Babbittville Radio – Babbittville

Colonel David Rozelle was the first soldier to lose a limb in battle in Iraq and then return to Iraq to lead his troops with a prosthetic leg. During his journey back from his injury he became a triathlete and finished the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. David was the first Operation Rebound athlete the Challenged Athletes Foundation worked with and he will be returning to Southern California to race Ironman 70.3 Oceanside on April 7th as part of Team CAF/Operation Rebound.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Peter Read Miller is one of the world's legendary photographers with over 100 Sports Illustrated covers to his credit. Peter has also shot 9 Olympic Games, 14 NBA Finals, and will soon be shooting his 40th Super Bowl. What people might not realize is that Peter also shot the second ever Ironman Triathlon on the island of Oahu back in 1979 when there were only 15 starters and 12 finishers. The feature story that appeared in Sports Illustrated that showcased the Ironman and the sport of triathlon helped to put the sport on the map, and the number of entries ballooned from 15 in 1978 and 1979 to 108 in 1980. Among those 108 in 1980 were Dave Scott, Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray, and myself. Peter came on to share his memories from shooting the second ever Ironman. One of my favorite parts of the conversation was when Peter was out in a little neighborhood shooting the eventual winner, Tom Warren, who had also attended USC. "As Tom came by," Read Miller remembers, "he was whistling the USC fight song. That is something I'll never forget!"   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Miles O'Brien is an award winning science journalist formerly with CNN and now with PBS. On February 12, 2014, his life changed forever when a camera case fell on his arm while he was working on a story in the Philippines. At first he thought he had simply bruised his arm. "It hurt, but I thought it would be okay," he recalls. When he finally did go to the hospital, he ended up having surgery for acute compartment syndrome and when he woke up from the operation, he was missing his left arm above the elbow. In this wide-ranging interview, Miles shares the lowest parts of his journey and how he now feels that there is absolutely nothing he can't do. So what's next for this journalist who is also an avid endurance athlete? After accepting a challenge from his Navy Lieutenant son, he is racing Ironman 70.3 Oceanside as part of Team CAF/Operation Rebound on April 7th. The event is sold out, but if you'd like to join Miles O'Brien on Team CAF/Operation Rebound and race one of the world's great events, go to challengedathletes.org.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Zibi Szlufcik is CEO of the over 60 Challenge Family Events around the world. They just announced Challenge Daytona at the Daytona Speedway for next December and Zibi came on to chat about his new event.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Coming off his 3rd place finish and 2:39:45 record-breaking marathon at the 2016 Ironman World Championship, Patrick Lange of Germany, was looking forward to a great 2017 season. But for three months in 2017 he was so tired he could barely train. When doctors finally figured out his problem, he had very little time to get ready for Ironman Frankfurt and, before he knew it, he was back in Kona. This time he not only ran sub-2:40 again, he made up a ten minute deficit to Lionel Sanders, broke Craig Alexander’s course record, and won his first Ironman World Championship title!   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Steph Sklar-Mulcahy didn’t get into endurance until she ran her first marathon in 2001. That led to multiple-day cycling events and eventually to the Ironman. In March she opened up an indoor cycling studio called Cyclebar in Culver City and she has never been happier!   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Steve Del Monte from DelMoSports has a brand new women’s pool triathlon, the Women's Philadelphia Triathlon, coming up on July 8th in Philadelphia. We chat about Steve's background in triathlon, his epic Escape the Cape event, and why he feels pool tri events can help get more new people into the sport.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes  

During this wide ranging interview with Graham Fraser, the Ironman Canada race director who expanded the Ironman footprint throughout the U.S., we chat about his Hall of Fame career as a race director but also about his latest project, which is bringing the amazing story of Tour de France champion - and hero - Gino Bartali to the silver screen.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Billy Lister had a stroke when he was 17 years old in July of 1999. In 2011 he attended a Challenged Athletes Foundation Paratriathlon camp and got back on a bike for the first time since his stroke. That led to Billy becoming a part of the U.S. Paralympic Team and racing three events in Rio at the Paralympics. “I’ve traveled the world and met fascinating people,” he insists. “I view my stroke and disability as a gift.”   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes  

Rob Gray won the Ultraman World Championship in November after taking second in 2016. In this wide-ranging conversation we went from his three weeks of cake nutrition plan, to racing Ironman Texas on minimal training, to taking over 40 minutes off his double marathon time this year at Ultraman.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Paul Newsome is a long time swimmer, triathlete, and long distance swimmer who trained back in the day with UK triathlon legends Simon Lessing and Julie Dibens. Leading into the first-ever Olympic Triathlon in 2000 in Sydney, Australia, his role was to be Lessing's 'swim bitch.' Newsome created a swim program that is based in Perth, Australia called Swim Smooth and he is now busy expanding the reach of the program all over the world. Check out swimsmooth.com  for more details.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Glenn Hartrick was a long-time triathlete who was paralyzed in June of 2014 during a bike ride. His goal became to get back to the starting line of an Ironman and finish. In November of 2017 he made magic at Ironman Florida and his 13:11 was faster than his first-ever Ironman that he did as an able-bodied athlete. The ultimate goal for the man they call Double NN? The Ironman World Championship!   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

After Daniela Ryf won her third Ironman Triathlon World Championship title in a row, her TriSutto coaches, Brett Sutton and Robbie Haywood, joined me for a conversation.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Dave Jewell understands running like few other people on the planet. So when he tells me that Footbeat is something that all runners can benefit from, I knew I needed to have him on the show to walk us through the reasons why.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes

Kathrine Switzer is the woman who helped create the women’s running boom. And, believe it or not, it all started when officials tried to throw her off the Boston Marathon course way back in 1967. It was wonderful to get to chat with a true pioneer in endurance sports.   Subscribe to Babbittville Radio on iTunes