For the first time since 1981, the island of Kona, Hawaii, won’t witness its annual influx of the world’s greatest iron triathletes this October weekend for the Ironman World Championships. The Queen K will be shorn of cutting-edge carbon, the Energy Lab starved of late-afternoon victims, and the Mai Tais at Huggo’s on the Rocks will sadly remain undrunk.
Yet going someway to filling this Kona-shaped void for elites and age-groupers alike this weekend will be Zwift; who have introduced their new ‘17 Hours of Kona’ line-up of social rides and runs (17 hours being the cut-off for athletes to reach the hallowed Ali’i Drive finish line).
The concept will involve an array of social rides with the biggest names in triathlon history, from multiple Kona champions Mark Allen and Craig Alexander to all-round multisport greats Michellie Jones and Javier Gomez, as well as the cream of the current crop, including Jan Frodeno (pictured above), Anne Haug, Lucy Charles-Barclay and plenty more.
The fun starts at 6pm British Summer Time (7am Hawaii) on Saturday 10th October with a ride with reigning Kona champ Anne Haug, before hourly events where the pros will lead Zwift community members through social rides and runs at a steady pace while imparting tri advice and tales from tri history.
The full range of information and start times are available here, but here are some of 220’s top picks for the weekend involving the reigning Kona champs, Ironman legends and British stars…
Saturday: 6:00pm BST
17 Hours of Kona: Ride with Anne Haug, Javier Gomez and Terenzo Bozzone
Sunday: 8:00am BST
17 Hours of Kona: Run with Tim Don
Sunday: 9:00am BST
17 Hours of Kona: Ride with Jan Frodeno
Sunday: 10:00am BST
17 Hours of Kona: Ride with Lucy Charles-Barclay and David McNamee
Sunday: 10:00am BST
17 Hours of Kona: Run with Craig Alexander
