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WHIT HAPPENS!
As nearly 1,700 triathletes swim, bike and run
in the 2007 Ford Ironman World Championship
Saturday, they will be exhorted toward and
through the finish line by a triumvirate of
enthusiastic and committed race announcers. For
nearly eight hours, the athletes and friends
will be hearing Mike Reilly, the “Voice of the
Ironman,” proclaim “you are an Ironman” over and
over and over … each time with a special and
unique meaning to each elated triathlete. Tom
Ziebart, after working his butt off all week
keeping the numerous Gatorade aid stations and
water coolers filled for the training athletes,
will be out there all day long; but, Tom’s
special time seems to be the night-time, when he
can throw out schwag to the throngs on the
sidelines, cheering on the later finishers.
And then there’s Whit – Whit Raymond. He’s the
wild one, the party guy, the one high above the
finish line dancing 70’s style to keep the crowd
jacked … and, man, is he successful! During the
day, Whit works “hot corner.” This is the busy
intersection of Palani Road and Kuakini Highway,
where the bike and run courses intersect
numerous times, with the triathlete traffic
reminding one of a busy city intersection. Whit
is the “traffic reporter,” doing the
play-by-play with rapid-fire precision. Not
only is he calling out the names of everyone who
is going by; but, because of his tremendous
knowledge of the sport and the in-depth homework
he does to prepare for the big day, he routinely
throws out tidbits of information on a great
number of the competitors. He seems to know
more than half the competitors personally. And,
of course, there is that special little touch of
naming and cheering on each of the over 100
Japanese athletes in perfectly fluent Japanese.
After studying Japanese at the University of
Arizona for one year, Whit decided to move to
Japan to study and immerse himself in the
country’s culture. He was teaching English, his
only means of transportation was a bike, when he
entered his first triathlon in 1986.
“Unbelievably, I found myself in the lead on the
run, and 10 meters from the finish line, a
Japanese guy blazes by me and I finish second.”
Whit goes on to explain that he was the only
non-Japanese competitor in the race, and it was
televised nationally throughout Japan.
Suddenly, Whit Raymond was a recognizable
triathlete… after one race. People on the
street were recognizing him!
Just three races later, 1986, Ironman Japan. At
this point, Ironman Japan’s race distances were
a bit shorter than today – 2 mile swim, 100 mile
bike, 20 mile run. Whit races it, finishes 12th
overall, and qualifies for Hawaii in just his
fourth triathlon. Being the free spirit he was
– and remains today – Whit heads to race Kona,
falls in love with Hawaii, and ends up moving
from Japan to Honolulu, living there for the
next seven years. During this time, he gets a
bit more serious with triathlon, winning the
well known Keauhou Kona Half Ironman twice (4:10
PR), and racing in the Hawaii Ironman World
Championship five times between 1986 and 1991.
Deciding not to race in 1992, Whit still came to
Kona to help with the Japanese media as well as
the pre-race Japanese triathlete briefing (which
he also did in the years he was racing). “In
1993, I was asked to just help out in the race a
bit as ‘an extra voice.’ They said ‘you’ve done
the race 5 times, you know all the Hawaii
athletes, you know the Japanese (and there were
close to 200 back then), you know how to speak …
help out Mike Reilly a bit.” The rest is
history – 15 years consecutively, Whit continues
to team up with Reilly, in order to entertain
and inform the race spectators, as well as pump
up each and every athlete.
“Whit brings an unparalleled energy. I always
call him the Energizer Bunny --- he never
stops,” says Reilly smiling. “I don’t know how
he does it. I do about 15-18 events a year. I
think Whit must do double that! The only regret
I have about Whit is I only get to work with him
once a year. To him, it’s not about Whit, it’s
all about the athletes.” Together, Reilly and
Raymond, along with Tom Ziebart, will work
non-stop from 5AM until the official cut-off at
midnight on race day – 19 straight hours!
Reilly is right about Raymond’s work schedule.
Along with Kona, he is the main announcer at
events like Ironman Japan, Singapore 70.3, next
year’s new Ironman China, as well as a slew of
Xterra events, including that race’s National
and World Championships. In addition, he is the
voice behind 14 nationally syndicated sports
programs televised and produced by Team
Unlimited, the folks behind Xterra. Whit loves
it all; but, his focus right now is on more
television work.
So, on race day – the 30th edition of
the “Big Dance,” the Ford Ironman World
Championship – Whit will be out there, once
again – his own personal “22nd
Anniversary” of the race … and we will all
witness the Energizer Bunny at work. “This is my
way to continue being part of the sport I love –
and I love it with a passion.” It shows.
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Barry
Siff is a Race Director (5430 Sports), writer,
and triathlete. He and his wife, Jodee, live,
work, and train in Boulder, CO.
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Whit’s Bits
May 14, 2007
Welcome to my website! It has been a long time
coming, but I have finally put a little
something together. Keep posted as I update
this page and add fun tidbits to the site
through my travels…(if that is of any interest
to anybody). I will also be adding a Japanese
link, so for those of you who want to be amused
in Japanese you can look forward to that.
Just got back from The 25th
Wildflower Triathlons Festival on May 5th
and 6th! Another crazy and FUN filled
long, long weekend announcing thousands of names
and just feeling the buzz of the early season!!!
8000 athletes! 20, 000 spectators and tons and
tons of FUN!
Then it was off to the quaint little town of
Solvang, California located just northeast of
Santa Barbara for the inaugural Santa Barbara
Wine Country Half Marathon on Sunday, May 13th
Mother’s Day! 2000 runners turned up for a
gorgeous and very well organized event! The
course is absolutely spectacular, rolling
through equestrian ranchlands and vineyards of
the beautiful central coast of California. If
you ever saw the movie Sideways, this is where
it was all filmed! Definitely an event to put on
your calendar for next year!
The XTERRA calendar kicks off in North America
with XTERRA Temecula on May 19th and
20th in Temecula, California. Get out
there and do XTERRA! It is the most fun you will
have on a single day at any multi sport event!
Period! And it is flippin’ tuff business! That
is what makes it FUN!
More soon…
ALOHA!
Whit
毎度！私のホムページへよこそ！ やっと出来上がりました！
とりあえず英語ばかりですが、もう少ししたら日本語のリンクも入れますのでお楽しみに！
ウイット
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Welcome
to my website! It has been a long time coming,
but I have finally put a little something
together. Keep posted as I update this page and
add fun tidbits to the site through my
travels…(if that is of any interest to anybody).
I will also be adding a Japanese link, so for
those of you who want to be amused in Japanese
you can look forward to that.