Kirill Kotsegarov and Lucy Gossage won the elite titles on the challenging course at Ironman UK.
Kotsegarov combined a 7th-best 51:19 swim, a 2nd-best 4:52:35 bike split and a race-best 2:50:09 marathon to finish in 8:41:13 with am 8:50 margin of victory over Markus Thomschke of Germany and 18:37 over 3rd-place finisher Andrej Vistica of Croatia.
Age grouper Bryan McCrystal of Ireland used a spectacular race-best 4:44:26 bike split to finish 5th overall, 5:40 behind 4th place finisher Karl-Johan Danielsson of Sweden.
Gossage crafted a women’s 3rd-fastest 56:13 swim, women’s-fastest 5:15:04 bike split and women’s–best 3:08:20 marathon to finish in 9:26:05 with a 19:16 margin of victory over runner-up Tine Deckers of Belgium (3:22:28 run). This was a personal record at Bolton for Gossage whose previous winning times were 9:31:58 in 2015 and 9:29:12 in 2013.
Katja Konschak of Germany placed 2nd at the Ironman European Championship at Frankfurt two weeks ago and survived her 3rd-place today in 10:13:18 in order to secure her Kona slot.
Men
Harry Wiltshire of Great Britain led the swim in 45:35, followed immediately by Romain Guillaume, then Chris Whitcombe of Great Britain (+3:17), Fraser Cartmell of Great Britain (+3:26), Karl-Johan Danielsson of Sweden (+5:39), Graeme Stewart of Great Britain (+5:41), Kirill Kotsegarov of Estonia (+5:44), Markus Thomschke of Germany (+5:46), Andrej Vistica of Croatia (+7:50) and Peter Kern of Ireland (+7:51).
By 80km of the bike, Guillaume broke away to a big lead, just over 8 minutes over a pack of five that included Danielsson, Kotsegarov, Thomschke, Cartmell and Wiltshire.
Age grouper Bryan McCrystal of Ireland was fast overcoming his 57: 32 swim with a sizzling fast bike and trailed the leader by 8:41 – in 7th place on accumulated time - after 100km.
At 127k, Guillaume stretched his lead to 11:15 over a pack of three that included Thomschke, Kotsegarov and Danielsson while Wiltshire and Cartmell faded to a 17:45 deficit.
After a 57:32 swim and a race-best 4:44:26 bike split, age grouper McCrystal led the field on elapsed time of 5:41:58 – 1:13 quicker than leading pro Guillaume although physically behind due to a later swim wave.
Guillaume’s 6th-fastest 4:54:521 bike split led the pros into T2 with a 4:21 gap on Thomschke (4:52:38 bike split), 4:25 on Kotsegarov (4:52:35), 7:56 on Danielsson, 14:15 on Brian Fogarty of Great Britain, 16:24 on Wiltshire, 18:41 on Vistica and 21:11 on Cartmell.
After 7k of the run, Thomschke and Kotsegarov took over the physical lead from Guillaume who said he was feeling sick. By 15k, Kotsegarov opened up a 6 seconds gap on Thomschke.
By 20k Guillaume dropped out and Kotsegarov increase his lead on Thomschke to 51 seconds, 9:07 on Danielsson, 9:45 on McCrystal, 15:25 on Vistica, and 15:33 on Wiltshire.
By 33k, Kotsegarov led by 5:18 on Thomschke, 14:18 on Danielsson, 15:37 on Vistica, and 22:36 on Wiltshire. After a race-best 2:50:09 marathon, Kotsegarov finished in 8:41:13 with an 8:50 margin of victory on the Thomschke (2:59:13 run), 17:37 on 3rd-place Vistica (2:53:36 run) and 18:35 on 4th place Danielsson (3:05:32 run).
Top age grouper Bryan McCrystal finished off his excellent day with a 3:15:46 marathon which brought him 5th place overall.
Women
Katja Konschak of Germany led the pro women with a 54:02 swim split which gave her a 1:17 lead on Tine Deckers of Belgium, 2:11 on defending champion Lucy Gossage of Great Britain, 4:43 on Alyssa Godesky of the U.S., and 7:22 on 2011 Ironman UK champion Kristin Möller of Germany.
Age grouper Vanessa Holland of Great Britain was in 2nd place on elapsed time after a 55:41 swim split.
Deckers took a 1:19 lead over Gossage at 24k. At 52k, Gossage cut the gap to 30 seconds. As the two women rocketed away from the women’s field, they led Konschak by 10:55, Godesky by 16:26 and Vicky Gill of Great Britain by 23:17.
At 100k, Deckers and Gossage rode side by side while putting the rest of the women far in their wake – Konschak trailed by 20:11, Godesky by 27:35 and Gill by 32:59.
By 127k, Gossage broke away to a 1:05 lead on Deckers. At 145k, Gossage increased her gap on Deckers to 1:45 while Konschak faded to a 28 minutes deficit in 3rd place.
After a women’s-best 5:15:04 bike split, Gossage led Deckers by 4:15 into T2. Konschak (+38:02) and Godesky (+46:04) were 3rd and 4th.
After her 3:08:20 run, Gossage finished in 9:26:05, 19 minutes ahead of Deckers and a personal record at Bolton for Gossage whose previous winning times were 9:31:58 in 2015 and 9:29:12 in 2013.
Ironman UK
Bolton., England
July 17, 2016
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.
Results
Men
1. Kirill Kotsegarov (EST) 8:41:13
2. Markus Thomschke (GER) 8:50:03
3. Andrej Vistica (CRO) 8:58:50
4. Karl-Johan Danielsson (SWE) 8:59:48
5. Bryan McCrystal (IRL) 9:05:28 * M35-39
6. Harry Wiltshire (GBR) 9:05:35
7. Brian Fogarty (GBR) 9:12:30
8. Patrick Evoe (USA) 9:14:33
9. Fraser Cartmell (GBR) 9:24:31
10. Paul Cowling (GBR) 9:33:51 * M30-34
Women
1. Lucy Gossage (GBR) 9:26:05
2. Tine Deckers (BEL) 9:45:21
3. Katja Konschak (GER) 10:13:18.
