Remembering Valerie Silk When Valerie Silk’s husband Hank decided to have their Nautilus Fitness Center sponsor the Ironman Triathlon on the island of Oahu, she thought he was certifiably crazy. In 1978 and 1979 the event only had 15 starters and 12 finishers. Even though the event would now be called the Nautilus Triathlon and…

Remembering Jim Howley, 12/12/1960 – 7/29/2025 As we remember Jim, who passed away on July 29th after a battle with cancer, we’re sharing this piece I wrote about Jim in 1996 for my 25 Years of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship coffee table book. It’s May 1996 and the sun is setting behind the green…

2018 was the 40th anniversary of the Ironman World Championship, and I took a look back at each of my years at the Hawaii Ironman, starting in 1980 on the island of Oahu. I missed the first two years, 1978 and 1979, but since 1980, I haven’t missed a World Championship. In honor of the…

Live Like Jack In the late 1970’s, running events were springing up all over San Diego and it seemed like every weekend I was at a local 10K at Mission Bay, in Coronado, or in Balboa Park chasing this really fast guy with a cool mustache who always wore a red bandana. I didn’t know…

Announcing Babbittville Classic Rewind Many of you know me from Breakfast with Bob. But did you know I started hosting a radio show – The Competitors – all the way back in 1990? Yep. Back in 1990, I was looking for a way to create more awareness around the amazing endurance athletes I was covering…

Ice Was Nice When I first moved to Southern California, I was amazed at the size of some of the houses and the yards, but what really blew me away were the driveways. The what? Yep, the driveways. When you’re a California native, a driveway is, well, a driveway. When you’re from the Midwest, a…

The Grip 6: Mark Allen’s Six Ironman World Championships It’s funny how things turn out. Throughout the 1980s, to win the Ironman World Championship, you had to dethrone the Lord of the Lava, the one and only Dave Scott. After Mark Allen finally defeated his long-time rival in 1989, in the classic IronWar battle, he…

2020 Year in Review: Celebrate the Little Things As we look back on 2020 and the havoc of this horrific pandemic, for me, the words of cycling legend Davis Phinney from our Endurance Awards Gala many years ago resonate more than ever. Here was a guy who had been one of the world’s best cyclists…

Game Changers at the Ironman Triathlon What I love about the sport of triathlon, and Ironman in particular, is that it is an equal opportunity abuser: it doesn’t matter if you are black or brown, tall or short, paralyzed or missing body parts. If you would like to take on the challenge of 2.4 miles…

For our 2020 Kona Countdown, we asked you to share some of your favorite Kona Moments. We’re counting down 50 days to what should have been the 2020 Ironman World Championship in Kona on October 10, 2020. Part 5 10 Just ten days left in our 2020 Kona Countdown. Today we’re featuring one of my…

For our 2020 Kona Countdown, we asked you to share some of your favorite Kona Moments. We’re counting down 50 days to what should have been the 2020 Ironman World Championship in Kona on October 10, 2020. Want to share one of your favorite Kona Moments? Do so here: KONA COUNTDOWN SUBMISSIONS Part 4 20…

For our 2020 Kona Countdown, we asked you to share some of your favorite Kona Moments. We’re counting down 50 days to what should have been the 2020 Ironman World Championship in Kona on October 10, 2020. Want to share one of your favorite Kona Moments? Do so here: KONA COUNTDOWN SUBMISSIONS Part 3 30…

For our 2020 Kona Countdown, we asked you to share some of your favorite Kona Moments. We’re counting down 50 days to what should have been the 2020 Ironman World Championship in Kona on October 10, 2020. Want to share one of your favorite Kona Moments? Do so here: KONA COUNTDOWN SUBMISSIONS Part 2 40…

For our 2020 Kona Countdown, we asked you to share some of your favorite Kona Moments. We’re counting down 50 days to what should have been the 2020 Ironman World Championship in Kona on October 10, 2020. Want to share one of your favorite Kona Moments? Do so here: KONA COUNTDOWN SUBMISSIONS Part 1 50…

Above photo from Bill Bell’s 96th birthday celebration November 2018, by Daniel Burr, with Cherie Gruenfeld at Bill’s choice: Five Guys.   Taking a look back at the legendary Bill Bill. I wrote National Treasure for the May, 2012 issue of Triathlete Magazine, when Bill was nearing 90…..   Bill Bell was in his late…

As a six-year-old, Jamie Whitmore would sit in front of the TV during the Olympics and dream that one day she would be that athlete standing on the top of the podium while the American flag was being raised and “The Star-Spangled Banner” was being played. She never imagined that at the age of 40,…

  What a great party! Over 150 people joined us at our Challenged Athletes Foundation headquarters on Sunday, March 8th to honor the Ironman Class of 1980, to kick off the 2020 triathlon season, and to remember two amazing people we lost in 2019: Mike Levine and Mike Plant.       It was a…

It happened 40 years ago on Sunday, January 12, 1980, and it’s a day that changed my life forever. There were 108 of us there on the island of Oahu to attempt the third-ever Ironman Triathlon. In both 1978 and 1979, the event attracted 15 starters and 12 finishers. Because of a long article in…

Thank you to all our great Babbittville on Instagram friends for following along with us in 2019 as we celebrated the wonderful world of endurance sports and all the amazing athletes we got to spend time with and the events we got to enjoy. Here’s a look back at our Top Nine Instagram posts from…

2019 Ironman World Championship Boston Marathon Qualifiers       Marathon results data from our friends at SportStats…. Yep, the Ironman World Championship marathon course is a certified Boston Marathon Qualifier, and on October 12th in Kona, there were 170 Ironman World Championship finishers who ran qualifying times for the Boston Marathon in 2021. Which…

From the January 2000 issue of Competitor Magazine By Bob Babbitt   Klaus Barth The moment is frozen forever. The head is tilted back as his eyes search the heavens. With his fists clenched and the mouth wide open, the expression is one of pure, unadulterated joy. I squint through the photographer’s loop to check…

Leading into the 1994 Ironman World Championship, there were rumors that 6-time champion, Dave Scott might be racing again. Reflecting on the buzz he was generating, I wrote about the Dave Scott mystique for Competitor Magazine: Still Lord of the Lava.   You’re standing at a trade show. Any trade show. It could be a…

My feature on Tim DeBoom’s 2001 Ironman World Championship for our December, 2001 issue of Competitor Magazine     Tim DeBoom needs it. Badly. Sure, he’s happy for his friend Peter Reid. But fair is fair. He has waited in the shadows long enough. His year, his life, and his career are wrapped around this…

I was a PE teacher at a small private school in San Diego when I first met Mike Plant, the creator and founder of Running News which later became Running and Triathlon News. When I mentioned to him in the early 1980’s that I was putting on an Ironkids Triathlon at our school and that…

Triathlon’s Big Four: Dave Scott, Scott Molina, Mark Allen, and Scott Tinley For our October, 1987 issue of Competitor Magazine we featured the four triathletes who dominated triathlon’s grand era of the 80’s, particularly the showcase races in the Fall. Between the the four of them, they had won seven Ironman World Championships, five Nice…

Thank you to all our great Babbittville on Instagram friends for helping make 2018 so great. As we look back over our Top Nine Instagram posts, we reflect on some awesome highlights from the year….   9. Mark Allen and Greg Welch at the 1991 Ironman     View this post on Instagram   #FlashbackFriday…

Before 2018 disappears, Jordan Carruth from the Darren Smith Show on the Mighty 1090 here in Southern California, and producer of my Babbittville Radio Show, asked me to join him in studio to share some of my favorite stories from the year. A live microphone and someone asking me to talk story? You had to…

2018 is the 40th anniversary of the Ironman World Championship, and I’m looking back at each of my years at the Hawaii Ironman, starting in 1980 on the island of Oahu. I missed the first two years, 1978 and 1979, but since 1980, I haven’t missed a World Championship. Enjoy this count down each year…

2018 is the 40th anniversary of the Ironman World Championship, and I’m looking back at each of my years at the Hawaii Ironman, starting in 1980 on the island of Oahu. I missed the first two years, 1978 and 1979, but since 1980, I haven’t missed a World Championship. Enjoy this count down each year…

2018 is the 40th anniversary of the Ironman World Championship, and I’m looking back at each of my years at the Hawaii Ironman, starting in 1980 on the island of Oahu. I missed the first two years, 1978 and 1979, but since 1980, I haven’t missed a World Championship. Enjoy this count down each year…

2018 is the 40th anniversary of the Ironman World Championship, and I’m looking back at each of my years at the Hawaii Ironman, starting in 1980 on the island of Oahu. I missed the first two years, 1978 and 1979, but since 1980, I haven’t missed a World Championship. Enjoy this count down each year…

I was interviewing cycling coach Chris Carmichael for the Triathlon Club of San Diego back in 2009. In the audience, there was one person who stood out from the rest. His skin was pasty, his t-shirt seemed way too big for him, his eyes were sunken deep into the sockets and he was wearing a…

Editor’s Note: I wrote this about David Bailey as part of our pre-race coverage of the 2009 Ironman World Championship   It was the day after the 2008 Ironman World Championship. David Bailey, who had been one of the best motocross athletes on the planet before he was paralyzed, was barreling down the Queen Ka’ahumanu…

From 30 Years of the Ironman World Championship, by Bob Babbitt   The room is hospital white, the floor polished squares of institutional linoleum. Sterile. Unforgiving. The smell of despair hangs in the air like a soggy cloth coat on a withered old man. This is no place for a little girl. Barely five years old,…

By Bob Babbitt Mark Allen came to Kona five times trying to win the Ironman and to beat Dave Scott. On his sixth attempt it finally happened.   I am sitting in the back seat of a Ford Mustang convertible on the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway in the middle of the afternoon on Saturday October 14,…

    At the 1987 Ironman World Championship, the growing rivalry between Dave Scott and Mark Allen played out in dramatic fashion in the lava fields after the two greats left T2 together. Allen led late into the run, but faded hard, and Scott passed him to get his 6th title. Heading into the 1988…

From Competitor Magazine, November 1987 by Bob Babbitt   Ironman Commandment Number One: Thou shalt never take thine eyes off the road.   It was mere seconds since the end of the swim. Dave Scott was looking down, trying to get the bike shoe on his right foot to stay on the pedal. Mark Allen,…

  Every time I look at this one particular image, it makes me laugh. Technology, money, media, and the masses were coming fast, but the classic image of Cowman on the bike wearing his miniature cow horns in the same frame as the eventual champion never gets old. Even 33 years later, it continues to…

As I look back, 2017 was an awesome year, filled with tons of great memories…. I was able to race 35 times, and loved chatting with all my racing buddies at what I like to call, “a catered workout.”                       35 races means a lot…

  Lois Schwartz and I launched Competitor Magazine in June of 1987. To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of our first edition, we invited some of our closest friends to a get together on June 29th at the amazing Deni and Jeff Jacobs Challenged Athletes Center, home of the Challenged Athletes Foundation. We spent a fun…

2017 Ironman World Championship Boston Marathon Qualifiers   From our friends at SportStats…. There were 135 Ironman World Championship finishers who ran qualifying times for the Boston Marathon on October 14th. Which means they are the chosen few who, after someone tells them they qualifed for Boston in Chicago or New York and then asks…

It was the toughest call she had ever had to make…. Three-time Ironman defending champion, Chrissie Wellington, was forced drop out the morning of the 2010 race with a viral infection. With Wellington not in the race, Australia’s Mirinda Carfrae won her first Ironman World Championship title. So when Wellington crashed hard during a group…

Welcome to Part 4 of our 3rd annual Babbittville Countdown to Kona!    This year we are featuring 50 of our favorite Ironman sound bites from our Babbittville interviews.    Follow along on our countdown each day on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!      Part 4 of the Kona Countdown:    20 #KonaCountdown 20 days Today’s…

Just Like Abby   Meet Abby Arne…   Find out more about the Angel City Games here.        Find out more about The Challenged Athletes Foundation here, and the San Diego Triathlon Challenge here.        Sponsors Subscribe to Newsletter CREDO Tri SFuels Endurance  Zone  TV Velofix Links Babbittville Radio on Apple Podcasts…

In February of 1982, two young college students changed the course of Ironman history. Julie Moss led deep into the marathon when she simply ran out of gas and her body shut down. As she staggered toward the finish on Ali’i Drive, Kathleen McCartney moved ever closer. When Moss collapsed 50 feet shy of the…

Welcome to Part 3 of our 3rd annual Babbittville Countdown to Kona!    This year we are featuring 50 of our favorite Ironman sound bites from our Babbittville interviews.    Follow along on our countdown each day on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!      Part 3 of the Kona Countdown:    30  #KonaCountdown 30 days It…

Welcome to our 3rd annual Babbittville Countdown to Kona!    This year we are featuring 50 of our favorite Ironman sound bites from our Babbittville interviews.    Follow along on our countdown each day on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!  Catch up with Part 1 of the Countdown to Kona 2017 here…..    50 Starting this…

Welcome to Part 2 of our 3rd annual Babbittville Countdown to Kona!    This year we are featuring 50 of our favorite Ironman sound bites from our Babbittville interviews.  Follow along on our countdown each day on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!    Catch up with Part 1 of the Countdown to Kona 2017 here   Part…

The Runner Meet Gabriel Cardier…       Find out more about the Angel City Games here.        Find out more about The Challenged Athletes Foundation here, and the San Diego Triathlon Challenge here.        Sponsors Subscribe to Newsletter CREDO Tri SFuels Endurance  Zone  TV Velofix Links Babbittville Radio on Apple…

No Limits   Meet Teyler Becher…     Find out more about the Angel City Games here.        Find out more about The Challenged Athletes Foundation here, and the San Diego Triathlon Challenge here.  Sponsors Subscribe to Newsletter CREDO Tri SFuels Endurance  Zone  TV Velofix Links Babbittville Radio on Apple Podcasts Babbitt Media Group Babbittville Radio on…

JJ Meet Joshua Miller….     Find out more about the Angel City Games here.    Find out more about The Challenged Athletes Foundation here, and the San Diego Triathlon Challenge here.      Listen to more interviews on Babbittville Radio here.     Watch more interviews on the Babbittville YouTube channel here. Sponsors Subscribe to…

Dream Big   Meet Mauricio Pena….     Find out more about the Angel City Games here.        Find out more about The Challenged Athletes Foundation here, and the San Diego Triathlon Challenge here.      Listen to more interviews on Babbittville Radio here.    Watch more interviews on the Babbittville YouTube channel here.      Sponsors Subscribe…

Lots of Options Meet Ella Rodriquez….     Find out more about the Angel City Games here.    Find out more about The Challenged Athletes Foundation here, and the San Diego Triathlon Challenge here.      Listen to more interviews on Babbittville Radio here.    Watch more interviews on the Babbittville YouTube channel here.    Sponsors Subscribe to Newsletter CREDO…

For three years, from 1998-2000, former Navy SEAL Carlos Moleda and motocross legend David Bailey went head-to-head in Kona in the handcycle division. Moleda had been paralyzed when he was shot in the back during a mission in Panama. Bailey was a legend in the sport of motocross and at the top of his game…

      Find out more about the Angel City Games here.        Find out more about The Challenged Athletes Foundation here, and the San Diego Triathlon Challenge here.      Listen to more interviews on Babbittville Radio here.    Watch more interviews on the Babbittville YouTube channel here.  Sponsors Subscribe to Newsletter CREDO Tri SFuels Endurance  Zone …

From our 2016 Kona Countdown…   The date was June 21, 2003 and Captain David Rozelle was in his Humvee on a mission in Iraq. Their vehicle drove over an anti-tank land mine and Rozelle, who was sitting directly above where the explosion was centered, was bleeding profusely from his arms, legs and face. Within…

Jorge Mendoza grew up in Los Angeles near Echo Park and his sports were soccer, basketball and track. He also grew up dealing with what was misdiagnosed as a skin issue on one leg that doctors told him would go away by the time he graduated high school. It didn’t. Eventually he was diagnosed with…

Because these go to 11….. Even though I left Competitor in 2014, I will always treasure the brand that I am proud to have created and nurtured with my partner Lois Schwartz. I have kept copies of every issue we produced, from our first issue in June of 1987, through 2012. In my mind, being…

In June of 1987, my business partner Lois Schwartz and I launched Competitor Magazine. We’re celebrating our 30th anniversary this month. I will be featuring a few of my favorite editorials and articles from the magazine. You can also check out 11 of my favorite covers here. Editorial By Bob Babbitt Competitor, January/February 1998   Nervous?  Sure,…

As a dad, what would you do if doctors told you that your son Rick was a vegetable and that he should be institutionalized? If you’re Dick Hoyt, you ignore the experts and prove everyone wrong. They started with Dick pushing Ricky at short running events but quickly moved up to the marathon. The Boston…

I love racing. There is nothing better in the whole wide world. Some people I know get stressed out just thinking about race morning. But for me, if it’s a Saturday or Sunday and there are no numbers scrawled on my legs and arms, I get the shakes. Here is why racing is a heck…

Their first meeting came after the 1972 Olympics. At those games in Munich, America’s young gun, Steve Prefontaine, took fourth place in the Olympic 5000 meters while New Zealand’s Rod Dixon took home a bronze in the 1500. For the man called Pre, finishing off the podium was a bitter disappointment. Check that. The guy…

  Scott Brown and Chris Fuller fit the profile for Muddy Buddies perfectly. After all, the Muddy Buddy is for folks looking for a good time running and cycling with a little bit of pizzazz added to the equation in the form of mud pits, wall climbs and an inflatable or two to get over,…

In honor of Mother’s Day, we shine the spotlight on a few of our of favorite endurance sports moms.     Piper’s Mom, Deena Kastor Mom to Piper, Deena is an American running treasure, who continues to impress with her running accomplishments, including breaking the US master’s record for the half marathon in 2014 at…

On Saturday, May 6th, Ironman 70.3 St George will bring a stellar field together for the North American Pro Championship. We’ve collected a few of our favorite interviews with some of the stars set to line up for what should be an awesome race! Enjoy!     Holly Lawrence comes in to St George on…

This week on Babbittville….Counting Down to Boston! This week on Babbittville we look forward to the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 17th with a look back at a few of our favorite features and interviews around this legendary event. Be sure to join us for Postcards from the Finish Line: Pre-Race Interviews from the Boston Marathon!…

The year was 1980. There were 108 of us signed up for the third running of an event called The Ironman Triathlon on the island of Oahu. In both 1978 and 1979, 15 adventurers had signed up for the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run to see if they had…

Join us, starting on April 14th for Postcards from the Finish Line: pre-race interviews leading up to the Boston Marathon!   Watch the video interviews here on babbittville.com, LIVE on Facebook, and on our Babbittville YouTube channel. We’re filming at the Hyland’s booth (1724) at the marathon expo on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and we have…

In the most recent editions of Babbittville Radio – your host Bob Babbitt, sat down with the reigning gold medalist in Olympic Triathlon, and some colorful characters in the world of endurance sports.  Check out the bios of Bob’s 4 upcoming interviews below. Gwen Jorgenson – (source – www.gwenjorgenson.com)    Hometown: Waukesha, Wis. Resides: St Paul, MN College: University of…

For February 18th, the anniversary of the first Ironman in 1978, we take a look back at the beginning of an event that started on the island of Oahu, and has since grown into a global phenomenon. Clockwise: A scene from the bike course of the original Ironman on Oahu. The founders: John and Judy Collins,…

  The room is 90 square feet and, when he works out, he simulates the toughest race day conditions by pumping up the temperature to 100 degrees and the humidity to 100% . He trains by riding his bike on a CompuTrainer and running on a treadmill. With the right software, he can simulate the…

One of the things I love the most about the Ironman Triathlon World Championship are the stories of perseverance and determination that unfold in the lava fields each year. This year at the awards banquet on Sunday October 9th, I shared these three stories that illustrate the Anything is Possible spirit of the Ironman. BJ Christenson is…

Imagine you’re at the Boston Marathon Expo. The topic of conversation among the group of runners turns to where you qualified. One person qualified at the LA Marathon, another at St. George and still another tells their story about their race at Rock ‘N’ Roll San Antonio. Then all eyes turn to the one person…

For our 2016 Kona Countdown, I’m counting down my 50 Favorite Ironman Hawaii Moments Here are the top 25 moments….. 25 24 23 22 When Chris McCormack came to Kona for the first time in 2002 he thought he’d win the race. Check that. In a pre-race interview he said his goal was to win…

For our 2016 Kona Countdown, I’m counting down my 50 Favorite Ironman Hawaii Moments Here are Moments 50 through 26…. 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 Dr. Cory Foulk lives on the Big Island, and a number of years ago he thought that the Ironman was getting a tad too expensive and people were…

When I looked to write a piece about the 1984 Olympic Road Race where Davis was the favorite, I interviewed both Davis and fellow American Alexi Grewal, who ended up winning the Gold that day. It’s rare when you interview two athletes about the same race and end up with both athletes remembering the details…

Hunter Kemper: Fuel for the Fire Editor’s Note: I wrote this piece on Hunter Kemper in 2012, right after his memorable race in San Diego. Hunter went on to finish 14th in London at his 4th Olympics.  It is early January 2011. Three-time U.S. Olympic triathlete Hunter Kemper should be training or helping his wife,…

I wrote Changing Everything for my editorial in the May/June issue of RACEPLACE Magazine. I’ve received so many comments from readers, that I decided to republish it here. I knew I had definitely gained some weight over the past 30 years, but in my mind the solution was simple. All I had to do was start training for a…

From my Changing Everything plan…..       4 omega-3 eggs                                                4 dates, chopped 2 tbsp. olive oil                                                  2/3 cup water 1 diced apple                                                     1 cup berries 1 scoop protein powder                                ¼ cup chia seeds 1 teas. cinnamon                                              ½ teas. nutmeg ½ cup shredded coconut                              ½ cup flax meal ½ cup almond flour   Preheat oven to…

With the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run happening this weekend and the 4th of July right around the corner, I got to thinking about this editorial I wrote a few years back. Fourth of July in River Forest I am lightheaded. Floating on air somewhere between Squaw Valley and Auburn, California. Vaseline has proven useless.…

From the archives: Remembering my dad on Father’s Day…… The ceiling above my head is a mere four feet high. The pavement my knees are scraping against is raw and abusive. As a child, the crawl space under my parent’s home was always one of my favorite places to be… Memories stored in rows and…

I can tell she is pissed from the way she is walking toward me. Long steps, purposeful steps, I-can’t-believe-I-just-did-that steps. I am doing the announcing up in the tower at what is affectionately called ‘The Hot Corner’ at the Ironman 70.3 in Oceanside, California back in March of 2008. It has gotten that cool ‘The…

Bill Walton is a basketball legend. He led UCLA to 88 straight wins and two national titles. He was the number one draft pick of the Portland Trailblazers, led them to the NBA championship back in 1977 and was the most valuable player of the championship series that same year. He won another NBA title,…

2015 was an epic year for Babbittville Radio. We interviewed over 165 amazing individuals for our show. Of course, each one is my favorite….but if I had to choose, here are 15 of my favorites from 2015. Bob Roll So Bobke, why would you possibly think that a cyclist who wasn’t having success racing against the…

If you’ve visited Babbittville in the past, you know that it’s a great place to ride, run, and swim because the wind is always at your back, the roads are always smooth as silk, and the ocean is always warm and crystal clear. Another reason to visit Babbittville is to meet some of the very…

September 4, 2015 –  With the 2015 Ironman Triathlon World Championship a mere 36 days away, we thought it would be fun to countdown to race day with a look back at the 36 athletes who have won the most important race in endurance sports through radio conversations, Breakfast with Bob interviews, plus stories and…

I originally wrote The Puzzle in 2008, after Craig Alexander won his first Ironman Triathlon World Championship title.   The pieces are small and scattered all over the jagged emptiness of the Big Island lava fields. The edges have been blasted to bits by the hellacious winds that can, at different times of the day,…

September 4, 2015 –  With the 2015 Ironman Triathlon World Championship a mere 36 days away, we thought it would be fun to countdown to race day with a look back at the 36 athletes who have won the most important race in endurance sports through radio conversations, Breakfast with Bob interviews, plus stories and…

September 4, 2015 –  With the 2015 Ironman Triathlon World Championship a mere 36 days away, we thought it would be fun to countdown to race day with a look back at the 36 athletes who have won the most important race in endurance sports through radio conversations, Breakfast with Bob interviews, plus stories and…

We knew him as Boston Billy Elvis. He joined us for the first time at the Las Vegas Marathon before the event became Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas. We put the word out that we wanted to create a huge contingent of Lycra-wearing guys and gals to take over the Las Vegas strip and people responded…

From the Never a Bad Day archives, a classic story about the unbreakable bond between Danelle Ballengee and Taz the Wonder Dog.   What do you do now, Danelle? That had to be the question rampaging through her mind. Forget winning the Eco Challenge and Primal Quest multi-day adventure races, climbing all 54 of Colorado’s 14,000…

I was on stage at the Ironman World Championship Carbo Party in October of 1993 interviewing Mark Allen and Germany’s uber-cyclist Jurgen Zack. At that point in time, Allen was the dominant guy in Kona. Once he finally figured out how to knock off six-time champion Dave Scott in 1989, he went on to win…

In honor of the great David Letterman retiring from Late Night, we thought it would be fun to put together our own Top Ten list. Here you have the Top Ten list of:  Things you don’t want to hear when you’re in Kona to race the Ironman World Championship.   10. We apologize…..you’re bike somehow…

  The year was 1986, and for some reason I felt it was important to focus on my swimming for that year’s Ironman. I swam pretty much every single day that summer and ended up having my best swim ever in Kona, something in the 1:02 range. Great. So I took a few minutes off…

The Promise While he was in high school, Dustin Brady raced both mountain and road bikes. In 1996 he won the California Junior State Championship on the trails and his division at the Redlands Road Race. After a number of challenging training days, he could just tell that his body wasn’t right. “It’s not good…

When Venus Williams stood up and took a stand on equal prize money for professional women tennis players, the arguments against her and her supporters were that the men’s field was stronger than the women’s at most events, that the men played the best of five sets rather than the best of three sets, and there…

Babbittville salutes the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame Inductees   COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Olympic bronze medalist Susan Williams, IRONMAN World Champion Tim DeBoom, multisport contributor Dan Empfield, age-group multisport stars Bill Bell and Karen McKeachie and paratriathlete pioneer Carlos Moleda were today announced as the seventh induction class of the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame.…

Babbittville Radio Most Downloaded Shows of 2014   We launched Babbittville Radio in August of 2014, and it’s been a great ride! We thank all of you for your support! These are the shows that were downloaded and listened to the most in 2014.   1. Brett Sutton Listen to the interview here: Brett Sutton on…

2014 was a very special year in the wonderful world of endurance sports. When I look back at the year that was, there are three moments – and people – that stick out more than the others.   [dropcap style=”round”]1[/dropcap]  At the very top of my list is Australian John Maclean who was the first paralyzed athlete…

The date was April 4, 2004. Camp Taji is located 30 miles north of Baghdad, Iraq.  Army Major Anthony Smith, a former scholarship athlete at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Miss. in football, basketball and track, was part of the 1st Calvary Division, 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. “We were a special operations group that…

Since I have been involved in the wonderful world of endurance sports for the better part of the past three decades, I have decided that it was about time to secede from the Union and create a paradise of my very own. Of course, if you would like to come and inhabit what I shall…

I wrote this article several years ago, and it stays with me to this day. On the anniversary of 9/11, I think of the Birnbaum family, and all of the families who were changed forever.   About four and a half hours into the January 2002 edition of the San Diego Marathon, race director Lynn Flanagan…

Jim MacLaren – at one time the world’s fastest amputee triathlete – passed away on August 31, 2010 at the age of 47. His life was short but amazingly impactful. The Challenged Athletes Foundation is Jimmy’s legacy. I‘m proud to say that, through the athletes we help every day, his impact will live on forever.…

A few photos from behind the scenes of our breakfast show at the Ironman World Championship, filmed on location from beautiful Huggo’s Kona.   Bevan Docherty has won two Olympic medals, Ironman New Zealand, and has a road in Taupo named after him – Docherty Drive – but he has yet to master Ali’i Drive. Maybe…

Watching the great Mo’ne Davis throwing heat against the boys in the Little League World Series yesterday made me think back to women who have broken barriers in our sports. This photo from Peter Read Miller is from the start of the second-ever Ironman Triathlon on Sans Souci Beach on Oahu in February of 1979.…

Recently, a friend sent me a link to a piece of video from what we think was Robin William’s first ever triathlon experience at the Malibu Triathlon in 1997 where he rode the bike on a relay team with two-time Ironman champion and great friend Scott Tinley. In the video were triathlon legends Paula Newby-Fraser and Wendy…

I am standing at the finish of the 1998 Ironman in Kona, Hawaii. Standing next to me is Michael Collins, the son of the Ironman founders, Commander John and Judy Collins. As people filter across the line, one after another is at first ecstatic with their accomplishment and then, in the blink of an eye,…

  A few weeks ago, I came across this classic Dave Scott Centurion in the transition area at a triathlon on the base at Camp Pendleton. I posted the photo to Twitter and Facebook, where it generated a lot of comments. The bike and all the memories it invoked struck a cord with lots of people. This…

What is it about this sport that drives people to get up at 4:00 am, drive over to the start by 5:00 am and then put on a headlamp so you can set up your transition area at 5:30 for an event where your wave won’t jump into the water until 8:10 am? It’s funny.…