Archive for Results
Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island
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Bozzone wins again
If there was a year long 70.3 series, Terenzo Bozzone would have wrapped up the title by now and could draw up a deck chair and watch the rest of the pro’s duke it out for second spot. Such has been his dominance of the racing thus far, that only Chris Lieto has come close to matching him.
Kiwi, Graham O’Grady, was first out of the water in just over 24 minutes, giving him a massive lead over the race favourites that included Richie Cunningham, Paul Ambrose and Bozzone. Usually one expects the flash swimmers to fade on the bike but O’Grady gave a good account of himself and didn’t step down from the battle that was developing between Tim Berkel, Cunningham, Rich Allen and Bozzone.
Up front though, Paul Ambrose was in a league of his own as he opened up a 3 minute lead on the chasers into T2. Berkel looked like chasing Ambrose until an incident with a press motorbike saw him drop back to the group and once again it was all set up for a mad dash to the finish as some of the best runners in the sport entered transition together.
Out of T2 it was Bozzone that made his intent known as he set about catching Ambrose. Behind Cunningham and Berkel appeared to be taking a little longer to get going after the battle of the bike and it was only after 5km that Berkel finally pulled level with Bozzone. The two then ran side by side, each taking turns to surge as they worked to close down Ambrose.
With just a few kilometers to go, Bozzone made the move that counted and raced away to yet another victory, while behind Berkel also made the pass on Ambrose to take second place.
In the women’s race it was Australian turned Austrian, Kate Major, that held on to a narrow victory over the fast closing Caitlin Snow, after spending most the day out front in the company of Michellie Jones and Sam Warriner.
Major a veteran of all forms of triathlon racing showed her experience and patience as she allowed the others to make the racing, knowing well that the heat would be a factor at the end of the race.
Women
- Kate Major (AUS) 4:30:36
- Caitlin Snow (USA) 4:30:58
- Sam Warriner (NZL) 4:33:32
Men
- Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 4:01:15
- Tim Berkel (AUS) 4:02:05
- Paul Ambrose (AUS) 4:03:01
Holten ITU Triathlon World Cup
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Photo: triathlon.org | János Schmidt
With the Hamburg round of the Dextro World Championship only a week away, the majority of the stars of ITU triathlon decided to sit this one out but that didn’t stop the up and coming names putting on a fantastic show as Erin Densham and Ivan Tutukin took victory in the Netherlands.
Densham, the 2006 U23 World Champion, who spent most of the 2009 season on the sidelines after undergoing heart surgery returned to the top level of racing with a comfortable victory that puts her right back up there with the two Emma’s (Snowsill and Moffatt) as favourites for an all Australian sweep of the medals in London come 2012.
Once again it was Hayley Peirsol that led the women’s field from the water. The former swimmer, who has a sub-16 minute 1500m to her name completely obliterated the opposition taking a 45 second lead out onto the bike. Despite her best efforts the main field was not letting Piersol have it her own way.
Shortly after Piersol was caught a group of 18 athletes broke clear. The group contained the two local favourites, Neiske Becks and Lisa Mensink, who raised the crowd volume another notch by leading the select group into T2 with what was now a minutes lead.
It didn’t take Densham long to assert her authority though and her surge was too much for the rest as she cruised home almost a minute ahead of a jubilant Anna Maria Mazzetti of Italy.
With the heat taking it’s toll on the men’s field, there were a number of attacks on the bike course before the Australian pair of Brendan Sexton and Joshua Amberger finally got away to enter T2 with a small lead.
Behind the duo of Tutukin and Yulian Malyshev ran through the field to join Joao Pereira and Brice Daubord approaching the line and the inevitable sprint finish which Tutukin won with a surprising turn of speed, leaving the others to fight over the minor positions.
Women
Photo: triathlon.org | János Schmidt
- Erin Densham (AUS) 2:01:27
- Anna Maria Mazzetti (ITA) 2:02:04
- Radka Vodickova (CZE) 2:03:03
Men
- Ivan Tutukin (RUS) 1:54:21
- Yulian Malyshev (RUS) 1:54:23
- Joao Pereira (POR) 1:54:24
Frankfurter Sparkasse Ironman European Championships
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Germany victorious
While younger brother Michael is making all the headlines with his results over the 70.3 distance, Andreas Raelert showed that he too can lead from the front with a devastating display of power biking to crush the field and take the Ironman European Championship.
Raelert made the most of a non-wetsuit swim to exit T1 in the lead and then set about destroying the field on a bike course that measured 185km’s, instead of the conventional 180km’s, due to a road works detour in the town of Bad Vilbel. With recent discussions around how fast one could really expect to go in an Ironman indicating that 4:15 was about as good as it would get, Raelert’s 4:20 showed that on the right course and under the right conditions we may one day see someone come in around the 4 hour mark. A straight line adjustment shows that he would have done a 4:13 for 180km’s and this is not even the fastest bike course out there.
Behind defending champion, Timo Bracht, was not about to give up his crown that easily but with a 10 minute deficit heading out onto the run, he would have his work cut out to catch Raelert. Despite posting the fastest run split of the day, a 2:47, it was not enough to catch Raelert who was merely controlling the gap and probably could have gone faster. Third place turned into an Antipodean battle between Chris McCormack and Cameron Brown, with McCormack producing a strong run to take the final podium spot.
Sandra Wallenhorst might have found herself 10 minutes behind early leader Katja Konschak after the swim but she didn’t let that deter her as she put together a solid bike and excellent run to take a well deserved, come from behind, victory.
For most the day, it was Caroline Steffen that looked the likely winner as behind her, Wallenhorst and Yvonne Van Vlerken raced side by side without making any significant inroads into Steffen’s lead. It was only in the later stages of the run that Wallenhorst found the extra gear to drop Van Vlerken and catch Steffen, thereby ensuring a clean sweep of both men’s and women’s titles by the home nation, Germany.
Women
- Sandra Wallenhorst (GER) 9:04:27
- Caroline Steffen (SWI) 9:06:42
- Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 9:10:21
Men
- Andreas Raelert (GER) 8:05:15
- Timo Bracht (GER) 8:10:22
- Chris Mccormack (AUS) 8:14:43
