THE QUINTANA ROO TEAM RACES THE 2025 IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN KONA
Last Saturday, more than 1,600 triathletes from 78 countries embarked on a legendary journey. One that would be the culmination of dreams conceptualized over years, or even decades. The validation of sacrifice. Every woman on the start line in Kailua Bay brought a story of conviction that fit with IRONMAN’s mantra for the 2025 IRONMAN World Championship in Kona: resilience.
The 2025 World Championship in Kona—the final gender-split event that would feature the top women in our sport—brought all the drama. There would be suffering, but no one knew to what degree. There would be victories. Mistakes. Breakthroughs. Dropouts. And at the end, that glorious finish, where athletes would hear that long-awaited confirmation: “YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!”
Quintana Roo lives for this event—and we were there for it, from the moment triathletes landed on the island, right through to midnight at the finish line. Let us take you on a journey of Quintana Roo’s week in Kona.
The Pro Experience for All
Our pro mechanic, Michael, works through a line-up of QR bikes awaiting free service.
Our greatest pleasure is welcoming athletes to our booth with their bikes. Many of you choose to ride our bikes because of our advanced engineering and design. Or because we can paint your bike the color that matches your race kit. Or because you're part of a team supported by the brand. Whatever the case may be, we want to give those who choose to ride a QR unmatched care and support, well beyond their initial purchase.
Our biggest mission is to make every QR athlete feel like a pro. Whether you’re an age-group triathlete who worked hard to earn your place on the start line or a professional fighting for a world championship win, we are all dedicated to ensuring you have the best race possible. That’s why we were there with three pro mechanics, spinning wrenches from sunrise to sunset to make sure every QR bike was ready for the Queen K.
Our team handled everything from basic tune-ups to tubeless sealant top-offs and flat repairs to saving athletes whose bikes go AWOL on the flight over. And it’s all complimentary. This is just what it means to be part of the Quintana Roo family. It was our pleasure to work on dozens of bikes within the IRONMAN Village expo, alongside the bikes being ridden by our five pros.
Oh, our pros? They were there for you as well. We were thrilled to have Alice Alberts, Fiona Moriarity, and Jana Uderstadt, as well as Haley Chura, who served as emcee on stage Wednesday afternoon within the IRONMAN Village to provide athletes key tips and tricks on how to have the best race ever on Saturday. It was a fun exchange that saw the quartet answer questions on everything from nutrition to sighting the swim to mentally segmenting and pacing the loooong ride to and from Hawi. Intel from the pros is always good before the biggest race day of the year, especially when it takes place in one of the most foreboding, desolate, and unforgiving locations.
We were also excited to showcase a fun design for Factory Team rider Fiona Moriarity as well, with 80s-themed dashes of hi-vis blues, pinks, and yellows, plus a collaboration with her apparel sponsor Castelli, who created a matching race day kit that tied the look together perfectly. Crockett and Tubbs from Miami Vice would be proud.
How Our Quintana Roo Pros Did at IRONMAN Kona
Bikes were checked in on Friday afternoon under cool skies. There was a look of excitement on every athlete’s face as we handed exclusive athlete tees to competitors racking their QR bikes. The famed Kona bike count was on, and we again volunteered to help make it come together. How’d we fare? Quintana Roo was the fourth most popular bike brand selected among competitors!
Everyone knew race day would bring drama. But how would it be delivered?
The swim brought big swells and a bit of chop, helping string out the leading women. It was our own Haley Chura who led a pack of favorites in pursuit of Lucy Charles-Barclay.
“I knew I was leading a group,” Chura said. “I probably shouldn’t have been leading the group, but there’s also this part of me that thinks it’s so cool to be 40 years old and still able to impact the race, and felt like the place I could make the biggest impact.”
Chura would dash up the steps in pursuit among the leaders and start onto the bike in the thick of the hunt for the lead.
As the bike wound on, the strong winds Kona is known for didn’t materialize in the way many hoped. The occasional breezes to light winds provided little challenge for the cyclists headed north on the Queen K Highway toward the halfway turnaround at Hawi. All five of our QR pro athletes—Chura, followed by Alberts, then Uderstadt, Moriarity, and Jodie Robertson—powered forward up the Queen K.
But on the way back from Hawi? Things heated up. Literally.
Temperatures in the mid-80s F were ratcheted up to the lower-90s F. Pros and age groupers alike took an extra moment coasting through the aid stations to grab a bottle to drink and stay hydrated. More than a few bottles of water were poured over heads in an effort to stay cool.
On the run, that heat would become a big factor. For many, racing went from a head-to-head battle with competitors to simply surviving the run at a manageable pace. The phrase “run your own race” never held truer.
Among QR athletes, QR Factory Team pro Jana Uderstadt never wilted in the heat with the day’s ninth-fastest run, finishing a brilliant 15th in her Kona debut.
“I’m so happy—it’s an amazing result for me!” Uderstadt said. “The swim was great for me, and the bike didn’t feel good after Hawi, but my numbers were better. I started the bike feeling pretty flat, thinking ‘ooh, this is gonna be a long day,’ but then my legs felt better and better. To run up to 15th place? That’s amazing for me!”
In a show of day-long defiance, Haley Chura earned the day’s fastest swim split (in her sleeveless HYDROspeed swimskin) with a ripping 50:56 swim. In amongst the lead cyclists all day, she battled her competitors throughout the marathon to notch a 20th-place finish.
“I slowed a bit because it was hot, and I slowed a little more because I was tired,” Chura said. “But I finished! I got so many cheers from the age groupers on the course, which is so kind, because they’re also racing, and also from some of the crew and significant others of my competitors, and even from my competitors, which is very, very nice! Overall, 20th place at the World Championship? Dang! Go me!”
In her rookie Kona effort, Alice Alberts finished 23rd—a fantastic result considering her months leading up to the race were spent on a run injury recovery protocol. Never mind that she quietly notched the 13th-fastest bike split of the day on her V-PRi.
“Today was hard! My bike was fast and l was able to go quick despite my legs never feeling good,” Alberts said. “The run got really hot, but I kept saying out loud, 'just keep running.’ I’m proud of finishing and experiencing Kona for the first time.” Top 25 in the world is just the start. Expect more to come from Alice.
Ireland’s Fiona Moriarty, another member of the QR Factory Team, flexed on the bike. But a momentary lapse saw her get an encroachment penalty—the first penalty of her pro career—midway through the bike. She lost the critical bike group she was with, but bounced back with a strong back half of the bike and a balanced marathon to finish.
“I did a lot of things right, and one thing wrong. That kinda changed the results I had the capability of today,” Moriarty said. “I spent three minutes in the tent and then rode like hell to make up some time on the way home. I really took a conservative approach to my run and hydrated from mile 1, so I actually negative split my Kona marathon, and I’m pretty happy about that.”
One of our most thrilling finishes came from the career final pro race from New Yorker Jodie Robertson. Less than two weeks from her second-place overall finish at IRONMAN Chattanooga, Jodie arrived late to Kona on Thursday to get as much rest as she could, and rocked up with a 36th-place finish.
“It’s a privilege to race among the best for my last one, and I’m super happy to have had that opportunity,” Robertson said. “Not exactly the day that you dream of, but hey, it was still a joy to be out there.”
Our pros post race! Clockwise: Uderstadt, Chura, Robertson, Moriarty, Alberts.
With the race in the record books (we really like that race-best swim courtesy of Haley!), we look forward to next year, when the women and men rejoin to make the IRONMAN World Championship a collective experience.
And the year ain’t over. Be sure to catch us at IRONMAN Arizona on Nov. 16!
