David McNamee from Scotland was eleventh in 2015 with the fastest run of the day, an impressive 2:45:30. In 2016 he fell to thirteenth, but last year he made a major leap to third after a summer of training in Girona with two-time champion Jan Frodeno. Once you finish on the podium, the goal is to win it all!
Carrie Lester from Australia was tenth here in 2016 and moved up to seventh in 2017. She had a ton of success racing in Europe this summer and feels ready to move up another few spots this year.
Cam Brown has won Ironman New Zealand 12 times and has been second twice and third twice here in Kona. He is the oldest male pro in the race at the age of 46 and his first triathlon was way back in 1987, 31 years ago.
Ben Hoffman just announced that he will not be racing the Ironman World Championship this year. After a bike crash early in the season at Cape Epic, he has been fighting a season long battle just to get healthy again.