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

Wardy goes to Kona

I've caught up with plenty of athletes in the last few days as they stroll past the CompuTrainer booth in the expo.

On Wednesday we had our CompuTrainer real course video (RCV) ride and we were joined by Dion Harrison, Declan Doyle and Tim Bishop as well as several US CompuTrainer owners. The 3 GB guys were looking very strong and we were just supposed to be cruising along at a steady pace. I see these 3 guys and Stuart Anderson having good races on Saturday barring any unforeseen problems.

Steven Lord and Paul Clements dropped by after lunch (see photo). Paul represented Jersey at the 2006 Commonwealth games. Since qualifying for this event at Monaco 70.3 in 2007 Paul has had lots of problems with his Achilles tendon (seems to be a regular thing among triathletes), and consequently hasn't managed much training at all this year. In fact he hasn't run or biked for several months and so it was a pleasant surprise to see him here at all. Obviously his goal for race day is just to finish and enjoy being on the big island.

Thursday was a busy day for us at the expo although I was hoping not to see too many Brits - this is the day when they should be resting up and staying off the legs. However… I saw all of the GB lads mentioned above, who had come down to give some support to Dion who was helping me out on the stage with a presentation. I took a bit more time to chat with Stu Anderson. He sounded very confident and was looking for a strong marathon. Apparently Stu goes well in the heat and the last 10k is his part of the race!

Later in the day we filmed an interview with Bella Comerford and Steven Bayliss. They looked so relaxed and I'm sure they are both going to have a good race on Saturday. And they seemed quietly confident of a good performance on race day too.

So tomorrow (Friday) is the last day before the big event. I'm not expecting to see too many people and we only have a 1/2 day in the expo, but I will keep you posted of any news.

mahalo