Belgians Bart Aernouts and Sofie Goos topped the men’s and women’s fields at the Marc Herrmans Classic Antwerp Ironman 70.3 Sunday.
Duathlon king Aernouts defended his title with an 18th-best swim that left him with a 3:16 deficit out of the water. He then posted a race-best 2:07:33 bike and a dominating 1:10:04 run that was 4:31 faster than the next best effort to finish in 3:45:36 with a 2:48 margin over fellow Belgian Axel Zeebroek.
German Markus Fachbach took 3rd in 3:54:30, France’s Romain Guillaume was 4th in 3:55:11 and Sean Donnelly of Germany was 5th in 3:55:39.
In the women’s contest, Sofie Goos combined a 5th-best 26:10 swim, 2nd-best 2:25:56 bike and 4th-best 1:26:06 run to hit the finish in 4:21:24 with a 1:16 margin over the runner-up, fellow Belgian Sophie De Groote. Goos thus took her third-straight Antwerp win.
Swiss legend Natascha Badmann, now 45 years old and still recovering from the lingering aftereffects of injuries from her 2007 crash at Ironman Hawaii and overtraining last year, overcame a 24th-best 31:02 swim with a 3rd-best 2:26:04 bike and 3rd-best 1:23:46 run to take third place, 5:20 back of Goos and 4:04 back of De Groote.
Michelle Vesterby of Denmark took 4th, 54 seconds back of Badmann in 4:27:38, and Corinne Abraham of Great Britain was 5th in 4:29:23.
Marc Herrmans Classic Antwerp Ironman 70.3
Antwerp, Belgium
July 24, 2011
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Bart Aernouts (BEL) 3:45:36
2. Axel Zeebroek (BEL) 3:48:24
3. Markus Fachbach (GER) 3:54:30
4. Romain Guillaume ( FRA) 3:55:11
5. Sean Donnelly (GER) 3:55:39
6. Ollie Whistler (AUS) 3:58:27
7. Ivan Risti (ITA) 3:58:32
8. Pavel Simko (SVK) 4:01:52
9. Tim Brydenbach (BEL) 4:06:15
10. Sylvain Denis (BEL) 4:06:50
Women
1. Sofie Goos (BEL) 4:21:24
2. Sophie de Groote (BEL) 4:22:40
3. Natascha Badmann (SUI) 4:26:44
4. Michelle Vesterby (DEN) 4:27:38
5. Corinne Abraham (GBR) 4:29:23
6. Susie Hignet (GBR) 4:31:50
7. Hanneke De Boer-Bouma (NED) 4:35:08
8. Anna Turvey (GBR) 4:41:04
9 Debbie Verstraeten (BEL) 4:42:46
10. Esther Evans (GBR) 4:44:51
