Video by Jefferson Graham (PhotoWalksTV.com)

Justin Thirsk sings Pennywise anthem ‘Bro Hymn.’Video by Ron Siegel

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Blake Vogelsang celebrates winning the Hermosa Beach Fourth of July Ironman for the second consecutive year. Photo by Ron Siegel

by Landen Braunstein

Nearly 2,000 competitors, the most ever,  participated in the 51st Annual Hermosa Beach Ironman Competition, helping to raise over $50,000 for local charities.

“I grew up in Hermosa Beach, and we’ve been doing this since we were kids,” longtime participant Robert Woody said. “There’s an element to this that is unlike anything else. Doing a mile run, a mile  paddle, and then drinking a six-pack pushes you to the edge. There’s a transcendence that happens here that you cannot find anywhere else.”

Not only do competitors have to chug a six pack after running and paddling. They have to keep it down for 20 minutes, emcee and six-time Hermosa Ironman winner Chris Brown explained. 

The competition began on the beach at 29th Street at 8 a.m. By 11 a.m. evidence of the event, which officially never happened, was gone, including the 12,000 beer cans.

“I think this event speaks to the South By culture of brotherhood and sisterhood,” Shelby Benz said. “In a time with so much division, it’s exciting for people to celebrate the community with one another.” 

Benz, 25, has led competitors in singing the “National Anthem” at the start of the event since she was 11. Her father, former Hermosa Beach Mayor Robert “Burgie” Benz, heads the event, which officially has no leader, and her mother Pat was the unofficial organizer. Pat passed away last year. She was remembered at Saturday’s Ironman with a moment of silence, a remarkable tribute given that it required stopping the music, the mosh pit and the drinking.

For the 20th time, in almost as many years Annie Seawright-Newman won the women’s division in 33:05. Not far behind her were Sydney Brower (who finished third in the 15-mile South Bay Paddleboard race last month), and former Hermosa Ironman winner Steph Norberg.

Blake Voselgang won the men’s division for the second consecutive year, in a time of 22:47. Former Ironman winner Shane Gallas was second, just two minutes behind, in 24:23.

The two winners were given $500 checks to sign over to the charity of their choice. Voselgang chose the Redondo Beach Elks Club. Seawright-Newman chose the Ryan James Foundation. Seawright-Newman coaches at Mira Costa High. James was a Mira Costa runner, who passed away in 2025 from an epileptic seizure. 

Other non-profits that benefited from this year’s Ironman man include the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, the Live Like Braun Foundation, the Hermosa Beach Chamber and the Hermosa Museum. 

“The charity fundraising began during COVID,” Shelby Benz said.  “We couldn’t stage the Ironman, so we decided to do a fundraiser. Since then, it’s just kept getting bigger,” she said. ER