BellinghamSpence - 2008-10-12 4:27 PM
The event saw 1,731 athletes officially start the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run on the Big Island of Hawaii. NBC will air the 2008 Ford Ironman World Championship on December 13, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST. Please check your local listings for specific details.
Also from the Ironman.com recap.
This year’s Timex Ironman Watch Bonuses, totaling $20,000, were awarded to:
Bike – Torbjorn Sindballe and Chrissie Wellington
Run – Normann Stadler and Chrissie Wellington Why does Norman get a watch for the run?
The bonuses were awarded for the first athletes to pass the 2 timex points on the bike and run courses as long as they went on to finish, which both Normann and Chrissie did for the run bonus and Torbjorn and Chrissie did for the bike bonuses.
In addition to a highly competitive professional field, a variety of inspirational age group athletes competed including Major League Baseball veteran, Jeff Conine, with a time of 14:43:45, and Sean Swarner, a two-time cancer survivor with one lung, who crossed the line at 11:44:15. In addition, Keith Davids, Commanding Officer of Navy SEAL Team One, completed the event in 11:24:00.