Big Island Now poll No. 32: What was your favorite part of the 2023 VinFast Ironman World Championship on the Big Island?

After a week of events leading up to race day, a champion has been crowned for the first ever VinFast Ironman World Championship triathlon completely dedicated to some of the best women athletes from around the world.

After four runner-up finishes in the past six years, super swimmer Lucy Charles-Barclay of Great Britain held off the fast-charging 2019 winner Anne Haug of Germany on Oct. 14 to win the 2023 race hosted in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island.

Brenda Avery of Kona performed like a pro in the water and on the bike en route to the top finish of the 11 Big Island competitors during the race. The 58-year-old completed the race with an unofficial time of 11:54:03, beating her 2022 time by about an hour and placing her 20th overall for her age group.

Kona and Ironman celebrated the historic race, which returned to a one-day format on the island this year, with several events throughout last week including the Parade of Nations and the 2023 Kona Underpants Run, one of several events put on by The Ironman Foundation.

Spectators, including family and friends of the more than 2,100 participants, also came out in force to cheer on their favorites during race day.

We want to know what you enjoyed the most about this year’s Ironman.

Comment here or on social media about why you voted the way you did. Voting ends at midnight Oct. 20. Results will be posted Oct. 22.

You can find the results from last week’s poll that asked “Are paid parking lots keeping you from Ali‘i Drive?” by clicking here.