There's often a false-equivalency when it comes to talking about the IRONMAN World Championship. Critics of IRONMAN's proposed proportional qualifying process often say that other sports don't follow that process.
The North American race season is right around the corner. That means IRONMAN's rulebook for 2024 has officially been published. We bring in IRONMAN's Jimmy Riccitello to talk us through this year's changes -- and, crucially, what hasn't changed. From drafting to bike equipment to 3D printing your own parts and the all important zipper height, we go through it all.
We relive the week that was the women's IRONMAN World Championships in Hawaii. We dive into how the week builds, the behind-the-scenes of things like the expo and the Kona Bike Count, and Eric's experience trying to get coverage for us.
It's here! It's finally here! Eric and Ryan dive right into Kona excitement and some initial thoughts. We also dive into the art of race directing in 2023, the logistical challenges we're all facing, and our collective desire for something that resembles normalcy.
Two-time XTERRA World Champion Brad Weiss is this week's guest. We talk at length about the IRONMAN World Championships in Nice and his penalty and subsequent recovery ride and run from it.
The first half of the IRONMAN World Championships have come and gone. We go in-depth with our man on the ground from Nice, and newest member of the Slowtwitch family, Brad Williams. Expo, venue, behind the scenes, Sam Laidlow's win, broadcast -- it's all here in this week's episode.
Ryan is back from vacation and COVID to join Eric as we lead into the men's IRONMAN World Championship race. And we're wondering -- is it the time of year, the fact that it's in Europe, or some combination of the current race calendar that's making it feel less like it's World Championship time?
Paul Johnson joins the program this week to chat through his naval experience, running, and his philosophy of more miles and more smiles. It's a fun one!
We're going off the beaten path this week, talking Xterra's World Tour stop in Avon, Colorado. We're joined by some of Xterra's pro athletes and staff, including Josiah and Sullivan Middaugh, Susie Snyder, and Steve Andru. Let's get dirty.
Sean Conway is no stranger to massive adventures. His most recent exploit: complete a full-distance triathlon, within cutoff times, for 105 straight days. He joined us to talk about how he sets big goals and goes about achieving them, the routine of doing 140.6 miles every day in a row, and more.
We've been traveling and that meant we took a small break. Whoops. But that also means a longer episode as we talk about our various exploits covering IRONMAN Lake Placid and 70.3 Maine. It also means we've got to talk about zippers and the troubles of Justin Metzler and Matthew Sharpe with them. We also chat through the importance of saddles through the lens of two different product reviews we have live on site.
The big news of the week is that IRONMAN CEO Andrew Messick will retire at the end of the year. We look back at his tenure, the social media reaction to the news, and then start to ponder -- who might be next in line for the role? And more.
Ken Rideout is our guest this week. Ken is an absolute character in the best sense of the word. We talk about his racing the Gobi March (a 7 day, 155 mile adventure race in central Mongolia), how he's married his business background to his athletic endeavors, attitude, and the art of training and racing with a young family. It's a trip -- we hope you enjoy the ride.
We are in Roth Germany to sit down with long time friend Felix to talk about the History of Roth and why it's considered the biggest triathlon race in the world.
We spend some time revisiting what the podcast is (and isn't) in light of feedback from our episodes last week. Then we're onto a Boulder 70.3 recap, with our big takeaway: Can Taylor Knibb be beat? We wrap up talking about our plans for Challenge Roth and Eurobike next week.
Ben Kanute joins the program. We lead off discussing the events at IRONMAN Hamburg and get perspectives from our collective experiences as athletes, media members, race producers, and more. We then pivot to Kanute's 2023 race season and looking forward to Challenge Roth.
We're joined by IRONMAN CEO Andrew Messick to talk about Hamburg. He talks about what they got wrong, why certain policies and procedures exist, and how they plan on making changes moving forward. Collectively, we continue to feel the loss and injuries that took place over the weekend.
Simon Whitfield is one of the best at being first. So it's only fitting that the Gold Medalist be our first guest on the Slowtwitch Podcast. He joined Eric Wynn and Ryan Heisler to discuss what his days look like now. We talk about his new job @ The Feed. We touch on athletes racing these days, his respect for Gwen Jorgensen trying to do it again, and giving back to the sport. It's always a great day to catch up with Simon.
Eric and Ryan recap a big weekend of professional racing before turning their focus on long course and the "Big 3" out there: IRONMAN, Challenge, and the PTO. But it's not just all about professional triathlon -- it's also about what the average age-grouper experience looks like.
Hosted by Ryan & Eric, The Slowtwitch Podcast is the latest addition to our coverage. Guests or not each episode will be wide-ranging conversations while staying true to the ethos of Slowtwitch: fiercely independent and authentic. Episodes will release weekly on Thursdays and be available on your favorite streaming services.