Denmark’s Rasmus Henning, a two time Olympian who won the first two $200,000 first place checks at the Hy-Vee short course races, blitzed out front with a crazy fast 40:04 swim and a race-best 4:29 bike before 113-degree temperatures in Hainan slowed down his race to a 3:38 marathon victory trot.

Tiny Aussie Charlotte Paul added Ironman China’s top hardware to her Ironman Western Australia trophy with a 13- minute margin of victory over Italy’s Edith Niederfriniger Sunday. Paul’s steady 9:48:14 looked cool on an otherwise blazing hot day in China’s nearest version of a Hawaiian getaway resort. To give you an idea how hot it was, Paul’s 3:35:44 run was faster than all the top men’s marathon splits.

After the race Paul stated to Slowtwitch "I think this race was the hardest I've ever done. The first part of the run felt like my head had been put in a vice. It was so incredibly hot. Not humid, just searing heat. It was an effort just to run at all. I took each step at a time, high cadence, and just concentrated on keeping on running.  I wanted to walk, but I wanted to win more."

Ironman China
Hainan Island, China
April 19, 2009
S 2.4 mi/ B 112 mi/ R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Rasmus Henning (DEN) 8:53:20
2. Patrick Walliman (SUI) 9:22:46
3. Mike Schifferle (SUI) 9:28:49 * M35-39 amateur
4. Joszef Major (HUN) 9:38:52
5. Byung Hoon Park (KOR) 9:57:10
6. Shigonebu Ikegata (JPN) 9:59:55
7. Patrick Evoe (USA) 10:03:38
8. Assad Attamimi (SIN) 10:06:24 *M30-34 amateur
9. Yoshiaki Teramoto (JPN) * MM30-34 amateur
10. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 10:12:06

Women

1. Charlotte Paul (AUS) 9:48:14
2. Edith Niederfriniger (ITA) 10:01:39
3. Teresa Mazel (CAN) 10:13:43
4. Donna Phelan (CAN) 10:25:15
5. Kim Loeffler (USA) 10:29:53
6. Hillary Biscay (USA) 10:39:14
7. Lidia Rekas (USA) 10:50:13
8. Yvette Grice (GBR) 11:05:43
9. Jocelyn Sui-Yee Wong (USA) 11:08:10
10. Megumi Kobayashi (JPN) 11:14:26