By Mike Tarrolly – Crushing Iron Podcast
When you’re doing an Ironman, do you ever think about how much goes into closing the course to make sure you’re safe? It actually blows my mind to think about the logistics and planning that, can frankly, be overlooked. Well, Steve Delmonte of Delmo Sports doesn’t worry, he just gets things done, and on a recent podcast he took us behind the curtain.
For example, Delmo Sports is putting on a new All Women’s triathlon this year in Philadelphia and it took a ton of work just to convince the city it would be a good partnership, even though nothing else was going on that weekend. And I guess I get that because as much as we triathletes sit around and think triathlon is good business, I think cities take a ton of crap for shutting down their roads.
(Speaking of which, that always leads me to imagine I’m in my “old shoes” as an out of shape, non-triathlete so I can try to remember how I would have felt about sitting in my car for 20 minutes longer just so a bunch of people can run my roads in spandex. I can honestly see both sides of it, but the “old me” is definitely a grump-ass, so I typically side with the new me and feel like most people are on a hunt to bitch about something).
Steve is a straight shooter. We talked about pro triathletes and doping, on which he thinks they should let them do whatever they want. And on that note we contemplated the impossible dream of having someone as popular as Lance Armstrong as a household name in Ironman.
He also has a great perspective on what it means to be a triathlete. In an earlier interview he produced the phrase, “We’re all just playing triathlon” and it has become a staple quote in the Crushing Iron community. He talks about things like the danger in attaching “triathlete” to your identity and why it’s so important to be grateful on the course.
Coach Robbie and I joke about lobbying to make Steve the unofficial ambassador of triathlon, but it’s not far from the truth. We hope you enjoy the 131st episode of the Crushing Iron Podcast with Race Director, Steve Delmonte.
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