Cool fact #1: Three time champion Chrissie Wellington spent the year in Nepal riding a mountain bike for hours at high altitudes in the Katmandu Valley with the wind howling and trying to ignore severe food poisoning.  Just to prepare for Ironman.

Cool fact #2: 21-year-old Rudy Garcia-Tolson is missing two legs above the knee.  They were amputated before the age of 5 (unfortunate birth defect). With Paralympic gold medals to his name from the 200 Individual Medley in both Athens and Beijing, Rudy is coming to Kona trying to ride his way through the heat, wind and hills on a standard bike without the benefit of hamstrings or quadriceps.  He is all glutes, all the time. His motto:  “A Brave Heart is a Powerful Weapon.” And Rudy is the bravest of them all.

Cool fact #3: Wearing #1 is last years winner Craig Alexander from Australia.  Training in Boulder and avoiding all other Ironman events this year, his focus has been pure:  Win Kona again.  Only 3 men have even won two times in a row (Dave Scott, Mark Allen and Tim DeBoom).

FOR ALL THE 2009 IRONMAN INFORMATION / OFFICIAL WEBSITE & DETAILS CLICK HERE.