How was the debut of the Spanish PROs in the Ironman of Hawaii?

Today we want to make a small reminder of how it was the debut of the Spanish triathletes in the PRO category at the Ironman World Cup in Hawaii

This Saturday, 13, in October, the 40 edition of the Hawaii Ironman, the Ironman World Championship, the most mythical and important triathlon in the world. In Kona will compete Ivan Frog by 6ª time and Gurutze Friars by 3ª ... in addition, our favorite "rookie" will compete, as Guru called him in the IM Cairns, Javier Gomez Not now.

The debut of Noya in Kona is another step in his career and another step in the history of Spanish and world triathlon: "The best Olympic distance triathlete debuting in the Ironman of Hawaii".

Javier Gómez Noya Ironman debut

Next we wanted to make a small tribute to all the Spanish PROs in their debut in Kona, citing when they were finishers the first time.

 The pioneer was Ramon Ricoy en 1993 done I finish in 19ª position with a time of 8: 43: 01. They had to spend 5 years until they saw another Spanish PRO, it was in the edition of 1998, where also the debut of the first Spanish PRO in Kona was produced. Eduardo Arenal was 29º with 9: 15: 39 and Veronica Roldan 42ª with 10: 55: 18. In 2002 there was the debut of a Spanish triathlete, Maribel Blanco which was 11ª with 9: 52: 44. Later in 2003 David Henestrosa it was 31º with 9: 08: 36.

From 2006 the era began "Eneko Llanos", Since from this year until last year the Basque competed 12 in a row. The 2006 year was also the debut of Marcel Zamora in Kona, "the year of the greats", as the two best Spanish triathletes of ironam distance of history debuted.

Debut Eneko LLanos IronmanKona

Eneko's debut was colossal, with 5º reaching the finish line with a time of 8: 22: 27 and still being the best debut of a Spaniard in Hawaii, both in position and time. For his part Marcel arrived at the 23ª plaza with 8: 44: 46. One year later in 2007 debuted Jose Luis Cano, with almost 40 years, being the most veteran debutant. "Ironcano" ended up in the 47ª position with 9: 28: 37.

Virginia Berasategui She competed in 7 World Championships debuting in 2008 where she was sixth and third in 2009, fourth in 2010 and tenth in 2011 (she had to retire in 2004 and 2007)

Kona 2009 It was the year of most Spanish pros finishers in their debut. clement Alonso it was 17º (8: 48: 52), Gregory Morales 28º (8: 58: 35), Mike Elgezabal 37º (9: 13: 57) and Nicholas Ward 70º (10: 22: 35). They had to spend 4 years until another pro debuted ... and it was big. Ivan Frog finished 6º in Kona with 8: 23: 43. Three years later at 2015 Miquel Blanchart it was 17º with 8: 45: 21.

Debut Ivan raña Ironman

The last Spanish to debut were Saleta Castro y Gurutze Frades, in the year 2016, where for the first time there were two Spanish PROs finishers in Kona. Saleta was 32ª with 10: 17: 50 and Guru 33ª with 10: 18: 46.

Finally we want to quote Victor of the Pen and Carlos López, who despite having a place in 2013 and 2017 respectively could not even take the start because of an injury in the case of the Catalan and a hit the Balearic. We wish you both the best and hopefully you can be in Kona soon.

To finish we would like to thank the collaboration of Carmelo Ruiz (22 times Finisher of IM Lanzarote) in the realization of this article.

Photos Eneko: Facebook Eneko Llanos
Photo Noya: Facebook Javier Gómez Noya
Photo Shine: Ironman

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