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…