are some of the differences that you find internally between a women's year and a men's year?

Well, I think the biggest thing is that women just move a little bit lighter.

Well said.

And so you feel it, like even at athlete check in, they were opening this morning and it's.

There's a calmness.

They're just walking in and having their experience.

And there definitely is a different dynamic in the energy, but.

But we're different humans, right?

And so everybody, I have to say, in 23, I actually had a couple people ask me, did you have the event?

And so I was like, yes, it happened.

So it's beautiful.

We love it.

And so we're looking forward to an incredible race on race day with an amazing professional field and the age group field and the excitement and just some incredible people racing.

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All right, you got a little bit of a peek into like how much work goes into it.

Joanne.

I mean, so there's hundreds of people, thousands of volunteers.

So much work goes in.

Yeah, there's so many people.

I mean, Diana is the senior vice president World Championship events.

So she is the visionary behind the world Championship events.

It's a crazy season for her and her very small team that are based here in Hawaii and then other members of the team work remotely across, across the states.

But this team and the team that are here, that work, these events are absolutely incredible.

Ironman gets a bad rap all, you know, for loads of different reasons.

They also get a good rap, but.

They get a good rap as well.

But look, ultimately, you know the people that are here that are working this event, every one of us wants to see every single athlete across the finish line.

They've got to this start line.

We want to see everybody across the finish line.

We want those dreams to realized.

We want those legacies to be created.

We want those champions to arise and to make it onto elite drive.

And everyone on the team is just, they're just fabulous.

We've so much fun even when it's really, really stressful.

You know, Diana talked about the two day event here in 2022, you know, for that team to deliver.

Two days.

I know I was worried about losing my voice because we had, you know, the whole week build up and then two days of racing.

But these guys, I'd say they didn't sleep for weeks, weeks before it.

But yeah, look, the people are incredible that are here.

And then the volunteers, the Cheryl Cobb who was presented with the Malama award at the banquet last night, you know, she, she has thousands of volunteers, you know, getting involved in this event.

All of those race directors are those as they're called, volunteer directors, sorry that look after like aid stations, bike course, volunteer coordinator or security, all those things, public safety, they do that as volunteers.

You know, for those of us that are here that when it's our job, job, we don't do it just because it's a job.

We do it because we love it.

Like that's very clear from what, what people deliver here.

Yeah.

And it's, I mean like you said, like there are a lot of stories out there.

They want everybody.

I have been at races where, you know, my friend is the race director and they're out there with the last runner being like, get up, you can make it.

So, you know, they're very invested.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, it's a big day for everybody.

Certainly is.

And all of these age group stories.

You were telling me you were at the ambassador panel, are you?

No, I wasn't at the ambassador panel.

So Tammy got to interview the ambassador panel.

But there's, there's a.

There's, you know, there's 1600 athletes here with us.

Just over 1600 athletes.

That's 1600 stories.

1600 people who have trained hard, they've done what they can to get to the start line, and now it's the opportunity to get to the finish line.

And there's a couple of those stories that are just absolute standouts, you know.

So one of the athletes that's racing is Laura Bardsley from the United Kingdom.

She suffered.

Suffered with anorexia and bulimia for almost 10 years and wasn't allowed to exercise, as you can imagine, because it was bad for her health.

You know, she.

She wasn't a healthy weight, but when she did get to a healthy weight, she decided to.

Instead of focusing on how her body looked, she focused on what her body could achieve.

And here she is on the start line here in Kona.

There's another lady from New Zealand called Tamsin who had a brain bleed at 15 years of age.

Yeah, absolutely incredible.

Had partial blindness us for a little while, has epilepsy, PTSD and depression.

She went through multiple surgeries over the course of a really short period of time.

And last year in Cairns, she got to race the Ironman there and cross the finish line, which is incredible considering what she's had to go through.

There's another definition of resilience for you.

But in New Zealand earlier this year in March, she raced at her home run race, crossed the finish line, finished high up in her age group and stamped her ticket for Kona.

So she's rewriting her story and part of it starts here in Kona.

And then the other athlete, who I've never met this lady, but I can't wait to meet her, is Colleen Brown.

Her husband Kyle had ALS and he raced the 2021 Ironman 70.3 World Championship, and sadly, he passed away.

Oh, sorry.

Actually, we Fast forward to 2022, and he started the Iron Man World Championship in St. George, the one that was the delayed one from 2021.

But sadly, he had to.

He DNF'd.

He had to pull out.

He was in the later stages of his.

His illness at the time, and he passed away in 2023.

Colleen, I'm getting the shivers talking about this, which I did during the week as well.

Colleen went back to St. George and raced the Iron Man 70.3 and she crossed the finish line.

And now she's here in Kona.

She.

She got to finish, but he didn't.

And she carries on that legacy for him.

So, you know, just three incredible women who are just redefining what's possible for them in their lives.

And I think what's incredible about these athletes that come to the world championship and make it to Kona and get to that finish line is they become heroes in their own communities.

You know, there's somebody looking at Colleen, somebody looking at Tamsin, somebody who's going through a journey with an eating disorder, who sees hope in what these women are doing.

And they're doing it while holding down jobs, while training, while minding their families, while doing all of the daily wonderful things that we get to do.

And then they come to the big island and they get to race and be an example for everybody.

And I just think it's incredible.

Yeah.

We also talked.

I mean, there's so many stories.

You literally.

We talked to a woman who got hit by lightning while she was biking, and she's here.

We talked to the woman who is the oldest racer Natalie grabbed.

She's gonna be.

She is 80.

Yes.

And if she finishes, she'll be the oldest person to ever.

Oldest woman to have ever finished the.

Ironman world championship finish line.

Yes.

She finished Maryland back in the fall and became like the oldest.

And she had two hours to spare.

She finished Maryland 50.

Yeah.

So we were like, I feel like, you can do this.

Yeah, yeah.

100.

She was like, oh, it was a faster course.

So humble.

But.

But then you look at Missy Lestrange.

Yes.

Missy lestrange has raised 30.

35.

That's 35 Ironman World Championship events.

Sheree Grunfeld, who was inducted into our hall of Fame, she started 22 races, finished 22 races, and became a 14 time Ironman world champion.

Now she's not racing this week.

Yeah.

So she raced here in Hawaii earlier this year.

And you know, all of these women, they're just.

They're just incredible.

Like, I'm like, she's only doing 70.3.

I know.

82.

Gosh, it's so hard to fast.

That's like 40 years away, you know, for.

For.

Well, for me.

Well, a little bit.

A little bit less than that now.

But 30 years away, will I still be here?

Will I still be bouncing around the finish line in 30 years?

I just wanted to put myself in someone else's body for a second to be like, how does it feel to be Ironman world champs fit?

Sure.

40 years from now, you know, I'm.

Not even Ironman word champion now.

I just want to know.

So we did talk to Cherie Though, not to ask her that.

How does that feel?

No, to talk about the hall of Fame and just everything.

And if she's rooting for Natalie to, you know, break her.

Her record this weekend.

Sheree, first of all, congratulations on the induction to the Ironman hall of Fame.

The ceremony happened last night.

How does it feel?

It feels a bit overwhelming, but really great.

To be included with all the accomplished athletes that are in the hall of Fame was a real surprise to me and certainly an honor, and it's been very nice.

I'm enjoying it.

Yeah.

Did they, you know, do you get a phone call that's like, hey, Iron man calling?

Yes.

And it really was kind of funny.

It was just like maybe a week and a half ago, maybe two, I don't know.

Anyway, I got a message from Diana Birch late at night saying, I'd like to chat with you, which wasn't unusual, you know, And I said, okay.

And she said, are you.

I said, I'm available now if you want to talk.

And she said, no, I'd like to see your face.

So let's do it tomorrow.

Maybe we'll do a zoom.

And I thought, what is this, proof of life or something?

And then the hall of Fame thing was the furthest thing from my mind.

But we got together on the phone, and she asked.

She said, the reason I'm wanting to talk to you is because we're inducting you in the hall of Fame time.

And it took me a minute to catch what she was really saying.

So it was great.

And, you know, it's funny, because I know that you've won now.

I've learned that you've won 14 times here, your age group.

But the way that I.

That you came sort of into my consciousness, I've raced here six times, and.

Which is nothing compared to you.

Six times is something, something.

But, you know, and I remember thinking at one of the awards ceremonies is, I swear, that woman is up there every year.

It turns out you were.

So I know that you started when you were 48, right?

And, like, what was sort of your pathway between seeing Iron man for the first time, winning your age group for the first time, and deciding kind of to dedicate so much of your life to it?

Well, I don't know if you know the story.

I was so far.

I was raised before Title IX in college and high school and college.

So I did no sports whatsoever.

I was always active, but no sports.

And this whole thing started when I was 42, when I saw the first LA Marathon on TV and I thought, whoa, I'm going to do that.

I wasn't a runner, didn't know anybody that was.

But I bought a book and I started running and I did a marathon six months later and qualified for Boston and did Boston.

And then I thought, well, this is cool and I'll keep running marathons.

And then I saw Bob Babbitt's magazine, Competitor magazine, dedicated to Ironman.

At that time, I was 48.

I didn't own a bike.

I was not a triathlete.

I could swim, but I wasn't what you'd call a swimmer.

And it was just so far removed from where I was.

I thought it was.

I didn't even think about.

And my husband Lee came to me and said, you should try this.

And it took him several months to get me there.

And I finally said, yeah, that's it.

And then it's a long story, a little bit of a long story, but we don't have time for that.

But I did Kona.

Then a few months later, it was my first Ironman.

So I came here really not knowing anything.

And as that first race, I crossed the finish line, ran straight into Lee's arms and said, I love this thing and I know how I can do it better next time.

Time.

And that was it.

I was just hooked.

And I came back almost every year.

Right now, as of this day, you're still the oldest finisher here, right?

I am.

And Natalie Gorbau is 80, and she and I kind of grew up together in the sport.

And I wish her the best of luck.

I hope that it would be wonderful for women all over to know that an 80 year old could do it.

I mean, we've been talking about it even, and like back at our place, kind of like, what must that feel like, you know, to.

Because, you know, I'm 49.

I already feel some aches and pains, right?

It is really.

It's almost unimaginable.

It's as impressive as the person winning the race.

Well, there's no doubt about it.

At 80, I'm 81 now.

It's tougher.

The training is tougher, the racing is tougher.

Your times are slower.

So much of the adjustment is not only physical, but it's mental because you have to understand that you need to set your goals for today, not for five years ago.

But I think it can be done.

I really believe that an 80 year old could do it.

I will say when we talk to Natalie, because so Cherise said she's rooting for Natalie.

She thinks, like, it can be done.

When we talked to Natalie, we were like, are you guys friends?

She was like, no, we're competitors.

Oh, wow.

I was like, well, fair.

So it's safe to say Natalie is here to finish.

Yeah.

And to get that record.

Yeah.

What was it, Daniel's the other day?

Whatever.

We're friendly.

And you're like, okay.

Yeah.

But, you know, Cherie is just.

She's just such an incredible human.

You know, what she's done as well, beyond the sport, like, it wasn't just about crossing the finish line.

And if you know what she spoke about at her hall of fame speech as well, you know, she was a marathon runner.

She was like, Lee was told her to do an Ironman.

Basically suggested she does that.

She was like, oh, I won't like it.

And then she does the one here gets qualifies to get here, crosses the finish line and is like, oh, my God, this is my sport.

You know, and she's over three decades of racing and is a multiple Ironman 70.3 world champion.

Like, she crossed the finish line in Topo last year as.

As the oldest female finisher and a world champion as well.

But what she's done with those kids with exceeding expectations has been incredible.

And that whole thing of giving back as well, I think is hugely important as well, that it's not just about the sport.

And yes, there's probably great camaraderie, great rivalry between Natalie and.

And Cherie, but at the end of the day, they're still super ambassadors for our sport and they're paving the way.

They're trailblazing for the rest of us to look and aspire and say, wow, will I still be running on Elite Drive in, you know, 30 odd years time?

I was definitely inspired.

Yeah.

It's incredible.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I. I don't know if I still.

Maybe.

Maybe I'll try and come back.

Yeah.

There's no continuation.

No, no.

You can't break the streak.

All right.

Joanne, is race day.

It's your.

I know it's your.

Well, Sarah, last night, Sarah kept thinking it was today.

So I'm just letting people know.

Vic, who's racing usa, thinks it's on Sunday.

So we just gotta tell people.

But you know what I thought was so funny?

Right?

So Ireland are obviously ahead of us.

Right?

So I kept seeing all these Facebook posts going, oh, and the women's race takes place tomorrow.

And I'm like, what?

No, no, we still have a whole day to go.

But obviously, you know, the time difference tomorrow.

It's also obviously it's, it's the big show, it's your big race day.

How do you give us some tips?

How do you keep up the Joanne energy levels all day?

I don't know because I, I think, I, I think.

Well, look at that.

The most important thing is to be prepped, you know, in terms of all the, the work is all done at this stage.

Like it's, you know, there'll probably be a few little bits and pieces we'll still need to go through in terms of what's in my brain, but it's just, you just take a moment to realize where we are and what we're doing and the privilege that it is to be here.

Race tips in terms of keeping the energy high, you know, fuel well today, just like the athletes feel.

Well, take the rest when we can get them.

Take those little naps for the spectators.

Definitely hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

Have your food.

Use the Ironman Tracker.

Know where athlete is.

Be like Taylor's family and follow the helicopter so that, you know, if you hear the helicopter coming and you think you want to see them on the finish line, then you need to make your way on to Elite Drive before the, the winner comes and just go and have fun and cheer everybody on as well.

I think it's usually important because, you know, the athletes are out there for such a long time and it doesn't matter that you've never met them before.

Every little bit of encouragement we can give to the athletes is hugely important in terms of minding ourselves.

You know, we've a fantastic team, so we do, you know, work together.

I'll be on the start with Paul.

I believe I'll hopefully get some time on the hot corner.

I do love working the hot corner when they're coming up off the bikes.

We'll be in transition, we'll be back on the finish line and then we'll be going right through until, until the very last athlete.

But there's myself, Paul Tammy.

We've got Eric Gilson in and we've got J Style, the Hype man as well.

And DJ Dane Lee.

Yeah, you know, so it's, it's really cool.

And do you take breaks?

Oh, you want to take a break, but then you're afraid you'll miss something.

Oh, so.

And also you're not really taking a break because anytime you're not on the microphone, you're watching the live broadcast because we don't get to watch the race.

We only see the athletes.

We're only commentating what we see in Front of us.

So we don't know what's happening in the race.

If we're not watching the live show, we every so often, we can look at the tracker and say, oh, so and so has taken over, or so and so is still in the lead or whatever.

But we don't, you know, if we do get a half an hour to go back to the room, you have the live coverage on.

You might get a quick shower if you're lucky, but I don't think so.

So.

But yeah, it's.

Look at.

It's a.

It's a job, but it's a privilege.

And we feed off the energy of the athletes.

We feed off the energy off the crowd, and we just want everybody to have an incredible day.

All right, here's the.

I've been asking.

Somebody stole my question in the press conference because all week, I've been asking the pros what they want us to yell at them when we see them.

So now that we have the professional cheerer here, what is your favorite thing to yell at people on the race course?

I don't yell at people.

Fine.

Encourage people.

People, what's your favorite thing to encourage here?

Just, like, keep going.

You've got it.

You know, look.

You know, it's just like, you're looking awesome.

You're looking.

You're looking good.

You're looking good.

You're looking good.

When you're looking good.

When you see us down in, like, the media area, you're looking good.

Joy.

Yeah.

Thanks.

Keep going.

Thank you.

Yeah.

You got this.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, but I think anything that you can say to an athlete to encourage them, no matter who they are, are, is really good.

Just dig deep, get it done.

Look at.

As far.

As far as, you know, the race is concerned, the athletes have one job.

It is to get to that finish line.

And whether you're here for the very first time or it's your 35th time, like Missy Le Strange, you have one job, and that is to get to the finish line, get that medal.

You know, no matter what happens out on the course, these athletes have had such resilience to get here in the first place.

They just need to be able to admit, adapt to what happens out there and support each other out on that course as well.

You know, it's an individual sport, but we're all in it together, and everybody wants to be a warrior, a wahine, and get to that finish line.

Awesome.

Well, I can't think of anything any better way to end.

Well, thank you, Joanna, for joining us thank you everybody at home.

Thank you all the pros who are sitting around tapering and watching right now.

And thank you to our sponsors, Wahoo, Lever and Hedda's.

They have great codes to get discounts in the show, not notes.

And we will be back post race with a post race.

Feisty show.

Mahalo.

Woohoo.