Triathlon Championships

It's been several weeks, but I wanted to write something about the Ironman and Xterra world championships that took place last month.

IRONMAN

pic by John David Becker on Triathlete.com

In Kona, the men's race was taken by Frederick Van Lierde of Belgium.  Second went to a super-lean Luke Mckenzie from Australia, and rounding off the podium was my favorite for the win, Sebastian Kienle of Germany.

It was an interesting race, different from other years, because the three podium finishers came off the bike ahead of the strongest runners and were never challenged from behind.  But, the action was great!  Into T2, in order, Andy Starykowicz (USA), McKenzie, Kienle and Van Lierde.  The American  quickly fell away and McKenzie ran with the lead for about 17 miles before Van Lierde took over.  Kienle was having a hard time in third, but he gutted it out.

Positive news on the American front, Tim O'Donnell took fifth place.  One step at a time.

Another guy I like for the future in Kona is another Belgian, Bart Aernouts.  The guy is running all over the pro field.  In Kona, he ran a 2:44 marathon which was 3mins faster than the next person.  His swim is his achilles heel, but if he can straighten that out.

Multi-champion Dave Scott has been vocal about the fact that the men's field should be running faster, maybe sub 2:40's, and I think Aernouts is the guy to do it.

With a bit more excitement, the women also had an interesting one.   The swim was pretty much as expected, but on the bike, a huge group formed.  This is common for the men, but not so for the women.  In what a lot of pros said was a calm weather day, there were a few women doing the work on the bike, and they finally broke free toward the end of the 180km bike.

The hardworking Rachel Joyce (GBR), was first into T2 with American, Meredith Kessler right behind her.  The most notable point was the speed demon, Mirinda Carfrae, who got off the bike 8mins down on Joyce.  With her amazing speed, Carfrae ran over 30secs a mile into Joyce to take the lead at mile 15.  Amazing stuff!

But, Carfrae didn't stop there.  She went on to post a 2:50 marathon split (third fastest on the day, both men and women!) and break the women's Kona record by 2mins, finishing in 8:52.  Incredible!

The women's podium finished with Joyce in second and Liz Blatchford (GBR) in third.

But, don't just take my word for it.  You can watch the full 8-9hrs HERE.


XTERRA

photo by Nils Nilsen/ Xterra on Triathlete.com

With a growing interest in Xterra, I was hoping to see Javier Gomez (ESP) and Lesley Patterson defend their titles, but neither did.  Gomez passed on the race after a long season and Patterson had a tough day but still finished 2nd.

I'm much less familiar with Xterra and the racers, so not much to comment, but below are some links for videos and pics.

Post race interviews with MEN'S and WOMEN'S champs and PATTERSON.

ULTRAMAN
Last but not least, the most insane, and my ultimate dream, the Ultraman World Champs is coming up at the end of November.

Not familiar with Ultraman?  It's a 320m/ 515k triathlon over 3 days.  Check out the homepage, HERE.