The last Bank Holiday weekend for a while – combined with your Editor being on holiday himself currently – means a slightly later and shorter wrap on the weekend’s action this weekend, so let’s get straight into it…
INTERNATIONAL RACING
IRONMAN Lanzarote
British female athletes have won this event many times over the years – and this year Nikki Bartlett added her name to the list, at the same time as winning her first Pro race. It was quite a day. 2013 IRONMAN World Champion, Frederik Van Lierde added another victory to his extensive career C.V. Check out the full roundup HERE.
Top 5 women: @NikkiBartlett1 9:59:10, Nielsen +4:31, Ramsey +11:38, Schulz +13:30, @AsaLundstromTri +20:03 #IMLanzarote pic.twitter.com/VxbkFAp7DW
— IRONMANLive (@IRONMANLive) May 25, 2019
IRONMAN Brazil
Will Clarke completed a great week of racing by finishing second at IRONMAN Brazil in Florianapolis on Sunday. Having won (in course record bonus winning time) the Outlaw Half Nottingham a week previously, a Kona slot made his journey to South America a worthwhile one, and he’s now earned a bit of downtime.
Exhausted and very chuffed to turn my bad race in Texas back round with two great races the last week. What a hard day that was and really had to grunt that one out. Thanks all for the support 🙏 https://t.co/T4TI8ghwUY
— Will Clarke (@Theclarke) May 26, 2019
Will took second, three and a half minutes behind Andy Potts (USA), while Sarah Piampiano made it a U.S. double with a huge winning margin of almost 23 minutes. She clocked a swift 8:40:49, highlighted by a blistering 2:53:18 marathon. Full results HERE.
IRONMAN 70.3 St Pölten, Austria
Germany and Sweden took close wins in Austria courtesy of Franz Loeschke and Sara Svensk.
Top 5 men: Franz Loeschke 3:52:37, Steger +0:38, @michi_weiss +3:06, Ruttmann +5:28, Liebelt +5:51 #IM703StPoelten pic.twitter.com/lZvHCb5DNE
— IRONMANLive (@IRONMANLive) May 26, 2019
Top 5 women: Sara Svensk 4:26:05, Steurer 4:28:11, Gajer 4:30:26, Zimmermann 4:32:50, Liepold 4:34:21 #IM703StPoelten pic.twitter.com/4axSzHM0i2
— IRONMANLive (@IRONMANLive) May 26, 2019
DOMESTIC RACING
“That’s all folks” – Richard and Joanne Illes of RaceNewForest held their final event on Sunday, the Forestman (plus Boskman Long and Forestman Half). Peter Watters and Nicky Yevko took full distance honours, Nathan Ford and Joanne Clarke topped the podium in the Boskman Long, while James Gilfillan and Hannah Ewens were quickest around the half distance course.
The Welsh Sprint Distance Championships was held in Barry Island as part of the Sleep When You’re Dead Triathlon. The draft-legal event (there was a non-draft version too), was dominated by Liam Lloyd (Cycle Specific), who also won the Welsh Duathlon and Welsh Standard Distance Champs this year. Hannah Dodwell (RAF Triathlon) was just 21 seconds quicker than Lauren Turvey. Full results HERE.
The Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon featured pretty much every distance and format you can think of in in Ireland, so many that I’m certainly not going to try and list them all – check out the full results HERE.
Are we in a triathlon boom, or hurtling towards burnout? Laura Siddall on the growth of the sport
