May 29, 2002, Florianopolis, Brazil (www.slowtwitch.com):
From Ironmanlive comes a report of Ironman Brazil, staged Saturday for the second year in its new home of Florianopolis.
Great Britain's Spencer Smith continued his winning Ironman ways with a first-place finish as Germany's Nicole Leder took out the women's race and relegated home-country favorite Fernanda Keller to third.
Smith was second out of the water, took the lead on the bike course and fell back to second before T2, then took the lead again on the marathon run to come home in 8:15:38. A fast-closing Lothar Leder of Germany was on his heels, just 59 seconds back.
"Obviously it's nice when you win an Ironman," Smith told TriBiz Reader after the race. "I've won two now in six months--so I'm very pleased. I said before the start of this season I wanted to do three races well this year, Brazil, Frankfurt, and Hawaii. So far so good. I didn't really have any bad spells in this race, which is what you want, isn't it?"
Was Smith worried about his form after his recent flat performance in St. Croix? "There's a lot of difference between a half and an Ironman. Looking at the form book, Oscar [Galindez, 2nd in St. Croix] should've been in front of me for this Ironman, but it's not about that. It's not possible for me to be on form all the time. I never second guessed my training. My legs didn't feel like they did in St. Croix. When I'm rested and I want to perform I can come up with the goods. Just prior to St. Croix I'd done some big weeks, some 2hr runs and 6hr rides, and that [St. Croix] course doesn't bear having heavy legs."
Defending champion Eduardo Sturla of Argentina was third, with South Africa's Raynard Tissink in fourth and Argentina's Oscar Galindez rounding out the top five.
New Zealand's Bryan Rhodes battled bad luck all day, going a bit off-course during the swim and flatting twice on the bike ride. He eventually called it a day at the 30k mark in the marathon.
In the women's race, Leder battled during the marathon to take control of the race, coming home in 9:24:45, nearly three minutes clear of Colombia's Carmenza Morales in 9:27:17. Keller was 10 minutes behind in third, with Germany's Katja Mayer in fourth and New Zealand's Tara-Lee Marshall in fifth.
Rhodes wasn't the only athlete to suffer bad luck on Saturday, as Australia's Belinda Halloran won the swim and was leading the bike when her seat post broke. She made some roadside repairs and was able to ride it in to the transition.
Pros split a $50,000 prize purse, with 50 Kona slots on offer.
(RESULTS)
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Martín Sturla (who?) takes IM Brazil
May 26, 2001, Florianopolis, Brazil (www.slowtwitch.com):
Unheralded Argentine Martín Sturla took the win at Ironman Brazil Saturday over a deep pro field that included returning champion Ken Glah, marathon speedster Peter Kropko, Iron vet Petr Vabrousek and perennial threat Alec Rukosuev.
Sturla's 8:11 was 10 minutes clear of Faris Al Sultan of Germany, in second, and included a 4:28 bike on the new course at Florianopolis. Sturla was eighth at Ironman New Zealand this year and is Argentina's long course champion, a title he claimed in April. In 1999, he finished sixth at Ironman Brazil.
Florianopolis, a resort island connected to the Brazilian mainland by the country's longest suspension bridge, is fancied for its 100 beaches and is popular with surfers and vacationers.
Defending champion Glah, who had taken over race organizing duties along with new race director Nubio de Almeida and Brazil's Iron heroine Fernanda Keller, had to settle for third place, in 8:23.
Behind him was Rukosuev, a Russian who lives and trains in Florida, with the Czech Vabrousek in fifth in 8:26. The Hungarian Kropko, always a fast closer, clocked a 2:47 marathon to run himself into sixth place.
In the women's race, California's Wendy Ingraham, in her last season as a professional, defeated returning champion Keller, who was closing with her trademark footspeed—she would turn in a 3:06—on the marathon. Ingraham's 9:10 was four minutes better than Keller—and the pair were well clear of the rest of the chasers.
American Laura Drake took third, with a 9:33, while New Zealand's Tara Lee Marshall held down fourth in 9:49. Rounding out the top five was another American, Heather Joris, in 9:52.
(RESULTS)
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Ken Glah joins revamped Ironman Brazil race
August 25, Florianopolis, Brazil (www.slowtwitch.com):
American Ken Glah, three times the winner of the Ironman Brazil, is putting his mouth where his money is: He has joined the race management team for the revamped race.
Glah has a longtime fondness for races in Brazil. Before winning Ironman Brazil in Porto Seguro for the last three years, he also twice won the Triathlon Porto Seguro, a three-quarters Ironman race that, in 1998, became the full-distance, World Triathlon Corp.-sanctioned Ironman.
He also has raced, over several years, and won the Santos International Triathlon. That race director is Nubio de Almeida, who is now Glah's partner in promoting the "new" Ironman Brazil.
De Almeida, Glah and Fernanda Keller, Brazil's longstanding long-distance sweetheart, announced the new race management and venue at a press conference Wednesday at Florianoplis Island on Brazil's southern coast.
The previous race was technically named Ironman Pao de Acucar after its major-sponsor Pao de Acucar, a grocery store chain. But triathletes commonly called it simply Ironman Brazil -- and that's the straightforward name the new race is taking.
The previous race was also in a different locale, the more northern Porto Seguro. It was under the direction of Djan Madruga, whose event management company focuses mostly on cycling events.
Formerly a national sports hero as a 1980 Olympic swimmer, Madruga had had trouble attracting high numbers of foreign triathletes -- in spite of him traveling each October to the Hawaii Ironman to promote it at the expo. He is best known around Kona for having once held the swim record for the Hawaii Ironman.
There is not yet any further news out of Wednesday's press conference, which was intended for the Brazilian media, aside from the 2001 date (May 26), and the fact that 45 qualifying slots for the Hawaii Ironman will be on offer.
A website, has been established, but it contains, at this point, only the logo and nothing else.
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• Smith rocks, Leder rolls in IM Brazil
• Martín Sturla (who?) takes IM Brazil
• Ken Glah joins revamped Ironman Brazil race