Archive for Australia
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
Half Ironman Busselton & Wildflower
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McKenzie and Marangon in Busselton
Luke McKenzie and Lisa Marangon both led from the front to take home the titles in the seaside resort of Busselton.
McKenzie played his cards early and sprinted to an early lead on the swim with only Paul Matthews able to keep him in sight but once out of T1 it was a one man race as McKenzie crushed the field on the bike with his 2:05 split.
After getting a little lost in T2, he regathered himself to seal victory with a solid 1:15 run and a 4 minute victory. Behind McKenzie the two Tim’s, Reed and Berkel, were sprinting it out for the remaining podium spots with Reed edging Berkel out by 2 seconds.
Marangon wasn’t going to let the disappointment of Ironman Australia bother her as she exited the water in just 26 minutes and then proceeded to destroy the women’s field with a 2:22 bike leg to give herself a comfortable lead out of T2.
Behind Marangon, Kate Bevilaqua had a solid performance to take second while Katrina Mercer and Kate Ward had a battle royal for third with Mercer eventually taking the remaining step on the podium.
Women
- Lisa Marangon (AUS) 4:21:45
- Kate Bevilaqua (AUS) 4:26:49
- Katrina Mercer (AUS) 4:28:30
Men
- Luke McKenzie (AUS) 3:47:16
- Tim Reed (AUS) 3:51:57
- Tim Berkel (AUS) 3:51:59
Photo: Rich Cruse / richcruse.com
2010 Trek/K•Swiss Triathlon Team mates Julie Dibens and Michael Raelert proved too good for a star studded field that included XTERRA legend Conrad Stoltz.
Both winners made use of the bike to crush their opposition before sealing the deal with their outstanding run speed to leave everyone asking, “What will happen in Kona?”
It’s a fair question and while Dibens will come up against the seemingly invincible Chrissie Wellington, it’s not even certain that Raelert will even take the start line in October.
The word is that Raelert doesn’t want to burn himself out but at 30 he is certainly old enough. I suspect it has more to do with him and his big brother Andreas who has been tantalisingly close before and it might be that Andreas is planning a major assault this year.
There is also the question of his frail looking physique standing up to the brutal course and it would be interesting to see how he handled the distance, heat and pressure that Kona brings.
Dibens on the other hand has everything that is required and if she can overcome the semblance of invincibility that surrounds Wellington, she may well be the first person to beat Chrissie over the Ironman distance, adding to her scalp in the Boulder 5430 Triathlon last year.
But before then we have a great year of racing ahead of us and for now we will enjoy the feats of these two great athletes and team mates as they set about destroying the opposition.
Photo: Larry Rosa
- Julie Dibens (GBR) 4:27:53
- Desiree Ficker (USA) 4:35:02
- Virginia Berasategui (ESP) 4:39:46
Men
- Michael Raelert (GER) 3:55:57
- Joe Gambles (AUS) 4:01:58
- Eneko Llanos (ESP) 4:03:34
2010 Ironman Australia
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Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
With four Ironman Australia and two Ironman Western Australia titles to his credit, Patrick Vernay may well have considered immigrating if he wasn’t so committed to his beloved New Caledonia, a string of islands not too far off the Australian east coast.
As usual, in Australia, it was a quick swim, just under 45 minutes before it was onto the bike leg and a lead group of seven formed that took control of the race. By T2 they had a gap of over 6 minutes to the rest of the field and the winner was going to come from one of them.
Vernay used his experience and formidable run speed to good effect to ease away from the field. There was however a wobble at half way and it looked as though Scott Nyedli might catch him but it was just temporary as Vernay regained the advantage to win by 4 minutes.
Third place was taken by age-grouper Trent Chapman, who earlier in the week was confident enough to predict a top 10 finish but even he was surprised at finishing on the podium.
There was something Wellington-ish about Carrie Lester’s win, not only in the way she used to bike to her advantage but also the fact that was her first Ironman race following her win in the 25-29 ITU Long Distance World Championships last year. Comparisons are never fair and Lester has a long way to go before she can claim to be in Chrissie’s league but is there a chance we may have found some competition for the reigning queen of Kona?
Women
- Carrie Lester (AUS) 9:23:50
- Rebekah Keat (AUS) 9:33:10
- Amelie Pearson (AUS) 9:46:09
Men
- Patrick Vernay (NCL) 8:23:54
- Scott Neyedly (GBR) 8:27:58
- Trent Chapman (AUS) 8:32:52 (Age-Group 30-34)
