Kona 2012 - race gallery 3

Timothy Carlson Tue Oct 16 2012

After years of domination by a few individual stars, first time winners Pete Jacobs and Leanda Cave shook up the establishment and joined the Kona firmament. As always, the stars and the finishers displayed courage in rugged conditions. Not the least was Natascha Badmann's 6th place finish at age 45 - accomplished while setting the fastest women's bike of the day.

A look at the run, the finish and the awards of the 2012 edition of the Ironman World Championship held in Kona, Hawaii.

All photographs © Timothy Carlson

Pete Jacobs posted the fastest runs of the day at Kona in 2010 and 2011. He ran 7 minutes slower this day, but his 3rd-fastest 2:48:05 on a difficult day brought him home first.

Slideshow

Marino Vanhoenacker looked like he was finally having the race of his life at Kona when he got off the bike with an 8-minute lead and a low 2:40 marathon capability. But the stress of his blazing bike left him out of gas and he DNF'd.

Dirk Bockel's broken hand left him out of energy after the bike. A 3:05:47 marathon brought him home a brave 10th.

Faris Al-Sultan has the most powerful looking stride in the field. his 2:56:49 marathon brought the 2005 Kona champ home in 5th place.

Leanda Cave and Mary Beth Ellis dueled up Palani. In the end, Cave's 3:03:13 marathon brought her home 1st and Ellis's 3:10:30 took 5th.

Pete Jacobs was 8th in 2009, 7th in 2010, 2nd in 2011 and 1st in 2012.

Pete Jacobs bows in thanks at the finish. While Craig Alexander faded to 12th and Chris McCormack DNF'd, Jacobs extended the Australian men's domination of Kona to 6.

Andy Potts enjoys a patriotic celebration for his 7th place finish.

Timothy O'Donnell waves the flag for his first top 10 Kona finish.

USA stars Potts and O'Donnell shake hands after their 7th-8th place finishes.

Andy Potts has reason to smile.

Rasmus Henning bids adieu to the professional ranks at age 37 after a splendid career.

Tom Lowe gave 100 percent to get to the line.

Leanda Cave swam 56:03, biked 5:12:06 and ran 3:03:13 to finish 1st in 9:15:54.

Mirinda Carfrae dropped a crucial nutrition bottle on the bike and paid for it with exhaustion at the finish after a substandard-for-her 3:05:04 run and 3rd place.