Hi, everyone - A lot of people have been asking us when/where/how we’ll be premiering the movie in Kona, Hawaii. Here are the answers:

- If you want to buy the DVD in person, we will be at the Triathlete Magazine booth in the expo, starting on Wed morning. (If you want to buy online, of course, you can do that now!)

- We will also be showing the movie at the annual Ironman Hawaii carbo-load dinner, on a giant outdoor screen behind the King K hotel, on Thurs, Oct 19. The show should start at about 8 pm.

 Happy viewing!

Almost forgot to mention - There are 6 “extras” on the WIT DVD, which will go even **further** behind the scenes to give movie junkies a taste of the unique triathlon culture:

- Competitor radio host and publisher Bob Babbitt storytelling about the Ironman back in 1979

- Peter Reid talking about his first-ever triathlon, in college

- Heather Fuhr describing her love of NASCAR and meeting with driver Jeff Gordon

- Outtakes from Dubai, when the Tri-Dubai team visited there in May 2006

- Peter and Luke Bell describing their pre-race routine in Kona

- One other which I’m forgetting right now

Hard to believe, but after a nearly 2-year journey - one which began with filming of Peter Reid and Lori Bowden in rainy Victoria, BC, in November 2004, then continued through the 2005 Ironman world championships, and then through a multi-month editing process and distribution discussions with a variety of Hollywood players - WIT is nearly ready to launch! We are busy behind the scenes feeding information about the movie to journalists, retailers, our theater partners at Landmark Theatres, sponsors, and of course our customers. After months of frenetic activity, we go live next Monday, Oct 16. Look then for DVDs to be available on WITmovie.com!

A nice mention alongside a story about Peter Reid’s retirement:

A lot of media attention and hubbub has surrounded ultramarathoner Dean Karnazes and his quest to run 50 marathons in 50 states on 50 consecutive days, starting next month. Without getting into an extended discussion of Karnazes, who’s been featured in Outside magazine, Runner’s World, and in a host of other media outlets recently, it’s worth thinking about other less-publicized people who are accomplishing equally if not more impressive endurance feats.

Our friend Young from California forwarded this interesting link, about a guy doing 6 Ironmans (!) on 6 continents in 60 days. Pretty amazing…..

http://www.endureforthecure.com/

Like the package that ran in Triathlete magazine’s July issue, this interview with Tim Carlson reflects a lot of the themes and storylines that we pick up in the movie:

http://www.insidetri.com/portal/news/
news.asp?item=103088

Interesting read!

As we go through business-development discussions with various movie studios, TV networks, and video distributors, we’ve been asked frequently about our target market. We think “What It Takes” has the stuff to cross over and become mainstream entertainment, since it focuses on our 4 athletes not just as competitors, but as people. But that said, it is interesting to look at the numbers around our “hard-core” market:

• 50,000+ members of USA Triathlon
• 85,000 subscribers to the PowerBar email newsletter
• 420,000 runners in the US who finish a marathon each year
• 2.2 million viewers who watched Lance Armstrong’s final Tour de France on OLN
• 11.3 million people who run at least 100 days per year

We believe that this audience is starved for good entertainment about their sports and its human dramas. We hope you agree.

Ian from Australia just sent us mail saying that he’s posted a nice mention of us on a new triathlon Web site. We hadn’t heard of it, but it might be a good one for those of you who have new friends in the sport and want to get them oriented. There are a lot of resources on this site:

www.BeginnerTriathlete.com

From our work on “What It Takes”, we’ve come into contact with a lot of enthusiastic triathletes who demonstrate their passion for the sport and life generally - not just in words, but in actions, too. But even we were surprised by this story of a Boulder woman who hit a bear while flying along at 40 mph….then picked herself up and finished the race in which the collision occurred! 

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4089605