Find a new town
As a resident of Kona for 20 years, I have always enjoyed Ironman each year. My wife and I volunteered several years at aid stations, and we drove camera cars for NBC for several years. Ironman was always a fun event to look forward to each year.
Until now. Extending the race to two days effectively shuts the city down for an entire week. We have observed athletes on bikes and running take over the roads in the days and weeks prior to the race as if they owned the town in years past.
We let it go as we knew it would only last a few days. But now with Ironman doubling the athletes (and associated support families and friends) Kona is completely shutdown in gridlock. For Ironman and the county to approve this expansion is shameful and irresponsible. The country is lured by increased tax revenue so they buy into this event and Ironman makes millions on the event all at the expense of the residents of Kona. Disgusting.
Many of my friends and neighbors can, and will likely, speak for themselves. But I am disgusted and wish Ironman would find a new location to hold this event in the future.
Ironman: Please pack up your event and find a new town to take over and terrorize.
Don Nelson
Kailua-Kona
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Never in all my years …
Ironman? These are elite athletes? I have competed in all kinds of sports for the past 62 years — basketball, tennis, baseball, field hockey and more. I was always taught good sportsmanship by my coaches, otherwise you ended up on the bench. I was taught to be respectful of everyone by my family. My son played volleyball at UH- (Johnny Matt Bender) and we had long talks about being kind and gracious as a winner and a loser.
I have been in Kona for 20 years now and have volunteered for Ironman and supported this event. I have friends who have stores and benefit from the money brought in by Ironman. I have friends who have had to close their businesses because of the event. I have also been in the “free from fees” Kona pool for the past 20 years. What a world class pool and no fees!
I have never been so rudely treated by anyone in all the 60+ years I have been swimming in pools around the U.S., as I was by these elite athlete-jerks who told me I should swim in a faster lane. When I replied that this was a community pool, my tax dollars paid for his free admission and that we never did circle swims or had lanes designated fast etc, in the Kona community pool. I said that I had been coming to the pool for 20 years and never seen him.
He bluffed and said he lived over there … He told me I should swim in a slower lane. Then to layer rude onto supreme rudeness, he and his other three “athletes” swam around me, under me, tried to hit me or collide with me and tried to intimidate me. I have never in all my years been subjected to this rudeness in any pool. Wow who needs this in our mellow, full of aloha pool? Plus, why don’t they practice in the ocean where they swim? I complained to the lifeguards. I suggested that they designate two lanes for faster swimmers during Ironman. Is all the money we gain from these “people” worth the disrespect they show to our community?
Debbie Hecht
Kailua-Kona
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James Perry said in a recent letter to the editor that the road crews should pick up trash before mowing. Not quite sure where Mr. Perry has been for the last several years because I have seen the road crew picking up trash before they mow many times. They are kind of hard to miss. They are the people with bright orange outfits on with tongs picking up roadside trash and putting the trash into large bright orange trash bags. It’s a very basic job. Problem is, it is very difficult to keep up with the amount of trash people throw along the roadside.
Teresa Tagon
Keauhou
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