ULTRAMAN STAGE I (6.2 MILE OCEAN SWIM, 90 MILE BIKE)

NOTE: YOU WILL NEED TO CUT AND PASTE THESE LINKS INTO YOUR BROWSER.

RACE RESULTS: http://ultramanlive.com/2008-ultraman-world-championships/2009-main-results-page/

ULTRAMAN OFFICIAL STAGE 1 RACE REPORT: http://ultramanlive.com/2008-ultraman-world-championships/2009-race-report-day-1/

The first day of the Ultraman started at 430am in the morning. We downed the customary and necessary coffee cups filled with espresso, diligently preparing all the last minute details and were rewarded with a full hour of down time which could have been spent sleeping but instead was spent trying to stay awake. The upside of our extra down time in the morning was that we could keep everything low key and not rush anything.

Fromt the time we woke up until the Swimmers were under way, the day was without a hitch (as far as the race was concerned, however I did manage to break our only camera, which was "borrowed" in a manner of speaking.) Showing up at the swim start, it was incredible between the pomp and circumstance between this Ultraman race and and Ironman. Had I just been walking by perhaps, I probably would have just assumed it was some early morning swim club and not given it a second thought. The streets that would have been inaccessible and packed with thousands of athletes and specators during the Ironman were nearly empty;the only actvity that was noticeable was a small crowd of people surrounding and even smaller crowd of forty-four athletes. So it was with almost complete anonymity that somewhere in the middle of the pacific, one of the most grueling races in the world got underway.

While Peter set off to swim a 6.2 mile open water swim in the Pacific Ocean, Dean and I went back to Wal-Mart. Dodging threw Black Friday shoppers, we managed to find the smallest screwdriver in the store, which was the used to pry, chip, scrape and pound our broken camera back into working order. Already filled with confidence from this first success our morale was boosted even further when we snuck the back of a resort at the 2 mile marker of the swim. Peter and a few swimmers had already completed 1/3 of the swim in 45 minutes, on track for a potential world record. Richard Roll was the only person to hold pace when the currents turned against the swimmers with 1-mile to go, finiishing 6 minutes shy of the world record with a time of 2hr21m.Peter got his chance to perform the long distance swimmers hobble while running into the transition area twenty minutes later in a close sixth position. More important than his position however, his time of 2hr45m was a full 30 minutes faster than last year and everyone in front of him was within a comfortable distance.



The bike course is quick to remind you exactly what kind of race you are running with a 5-mile climb that starts the moment you mount your bikw and takes you from sea level to 2000ft. Rocking awkwardly from nearly 3-hrs of swimming, but still looking strong, Peter headed up the hill to start the final 90-miles of the day. Dean and I followed behind, leap frogging up front to stop and give him either his scheduled nutrition or, more often, whatever he felt like at the moment; after so many miles, food starts to get too dry, too warm, too caloric, and if he were to eat the wrong thing, it might "Give me Gag" (as Peter so elquently puts it!) The locals were nice enough to contribute to our dialogue as well, one of them asking us " are you with the biker? As we just feeding Peter. And after giving him confirmation that we were in fact crew, he logically followed with: "do you want some hashish?"


At forty miles into the bike, Hawaii started to show her temper. The wind blew at an unrelenting 15-20 miles per hour, head on, until the athletes made the final turn that pointed them towards the last one hundred meters to the finish. Peter spent all day chasing, ultimately catching 1-man and beikng passed by only 1 man (Ribiero), the mand who stands to pose the biggest threat of taking te world championship on the podium in Kona.At the end of the day, after posting one mile splits as slow as 14mph, Peter ended the day 32 min back from a splendid performance by Richard Roll. While 33 min is a lot of time to give away, Peter stands a good chance to make up chunks of time on his front runners at stage-2 (171 mile bike race from Volcano to Hawi). Then of course there is the 52.4 mile run, which we all know is where Peter will choose to fight his battle to win the Ultraman.