Timothy Carlson picked out his favorite triathlon images of 2008 and divided them into 3 galleries.

Part 2 of “Best of 2008” right here.

Part 3 of “Best of 2008” click here.

All images are © Timothy Carlson

New Zealand’s Gina Ferguson recently won Ironman Western Australia and with it her third title at that distance. She went sub 9 hours twice in 2008 and we can certainly expect to see even more of her in the coming years.

Read this first, if “tri bike fit” is new to you. It’s a guide to the dozens of articles in the bike fit section. The articles are grouped, and we offer our advice about the order in which they should be read.

There are three ways to ride a bike: road race (the way pros do it); triathlon (the way pros do it); and that strange morphing of the two which we call the “tweener.”

About a week a go Normann Stadler went to the Retul studio in Boulder, CO to get accurately fitted on his Scott Plasma 2. Bike fit is a crucial thing and even fast guys like Stadler may have space to refine their setup.

It is the time of the year when some folks turn into poets and Timothy Carlson is giving us all the gift of his Christmas triathlon poem.

A month after taking the runner-up spot at the Soma Half in Arizona, Durango resident Ben Hoffman battled a very tough field at the 2008 Ironman Arizona enroute to a 6th place finish there. Slowtwitch had a few words with him.

Hawaii resident John Flanagan posted some wicked fast swim times at the 2008 Ironman Hawaii and the 70.3 Clearwater Worlds with his 47:02 and 21:44 times respectively. He shared some of his thoughts with slowtwitch.

Normann Stadler thinks a better fit for his new Scott race bike will eliminate the problems that plagued his 2008 Kona effort. So this week he checked in with his old Tri Dubai race director Franko Vatterot in Boulder and got measured by Retul technology.

Our look at lightweight trainers for Spring 09 continues. In Part I we looked at shoes from Nike, Saucony and Asics. Now we move to Adidas, New Balance and Mizuno.

Austrian pediatrician and Ironman triathlete Dr. Andreas Zoubek recently earned a slot in the Hawaiian Ironman, but he’s since been accused of running a doping ring. Read about triathlon, EPO, envy and intrigue.

Simon Lessing will be coaching 2-time Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington in 2009, and this news comes just weeks after the announcement that Cliff English would be her new coach.

24-year old Aussie Tim Berkel recently captured the 2008 Ironman Western Australia title and earned the distinction to be one of the youngest male Ironman champions in the sport’s history. The man also known as “Slim” talked to Slowtwitch.com.

After not making the German Olympic team for Beijing, Andreas Raelert put his focus on longer distances. With wins at 70.3 Monaco and Ironman Arizona, plus a runner-up spot at 70.3 Worlds in Cleawater, this looks to be a pretty good move.

Persistence pays for two Aussies – Richie Cunningham wins on his fifth try, Belinda Granger wins on her sixth attempt; six hundred entries show up despite some civilian unrest, temporary closure of international airports.

Aussie Tim Berkel captured his first Ironman title as he won the 2008 Ironman Western Australia in 8:07:05. Kiwi Gina Ferguson held off a tough challenge from defending champion Charlotte Paul enroute to the women’s title.

Part 2 of Timothy Carlson’s 2008 Ultraman World Championship images.

Timothy Carlson captured the spirit of the 2008 Ultraman World Championships. Part 1 of 2.

This is the first of several articles looking at lightweight technical running footwear, and eventually all important models in all categories of running footwear, offered for sale for the Spring 09 season.

The lure of Ironman has caught Danish ITU speedster Rasmus Henning and in 2009 we will see him compete in a few selected longer races. The new Dextro Energy ITU World Championship series apparently did not manage to hold him.

Rudyard Kipling might have been thinking of the triathletic warriors of Ultraman when he wrote of the code of the brave soldiers of the British Empire. Catastrophes and glory await both on their disparate journeys.

Rahsaan Bahati has been on the controversial Rock Racing team for quite some time now and rocked to a US Pro Crit Champion title despite nursing injuries this year. He checked in with Slowtwitch.

After a long period of beta testing, kicking tires, taking pulses, and consulting entrails, we are proud to announce the newest addition to the Slowtwitch family, our workout training log at training.slowtwitch.com.

In the second and final part of this series, we look at how remote bike fitting aids the retailer who’ll invest the time, and thought, and energy to the display of the tri bikes he inventories.