We are now in race week! This Saturday, 11th October, it's he biggest and most famous long-distance triathlon in the world: the The Ford Ironman World Championship - Kona, Hawaii. We'll be bringing your our Kona diary, with updates, news and gossip from the event, including updates from the Brits who are out there racing.

Are you a Brit in Kona? If so, let us know how you are feeling in the days before the race! You can contact us on editor@tri247.com and we'll let your supporters back home know how you are preparing.

First up today, checking in from Kona is GB Age Group athlete Julian Wain (Team Crank It).

"2007 was my first trip to Kona after qualifying in Malaysia earlier in Feb 2007. What a buzz that trip was, pro spotting was unavoidable, your first ride along the Queen K, your first run along Alii Drive or up Palani, all the places I'd read about and seen on countless Ironman DVD's. So much history, such a phenomenal vibe, the place was magical to me. I managed to focus long enough to rattle off a 10:12 and some change: Age Group - 35-39 54th out of 249, outright 259th out of 1787.

In 2008 I was visited by the lottery fairies, I'd been entering the lottery for the past 3 years and winning a spot was met with mixed emotions... have I taken a spot from the "average guy" that couldn't make it under his own steam? I didn't EARN it,.. so why do I deserve to go?? But also flying around the world chasing a spot like I had since 2006 was not cheap, a near miss here, a bad race there, surely I'd paid my dues I proved I was fast enough?

Departed London Friday 4th and landed Kona late evening the same day.

Standing waiting at the open air airport waiting for my bags I had similar thoughts to those 12 months prior. You could spot the athletes easily, not just lean bodied fit looking people, but they also seemed to carry glow that held them apart from the average fit looking person. Maybe it was the "lean-ness", you could see it in the face, some facial bone definition that only comes when the body fat % gets down just so low... but the faces were tanned and healthy looking, the bodies were by no means gaunt or sickly - just lean and muscular.

And, what I noticed here that was different to my Ironmans in Australia, the UK, Malaysia and even the Half Ironman World's in Clearwater 2006 was that 9 out of 10 athletes walking away with bike bags looked the business, (as opposed to the 2 or maybe 3 out of 10 elsewhere at Qualifying races around the world).

I done the training, my fitness was comparable to 2007, I knew I'd hit minimum weight and I looked the business... but could I produce the goods on race day?? Could I PB? At this place I know it will depend on the weather on the day and a lot of things going right when SOOOOOO many things can go wrong.

CRAAAAAANNNNK IT

OVER AND OUT from WAINO

Another British athlete in the news is Pro, Toby Radcliffe (Team Timex). Toby qualified for Kona via his sixth place finish at Ironman UK this year, for which he kindly wrote us a race report. On Sunday, Toby appeared in the Sunday Times who did a detailed interview with him, his background and training, under the title of "Once a city geek, now an ironman". Click HERE to read more about Toby.

As if by magic, Toby also dropped in with his first thoughts on arrival in Kona:

"First impressions of Kona? It is definitely living up to expectations. Yes, every athlete here is super-competitve, ultra-fit and out to kick your ass. Yes, the wind is ferocious. Yes, the lava fields do stretch on FOREVER. Yes, the run out to the energy lab early afternoon is basically like running in a sauna. Who thought this was a good idea?

But there's also the fact that you get to see turtles and fish swimming beneath you in the bay, can put your feet up in one of the numerous coffee places overlooking the bay and seriously chill. There's also a couple of thousand really friendly people all hanging out here who are all into the same sports as you. And at the end of the week you get to line up with the world's best ironmen and push yourself to the limit.

I've only been here a couple of days, and the jet lag is starting to fade, though I am writing this at 5am local time so its clearly not gone completely! From the outset, Kona's been super-friendly – on the flight from LA to Honolulu I got chatting to a Kona resident who promptly offered me a lift from the airport upon arrival. My heat acclimatisation still has a way to go though – I looked like I'd just had a shower in my running kit yesterday after a short easy jog mid afternoon. Its a slight change from what I left in the UK on Saturday morning. Here it has been hitting 32degC and gets fairly humid after midday.

The first few days have been relaxed. After an obligatory swim first thing, there's breakfast to look forward to a somewhere like Shakers, one of the many cafes and restaurants offering relaxed meals and unlimited coffee at pretty much any time of day. Then it's on with the taper plan – and yes, coach, I am being good and not getting sucked into doing far too much this week.

Athletes seem to have arrived in droves over the weekend – the morning swim is heaving with people, and our ride yesterday saw hundreds of expensive bikes rolling out on the road towards Hawi. With them comes more of the build up to race day. With the official expo and registrations due to open today, the countdown to the start really feels like it has begun."