Ironman Florida 2008

Don’t miss the coverage of the Ford Ironman World Championship this Saturday at 4:30PM, ET on NBC.

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It has won a total of 13 Emmys. When it airs, triathletes across North America sit in front of their televisions engrossed in the stories and drama unfolding in front of them.

“It” is the coverage of the Ford Ironman World Championship that airs every year on NBC, and we are just a few days from seeing it! This year’s show will air Saturday, November 12 at 4:30PM ET. (Check your local listings for times in your area.)

For Ironman’s Executive Television Producer, Peter Henning, editing this show has been a tough process.

“Be careful what you wish for,” he said during a phone call from the editing suite last week. “This year every one of our features finished, and the incredible conditions made for an exciting race. Getting all that into a 90-minute show has been a challenge.”

If anyone is up for that challenge, it would be Henning, who has won more Emmys than the Ironman show itself over the years for his work on many sports projects including the Olympics, the Iditarod, the Tour de France and, of course, the Ironman World Championship.

This year’s show includes features on:

John Blais, who completed the Ford Ironman World Championship despite the fact that he suffers from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Sarah Reinertsen, whose story brought a tear to the eyes of everyone who watched last year when she missed the bike cut off in Kona. This year she finished the race in dramatic fashion.

Robert McKeague, the amazing 80-year-old who became the oldest man to complete an Ironman race.

While the features will no-doubt be riveting, Henning says the show will also include a lot of coverage of the incredible day of racing, which saw Faris Al-Sultan claim his first Ironman World Championship, and Natascha Badmann claim her sixth.

So stay tuned to NBC this Saturday afternoon … you won’t want to miss this show!