Three athletes with the Team Rocket Tri Club are ready for months of training and mental preparation to pay off at the Ironman World Championship in Hawai’i this weekend.
Tayana Castelli and Tim Smith, both of Huntsville, and Paulo Gustavo Cardoso, of Brazil, will represent the Huntsville-based club. Castelli and Cardoso are siblings. The trio qualified during Ironman competitions in 2025.
The championship is Saturday in Kona. It starts at 6:20 a.m. for the professional men and 6:30 a.m. for the professional women. Age group starts begin at 6:38 a.m. The swim-ride-run route offers multiple challenges along the way. Athletes start with a 2.4-mile swim in Kailua Bay, then hit the Queen Kaʻahumanu Highway for an 111.8-mile bike ride. The ride is an out-back from Kailua-Kona to Hawi, with an elevation gain of 1,772 feet. They finish with a 26.2-mile run on a scenic route that includes some challenging stretches.
Men and women will compete together for the first time since 2019. Ironman officials admitted the split format was not accepted well. The Ironman World Championship got its spark when Judy and John Collins competed in the 1974 Mission Bay Triathlon in San Diego. They moved to Hawai’i in 1975 and began thinking about a triathlon there.
Big Interest
Two years later, the Around the Island Triathlon was announced for 1978 with the winner dubbed the “Iron Man.” A subsequent story about the winner and event in Sports Illustrated sparked a surge of interest.
What eventually became the Ironman grew into a worldwide force. Triathlons grew from the grassroots level, with clubs forming and events being staged. Other events were created, such as the half-Ironman of 70.3 and smaller ones including Olympic and Sprint distances. They provide athletes a variety of options.
Athletes in North Alabama were early fans of triathlons. The Huntsville Sprint Tri, put on by the Team Rocket Tri Club, has been held for 46 years. It’s one of the oldest continuous sporting events in the city, along with the Huntsville Half-Marathon and Rocket City Marathon
Kona is such an iconic place,” said TRTC president Ruth Marie Oliver. “This is the fourth year in a row we have had Team Rocket Tri Club representing on the Big Island. The magnitude of the event and the training needed to get to the World Championship is a testament to each athlete’s love of the sport.
“Whether qualifying through the Legacy Program or at IRONMAN Florida there is a commitment to excellence needed to just toe the startline in Kailua Bay. I wish our athletes the very best and hope they cherish each mile. We will all be celebrating when they cross the most magical finish line in all of triathlon!”
