Massimo Cigana caught long time race leader Björn Andersson in the last few hundred yards of the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Austria and earned the win with a very impressive run split. Yvonne Van-Vlerken took the title in the women’s race.

Beautiful temperatures greeted almost 1,500 participants as they started the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Austria in St. Polten near Vienna. Adam Molnar (HUN) managed to get out of the water first and he was followed closely by Francisco Pontano (ARG) and Björn Andersson (SWE).

Andersson though had a faster transition and left T1 first. He then steadily built up his lead over the next 90 km with a nice 2:07:04 bike split to a nice 7+ minute cushion over his closest pursuers Peter Schloissengeier (AUT), Massimo Cigana (ITA) and a bunch that included last year’s winner Michael Göhner (GER).

Once on the run, Andersson looked very smooth, but Cigana and Göhner were running well faster. Cigana was actually running like he was on fire and with his 1:14:47 run split caught and passed Andersson in the stadium in front of over 11,000 spectators, and crossed the line first in 3:56:12. Anderson finished in 2nd place in a time of 3:56:52 and Göhner took 3rd in a time of 3:57:11.


The early leader in the women’s race was Eva Novakova (CZE) who outdistanced her competition in the swim by several minutes.

As they headed out on the bike, Novakova’s speed was no match for Sandra Wallenhorst (GER), Yvonne Van-Vlerken (NED) and Erika Csomor (HUN) who were really pushing a very hard pace and came back to T2 in that order.

Van Vlerken caught and passed Wallenhorst after 10km and Csomor managed to run down Wallenhorst 7km later. Van-Vlerken had the fastest run among Pro women and finished first in a time of 4:22:43. Csomor finished 2nd with a time of 4:25:52 and Wallenhorst held on to 3rd in a time of 4:26:25.

Results

Top 10 men

1. Massimo Cigana (ITA) 3:56:12
2. Björn Andersson (SWE) 3:56:52
3. Michael Göhner (GER) 3:57:11
4. Dennis Devriendt (BEL) 3:58:54
5. Alun Woodward (GBR) 4:00:26
6. Jimmy Johnsen (NOR) 4:01:01
7. Markus Fachbach (GER) 4:01:59
8. Dejan Patrcevic (CRO) 4:02:18
9. Francisco Pontano (ARG) 4:02:39
10. Florian Stelzle (GER) 4:02:56


Top 10 women

1. Yvonne Van-Vlerken (NED) 4:22:43
2. Erika Csomor (HUN) 4:25:52
3. SandraWallenhorst (GER) 4:26:25
4. Veronika Hauke (AUT) 4:32:01
5. Joan Bláfoss (FRA) 4:35:07
6. Reka Brassay, Reka (HUN) 4:35:57
7. Edith Niederfriniger (ITA) 4:41:03
8. Eva Novakova (CZE) 4:41:43
9. Simone Fürnkranz (AUT) 4:45:08 *
10. Johanna Schicker (GER) 4:46:12 *

* = AG athlete