Iron Pol

Today, I received an e-mail from Ironman.  It seems they are missing my timing chip from IMKY and would like me to send it to them, or let them know I lost it.

I responded in the same manner I imagine a great many others did.  "My chip was removed by volunteers at the finish line.  I do have the empty band they gave back to me.  I am unsure of what was done with the chip after it was removed."

A quick review of the addresses on the message show I'm in pretty good company.  Heather Gollnick, the winner of the women's race, will have to turn her chip in at Kona.  She apparently walked off with it.  Nina Kraft, who led the women's race for much of the day, may have to work out other arrangements, as I'm unsure if she is going to race in Hawaii.

Lt. Andrew Baldwin shouldn't be too hard to find.  Between service in the US Navy, "The Bachelor" fame, and racing in the Ironman World Championships, they should be able to track him down.

Several members of the Tri Blog Community might want to offer me some cold hard cash.  I saw your names there, too.  (Names withheld until I see if they want to pay up).

The part I find most interesting is the failure to do a simple "dummy" check.  Using an average of addresses per line and lines per screen, there are an estimated 1700 names on the e-mail sent out.  That is roughly 80-90 percent of all starters.  That seems a bit high.  I told them as much in my e-mail response.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.  Are there dozens of volunteers running around with hundreds of chips?  Did 90% of the participants decide to keep the standard black chip as a souvenir?  Who REALLY shot JR?

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