Among the crowd waiting to splash into the crystal clear waters of Kailua Bay at Sunday’s Peaman Biathlon event, stood a triathlon legend known in the multisport world as Funky Dude Bob Babbitt.
As co-founder of the Challenge Athletes Foundation and Competitor Magazine, the creator of the Muddy Buddy Ride & Run Series, Inductee to both the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame and IRONMAN Hall of Fame, and the host of his own popular show “Breakfast with Bob,” it’s hard not to know the triathlon celebrity.
Within minutes, Babbitt is easily recognized and stops to shake hands and give hugs to just about everyone. At the moment, the 65-year old San Diego native is just another Pea-ticipant, readying for one of the most challenging Peaman biathlons of the year.
The Post Pig Out Peamania — a swim-run-swim-run — featured a ¼-mile brisk swim, followed by a 2-mile sprint, then doing it again. This biathlon comes with a reputation of pushing athletes well beyond their limits and into the painful “red zone.”
Babbitt, completely unfazed by the daunting task his body will burden, secured his goggles and took his position near the front, ready for the countdown.
In the race for first, Kona’s Luis De La Torre raced virtually unchallenged as he easily defended his title with a time of 35 minutes and 29 seconds. Second place went to 15-year old Josiah Randerson in a great time of 39:15.
The battle for first in the women’s division turned out to be a good one between Winona Chen and myself. Chen’s year-round consistency with her swim-bike-run training gave her a 50 second advantage out of the water before the 2-mile run start.
While I was able to gain the women’s lead with a quarter of a mile left on the first round, Chen once again put time on me during the second ¼-mile swim segment, this time by 40 seconds. Luckily, I was able to catch and pass her halfway into the final 2-mile stretch to win with a time of 39:41. Chen followed in second at 40:13.
Rounding out the men’s and women’s podiums were Chris Chang in 40:09, and 15-year old Maile Fediuk, who was recently named “most improved runner” on the Kealakehe cross-country team, with her time of 49:35.
Funky Dude Babbitt finished 30th overall with a very respectable time of 53:12.
In the shorter Pea Wee race that featured a 200-yard swim and 1-mile run, Gabriela Joy Childers won the female division with a fabulous time of 12:44. Second overall and first for the men went to Asher Byrd with his time of 13:17.
While Babbitt and I may not have been sitting oceanfront listening to local musician, Poncho Man, strumming his ukulele and singing a tune with stunning views of Kailua Bay as the backdrop – one of the famous sites for his popular show during IRONMAN week – I was honored to have my own version of, “Breakfast with Bob.”
Q: So what brought you to Kona this time around?
I came over for Ultraman (World Championships). I’ve seen it before in 2011 but this year is the first time I’m covering it on Ultraman Live – some Facebook, some Twitter, and Instagram from around the course. Ultraman reminds me a lot of early IRONMAN just because it’s about you, your support crew, a team aspect, and it’s small like 30 athletes so it’s really special. It’s triathlon at its purest.
Q: As busy as you are covering Ultraman, you had time to drop in for a morning Peaman race. Was it your first?
It’s the second time – I did it in 2011 – the last time I was here. I just love racing. I probably race in something maybe 30 times a year. Any time there’s a race I’m there. So when I heard there was a Peaman race on Sunday, I thought I’d drive to town and do the race, then drive out to catch the runners along the way which is exactly what we did today.
Q: You mentioned earlier that you enjoy events like Ultraman and Peamans and how it reminded you of your first IRONMAN. What do you enjoy most from events like Peamans?
What I love is to see Peaman himself out there. A number of years ago he was not looking that healthy, and now he looks great. The fact that people come out to participate in events with his name on it – Pea is just a guy that lives and breathes this sport. You can tell how much he loves putting on these events, and the people who come just love being there.
Kona has a great triathlon community. A lot of times when we look at our sport, it’s an aging sport. If you look at a lot of these IRONMAN races, the biggest age groups are 40 years and up. For the sport to be successful and to survive we need new people coming in. And a lot of these sports can be expensive. So to have an event that is free where anyone can come out and participate, I love supporting these types of events because it’s supporting the growth of our sport.
I’ve known Peaman probably since the first time that I came to Kona in 1981. He wears his heart on his sleeve, he loves the sport, he’s giving back to the sport every day, he is very selfless and wants everyone to have a great time. It’s never been about him, it’s always been about the sport.
Q: Where does your passion for multisport events come from?
I first came over to do IRONMAN in 1980. We first read about it in Sport Illustrated and weren’t really sure how long it was but my roommate, Ned Overend, and I decided to come to Oahu to do it. I was a school teacher in PE and read about this thing called the IRONMAN. But I had no idea that you were suppose to complete the entire thing in one day. We didn’t know what it was about, we really didn’t have a clue. And none of us did.
From Dave Scott, to myself, to everyone else who was on the starting line in 1980 it was, “Could we do this? Could we finish this?” It wasn’t about the time, it wasn’t about the results, it wasn’t about calories or wattage, it was about adventure. Which leads me back to why I love Ultraman, it’s an adventure. There’s no prize money, you are out here because you want to test yourself.
Q: How did doing IRONMAN in 1980 lead you toward your successful career?
I finished my first IRONMAN not really knowing that I would actually do it. I surprised myself. It confirmed that I could do things that I thought I really couldn’t do. And that’s been my theme to starting Competitor Magazine, the Challenge Athletes Foundation, Muddy Buddy – it came from, “What do I want to do?” I just thought this swim, bike, run sport thing was really cool.
The end goal was never financial. The end goal was doing things we love and how can we share this sport. Triathlon to me has always been a swim, bike, run, then hang out with your buddies and talk story. Sport isn’t just something you do; it’s something you are. Sport makes you whole. The adrenaline makes everything better. If more people went out to swim, bike, and run, the world wouldn’t need medicine because everyone would feel better.
Q: How did your Breakfast with Bob begin?
I’ve been to every IRONMAN since 1980. So seven years ago, I thought now that we are really hooked on the internet, why don’t we do interviews and post it as quickly as possible? The first year we did maybe 10 or 12 interviews and this year we did 56. Last year we had a 140,000 views and this year 220,000. So it’s been really fun. This year we did Breakfast with Bob shows from Kona, Dubai, Denmark, Leadville I00, and the Boston Marathon so we are starting to travel around with the show and it’s been a lot of fun.
Q: And lastly, on your business card you are a CEO and Funky Dude. Where does that come from?
(Laughing) Years ago when I started the Competitor Magazine in 1987, I decided that I didn’t want a serious business card. We started the business in some guy’s garage while trying to grow it, so after it did grow, I didn’t want to forget that at the end of the day, we are still swimming, biking and running. So rather than having a serious business card, I started my first card with “Publisher and Funky Dude.” Now that it’s my own company its “CEO and Funky Dude.”