Ironman Brazil was held on May 24th, the Auburn Worlds Toughest Half Ironman was held on May 18th. Thanks to Fred Maggiore for the heads-up regarding the Auburn race, as it slipped under my radar. Ironman Brazil is noteworthy due to the participation by Matt McCaffrey, from Santa Barbara, the only local to roll the dice and venture into Brazilian airspace to continue his Ironman racing adventures. Although Matt originally enrolled for the IMCDA race, to be held on June 22nd, he mysteriously switched venues after viewing Fernanda Keller on the cover of a recent Triathlete Magazine. Interestingly, Fernanda was the Female Pro winner last weekend. By the way, Fernanda will be returning to Kona for the 21st consecutive time. TriathleteMag.com provided the race clip below. VB
| Name | cat | swim | t | bike | t | run | total | |||||||
| MATT MCCAFFREY | M4044 | 01:24:39 | 00:09:57 | 05:55:00 | 00:12:14 | 04:40:49 | 12:22:37 |
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Eduardo Sturla and Brazil’s Fernanda Keller both made up for substantial deficits heading into the marathon to win at Sunday’s Ironman Brazil. Sturla, who last won Ironman Brazil in 2001, entered T2 7:30 behind Frenchman Benjamin Sanson, but closed with a 2:58:00 marathon to win by ten minutes. The 44-year-old Keller started her marathon nine minutes back of American Hillary Biscay, but she closed quickly and also won with a comfortable 10-minute gap.
Sanson, one of France’s top ITU athletes, stormed to the front of the men’s race with a 50:52 swim, which gave him a nine-minute gap on Sturla and the rest of the men’s contenders. Little changed on the relatively flat 112-mile ride, as both Sanson and Sturla posted 4:27 splits. The Frenchman began his marathon with over seven minutes on Sturla and 18 minutes on German super-runner Olaf Sabatschus. Sanson began to show signs of distress shortly after exciting T2 and both Sturla and Sabatschus began making up ground—fast. The Argentine took over the lead near the halfway mark and never looked back, finishing in 8:28:24. Sabatschus actually ran three minutes faster than the winner, but his bike deficit forced him to settle for second in 8:38:56. Sanson was able to cling to third, finishing three minutes back of the German.
The women were led out of the water by Brazil’s Carla Morena, after 55:46 in the rough waters off the coast of Florianopolis. Biscay exited the Atlantic over three minutes back of the leader and Keller had some serious work to do, finishing the swim almost 15 minutes back of Morena. Biscay slowly made up ground on Morena during the first half of the bike leg and finally passed her around the 110-km mark. By the time the top ladies made it back to transition, Biscay had build a nine-minute gap on Keller. The big surprise of the day was the presence of age grouper Kelly Lear-Kaul from Colorado, who entered T2 in third, seven minutes back of Keller. Biscay began to struggle as soon as she started the marathon and Keller and Lear-Kaul were right there to take advantage. Keller stormed away from the rest of the field, posting a 3:15 marathon to win in 9:42:50. Lear-Kaul finished ten minutes later, with her countrywoman Biscay another four minutes back.
Brasil Telecom Ironman Brazil
Florianopolis, Brazil
May 25, 2008
2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run
Men
1. Eduardo Sturla (ARG) 8:28:21
2. Olaf Sabatschus (GER) 8:38:56
3. Benjamin Sanson (FRA) 8:41:32
4. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:53:55
5. Raul Furtado (BRA) 8:5501
Women
1. Fernanda Keller (BRA) 9:42:50
2. Kelly Lear-Kaul (USA) 9:52:40
3. Hillary Biscay (USA) 9:56:08
4. Ladislava Cisarovska (CZE) 10:06:10
5. Kristin Lie (NOR) 10:07:50
Article courtesy of Triathlete Magazine.
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Another local stalwart, Dave Parker, ventured to Northern California to keep his triathlon irons in the fire by racing the Worlds Toughest Half in Auburn. As we can assume, from the race title, Dave, and all other participants had a tough day at the words toughest event. See attached TriFuel synopsis of the race.
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David Parker |
48 |
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42:37.3 |
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3:41:11.3 |
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3:03:43.8 |
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7:27:32.4 |
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AUBURN TRIATHLON, May 18th 2008The sixth annual Auburn Triathlon on Sunday May 18th was a hotbed of exciting activity with four events held concurrently and some 550 athletes racing from across the USA. Steve Larsen solidified his reputation as one of the most durable and versatile endurance athletes in history, joining an all-star list of World's Toughest Half champions (Bjorling, Byrn, DeBoom, Neveu, Plata) with an convincing victory. Larsen delivered a phenomenal 2:36 bike split on a course that is widely regarded to be the toughest on the planet for the 70.3 mile distance. Anissa Sequin returned after a five-year absence to take the title from defending champion and IMH age group world champ Diana Hassel.Auburn also hosted the USAT National Long Course Duathlon Championships at 3k-56mile-13.1mile distance. In the closest race in the history of the event, only 29 seconds separated super amateur Nick Thompson from Pennsylvania's Josh Beck. Beck (3rd at Zofingen in 2005), who missed a turn on the bike course and started the run nearly 5-minutes back, stormed the run course despite the unseasonably hot weather (97 degree high vs. the historical average of 77 on May 18th) and nearly pulled even before Thompson - coming off an all-time Wildflower course record of 4:15 two weeks prior - delivered a surge on the final climb to the finish to earn his first national title. Kathryn Kasischke of San Diego was the fastest female duathlete with a 5:08:26.The Auburn International (1.5-40-10k) event was won by legendary Pete Kain, showing magnificent form in his final tuneup before attempting a 5th ITU Amateur World Championship next month in Canada. Kain combined a stellar 1:12 bike split on a course with 16 miles of steady elevation gain before a return to T2, followed by a sub-40 10k on the hilly course hugging the edge of the American River canyon. Ageless wonder Katrin Tobin, former professional cyclist and Tour de France Feminin veteran, was comfortable on the hilly course and enjoyed an overall win at the age of 46. The West Coast Collegiate Triathlon Conference selected Auburn as their 2008 championships and attracted some outstanding talent. UC Berkeley's John Dahlz smoked the course in a stunning 2:12, besting Stanford's Noah Sakamoto by one minute. Alexa Merz of UC Davis enjoyed a five-minute victory over the women's collegiate field