Paul Ambrose earned his first Ironman victory on the strength of a sizzling bike and Rebekah Keat took her second Ironman distance win in two weeks with an equally dominating bike in the heat and humidity of Ironman Louisville.

Ambrose emerged from the Ohio River swim dead even with budding Danish star Martin Jensen in 48:39, then put the hammer down with a 4:31:36 bike split that gave the Great Britain athlete a 13 minutes 7 seconds lead over Jensen, a training partner with Rasmus Henning who dropped out of Challenge Copenhagen with two flats. The 2005 top American at Powerman Zofingen Josh Beck had the second fastest bike at 4:42:07, but his manatee-slow 1:20:23 swim left him with no hope. The other chasers with the most hope were Germany's Max Longree (1:00:14 swim and 4:49:09 bike) and Patrick Evoe of Austin, Texas (56:07 swim and 4:48:06 bike).

Ambrose carefully avoided a meltdown with a conservative 3:05:09 run which brought him to the line in 8:29:55 and a 11:55 margin of victory over Jensen (3:03:36 marathon) and a 20:11 margin over third place Longree, who cut back his deficit with a race-best 2:55:58 marathon.

Ambrose had a sense of relief to earn this long sought win. "It means a lot winning my first Ironman title," Ambrose wrote in an email to Slowtwitch. "I've wanted a title since my first Ironman attempt, but I was too eager and impatient to learn how to race one properly. That's that's why it has taken a few attempts to finally get one. But like all sayings go, it's better done properly than not at all".

Australian Rebekah Keat just felt she needed another catered long workout after her Challenge Copenhagen victory two weeks ago, so she came out of the water four seconds behind Hawaii's Bree Wee, the tore off into the famed race horse and bourbon countryside for a women's race-best 5:08:25 ride. That ride gave her a 14 minutes lead Kim Loefler, who could only manage a 1:04:29 swim and a second-best 5:13:25 ride.

Race in hand, Keat eased through a defensive, conservative 3:23:50 marathon that surrendered just 2:52 to Loefler's women's race-best run. Keat's 9:33:15 finish gave the Aussie an 11:08 margin of victory over Loefler, and 17 minutes and 20 seconds over Wee, whose 3:26:17 marathon saved the Hawaiian the final spot on the podium.

Ford Ironman Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
August 29, 2010
S 2.4 mi./ B 112 mi./ R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Paul Ambrose (AUS/GBR) 8:29:59
2. Martin Jensen (DEN) 8:41:54
3. Max Longree (GER) 8:50:10
4. Patrick Evoe (Austin TX) 8:53:14
5. Sergio Marques (POR) 9:05:04
6. Benjamin Schloegel (Kansas City MO) 9:11:15 * M30-34
7. Josh Beck (Carlisle PA) 9:20:15 * M30-34
8. Patrick Bless (Phoenix AZ) 9:20:34
9. Jesse Vondracek (Durango CO) 9:25:52
10. Eric Schrading (Galloway NJ) 9:32:51 * M40-44

Women

1. Rebekah Keat (AUS) 9:33:15
2. Kim Loeffler (Colchester VT) 9:44:23
3. Bree Wee (Kailua Kona HI) 9:50:35
4. Whitney Henderson (Lafayette CO) 10:04:28 * W30-34
5. Lisbeth Kristensen (DEN) 10:12:06
6. Tina Eakin (Huntsville AL) 10:13:53 * W40-44
7. Kebby Holden (San Diego CA) 10:25:20 * W35-39
8. Cindy Lewis (CAN) 10:33:59 * W25-29
9. Andrea Hutchins (St. Joseph MI) 10:39:30 * W30-34
10. Kendra Lee (Denver CO) 10:42:54 * W30-34