Utopia Talk / Sports / 2011 Ironman World Championships

Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 15:46:14 It's under way right now! http://kona.ironmanlive.com/#axzz1aDs7tH17 On the Big Island, Hawai'i -- Kona's 2011 Ironman World Championships have begun ! {Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, Run 26.2 miles} 140.6 Miles - One day event - Starting at 7am, the race lasts usually about 8 to 9 hours for the pro's. All participants must finish by midnight (17 hours maximum) The course itself is not particularly hilly compared to some of the other Ironman races, but Kona is famous for its tropical position (20 degrees North) and therefore its heat, humidity, and hot roads. People who think they are champions elsewhere in the world come to Kona to fall apart ;D
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 15:50:37 Chrissie had a bike accident only two weeks ago so she may not be up to a top spot, but it's to be seen. She's 17 minutes down on the leaders, which she *could* make up on the marathon and bike remainder (past halfway) but making up a gap bigger than 10 minutes is tough. She's just made a power increase so it may be happening right now (current, 6th place). She's still very much a favorite with a great race year behind her :D The usual favorites are up there with her: Julie Dibens (1st), Caroline Steffan (2nd), Leanda Cave (4th), Mirinda Carfrae (10th). Carfrae has history with a very fast marathon but the faster cyclists may try to drop her now, giving her too much time to make up on the run. I'm thinking she'll still finish at least 2nd or 3rd, but it's very likely that Dibens will drop again this year -- Hawai'i may be too hot for her ;) .. Leanda Cave may have what it takes to keep a strong, consistent race, but will she surge for the win? If I had to call things now, I'd say Carfrae and Cave for 1st/2nd (could be close), Dibens 3rd, and Chrissie 4th or 5th. In the men's race things could be pretty crazy. All pro's had to adjust their training schedules this year because of new rules for gaining Kona qualification points at eligible races. This means that people can't just train all year for the Kona crown. With that, Craig Alexander *may* be up for a repeat, but competition is close by minutes. Andreas Raelert has been racing well this year, but if he remembers the pain of a 2nd place victory last year he may not have the mental push left for another attempt.
Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge	Sat Oct 08 15:51:27 oh these again. time for cherub to ejaculate a thread about athletics! *grabs popcorn and a camera*
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 16:02:28 In the men's race, Lieto is doing his bike thing ;D .. Since Torbjorn Sindballe retired and Norman Stadler has become worn, Chris Lieto has been the fastest male cyclist in Kona. His entire strategy so far in these races is to be a frontrunner, getting a huge lead on the bike portion and hoping to fend off the runners into the marathon. This has worked pretty well, but he's still had to watch runners pass him late in the marathon. He's earned a 2nd place finish with this technique, but if he wants to win he may have to save his legs a little more. This year he's taken his front position a little later in the bike, so maybe he's made the calculations. Craig Alexander will still run him down if he's close enough, and Chris McCormack will fly past him early if Lieto makes a mistake. It would be neat to see McCormack and Raelert battle again, but there's so much competition in the field..
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 16:02:57 lol, I <3 these events :D
Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge	Sat Oct 08 16:04:34 I'd love to compete in one. well, maybe a 1/2 ironman.
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 16:07:25 They're very doable :) If you register for an event a few months away then you *have* to prepare, so you do :D
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 16:09:04 Chrissie is in 5th now, but is 18 minutes down on the leaders :(
Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge	Sat Oct 08 16:09:07 I would need to get back into shape first :/ right now I couldn't even finish the biking part.
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 16:17:14 Well you don't have to *win* :D .. some of the people who show up to these events look like they were just craned out of their mobile homes, lol .. but racing starts at joy-riding I say :)
Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge	Sat Oct 08 16:20:37 nah. if I did one of these it'd be for a time. too competitive not to. especially considering I'm a runner!
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 16:22:15 Oh that is best! Runners have the easiest time getting into triathlons.. hoping that you have at least a little bit of swimming background :)
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 16:35:18 On the bike.. 5 miles left for Lieto, with a gap of about 4 minutes on the chase group. 22 miles left for Dibens, with a gap of about 10:30 on Steffan. I think Dibens may be a little overconfident right now, but maybe she's improved?
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 16:44:38 Wow -- I thought that Lieto was toning down his bike split this year, but he missed the Kona record by 8 seconds D:
Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge	Sat Oct 08 16:46:31 none whatsoever!
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 16:56:31 This could be Alexander's marathon. Last year he ran a record marathon but didn't win because he had too much time to make up on the bike. This year he left Transition 2 only a few minutes down on Lieto. If he runs even an average marathon for himself he may win by default. It's not good news for McCormack to be behind Alexander at this point. McCormack is a fast runner, but Alexander can capitalize on any lead.
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 17:05:47 It's looking pretty grim for Carfrae. She's down 24 minutes at 100 miles.. she may not have repeat magic :'(
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 17:08:49 Julie Dibens is off the bike -- time for her to fade. I think her training core has too many expectations for her and are having her push a pace that she can't manage in Kona.
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 17:15:37 ..so much for Lieto improving his strategy. Once Alexander passes him he's going to fall apart. I'm sure he was hoping to get at least half-way before that happened, but they may not make it to 6.55 before changing places. Everyone was going super fast on the bike, so he may end outside of the top 5 this year...
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 17:26:10 Alexander is right behind Lieto again..
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 17:27:35 And he passes. Alexander made some major adjustments after last year. Having the fastest race of your career and finishing 4th will do that..
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 17:28:56 Chrissie in transition!! 22 minutes down, though. She looks very fresh but she has a couple of good runners ahead of her
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 17:34:50 I think Carfrae is about to leave transition. [and she does] I'm sure she's a little disappointed at her position on the split chart. She is sooo fast that this is going to be a very interesting 2nd half marathon. I think Chrissie may finally have a race. Too bad she had to get road rash for it to happen :D
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 17:38:27 I was thinking Alexander had this race already, but Raelert *does* seem to have the mentality for another podium finish. If Alexander isn't careful with pacing he may have the same battle as McCormack last year.
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 18:15:19 Looks like Lieto may fall as far back at 22nd. He's currently in 11th. That's the cost of the fastest cyclist.. :( And just as expected, so is the case for Dibens. She's been walking portions and limping with an injury. She still has a big lead, but that will disappear in a hurry. It may happen that she walks the rest or bows out after she's passed. I really think it's the heat that she can't take, and that a foot injury was just more trouble on top of it.. still, if she stays in, top 5 may still be possible. The other runners are making up ground but pretty slowly. There's not much kick happening. For the men, it doesn't look like Raelert will be able to make a surge, but who knows? He was about 3 minutes down on Alexander at the start and has made up 30 seconds going into the second half. The numbers say he won't make up more than another minute -- making it Craig's race for the taking -- but if anyone can beat Alexander's legs here without that bicycle buffering, it's Raelert :p
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 18:31:35 Nope! This is alll Alexander's! He's heading into the energy lab all alone. This will make his third victory at Kona -- making him one of a very small group of 3-or-more champions, up with Scott and Allen :) Things got crazy *really* fast. Dibens has already fallen off the lead and Wellington is surging with some crazy numbers. She's only *5* minutes down on the lead now -- having come off the bike at 18 minutes behind. And it is only mile 9. This could still be very close, but the numbers could actually move her to 1st or at least 2nd at this point. Carfrae may still have the legs for her own move, but Cave may hold on !! D: O: !!!
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 18:46:32 Alexander out of the Energy Lab -- if anything bad was going to happen it would have been in there :) .. down hill to Ali'i drive and the finisher shoot in just a few more kilometres
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 18:55:59 CHRISSIE IS AMAZING :O She is about to take 2nd, and break a lot of hearts, lol ;D
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 18:57:56 Excellent -- Cave is staying strong. I really think she can pass Steffan.
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 18:58:31 Just minutes away from Craig Alexander setting a new course record!
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:05:05 umm.. I mean.. just 57 minutes away :D .. forgot what time it was in Hawai'i
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:10:25 Chrissie is 1 minute behind the leader O:
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:20:47 Chrissie has the lead in the Energy Lab, and it looks like Cave is going to pass Steffan after all :)
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:23:24 OMGs D: ... Alexander stopped to stretch.. that's not terrible since he's so close, but it's a question of the record... 2nd place is about 5 minutes behind him
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:28:34 Half a mile left O: ... he may miss it by seconds or get it by seconds
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:30:02 It looks like he does not know the record is within grasp -- he's slowed to finisher pace. But first place is his
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:32:19 !!!!!!
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:33:00 He got it!! 8:03:53 -- fastest Kona finish evar :D
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:34:24 sry, 8:03:56 :)
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:37:54 ..that is the fastest time since Luc Van Lierde's 1996, 8:04:08 finish :D .. Pete Jacobs finished about 5 minutes afterwards, and Raelert is on his way
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:40:34 Raelert finishes at 8:11:-- Chrissie has just 10k to go. I'm really hoping Cave gets second..
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:43:54 Carfrae better pass Steffan! I want my predictions to be correct ;D
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:48:16 Oh it happened! Steffan is dropping
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 19:51:54 ..knew Steffan didn't have the mentality for the podium! ;D
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 20:07:21 Looks like maybe Chrissie (1st), Carfrae (2nd), Cave (3rd) -- was totally not expecting Chrissie to do so well after the bike. Her injuries looked pretty bad :o
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 20:08:19 This is really epic though! Carfrae wants it so bad!!
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 20:10:46 Oh noes!! They're not giving Chrissie the splits so Chrissie doesn't know how close Carfrae is -- but there's not much space for Carfrae to make a move, so it's going to be rly close!
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 20:14:46 lulz.. no I think Chrissie is safe. She has a 3-minute lead and only a mile or so to go. It must be a little depressing for Carfrae, since this was the closest she's come to beating Chrissie on foot
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 20:25:33 And she makes it! They really made her work for it today :D .. I thought it was just the road rash, but everyone was really hammering to try to put her out. Carfrae refused to slow, and is running in less than 2 minutes behind, wow
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 20:30:13 Looks like Cave is pulling in for 3rd! Alllright!
Cherub Cow Member	Sat Oct 08 20:53:26 Women's Race (1) Chrissie Wellington (Great Britain) 1:01:03 / 4:56:53 / 2:52:41 = 8:55:08 (2) Mirinda Carfrae (Australia) 57:17 / 5:04:16 / 2:52:09 = 8:57:57 (3) Leanda Cave (Wales) 53:54 / 4:58:41 / 3:06:36 = 9:03:29 Men's Race (1) Craig Alexander (Australia) 51:56 / 4:24:05 / 2:44:03 = 8:03:56 (2) Pete Jacobs (Australia) 51:38 / 4:31:03 / 2:42:29 = 8:09:11 (3) Andreas Raelert (Germany) 51:58 / 4:26:52 / 2:47:48 = 8:11:07 Chris Lieto pulled in at about 9:10, 34th place :p It looks like Julie Dibens dropped out at 5.2 miles, but I'm not sure. Really cool race! I'm getting pretty good at guessing the victors ;D -- I shouldn't have doubted Chrissie though. She had an amazing year, and it's not like health was -such- an issue on race day.. as it turns out :)
Cherub Cow Member	Sun Dec 25 14:48:50 And the NBC broadcast is out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_dIp4pfhfk (official video, limited release; watch NOW!) :D
	show deleted posts

Your Name:
Your Password:
Your Message: