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Ford Ironman Louisville

  • Welcome to Ford Ironman Louisville. A T-shirt with this design is on sale in the merchandise area. It has the name of every single athlete racing in tomorrow's race on it! Last night this poster, which was signed by all the pros competing in tomorrow's race, was auctioned off for the Louisville Police Department's Benevolent Fund for $3,000.

  • Greg Welch hosts Friday's press conference.

  • Marc Essig A triathlete for over five years, Marc Essig was reaching over to move a few boxes on St. Patrick’s Day this year and managed to herniate three discs in his lower back. Paralyzed from the waist down, Essig had emergency surgery four days later. He went from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane in just a few months – tomorrow, just five months after losing the use of his legs, he’ll compete here at Ford Ironman Louisville.

  • Hillary Biscay:
    The 33-year-old pro will compete in her 50th Ironman race tomorrow. “I love this race because it’s hot and typically a very tough race – my favorite,” she said at yesterday’s press conference. In 2008 Biscay finished third here in Louisville and then, just two weeks later, won Ford Ironman Wisconsin.

  • Patrick Evoe:
    The 34-year-old has finished in the top-five here on two occasions and would dearly love to move up a bit higher on the podium tomorrow. Evoe has been living in Boulder, Colorado for the last few months – as has many of his main competitors this weekend including Chris McDonald, Justin Daerr and defending champion Paul Amey.

  • Chris McDonald:
    The popular Australian won inaugural event here in Louisville. “Because of that, Louisville will always hold a special place in my heart,” he told us yesterday. His wife, Marilyn, will be doing her first Ironman since 2007 tomorrow. She’s a former Ironman champion (Malaysia, 2004) who has been focusing on bike racing for the last few years.

  • Paul Ambrose:
    Last year’s champion will be competing in just his third Ironman here tomorrow. Ambrose loves to race – since his sixth place finish at the challenging Ironman St. George in May the 27-year-old has done six 70.3 events, finishing all in the top four and winning Ironman 70.3 Racine. Ambrose, who is from Australia but has raced for Great Britain at times because he has dual citizenship, intends to compete at the Marine Corps Ironman World Championship 70.3 in a couple of weeks, too.

  • Greg Welch will be hosting tomorrow's live video here in Louisville with another former Ironman world champion, Michellie Jones.

  • Mike Reilly welcomes the athletes to the Carbo Dinner on Friday night. Earlier this year Reilly announced his 100th Ironman at Ironman New Zealand.

  • Ironman CEO Andrew Messick speaks to the athletes. He's an avid cyclist and former Ironman 70.3 World Championship qualifier.

  • David Deschenes, the director of the Ironman Foundation, presents a check to the Louisville Sports Commission for $10,000.

  • The Ironman Foundation also provided a check for $10,000 to Oldham County Fiscal Court

  • Georgia's Jillian O'Malley was "tired of watching life pass me by," so she started to train for an Ironman. Along the way she lost 140 lbs.

  • New York's Andrew Miceli lost 160 lbs during his training for Ford Ironman Louisville.

  • Kurt Kahl, 74, is the oldest competitor in tomorrow's race. The Madison, Indiana native is competing in his 40th Ironman - he has raced 17 times at the Ford Ironman World Championship (and qualified for all of them, he proudly states). To his right is tomorrow's youngest competitor, 18-year-old Nick Yates, who is from Newburgh, Indiana.

  • Hitting the water on Saturday morning. The athletes have one chance to check out the warm water in the Ohio River before race start. With an expected temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday, wetsuits won't be allowed.

  • The race starts about a mile up the river from the transition area - athletes enjoy a favorable current for a good portion of the swim.

  • There were lots of volunteers on hand this morning to help at the Ironman Perform Practice swim.

  • Good morning from Ford Ironman Louisville. I'm right next to the race start right now - there's a huge line of age group athletes determined to be some of the first to jump off the dock in the unique time trial start they use here in Louisville for the age group race.
  • Just under five minutes to go before the pro start here now. It's still quite dark as the pros do their warm up before the cannon goes off.
  • The weather conditions couldn't get much better - right now it's 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) and the expected high is 85 (29 C). There's also not a lot of wind expected - 10 - 15 mph (16 - 24 kph). What will make things challenging is the humidity - it's already feeling pretty sticky this morning.
  • As a side note - the new Asia-Pacific Championship in Melbourne sold out in five minutes this morning!
  • The pros just started. Almost immediately things have split into two groups - the lead woman (I'm guessing Nina Kraft) and the lead man - either Paul Ambrose or Romaine Guillaume are in a dead heat, with athletes trying to get on their feet.
  • Things are starting to bunch up a bit more now as the athletes go by the first buoy. Kraft is in third, but I can't figure out who the leader is. I believe it's Romaine Guillaume from France.
  • Nina Kraft is struggling to stay on the feet of our first two men. Behind those three are four more swimmers, so we have a lead group of seven. There are two other women in the lead group - I'm guessing Hillary Biscay is one of those.
  • Two men are getting clear of the rest of the group now, leaving Nina Kraft about 15 m behind with one man on her feet. I believe it's Guillaume in front, but we can't see any race numbers right now because it's still fairly dark. It looks like Paul Ambrose on his feet.
  • Hillary Biscay is the second woman right now - she's making a move to get up on the feet of the man behind Nina Kraft. On Hillary's feet is the winner of the inauguaral race here, Chris McDonald, but he seems to be struggling to stay there.
  • Oops - Chris McDonald is actually in front of Hillary Biscay - he's swimming behind Nina Kraft. He's not staying right on her, though - he's about 5 feet behind. Right on his feet is Hillary Biscay.
  • The two leaders remain 30 m ahead of Nina Kraft. Now Chris McDonald has moved over to the right. Hillary Biscay is staying with him.
  • Justin Daerr is the sixth swimmer in the water, fourth man. He's in "no-man's land" about 30 m behind Hillary Biscay and another 40 m ahead of the third place woman.
  • We're almost at the first turnaround. Our boat just had to make a quick move towards the center of the river because the water was only 3 feet deep.
  • Nina Kraft is just making the turn - she remains in third place overall.
  • After the turn, Paul Ambrose tried to make a move to the front, but Romaine Guillaume would have none of it and immediately re-took the lead. Ambrose looks very much in control right now, as does Guillaume, who helped us out by holding three fingers up to let us know what number he is!
  • Hillary Biscay is now in fourth - she's moved ahead of Chris McDonald. As usual, the former collegiate swim star is staying a few feet behind. (Us weaker swimmers always try to stay right on the feet of the person in front of us!) In contrast, Ambrose's hands are entering the water just inches behind Guillaume's feet.
  • Last year John Flanagan ripped through this swim in 45 minutes - Ambrose was third out of the water 3 minutes later. Flanagan swam well into the middle of the river to try and get more advantage from the current. It would appear that Guillaume and Ambrose are trying to do the same and are well out into the middle of the Ohio river. Kraft and Biscay have chosen to follow the course buoys and are much closer to short.
  • Chris McDonald is following the same path as the two lead men - he's about 25 m behind Kraft and Biscay, but he's the same distance out towards the middle of the river from them.
  • The age group athletes have been entering the water one at a time for about 18 minutes now.
  • Ambrose and Guillaume are about 150 m ahead of Nina Kraft.
  • Chris McDonald is now about 50 m behind Hillary Biscay. He's lost his cap - which I'm sure won't upset him since the water temperature is between 84 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit this morning, so staying cool is a challenge.
  • Guillaume and Ambrose remain well ahead. (Apologies for my earlier gaff - it's Paul Ambrose who has been in second all morning! My only excuse, and it's not a good one, is that it's early.)
  • Behind the leaders, a group of about four or five have joined up. They're well behind, though - the gap is about 150 m from Guillaume and Ambrose to Kraft and Biscay. Then there's another 25 m or so to Chris McDonald, and another 50 m to Justin Daerr. Then there is the chase group.
  • We're getting close to the swim finish now - Guillaume and Ambrose are now at least 300m ahead of Nina Kraft and Hillary Biscay. We can hear Tom Ziebart, who is working with Mike Reilly announcing today, getting ready to welcome the pros.
  • Guillaume leads the way out in a shade over 47 minutes, with Ambrose right on his feet.
  • Nina Kraft and Hillary Biscay are now about 125 m from the finish. They are about 100 m ahead of Chris McDonald.
  • Nina Kraft was first out in 50:16, with Biscay right behind her.
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