The best of 08!

Chrissy wellington -female of the year

Craig Alexander -male of the year

Chrissy wellington in Kona for female perfornace of the year

John Newsome for male perofance of the year for beating bevan

Female of the year - Chrissie Wellington

Female of the year - Chrissie Wellington

Male of the year - Chris McCormack

Female performance of the year - Chrissie Wellington winning kona, even

after stopping 10 minutes for a flat!

Male performance of the year - Eneko Llanos's performances in roth and

kona.

Female performance of the year - Chrissie Wellington as any of her races, but what about her 2nd place OVERALL at the L'Alpe Duez triathlon?!

Male Performance - Chris McCormack in Frankfurt getting up off the deck after being passed halfway through the marathon by Eneko Llanos, then sprinting to the line to beat 8 hours by 3 seconds.

Male Athlete: Crowie, almost unbeatable in 70.3 races and then to win Hawaii with a 2.45 marathon.

Female Athlete: Chrissie Wellington? Who else??? Unbeaten for the year (except for an experimental ITU race). When was the last time someone was unbeaten for a season? Never.

Kia Kaha! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year guys, nice profile picture on Facebook, Bev :) Anyhow, who else in the Best Performance Woman but Rebekah Keats? Eh? Chrissie wouldn't have finished without her, showing that true sportsmanship is alive and well with the sport of triathlon. For the mens best performance? None really stand out in my mind, but I'm a Brit so I'll have to go with Stephen Bayliss finally breaking out of the Top 5 mentality and getting a win under his belt at IMSA. Best Overall Female? Yep, that's right, who else, but The Muppet. Best Overall Male? Eneko Llanos for solid improvement year upon year, puts himself to the front of the class :)

Female has to be Chrissie, of course, and I'm trying hard to think of a better performance than losing 10 mins to a flat in Kona then blasting back onto the course and still dominating the dojo. Her pass of Belinda on the bike was just jaw-dropping.

Honorable mention to Rebekah Keats for an inspiring show of sportsmanship helping Chrissie get back into the race.

Male of the year I suppose has to be Crowie. For Male Performance I was hoping to be more creative...what about that Ricky James kid who lost his legs and still finished Kona?

Ben "The Running Man" Schorr (Pronounced like the sea shore)

Female of the year - Chrissie Wellington

Male of the year - Macca

Female performance of the year - Chrissie Wellington

Male performance of the year - Crowie at Kona.

Female of the Year - Chrissinator - Straight wins and taking the iTU and WTC belts, honourable metions for Hilary and Bella

Male of the year - Stephen Bayliss - 4 Ironman (distance), 2 wins and 2 2nd places.

Top male performance - Brett Sutton for TBB

Top Female performance - Yvonne Van Vlerken, world record holder and breaking through from Duathlon to Tri. her swimming may suck but can she motor on the bike!

Female of the year; Rebekah Keats for showing that even at the top end of our sport the 'spirit of triathlon' is still alive and kicking.

Male of the year; Dick and Rick Hoyt. A fantastic showing at Florida, great inspiration to all in our sport. They do it because they love triathlon.

Female performance; Chrissie Wellington smacking Kona and also nearly taking first in the L'Alpe Duez triathlon, stunning performances.

Male performance:Craig Alexander. His final run at Kona was outstanding. He won the world championship because he wanted it more than anybody else. A lesson for us all in mental atitude.

Thanks for a great year Bevan and John.

female of the year: chrissie. still "undefeated" in ironman.

male of the year: crowie. he proved 2nd place in 2007 was no fluke.

male performance: chris mcdonald. he set a new bike course record in louisville and faded a bit on the run to finish 2nd. he came to wisconsin a week later and set a new course record. female performance: chrissie surviving her kona disaster and smashing the run.

Well, you would have to say that Craig Alexandar is the performance of the year. He is an Aussie, not many people go to Hawaii and come second on their first year and then come back on win it. Go you good aussie.

I think a mention needs to go to the young Berkle in Western Australia, he is so young but a true professional. I have the same coach as Berkle and get regular updates on his performance and I've never met anyone that age so professional and competant. I was in WA and watched the race, his head was able to overcome older more professional athletes. An athlete to watch

Male Performance: How about Rutger Beke? This is the guy that had a lot of issues in Hawaii last year, and ended up walking much of the marathon when most pros would have abandon the race. I think that experience gave Rutger a new appreciation for the blessing it is to have a body that can complete, if not compete, at an Ironman event. With a new found determination, Rutger went to Hawaii to go deeper than he ever had before. The results showed with a third place finish after receiving a 4 minute penalty on the bike (one that was unmerited from what I have read). That 4 minutes would have put him up in first place, or at least put some more pressure for Alexander to show more of his running abilities.

Female Performance: Rebecca Keats. Kudos to Rebecca for letting athletic ability to determine the outcome of the race, rather than allowing a mechanical issue to take the competition out of the race. I realize that mechanical failure is a part of the life, but to allow a competitor to finish the race when it is within your ability is very self-sacrificing and good sportsmanship.

Male performance; Bevan for asking Dick Hoyt about his wife