IRONMITCH: Triathlete Magazine's Memoirs of an Ironman: 14th Annual Competitor Endurance Sports Awards

(Photo: Triathlete magazine board member and CFO Steve Gintowt, Triathlete Investor Wesley Hein and Mitch Thrower)

Labeled "The Academy Awards of Endurance Sports" by Entertainment Tonight, the evening sells out with 600 attendees at spectacular Sea World. Those in attendance get to see the world's greatest endurance athletes up close and personal. Greg LeMond, Ron Kiefel, Davis Phinney, Alexi Grewal and Rebecca Twigg from cycling. Steve Scott, Rod Dixon, Alberto Salazar, Deena Kastor, Henry Rono, Billy Mills, Meb Keflezighi and Eamonn Coghlan from running. Dave Scott, Paula Newby-Fraser, Mark Allen, Scott Tinley, Peter Reid, Heather Fuhr, Greg Welch and Natascha Badmann from triathlon. The Competitor Magazine Endurance Sports Awards Gala was created to celebrate the accomplishments of these amazing athletes.

This past weekend, Competitor Magazine hosted its 14th annual gala, a black tie evening under the stars at Sea World in San Diego. They honored the most incredible athletic achievements - and the most incredible athletes - of 2005. Dinner was served at the Sea World Arcade followed by dessert & the Awards Program at the Nautilus Pavilion.

Wendy Ingraham was inducted into the Hall of Fame in the photo above.

Uber Journalist, Awards Host and Publisher of Competitor Magazine - Bob Babbitt, pictured here with the first woman amputee to complete the Hawaii Ironman competition - Sarah Reinertsen, Ironman World Champion 2005 - Faris Al-Sultan and the voice of Ironman - Mike Reilly

Greg Welch, Mitch Thrower and Maxine Bahns before the awards.

Tara Kincade who works with Mike Reilly at Active.com and of the most important, stealth individuals in the sport of Triathlon, in a fancy suit - Eric McCue who is charged with running the Triathlon registration business over at www.active.com. He's a rockstar - dedicated, motivated and a triathlete himself. If you want to process registrations for your event through active.com, contact Eric at Active today.

President of WTC and Greg Welch discussing Mini Welch

Pictured here: Triathlete Magazine's superstar corporate attorney from Allen Matkins - Kimo McCormick, his daughter Meredith, a sports journalism major and Mitch Thrower at the awards dinner. Kimo's firm a firm that ranks as one of California’s Top 50 Law Firms by the Daily Journal, and lists on the American Lawyer 200 as one of the nation’s Top 200 Law Firms, published by American Lawyer Media. We're convinced it's because of Kimo's excellence and knowledge. Allen Matkins is located on the Web at www.allenmatkins.com.

Super-fast Ironman Triathlete and Triathlete Magazine Investor Glynn Turquand and Owner and CEO of Xterra Wetsuits, Keith Simmons compare the size of their fish.