Ironmen at Kona

Six have broken the eight-hour barrier in a 140.6-mile Ironman triathlon. But at Kona, where the 26th world championships will be held on Oct. 16, the mark remains as untouchable as the four-minute mile once was for runners. Here's a look at the top three chasing the title and an elusive record.

[This article continas a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

	Peter Reid	Tim DeBoom	Simon Lessing
Hometown	Victoria, B.C.	Lyons, Colorado	Cape Town, South Africa
Age	35	33	32
Idol	Mark Allen	John Naber	Mark Allen
Best Ironman time	7:51:56 at '99 Austria	8:08:55 at '02 Austria	8:23:12 at '04 Lake Placid
Best Hawaii time	8:21:01 in '00	8:23:09 in '00	N/A
Ironman victories	10	4	1
Strongest leg	Running	Swimming	Running
Why he'll win	Three wins in last six at Kona	Two straight Kona wins from '01 to '02	Broke Lake Placid record by 10 mins.
Why he won't	Wilted to sixt in July at Germany	Injury prone. In '03 passed a kidney stone at mile 128	Kona rookie

COLOR PHOTO

FRANK WECHSEL/BONGARTS (REID)

COLOR PHOTO

BARON SEKIYA/WEST HAWAII TODAY/AP (DEBOOM)

COLOR PHOTO

PHIL COLE/GETTY IMAGES (LESSING)