Sunday, September 13th, 2009
Malibu Beach, California
California and Malibu Beach lived up to its reputation of perfect weather, beautiful people and an amazing setting. With an early start of 5am the skies were still dark but with some of Hollywood's brightest stars arriving, the venue lit up as athletes, celebrities, fans and the media poured onto the beautiful and world famous Malibu Beach.
The now 23rd annual Nautica Malibu Triathlon continued its great tradition of raising funds for the Childrens Hospital here in Los Angeles. McCormack, the defending champion, was back to help raise funds for what he described as "simply an amazing charity" and to "flush out his legs" after a massive three-week training block on the big island of Hawaii.
With over 4,000 athletes racing, well over a hundred celebrities, professionals from three different continents and of course the infamous paparazzi covering every move, it provided a unique atmosphere to say the least.
A former ITU Short Course World Cup and World Champion, McCormack is now best known for his long distance racing and Ironman World Title. "Sprint races aren't my specialty anymore but this is an event and cause that I support annually and it also provides me with a great hit-out so close to Kona," stated McCormack. This is one of my favorite events of the year. It's just so unique with all the celebrities racing and the massive clubs like LA Tri Club and the Disney Tri Club taking part. It's an old-school type Triathlon where it's just so relaxed and everyone is here to enjoy the day and raise money for a great cause. I love it!"
Desperate Housewives Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman raced as well as My Name is Earl’s Jason Lee. Mario Lopez, Two and Half Men’s Jon Cryer and super agent 'Ari Gold' from HBO's Entourage, Jeremy Piven, also toed the line. And what would Malibu Beach be without David Hasselhoff giving it a go. These were just a few of the many celebs taking part to help raise money.
Normally Malibu provides some larger waves and cooler water temperatures but the ocean was calm and the water temperature a nice 69 degrees. The professionals hit the water first and were back out and in Transition before you knew it. Australia’s Greg Bennett and Chris McCormack, along with American Chris Lieto exited the water together and after blazing transitions, started the bike leg together as well. The rolling 18-mile bike course takes you along the world famous Pacific Coast Highway and offers breath taking views of both the ocean and the mansions that dot the coastline.
The three riders came back into Transition with Lieto leading by 22 seconds. McCormack was in second with Bennett only a few seconds further back. After lightening transitions, both McCormack and Bennett were now only 8 seconds back of Lieto heading out onto the 4-mile run course. It’s here that Bennett, an ITU short course specialist and Olympian, did what he does best… sprint! “I took off as fast as I could,” said Bennett after the race. “I wanted to make sure I got an immediate gap on McCormack.” As expected, he would go onto win the race with McCormack and Lieto rounding out the days podium.
Over the next two hours, the celebrities and other athletes continued to cross the finish line – everyone with a smile and with much needed money being raised for a wonderful cause.
“I’ll be back next year. 100%,” said McCormack.
