TRI-Palooza 2015 |Babbitt Media Group

Our inaugural TRI-Palooza weekend is

now in the books and I would like to take

this opportunity to thank all of our

awesome sponsors and supporters! Huge

thanks to: Kaiser Permanente,

FunctionSmart Physical Therapy, EAS

Sports Nutrition, MPA Event Graphics,

RACEPLACE Magazine, NYTRO Multisport,

Ashworth Awards, Headsweats, and

Babbittville Radio

TRI-Palooza 2015 |Babbitt Media Group

Friday and Saturday consisted

of early morning HOKA group

runs, the Expo, a BMC Demo

Day, the ElliptiGO experience,

plus XTERRA Stand Up Paddling

clinics and demos, all at the

spectacular Hilton San Diego

Resort and Spa. There were

also Q&As with Dean Karnazes,

Dave Scott, Tim DeBoom,

Kathleen McCartney and Julie

Moss, Nelson Vails, and Ben

Hoffman, along with insightful

clinics from Jim Vance,

Breakaway Training, Gino

Cinco, and John Howard.

TRI-Palooza 2015 |Babbitt Media Group

On Saturday evening we moved over to the ballroom for the main event of the weekend, the TRI-Palooza

Endurance Sports Awards Gala, where we honored the best athletes and best performances from 2014.

The TRI-Palooza Award Winners

Event of the Year presented by RACEPLACE > Steve Stoloff and ROC Race > pictured with Andy Reilly, owner and publisher of RACEPLACE Magazine

Female Runner of the Year presented by Ashworth Awards > Molly Huddle > pictured with Dan Ashworth, President and CEO of Ashworth Awards

TRI-Palooza 2015 |Babbitt Media Group

Triathlon Legend presented by MPA Event Graphics >Tim DeBoom > pictured with Mike Plant, President and CEO of MPA Event Graphics

Challenged Athlete of the Year presented by Kaiser Permanente > Celeste Corcoran > pictured with Andy Gallardo, Director of Fitness for Kaiser Permanente Southern California

Breakthrough Performance of the Year presented by FunctionSmart > Ben Hoffman > pictured with Gino Cinco, owner of FunctionSmart Physical Therapy

TRI-Palooza 2015 |Babbitt Media Group

U.S. Cycling Performance of the Year presented by NYTRO > Taylor Phinney > pictured with Skip McDowell, owner of NYTRO Multisport

Female U.S. Long Distance Triathlete of the Year presented by EAS Sports Nutrition> Meredith Kessler > pictured with Pam Nisevich-Bede, Brand Manager for EAS Sports Nutrition

Endurance Sports Athlete of the Year presented by Headsweats > Meb Keflezighi

Jonathan Jefferson Triathlon Club Members of the Year presented by EAS Sports Nutrition > pictured with 6-time Ironman World Champion, Dave Scott

LA Triathlon Club: William Robinson, Orange Country Triathlon Club: Amanda Barth, California Triathlon: Harrison Shao, Triathlon Club of San Diego: John Hill

TRI-Palooza 2015 |Babbitt Media Group

The evening attracted local and national media from CBS, NBC, KUSI, and Planet X TV who were there to

capture the first ever meeting of 2013 Boston Marathon Survivor, double above-knee amputee Celeste

Corcoran, and 2014 Boston Marathon Champion, America’s Meb Keflezighi. Later that evening Celeste was

honored as our Challenged Athlete of the Year and, when Meb Keflezighi came on stage to receive his

Endurance Sports Athlete of the Year Award, Celeste Corcoran was there to present him his award.

Watch the KUSI news story here

We posted a few of the acceptance speeches on our Babbittville YouTube channel:

Taylor Phinney Meb Keflezighi Celeste Corcoran

As Taylor Phinney said so eloquently in his speech, “I love the mix of people in the room here tonight. We

should definitely hang out more!”

TRI-Palooza 2015 |Babbitt Media Group

I couldn’t agree more. Check tri-palooza.com and babbittville.com for the announcement of our date for

the Second Annual TRI-Palooza Endurance Sports Awards Gala! In the meantime, you can revisit all the

weekend’s fun in our photo galleries: Gallery 1, Gallery 2, and Gallery 3.

Thanks again for all your support and for helping make TRI-Palooza 2015 so special!

See you at the races!

Bob Babbitt