Doug Vargo the CEO of Zoot Sports joins us on the Koa Sports Podcast, an Aussie leading the charge for the most dominant brand in Triathlon Apparel globally by some margin!  They’ve undergone some recent changes and are now (again) the Official Partner of IRONMAN for Season 2025 and beyond. 

With an IRONMAN TriClub boasting over 6,500 members worldwide (12x Koa Sports), we chat about the program and how being the “Pride of Jenni” fits for their brand moving forward.

Not without plenty of hot topics, fishing, Costa Rica, ayahuasca, Collingwood and what’s a podcast without a good bet!

The Koa Sports Zoot Store is OPEN, check it out today, closes soon.

https://custom.zootsports.com/KoaSports27710

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Claytonalia Fettallienae joins us as he prepares to take on the Queenstown slopes and like all parents survives the school holidays.  What has the king been up to?

Greg is locked in for Langkawi IRONMAN, but is choosing to take a different route to arrive on the island, a monsoon season bike ride through Southeast Asia and he fights his way to Break 85 by IRONMAN Busselton in December, he doesn’t appear to have left the starters gates just yet?  Concerns?

Doping Bans, Le Tour, New Points System for the IRONMAN TriClub program, just some of the topics on this week’s episode.

The ZOOT X KOA SPORTS store is OPEN!

Zoot Sports - Koa Sports

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EXCLUSIVE never before seen footage of Greg McDermott cutting up the d-floor circa 1993, and we hate to admit it…. the kid could dance!  There are two ways you can look at this story, what an amazing skill or what a waste of talent.

It’s marathon season and coach Tim Franklin joins us in the studio to chat about his own marathon experience from the Gold Coast and also the 14,000 others!  Also shares a few more stories from his Run Around the World.

For those athletes in the Southern Hemisphere looking to take this season up a notch, it’s the season of gains, for those athletes in the north, it’s race time!

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IRONMAN has updated its age group qualifying process for both the IRONMAN and 70.3 World Championship events from 2026 onwards, and there is much to unpack and understand.  As the #1 ranked coaching service in Kona 2024 we try to explain how it all works and even simulate some recent races to better explain how it would look.

Why?

‘Based on athlete feedback and our own due diligence, we believe the new approach is even more consistent with our principle that the most competitive athletes are recognized and rewarded with qualifying slots. In the prior system, qualifying slots rolled down within gender and age group, and the number of slots allocated to each gender and age group was based on how many people were racing within that gender and age group. In some cases, highly competitive athletes were unable to earn a slot because their age group or gender was under-represented in a race.  In contrast, some athletes who were less competitive relative to their age group would earn a slot because their age group was over-represented and thus had more slots allocated to it. In the new system, we rank athletes based on their relative performance (vs. their age-group), and irrespective of age or gender, the most competitive athletes on race day receive qualifying slots until all available slots for that race are claimed.’

Do we like it?  Listen to find out.

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It was a bumpy 100, but we got there in the end.  A few edges to slips, dropped in the deep and a couple of monster sixes! 

On this episode we are joined by a Rugby League Immortal and step through the highlights from the last 100 episodes, like the sands through the hourglass, these are the days of our lives.

Plus, a new intro tune!  Feedback?

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A significant change for the IRONMAN Oceania race calendar in 2026.  IRONMAN Australia has moved from May to October and Western Sydney from September to May. 

What does the mean?  How will the coaches get from Kona to Port in time and in reasonable condition?  New Zealand boom time? 

We just love triathlon so much.

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Antony Boyd joined Koa Sports in July 2024 with an ambition to break 10 hours in an IRONMAN, a dream he had been chasing for over a decade. 

2 kids in high school, running his own business, and 12 hours a week to train (average). 

At the age of 49 Ant achieved this goal at IRONMAN Cairns 2025.  A relatable story for any age group triathlete on limited time, but with an absolute hunger to achieve more. 

Preparation, nutrition, race day we unpack how it all went down and what needed to change to make this dream a reality.  This could be you!

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We did it guys, Koa Sports are the 2022-2025 IRONMAN Asia Pacific TriClub Champions!  An extraordinary weekend of racing saw our athletes take out the title for a 4th year in a row, to continue the Koa dynasty. 

Unpacking the race is important but Greg becoming entangled in an anti-USA protest in downtown Cairns is another.  We sampled some new establishments and profits were made by one of the coaches at the Reef.

All that and more in a ‘meaty’ episode of the KSP.

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Opinions are like noses, everyone has got one, and in Tims case it’s a BIG opinion.  But what about a race and course preview from the coaches that have delivered the last 3 Club Championships and raced many times including AG titles?  Could be worth the 60 mins. 

It’s been a few years and much has changed since we did an IRONMAN Cairns ‘deep dive’, and we (actually for real) preview the course and offer tips and advice how to get the most out of the day for both the 70.3 and IRONMAN event.

More than just a race, what about the logistics, the nightlife, the restaurants, the breweries and of course the Monday. 

Good luck everyone racing and most of all GO RED!

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We’ve always held the firm belief on the Koa Sports Podcast that sport and politics should never mix, so shame on those who make that so! 

Albeit, MTGA has taken a hit overnight and mum and dad are fighting downstairs on speaker phone for the world to hear. 

In a major boon Koa Sports has a TriClub update and its divisional status, nothing to see here folks!

Pat Roberts joins us from Tasmania to chat about his 70.3 IRONMAN Cairns race coming up.

All that and more.

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