Drowning surpasses all other causes of death among children ages 14 and under in California and Los Angeles County has the highest rate of near-drowning of any county in the state. After learning this fact, our guest Larry Turkheimer and the LA Tri Club created the Coast 2 Coast Swim Challenge, www.coast2coastswim.com in 2011 . Their second annual event is a week away and the goal is for swimmers to swim from LA to New York – 2,462 miles – and raise over $40,000 to provide swim lessons for kids in Compton, South LA and Culver City. All of the action will be at the Culver City Plunge Aquatic Center between 5 am and midnight on Sunday May 20th.

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It’s one thing to surprise the world and win the Avia Wildflower Triathlon like former steeplechaser Jesse Thomas did in 2011. It’s quite another to repeat that win when everyone is gunning for you. Jesse Thomas came on to chat about the bike injury that nearly left him paralyzed, his move from the track to triathlon, and his two huge wins at Wildflower.

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Despite being born with Brachial Plexus Palsy, Paul Fejtek (pronounced Fay-Tek) and his wife Denise overcame the odds and summited the seven tallest peaks on the seven continents culminating with Mt. Everest. They came in studio to discuss the challenges the two faced along the way. Their book is called Steps to the Summit.

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Nelson Vails was the youngest of ten children and grew up in Harlem. Over time he evolved into The Cheetah, the very best bike messenger around. He risked life and limb to deliver packages in New York City and eventually became a Silver Medalist on the record breaking 1984 U.S. Olympic cycling team. What a story!

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Vanessa Raw is a British triathlete and an Olympic hopeful. She is one of the two athletes represented by Elton John’s Rocketman Productions Group.

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Simon Whitfield won the Gold Medal back in 2000 in the first ever Olympic Triathlon and a Silver eight years later in Beijing. He is gearing up for one last Olympics and, at the age of 37, is looking forward to jumping into the longer distances after London. He went through his career and spent some time on the twitter battle that erupted recently between himself and Lance Armstrong.

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Kelly Williamson just won the Pro National Championship at the 70.3 distance in Galveston, Texas. Her journey from Indiana to the University of Illinois to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and from the Olympic format to 70.3 and then to the Ironman has been an amazing one.

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Just finished up an interview with one my new heroes, 20 year old Downhill Mountain Bike World Champion Danny Hart. If you haven’t seen the video, you are in for a treat: Danny Hart video LOVE the classic last line: “How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?”

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