IMWOZ – 2008 – Race Report
December 22, 2008
Richard Ward recently completed the Ironman Western Australia race, on 12/7, and has provided a blow-by-blow report, including photos, of his race experience. Interestingly, Richard has captured, in his own words, the unique Ironman feeling of mid-race breakdown followed by mind and body control that yield a final finish. The word on the street is that Richard did the race only to photograph the cheerleaders. VB.
Notes from Ironman Western Australia, December 7, 2008
Woke early at 3:55 am. Had the necessary coffee and pre-race nutrition as digestive prep were top priority. Gail, my ever faithful manager, got me going. It was total darkness, but clear skies and the Southern Cross was visible in the still black morning. Yesterdays forecast foretold the temperature to reach 90 degrees with winds S-SW to 27K (not a good sign for the bike). Checked in at 5:15 am, final bike check and on with the wetsuit. I start the walk to the jetty and swim start. The Pros are off at 6 am sharp with helicopters in the sky and crowds lining the mile long jetty. The Indian Ocean is warm. A wetsuit makes it perfect. Shark evacuation plans were presented at the pre-race meeting (bottom line: do not harm any sharks). 6:15 am horn blows, mass start. Bodies are packed, side-by-side, over, under, and a mad house. No room to plant an arm or move forward. Finally, experience says to go left and get away from this mess. Fifteen minutes into the swim I found clear water. The end of the jetty is the turn and I see 30 minutes on my watch. I am stoked. I see a swim PR. The turn is into chop and a current. The wind is beginning. I touch land and the finish mat in 1:10:32. The transition is smooth: tri shorts, bike jersey, and arm warmers; no need for cold gear. The wind is not yet up. The skies are clear and the temperature is likely to climb. Three loops, this is one of the most scenic, flat rides one can do. I am feeling good (18, 19, 21 mph) with no wind, yet. One hour into the event, I go for the big chain ring and “click” ~nothing. The cable has come loose. O.K., I’ll spin 39/13, and save the legs for the run. Loop 1: looks like I’ll do 5:45.Loop 2: looks like I’ll do 5:50.Loop 3: I hope I get under 6:06 with the direct head wind. Cruel; energy going. A DNF is looking like an option. I really want to quit. I hit the T2 tent walking; change; swallow ¾ bottle of Endurox. Walk out.I am ready to lie down. I start to move forward running. It is more like moving in 2X gravity. I am passed by a 60+ year old woman with a painful, awful gait, and she is going twice my pace. At ~ mile 1, I think O.K. 17 hours and I can walk. Finally, at ~mile 3, I get my legs. I develop an Ironman shuffle. I am going, and it is O.K. If I just keep going, the guys back in SB won’t make me a poster boy for “friendly” ridicule. I keep moving. The course is beautiful. All along the beachfront are beautiful homes, boat harbors, annoying flies, the blue Indian Ocean and Geographe Bay. Winds are 25-27 mph. I use every aid station and put ice under my hat. The temperature must be 90 degrees with no shade. Three loops. At each turn you get a “scrunchy” for your wrist (orange – loop 1, white – loop 2). I have scunchy envy as I complete loop 1. Luke Bell, the race favorite, I pass on loop 1. He has 2 scrunchies to my none. He probably still broke 9:30 hrs. The sun is still high in the sky. I swallow a fly on lap #1, good protein. I know I will finish and can see that the run has disseminated most of the field. (I am actually not unhappy with my 4:52 run, as there was not much walking.) The last 4K, my feet are burning, a problem I need to solve. I must beat 12:30. I manage, and finish in 12:27.
I remove the ice cubes from my hat; straighten my race number, and prepare for the finish line (the finisher’s photo being the primary reason for participating).
Gail is there along with the Busselton High School cheerleaders. Can life get any better? On Monday, AM, I find I am third in my age group, wow; maybe, I should go to the roll down, for Hawaii slots. I go in the race office to see if #1 claimed his spot. “Yes, Allen just put his money in, and is going”.Well, just as well, he managed a 10:30. This venue is fantastic. Three loops made it very interesting, especially on the run, when it’s hard to focus on the distance.
All my thanks to Jack Bianchi, and my training partners.
Richard Ward.
IM Western OZ – 2008 update
December 16, 2008
A late addtion to the IMWOZ results, another local triathlete joins Richard Ward as a finisher in the December 7th race in Perth, Australia. Ed Smith, an engineer at Raytheon in Goleta, and also a native Western Australian, was at the finish line, and achieved a great race result along with Richard. VB
| Ed SMITH | 11:09:10 | M3034 | 0:51:58 | 5:41:51 | 4:35:20 | WA | Australia |
IMHI – 2008 Replay
December 12, 2008
To whom it may concern, the sbtriclub’s version of ‘deep throat’ has supplied information to this blog informing me that on Saturday, 12/13, sometime between 11:30am and 1pm, NBC will be airing its version of IMHI of last October. Hopefully, my source is accurate. And hopefully NBC will be accurate. VB
ULTRAMAN – 2008 Results
December 11, 2008
A short text to inform all that the 2008 Ultraman was held on 11/28-11/30 and the results, top 15, follow. Note Gary Wang, and Brian Smallwood ( Ventura ) both finished in the top 15. See the below link for a detailed race report. VB
Ribeiro Alexandre 43 M 6:15:32 21:49:38 1
O’Keefe Tony 47 M 6:46:58 22:31:54 2
Kregar Miro 46 M 6:14:16 22:35:24 3
Kotland Peter 36 M 7:33:20 23:38:48 4
Conceicao Carlos 44 M 6:46:28 24:27:17 5
Seedhouse Erik 44 M 8:03:59 24:37:08 6
Ajram Josef 30 M 8:33:45 24:40:38 7
Gower Scott 44 M 8:24:46 25:24:28 8
Mueller Peter 46 M 8:17:14 26:05:05 9
Armstrong Shanna 34 F 8:17:13 26:25:03 10
Roll Richard 42 M 9:00:32 26:33:42 11
Wang Gary 41 M 9:09:57 26:41:52 12
Ford Mark 46 M 8:35:13 26:43:44 13
Smallwood Brian 53 M 8:41:43 26:51:21 14
Lopes Dias Beto 45 M 7:48:34 27:22:11 15
link to race report:
http://ultramanlive.com/2008-ultraman-world-championships/2008-race-reports/
IronMan Western OZ Results – 2008
December 8, 2008
What does one do in Western Australia, other than experience some of the best surf in the world, well one Richard Ward, when in Western Oz, does Ironman Western Australia in 12:27 and takes an age group third in the M60-64 division. Hopefully, Richard will report on the race and relate his race experiences for all future race participants to digest. Great race Richard. VB
TOTAL AGE PLACE SWIM BIKE RUN
—————————————————-
Richard WARD 12:27:53 M6064 3 1:10:31 6:17:35 4:59:47
========================================================================
| Dec. 7, 2008 — Ironman Western Australia is known as one of the fastest 140.6-mile courses on the planet and the 2008 edition lived up to its reputation. Australia’s Tim Berkel, only 24-years old, picked up the first Ironman win of his short career with a finishing time of 8:07:06. New Zealand’s Gina Fergusson, who finished second behind Aussie Charlotte Paul in Bussleton last year, swapped places with the reigning champ and won in 8:59:24.A pair of Aussies named Luke (McKenzie and Bell) led the men out of the water after a 48-minute swim, which gave them a two-minute gap over the group of Berkel, Jason Shortis, Leon Griffin and Oscar Galindez. Berkel looked strong on the bike and moved toward the front, but he couldn’t hold off the charge of countryman Griffin and Denmark’s Jimmy Johnsen, who was the first back to T2 after a 4:25 bike split. Once on the marathon, Berkel made quick work of the stronger cyclists and assumed the lead for good. The youngster was the only athlete to break 2:50 on the run (2:48:51) and won by almost four minutes over Shortis. McKenzie, who was stalled by a mechanical issue on the bike, ran his way to third.In a relatively small women’s pro field of only 11 athletes, Ferguson was dominant from start to finish. The Kiwi exited the swim alongside the second group of men, in 50:30, which put her over seven minutes in front of Paul. Ferguson added another two minutes to her lead during the 112-mile bike leg, but the fleet-footed Paul wasn’t ready to give up. Unfortunately for the defending champ, Ferguson’s nine-minute gap at T2 was too much to overcome and the Kiwi cruised to the sub-nine hour win. Paul posted the best marathon of the day (3:06:28), which put her at the line seven minutes behind Ferguson and 31 minutes ahead of eventual third-place finisher Kat Baker of Australia. While Baker was never in contention for the win, her podium finish was very impressive for a 21-year old. Baker was the second-youngest female athlete in the race.
Ironman Western Australia Men Women |