Biggest Loser television contestant Tara Costa finished the 2011 Ironman World Championships in a time of 13:56.
She swam the 2.4 miles in 1:23 and biked the 112 miles in 6:50 and ran the hot and muggy marathon in 5:13 to cross the finishline, and be declared an Ironman by Mike Riley. You can check out her finisher photos HERE.
As you may recall Costa lost 155 lbs during season 7 of NBC’s hit series “The Biggest Loser,” and won a record-setting eight challenges, the most of any contestant in show history.
But some triathletes are not impressed by her most recent Ironman accomplishment because she was awarded a charity slot to the race, and did not qualify at a previous Ironman race like all most all amateur athletes must.
On slowtwitch.com Thom writes, "Oh my god, how could they do this...WTC sucks...Tara sucks...BL sucks...NBC sucks...the sport is doomed--again. Sigh......"
Mojozenmaster adds, "Offering bullshit, birdseed prize purses to hard working professional triathletes, while feeding (pardon the pun) a free Kona slot to a fatty....... ......there is something morally wrong about that.......especially when you consider the fatty will make more $$ from Kona than the winner of the race. But hey!! It's good for the sport."
However where some see entitlement others see inspiration.
Bownie28 writes, "That's because the Biggest Loser competition is an unhealthy plummet to the bottom. I've watched a few seasons (Tara's included) and found their weight loss to be extreme and unhealthy.
To those who say she's undeserving of her slot and she's not even in as a charity slot etc: look at her FB photo's from the week, she wasn't just there tapering and enjoying Hawaii, she was doing appearances, meeting with kids, etc. I find her to be inspirational and a positive influence, and no matter what way you slice it going from super obese to an Ironman finisher is impressive."
What do you think? Is Costa finishing the Hawaiian Ironman on a charity slot an inspirational or just wrong?
Please let us know your opinion below.
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Photo Credit: Fara Costa's Facebook page.
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