Ironman Hawaii on TV Saturday
from
Priscilla Fraiegari of Ironman
on
November 19, 2002
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Listing: NBC, Saturday, November 23, 4:30-6:00 P.M. (EST), or immediately following the telecast of Notre Dame-Rutgers football game; 2002 Ironman Triathlon World Championship, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, 90 minutes taped. Commentator: Al Trautwig. On-camera expert: Mark Allen, six-time Ironman champion.
For the twelfth consecutive year, NBC will bring viewers the human drama of the world's most famous endurance event, the Ironman Triathlon World Championship.
Taped on location in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on Oct. 19, the Ironman Triathlon hosted 1,545 athletes from 48 countries around the world, including the United States. The broadcast takes viewers on a 140.6-mile odyssey through the scorching lava fields of Kona made even more brutal due to high humidity due to unseasonable rains on race morning. They will follow competitors locked in a supreme test of physical and mental toughness comprised of a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike and a 26.2-mile run, all to be completed within the allotted 17-hour timeframe.
In a year where Tim DeBoom, 31, Lyons, CO, and Natascha Badmann, 35, Kungoldingen, Switzerland successfully defended their titles, the broadcast also takes a look at several other athletes who emerged from the shadows and into the spotlight. They include:
Marc Herremans, 28, returns to Kona a year after his sixth-place finish in 2001. A former professional triathlete, from Wuustwezel, Belgium, Herremans races in the “handcycle” division after being paralyzed in a bicycle crash just eight months earlier.
Larry Parker, 39, a firefighter from Amityville, NY. Parker was scheduled to race in last year's championship event, but withdrew in order to aid in the recovery effort at Ground Zero. Parker wore race number 343 in honor of each of the fallen firefighters.
Peter Reid, 33, after a disappointing showing at last year's championship and a tough year on the Ironman circuit, this two-time world champion from British Columbia, Canada, looks for redemption in the lava fields that made him famous.
Rae Gene Burger, 57, a veteran of more than 30 Ironman races around the world, 12 of them in Hawaii, Burger used to race with her husband Del who passed away in 2001. For Burger, who hails from Des Moines, Iowa, racing in Ironman events was a contest between she and Del, now it's about keeping Del's memory alive.
Karen Smyers, 41, one of the sports most versatile and tenacious female athletes, has solidified her status as Kona's “Comeback Queen.” This year was no different for the Lincoln, MA resident, best known for her string of bad luck. In recent years she has overcome a severed hamstring, being hit by a semi-truck, a broken collarbone and even a bout with thyroid cancer last year. Although she was out of contention for a podium finish, Smyers showed true grit by making the most of a day where many of her fellow professional athletes could not finish the event.
Highlights of the Ironman Triathlon first aired on television in 1980 as part of ABC's Wide World of Sports. In 1991, the broadcast was moved to NBC where it became a stand-alone program. Over the years, the Ironman Triathlon production has won nine Emmy awards and has received 30 Emmy nominations. The broadcast has also won five consecutive International Monitor Awards for global excellence.
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Ironman Hawaii on TV Saturday
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by Ciaccio on November 25, 2002
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How does everyone feel about the coverage? I think it is just sad they can't at least show more of the Pro race and how it developed. I've given up on hoping they will talk about the top amateurs.
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