Four Frigid Takes: On IRONMAN Texas and That Nike Boston Marathon Sign
It’s been a little bit since we’ve had some good, old-fashioned, silly season drama to wrap our arms around. But, considering that everything’s bigger in Texas, it should come as no surprise that we got some fun coming out of The Woodlands. That and we’re just past Marathon Monday for those who celebrate, with more than 30,000 runners who took to the streets from Hopkinton to Boston for the 130th Boston Marathon.
So, let’s get our Stephen A. Smith on and roll through it.
How Close to The 7 Hour IRONMAN Are We?
This weekend’s men’s race can be chalked up to Kristian Blummenfelt doing Kristian Blummenfelt things — swimming with the front group, riding under four hours, and then delivering a 2:30:47 marathon on his way to effectively a new world-best IRONMAN time of 7:21:24. (Blummenfelt himself post race said that this was a “better time” than his Cozumel one, which features a current-aided swim.)
Mind you, this wasn’t even a perfect showing for Blummenfelt. He had a puncture to deal with, which led to this conversation with the media crew following him at the time.
It was a bad day for tires on Saturday, as a different puncture derailed Kat Matthews race, too.
At any rate, it meant that Blummenfelt had some serious work to do on the bike to stay within touching distance of the front of the race, and then made up a 1:08 deficit on the run to take the title, beating out Marten Van Riel and Casper Stornes in the fastest podium of all time.
Men’s racing has gotten absurdly fast over the last half decade. We’ve gone from Jan Frodeno beating Lionel Sanders in the so-called Tri Battle, racing with near perfect conditions, finishing in 7:27:53, to the 7:20s on a near routine basis. It wasn’t that long ago that men breaking eight hours seemed impossible. Heck, I remember when breaking four hours in a half was considered world-beating.
Is there a day in the not too distant future where someone is busting through the 7 hour barrier? Probably not. The limit with the current generation of men’s stars in the sport is probably around 7:15, barring a sizable technological breakthrough that would aid swim, bike, or run performance. Let’s take Blummenfelt from this weekend; you might find 30 or so seconds in that swim, but not much more. If we’re being charitable, maybe he doesn’t flat and comes into transition without the minute or so gap, and then maybe he can edge under 2:30 for a marathon? So, let’s call it 2 or so minutes total off his time.
And that’s with a.) an absolutely world class field going head to head, b.) nearly perfect race conditions for a fast day at the office, and c.) everybody who could have had a good day was in contention for a long while. You had to be under 7:33 just to earn a paycheck on Saturday. People who missed making money included Matt Hanson, Kristian Høgenhaug, Ben Kanute, and Sam Long, among many others, all of whom finished under 7:40. We’re within the envelope of where the limit must exist.
Still, though. It’s just mind-numbingly fast.
Is Taylor Knibb Ever Going to Win A Full Distance Race?
I know. This seems blasphemous. Especially for someone who has won medals and championships at just about every distance under the sun. And for someone who has finished second in IRONMAN Texas twice, and was fourth in her debut IRONMAN in Kona back in 2023.
But gosh, doesn’t it feel like she should have won by now?
Knibb has come tantalizingly close to taking the biggest race of them all twice now; let’s not forget how superhuman of an effort it took from Lucy Charles-Barclay to wrest control of that 2023 race. She was less than two miles from glory this past October when the wheels completely came off the train. Every time she’s on the start line, she’s up at the front of the race.
And yet victory at full distance races eludes her.
All of her primary top rivals — Kat Matthews, Lucy Charles-Barclay, Laura Philipp — had racked up a full distance IRONMAN win by their third season of racing full distance races. Now, perhaps part of that can be chalked up to Knibb only really moving to the full distance post-IRONMAN Pro Series creation, and she’s got deeper fields to try and break through. But at some point, those three also have won these big events. At one point, it felt less like if or when with Knibb, but how many. Now, it’s really starting to feel like if.
Brock Hoel Broke Through, But He Probably Should’ve Been DQ’d
Canadian Brock Hoel had his best ever finish in an IRONMAN Pro Series event, hanging around the front of the race all day and then using a sub-2:40 marathon to hang on for sixth place. Hoel was 54th at Oceanside a few weeks ago. His best ever IRONMAN finish previously was ninth in Arizona. It was, by all accounts, a fantastic day for him. Hoel wrote on Instagram after the race, “Lead group swim, chaotic ride with the best of the best, and a patient run that had me passing 6 guys the last 12km to take that last Kona slot. I have no words.”
There’s just one problem: by IRONMAN’s own rulebook, Hoel probably should have been disqualified.
Hoel, who includes the line “Jesus is King” in his Instagram bio, crossed the finish line with a flag with the same on it, as seen below.
On its face, it’s fine. I’ve crossed a finish line with a symbol before; I went across the finish line at IRONMAN Lake Placid back in 2017 with our physical representation of our late son, Owen.
But, there’s a specific difference in the IRONMAN rulebook between my example and Hoel’s flag in Texas. Rule 2.01(f) states that all athletes must “Obey laws and local ordinances and avoid any type of demonstration of political, religious, or racial propaganda. Failure to obey laws or local ordinances and/or failure to refrain from demonstration will result in disqualification” (emphasis added).
Now, look. Let’s be clear: there was a precisely zero percent chance that Hoel was getting disqualified for that flag in the great state of Texas. And whether or not you agree with the message (we’re a semi-Catholic household, and our daughter adores church) is somewhat irrelevant. The rule is there to prevent religious or political messaging. You’d probably get DQ’d if you tried to cross with, say, a Russian Federation flag. Or one supporting Palestine (or Israel, for that matter).
The problem is in selective enforcement, which has generally been a theme of our sport’s rulebook for far too long. Words have meaning. By the letter of the law, Hoel broke Rule 2.01(f). Either enforce it all the time, or scrap it. I’d be in favor of scrapping it — any type of intolerant behavior is still forbidden under a variety of other clauses in the IM rulebook. Heck, the two clauses that surround the rule in question cover 99% of scenarios. Rule 2.01(e) offers wide discretion to define how to “treat referees, officials, volunteers, spectators, the public, and other athletes with respect and courtesy.” Then Rule 2.01(g) says that athletes must “avoid the use of abusive language.”
Get the sharpie out, IRONMAN. Let’s clean up the rulebook.
The Nike “Controversy” Misses the Mark
For those who have been living under the rock for the past week: every running brand worth their salt winds up having some type of activation on the Boston Marathon. Nike is no exception to this, and put up a series of signs around the city. But one drew the ire of the Internet in a way that hasn’t ignited running since Pearl Izumi’s ill-fated “Respect the Marathon” campaign from over a decade ago — reading “runners welcome, walkers tolerated.”
The pushback online was swift and immediate. Nike had removed the sign by Friday last week, stating that, “We want more people to feel welcome in running–no matter their pace, experience, or the distance. During race week in Boston, we put up a series of signs to encourage runners. One of them missed the mark. We took it down, and we’ll use this moment to do better and continue showing up for all runners.”
The problem, though, is that Nike’s message was fine to the audience with which it was tailored to be received by. Boston is by and large a qualification only race. As we wrote last week, it’s not just enough to run the qualifying time itself; you had to be significantly faster than your qualifying time in order to have your entry accepted into the field. Outside of the charity and sponsorship slots, you have to have some decent running credentials to be in the race.
And that sign is meant for that audience of qualifiers. It is intentionally aspirational that is, yes, mildly exclusionary. But it fits in with Nike’s general brand motif of attempting to cater to the elite, performance-oriented athlete. Boston is where more brands sling more carbon-plated super shoes in a weekend than they’ll clear in a month otherwise.
This is also different than the aforementioned Pearl Izumi campaign, which split the entirety of the running community with “runners” versus “joggers.” Nike’s sign doesn’t define who a runner is. It is left up to interpretation who fits into each bucket. Our own biases get read into the message, rather than the message explicitly telling us who is “respecting the marathon” and who isn’t.
I’m thinking of another word, which also begins with “a” and ends with “e” /p
ironically, I realize that it contains the word “shoe” as well
the knibb comment is rather silly, she beat people that have won Ironmans by 15 plus minutes . ie she is one level above pretty much every athlete, bare 3 world champs and the current vice world champ.
Frankly Nike ran the perfect campaign leveraging SJW Anger to full effect.
I think your freezing take on Knibb is interesting. Clearly if she races only the most competitive full distance races it may be some time before she wins one; but surely it’s not “if” but “when”. After her amazing T100 and 70.3 Worlds racing 23-24 dominance and allowing for a taster in Kona in 2023, distracted by Olympic duties and medals, it seems for sure she would dominate women’s LC this decade.
But with the strength of others: LCB as a mirror swim/biker and better runner, or either Matthews or Loevseth type, I can’t see her going in as even a top three favourite in October. She seemingly has to ride slower to run faster, but then LCB will beat her from the front. Or she’ll not build a sufficient gap to hold off the other two. You mention Philipp but I’ll again add Derron (who did win her debut IM btw). Crowded front seats on the top deck of the bus.
Just checking that you’d be OK (and content not a DQ offense) if any athlete approached the finish in possession/waving their own national flag. So Russian athlete, Russian flag, Israeli athlete (of whichever religion or none) an Israeli or Palestinian flag. Not all men.
Perfect, only if it translates into Sales. Otherwise, it’s just awareness and clicks, which don’t mean anything, really
It’s like when a place gives your band spot to play, but don’t promise they’ll pay you
“You’ll get a ton of exposure!!!”
“‘Exposure’ doesn’t put gas in the van”
As a point of order, Ironman doesn’t allow you to race under the Russian or Belarussian flags (even as age groupers), so while you’re technically correct - that an athlete can waive the flag of the country they represent - in this case, however, they’re not allowed to represent those countries, and so could conceivably be DQ’d.
So, hypothetical, if a pro happened to finish 10th at the IMWC, and had a religious symbol on his kit to which he pointed as he crossed the line, would this also be a plausible DQ?
Its small, but Riddle has a crucifix on his back, and when he finished Nice, he turned around and pointed at it.
Of the three named competitors, of them who was dabbling in three different distances in the same calendar year and was successful at it? None. Blummenfelt was one year but the stars aligned for that.
The problem with Nike is their numerous missteps with Marketing. Funding the defense of Salazar, Houlihan, the partnership with that one individual who was not a biological female. Kaepernick. They’ve been all over the place for years. Their image as a company hasn’t taken one hit, it’s taken dozens because they’ve been horribly led for a very long time.
Yeah, I remember that !
I think where the OP is interpreting the rule a little to the extreme is the term “propaganda”. Is a cross or a flag considered “propaganda” ? I would suggest no. Propaganda for me would be something like a sign with “free palestine” or “non christians will burn in hell”, ie somethin with a purpose, not just something that shows you belong to a group (be it country or faith). I’m sure many IM finishers finish with their country’s flags over their shoulders. Actually the Norwegians did it in Nice I’m pretty sure.
But it’s a good article to get comments on people disagreeing
Not to bicker too much, as I know the course was contrived to be “perfect” but I’d say the conditions were pretty crappy with the rain, which caused Jan to hit the deck, and surely was one of the catalysts that kept him in injury mode for a year or so (he had some hip surgery, skin infection issue, shortly thereafter if I remember?)
Regarding Knibb, I wonder if she might be the next Alistair Brownlee. And if she raced in her prime during his day, she no doubt would be sitting on multiple golds too. But that’s an irrelevant aside. I think she can win an Ironman, no doubt. And she will pull off some crazy fast ones. But only if she is doing it in a less stacked field and in better course conditions. The win from Taylor is she didn’t have a heat melt down. The concern is it seems her guts are an anxious tangled mess.
The flag controversy I understand and I don’t think they should scrap it, and it might annoy people but I’m ok with certain degrees of viewpoint discrimination. I’m not opposed to Ironman ignoring someone crossing the line with a US flag, but saying hell no to someone crossing with a Nazi flag. Now, I realize that hypothetical is less likely, and also that too many people out there see the US flag as the Nazi flag as being one and the same… But that’s just a case where I’m ok with Ironman saying, “we don’t think so, and if you disagree, take your money elsewhere.” The only problem is, a lot of money flows from the Middle East, where the US flag understandably has a troubled image. So… keep the rule, and enforce as you see necessary and take the flack when you let it slide sometims.
The Nike thing, I actually think is pretty cool, and as someone who taught all my kids how to love running wih the run-walk method and uses lots of walking breaks in XC/Track practice I’m ok with it. But I can see how it definitely makes some people feel marginalized. Especially those who mostly walk the entire half or marathon. Nike knew they were attracting controversy and they wanted their name to be in the conversation and break through into the big media. That’s all this was. There’s a lot of cute insider advertising at these events, but none of it breaks through. Nike did. And it will help more than hurt.
A friend of mine makes these shirts; it’s the only time I wear anything with a Swoosh on it
Not ALL of my wardrobe is black
What I find interesting about Knibb isn’t so much has she won or not, cus all she’s done is race A level races. I think it’s the figuring it out, that I’m more didn’t see being that big for her. That she has to “bike easier” to run faster, etc. And I think the more credit goes more to the other women who are raising the game at the IM distance.
I think the take on Knibb is a bit short sighted. She could literally win “any” Ironman that doesn’t have the fastest 3 women of all time racing them. She literally came 2 miles away from a Kona win, and her other races took records each time to beat her. She really just has this year as her 1st full one to dedicate to ironman training, and out the gate she goes 8;14 and loses to one of the greatest performances of all time
She does have the misfortune of coming into the distance when two of the best of all time will be peaking, I think Loevseth will go down in history of one of the greatest at this distance, if not the greatest. Kat is in that conversation too, and she has many years left to improve. Lucy is still lurking, but may be in the twilight of her career given her injury history..IT is going to be a great next 5 years having all those ladies figure out how to beat each other, great time to be a womans ironman fan!!
I tend to agree and pretty much said as much. Lucy, Kat, and Solveig, likely have her number on most days in Kona and probably elsewhere too.
We’ll see how it goes. Maybe she puts it all together as she gets more experience at the distance. But if she bounces right back into short distance stuff, that seems less likely right?
Lionel has a cross tattoo, I have seen people wearing necklaces and other folks with bible verses tattoos too. Where do we draw the line? And why we haven’t discussed this until Brock’s win?
Funny enough, I didn’t know much about Brock, but when I checked his IG, I remember thinking..boy, his religious beliefs are definitely going to rub some people the wrong way, just didn’t think it was going to be ST the first one to pick on the guy by starting unnecessary controversy.