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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…