Hundreds of competitors and an equal number of spectators gathered on the sand early Tuesday morning in the 43rd running of the Hermosa Beach Ironman, the traditional 4th of July event that combines athletic endurance and drinking stamina. Contestants ran a mile on the sand, paddled a mile in the ocean, and did their best to drink, and hold down, six cans of beer. (Vomiting technically means a failure to complete, though so many threw up with such aplomb that one could be forgiven for thinking it the goal itself.) Jeff Bellandi and Annie Seawright, both Hermosans, repeated as men’s and women’s champion. Following the end of the race, local punk group the STDs provided the soundtrack for a donut-shaped mosh pit encircling an American Flag and a tower of beer cans.
Photos /jlcederblom.com. Click for full screen gallery.
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