Simon Ward (www.thetriathloncoach.com), is our man on-site in Kona, Hawaii for the Ford Ironman World Championships. Running alongside our Kona Diary (see parts one, two and three), Simon will also be reporting from the big island on the sights, sounds and people of the event that dominates the sport. Here is his first installment.

Aloha

In finally got here in one piece even after 27 hours of travelling.

During a four hour wait in San Francisco, I met age grouper Pat Cooke-Rogers in the airport lounge. Pat is typical of many female age groupers here. She has 4 children (including Ben who suffers from autism), a husband, runs a business and still manages to do enough training to qualify (she finished 2nd in her AG at IMUK).

How do they do this? Very good time management and an extremely disciplined approach to training (how does training at 5 am before work or 9pm after work grab you?).

Fast forward to Monday morning at the beach and I managed to catch up with some other British athletes.

Steven Lord was looking forward to a good race despite having raced in Wisconsin less than a month ago and already booking his spot for Kona 09. Dion Harrison looked very lean and very strong (I would say that though…I coach him!). Scott Neyedli turned up in his Dresdner Kleinwort gear (Lime green). I also caught up with Leanda Cave at Lava Java (the favourite spot to hang out and drink coffee during race week). Leanda seemed very relaxed and was feeling good about this year's race. She's done less racing than last year and feels much fresher.

Well that's all for now. We have to set up the expo ready for the opening on Tuesday after the athlete parade (I'm also here working with CompuTrainer)

Tune in for my next report tomorrow or click through to my blog.

Mahalo