The ecstasy, the agony, the relief, it’s the Ironman Hawaii men’s finish. Photo gallery by Timothy Carlson.

We looked closer at the bikes of the top 15 finishers at the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. Brands and details of frames, wheels, aero bars, saddles and more.

Conventional wisdom holds that Ironman Hawaii is won on the run. But that is not always true.

The ecstasy after the agony. It’s the Ironman Hawaii finish line, and it never grows old. Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson.

Missoula, Montana triathlete Brendan Halpin turned a few heads at the 2009 Avia Wildflower Triathlon as the fastest overall age grouper, and we can certainly expect to see more of him next season. Slowtwitch had a few words with him.

Chrissie Wellington’s 4:52:07 bike was the key to her 8:54:02 finish and breaking Paula Newby-Fraser’s 17-year-old race record. Wellington’s bike split was only the 5th best in Kona history.

One good thing about how the race in Kona was called this year: It gave a lot of pro athletes a chance to catch up socially with their competitors. Some did a lot of socializing.

No, this isn’t the Slowtwitch swimsuit edition. It’s an analysis of how the women’s race has changed at the Hawaiian Ironman; where today’s best women are slower than those of yesteryear, and where they’re faster.

Many legends blew up behind Chris Lieto’s 4:25:10 bike split, but in the end Lieto was the last to fall to Crowie’s run.

At 6:45 AM the pros chase glory, at 7 AM the everyday heroes start swimming.

The Slowtwitch Ice Cream Truck was in Dallas for the fifth Toyota Cup stop of the season. This was the series finale, here’s how we called it.

Matty Reed again showed that when he’s fresh and ready, he’s very tough to beat in a no-draft oly-distance race. Lisa Norden bested Sarah Haskins for the women’s title