Weekend Wrap Up: Ironman Australia, Ironman 70.3 Busselton, Challenge Riccione, Italy and IRONMAN 70.3 North American Pro Championship, St. George
IRONMAN Australia
Forty-one year old Marino Vanhoenaker added a 17th IRONMAN title to his illustrious list with a hard-fought victory at IRONMAN Australia in Port Macquarie. The Belgian star went with the early move on the bike, held strong as the bungee cord stretched, and then withstood a challenge from eight-time IRONMAN winner Luke McKenzie to prevail for the first time in Australia.
Vanhoenaker went with a break in the one-lap swim with Kiwi Mark Bowstead, Casey Munro, and defending champion David Dellow opening a 3-minute buffer. As Munro and Dellow dropped, the remaining pair pushed on – with McKenzie commenting that their 3-min gap at 90kms was at a speed that was too fast. Bowstead’s new bike record of 4:29:08 enabled a 1:30 gap to Van Hoenaker and 5:30 to McKenzie on to the run. By 21 km, Bowstead’s charge faded and McKenzie’s prediction was beginning to ring true as he closed to 2 min from the lead. That was the closest he came; Vanhoenaker dug deep with a 2:54 marathon, enough for victory in 8:14:37. McKenzie took a proud second nearly 4 minutes back, with Bowstead scoring his first IRONMAN podium.
In the women’s race, Annabel Luxford set the tone, exiting the swim with American Kelsey Withrow holding a massive 7 minute margin. By 90 km it was down to 5:40 before the defending champion Laura Siddall claimed the lead at the 145 km mark. Asthma issues accounted for Luxford’s day, leaving Siddall to charge ahead at the front. Her 4:56 bike put her 15 minutes faster than anyone else, and her 3:10 marathon, also the fastest of the day, clinched her win 24 minutes ahead of New Zealand’s Melanie Burke, and Withrow a further nine minutes in arrears.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 | Vanhoenacker, Marino | BEL | 8:14:37 |
2 | Mckenzie, Luke | AUS | 8:18:10 |
3 | Mark Bowstead, Mark | NZL | 8:26:25 |
4 | Shearer, Nathan | AUS | 8:29:13 |
5 | Ambrose, Paul | AUS | 8:29:37 |
Top 5 Pro Women
1 | Siddall, Laura | GBR | 9:05:58 |
2 | Burke, Melanie | NZL | 9:29:49 |
3 | Withrow, Kelsey | USA | 9:44:59 |
4 | Visser, Elis | NLD | 9:56:31 |
5 | Kiley, Renee | AUS | 9:58:13 |
IRONMAN 70.3 Busselton
Unseasonably strong winds and rain brought about a late change with the IRONMAN 70.3 Busselton turned into a run-bike-run. This didn’t faze the pre-race favourites, however, with Terenzo Bozzone and Liz Blatchford prevailing in emphatic fashion.
Bozzone, who defended his IRONMAN title in Busselton in December, made it four wins on the trot in 2018, set up with a record 1:58:08 effort for the 90 km course. From there, his 1:16 run was more than enough to smoke his way to victory in 3:27:00, more than 11 minutes clear of Kiwi compatriot Callum Millward with two time world champion Craig Alexander a further minute back.
Blatchford was in the bunch for the first run before also setting up the win on the bike, with her 2:24 opening a seven minute buffer. She held on during the run to win by that margin over Annelise Jefferies and a further 5 mins to Lisa Tyack. Three women were disqualified after taking a wrong turn on the run.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 | Bozzone, Terenzo | NZL | 3:27:00 |
2 | Millward, Callum | NZL | 3:38:29 |
3 | Alexander, Craig | AUS | 3:39:03 |
4 | Mainwaring, David | AUS | 3:41:01 |
5 | Johnson, Brett | AUS | 3:43:59 |
Top 5 Pro Women
1 | Blatchford, Liz | AUS | 4:10:54 |
2 | Jefferies, Annelise | AUS | 4:17:39 |
3 | Tyack, Lisa | AUS | 4:22:02 |
4 | Diaz, Kirby | AUS | 4:22:15 |
5 | Davis, Clair | AUS | 4:24:57 |
Challenge Riccione
Giulio Molinari triumphs in the 2018 edition of Challenge Riccione. Second and third place go to the Austrian Thomas Steger and the German Frederic Funk. A race to be experienced kilometer after kilometer, this first edition of Riccione, with 1000 athletes at the start.
IRONMAN 70.3 North American Pro Championship, St.
GeorgeLionel Sanders (CAN) had to wait until the run to shake a persistent Sebastian Kienle (DEU) on his way to the win in Utah. The pair first had to deal with a two-minute deficit at the conclusion of the swim and an early solid ride by Sammy Appleton. The pair laid down the fastest bike splits on the day that saw them dismount their bikes together and hit the run shoulder to shoulder. Sanders managed to gain the advantage early on the run as a small gap appeared in the open mile of the run. Kienle could never reel in the leader as Sanders stretched his lead out to 1:27 as he crossed the finish line for the win.
Injuries and illness put a damper on Paula Finlay’s (CAN) stellar ITU career with IRONMAN being the benefactor of the Canadian’s change in focus. In only her third half distance start, Findlay had a consistent day across the board in all three disciplines that saw her run her way into the lead at 4 miles ahead of veteran Meredith Kessler and onto her first ever IRONMAN 70.3 win. Jeanni Seymour and Sarah True also ran well, taking second and third.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 | Sanders, Lionel | CAN | 3:41:11 |
2 | Kienle, Sebastion | DEU | 3:42:38 |
3 | Weiss, Michael | AUT | 3:43:13 |
4 | Appleton, Sammy | AUS | 3:46:51 |
5 | Reed, Tim | AUS | 3:50:25 |
Top 5 Pro Women
1 | Findlay, Paula | CAN | 4:15:53 |
2 | Seymour, Jeanni | ZAF | 4:17:19 |
3 | True, Sarah | USA | 4:17:46 |
4 | Kaye, Alicia | USA | 4:19:19 |
5 | Kessler, Meredith | USA | 4:21:32 |
Originally from: http://asia.ironman.com/triathlon/news/articles/2018/05/the-monday-round-up-05.07.aspx#ixzz5ErRkbJbP
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