jaylew said:
Definitely not a choker. In fact she's never lost an Ironman(8 for 8) and beats a bunch of the male pros to boot.
Chrissie Wellington is an awesome endurance athlete. I was glad to see her name here, because I hadn't seen anything since her fall and numerous broken bones at the start of the year. Details on that in the quote from her blog below. If anyone here thinks they can look down on her as an athlete, you're delusional. And insulting people for running and swimming in addition to riding more than just about anyone is silly.
I watched the Kona Ironman Championships last year. It was an honor. She finished her race, and spent hours at the finish line late that night greeting athletes who took sixteen or seventeen hours to finish. She was standing and dancing and greeting everyone with a hug and a smile. All that after competing for nine straight hours in record time.
This was her race in 2008:
First she swam 2.4 miles in the ocean.
Then she rode a bike for 112 miles on a hot, windy out and back course with no drafting, finishing in 5:05:16 after spending some ten minutes with difficulties repairing a flat - Ironmen do their own.
Then she set a course record in the marathon with a 2:57:44. Her nearest competitor was fifteen minutes back, even with the puncture. In 2009, she beat her own record by fourteen minutes. The men's winner beat her by 33 minutes and change.
6/1/10
It has been a rough a few days but I wanted to update everyone by informing you that I fell off my bike during a ride on Saturday 2 January. The fall resulted in a few broken fingers and bones in my hand, wrist and arm. I underwent an operation on Monday 4 January to insert some wires in my wrist. The operation was a success and I am back home today. I should be out of plaster within 6 weeks. The good news is I will be staying in the Uk for the TCR Show and the 220 Awards Dinner so I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible over those days in February (13th/14th). Smiles, Chrissie.
http://www.chrissiewellington.org/latest-news/a-rough-few-days/