LAWRENCE, Kansas -- Chrissie Wellington won virtually wire-to-wire despite a pit stop for a flat tire, and Luke Bell wisely held back to let Tim O’Donnell surge to a minute lead before pulling him in at the end of the run as both won the second Ironman Kansas 70.3 in Lawrence Sunday.
The men
Luke Bell showed he is back on his game with a late race surge past St. Croix winner Tim O’Donnell with a mile and a half to go, posting a swift 3:49:35 winning time over a demanding bike course at Kansas Ironman 70.3. “I saw Tim take off on the run at a 5:15 pace and I thought ‘If he can hold that, he’ll finish with a 1:10 half marathon and all power to him,’” said Bell, who trailed by 30 seconds after the first lap, and 70 seconds with four miles to go. “But I just knew I could maintain a slightly sub-5:30 pace and decided stick with that and run my own race.”
At the 10-mile mark odf the run, O’Donnell showed the strain of his third place finish last weekend at the Rev3 Triathlon in Connecticut. “I started feeling Connecticut those last three miles," he said. Given the opening, Bell smelled blood. “The gap slowly came back to me, and when the gap gets closer, you just roll with it,” said Bell. “So then I made a big surge and went past him about mile 11.5 and didn’t look back or let up. In these races, you can't slack off or they will come back on you.”
At the finish, Bell’s race-best 1:13:15 run managed to eat up O’Donnell’s lead and put another minute on his pursuer. At the finish, Bell was all alone and back to the form that gave him an impressive resume of wins at Ironman 70.3 venues like Eagleman, Vineman , Buffalo Springs, California, Spirit of Racine and Lake Stevens. All in addition to four runner-up finishesd at full Ironman events. Last year, coming off a modest slump, he felt ready for Ironman Hawaii, but was hit by pneumonia two weeks before the race and faded from expected contention.
“My last 70.3 win was last year at Lake Stevens,” said Bell. “This year I had a hard time in my first hit out in the U.S. at Wildflower, then took second at Ironman Florida 70.3, but had mechanical problems at Rev 3. So it is a really good feeling and a confidence builder to go so well here on a tough, fair course.”
O’Donnell, who credits coach Cliff English and Boulder training partner Matt Reed for improving his run to match his excellent swim and bike , ran 1:14:14 and held off third place Paul Matthews, fourth place James Cotter and a late-fading fifth place Stephen Hackett by a comfortable margin to take second.
“I was feeling great until 10 miles into the run and I just fell apart,” said O’Donnell. “Luke didn’t get me until a mile and a half to go and there was nothing I could do. Still, with a win at St. Croix and third at Rev3 and now this, I've had a great start to 2009. It's gratifying to see all the hard work I’ve been putting in is paying off.”
Still a work in progress is 2004 Australian Olympian Simon Thompson, who came from behind to nip O’Donnell for the win at Boulder 5430 long course last summer. “I had a great swim and came out fourth, and felt good and held my own with the lead pack on the bike through 20 kilometers, but then I just fell apart,” said Thompson, who finished 7th in 3:57:56. “I had no strength, and by the end of the bike, I lost eight minutes and tons of people passed me. But once I started the run, I felt good and had the second fastest split (1:13:47) and took 7th.”
Tim DeBoom lost the first pack on the bike and started the run 5th, but dropped out of contention in obviousl pain with a balky foot. After a death march 1:25:38 run, finished 12th.
THE WOMEN
About three quarters into her ride after an confidence-boosting, second-best 25:11 swim, Wellington was cruising to an impressive lead when she was hit by a déjà vu tire puncture that recalled her nerve-wracking 10 minute stop at Kona last October.
This time, there was no Good Samaritan Rebekah Keat around to lend her CO2 canisters as thre Sustralian did after Wellington flubbed her first ever crack at the inflation procedure. This time, Wellington was prepared.
“Now I am an expert with the gas canister,” said Wellington, who made the inflation in a not-NASCAR-fast but quite useful four minutes. “I practice it every night!’”
When Wellington was getting her bike back on the road, Australia’s not-at-all-shabby Pip Taylor rode up and got a glimpse of the still-unbeaten Ironman sensation. “I came up on her just as she got it fixed,” Taylor told the Lawrence newspaper. “But she is really a step ahead of everyone else on the bike. You keep going because you never want to give in…”
What didn't need to be said was that Wellington would go on to a second-best 2:26:51 bike split (including the stop), and arrived in T2 just 20 seconds ahead of Amy Marsh, who swam 40 seconds slower than Wellington and rode 22 seconds faster. Taylor, who came into this race strong and confident after a February win at the Australian long course championships and a win at Memphis in May, finished her ride on a sometimes windy, intermittently rainy morning in 2:30:18 – about 3 minutes back of the leading duo.
On the run, Taylor chugged past Marsh late in the half marathon for second place. Taylor’s second-best 1:23:02 split for the 13.1-mile run brought her to the line in 4:19:42, 4 minutes 50 seconds behind Wellington’s excellent 4:14:52 finish. Taylor’s run was good but well off Wellington’s race-best 1:20:16 split.
Six-time Ironman New Zealand winner Joanna Lawn, still sore after an 8th place finish on the hills of Rev 3, managed to regroup on the run to take down Marsh for the final spot on the podium.
Displaying her trademark irrepressible exuberance, Wellington threw her hands aloft in joy hitting the finish and immediately thereafter did the Blzeman roll, then walked past the race’s costumed Cowardly Lion and Dorothy Gale imitators, got in a line with the Kansas State Cheerleaders and did a Rockettes-style kick to honor the Kansas crowd.
“I am overjoyed with this race,” said Wellington. “I felt a lot of pressure, and had a lot of questions after finishing sixth at Columbia (the Olympic distance race in Maryland a few weeks ago). I adjusted a few things since then and sorted out a few niggles that I had and I’m really happy with my time (4:14:52) and ecstatic about my swim (25:11). And I’m happy for Simon (Lessing, her new coach for 2009).as well because this is a vindication that everything’s working.”
Ironman 70.3 Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
June 14, 2009
S 1.2 mi/B 56 mi./R 13.1 mi.
Results
Top 11 men
1. Luke Bell (AUS) 3:49:35
2. Timothy O'Donnell (USA) 3:50:44
3. Paul Matthews (AUS)
4. James Cotter (USA) 3:54:05
5. Stephen Hackett (AUS) 3:55:25
6. Brandon Marsh (USA) 3:55:46
7. Simon Thompson (AUS) 3:57:47
8. Andrew Hodges (USA) 3:59:36
9. Patrick Evoe (USA) 4:02:25
10. Tony White (USA) 4:02:57
11. Tim DeBoom (USA) 4:04:32
Top 10 women
1. Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 4:14:52
2. Pip Taylor (AUS) 4:19:42
3. Joanna Lawn (NZL)
4. Amy Marsh (USA) 4:21:38
5. Nina Kraft (GER) 4:23:29
6. Kim Loeffler (USA) 4:28:38
7. Jessica Myers (USA) 4:29:11
8. Marisa Asplund (USA) 4:36:49 * AG F30-34
9. Susan Langley (USA) 4:40:28 * AG F35-39
10. Gabriela Loskotova (CZE) 4:41:56
