Maximilian Longree and Mariska Kramer-Postma both overcame big deficits with fast marathons to claim Ironman victories Sunday in Louisville.
Longree, who just turned pro last year, started his run 10 minutes down to defending champion Chris McDonald of Australia but blitzed to an 21-minute margin of victory with a race-best 2:48:55 run that was at least as sizzling as the windy, high-humidity, 88-degree temperatures.
McDonald, fell back with a 3:19:48 marathon that left him second. But in the wilting in egg-frying-on-the-sidewalk weather, McDonald’s run was still third-best on the day behind Sergio Marques’ 3:04:14. Marques, the Portuguese star who ran a race-best 2:42 marathon in 2006 in Kona, took third place at Louisville.
Longree’s 8:33:58 finish broke McDonald’s inaugural course record and gave the 27-year-old German $10,000. This performance, a sign of greater things to come, eclipsed his best previous finishes – 3rd at Ironman Austria 2007, 17th at Ironman Hawaii in 2007 and 20th at Ironman Hawaii in 2006, and 10th at Ironman Lanzarote in 2006.
Kramer-Postma, a 34-year-old Dutch veteran triathlete and duathlete, won Ironman Nice in 2005, took third at Ford Ironman Louisville last year and scored an impressive 2:45: 23 marathon win in Jacksonville, Florida this year. After the bike, she was a seemingly impossible 17 minutes back of 2001 ITU long course world champion Lisbeth Kristensen of Denmark, and 14 minutes back of Hilary Biscay and defending Ironman Louisville champion Heather Gollnick.
The deficit was the result of Kramer-Postma’s sluggish, 8th-best 1:03:39 swim and place holding, 8th-best 5:27:21 bike.
Kramer-Postma’s quest for her first Ironman win with her strong run was aided by two pieces of bad luck which afflicted her toughest rivals. During the first lap of the bike, Gollnick suffered a loose spoke which hampered her progress considerably and dropped the 37-year-old Bradenton, Florida mother of three to four minutes behind Kristiansen’s race-best 5:17:06 bike split. The mechanical gremlin also cut Gollnick’s post bike advantage over Kramer-Postma to 14 minutes.
At 17 miles, Kramer-Postma had advanced to fourth, 6 minutes back of Kristensen. Hilary Biscay was third, 4:58 back, with Gollnick second, 4:30 back of Kristensen.
Kristensen, just eight months after the birth of her first child, Astrid, suffered the most dramatic setback. Hearkening back to her days of morning sickness, Kristensen was leading the field by two minutes at Mile 20 of the run when she fell to the ground, vomiting so hard she could not move. “I didn’t think I could get back up said Kristensen to IronmanLive.com. Finally, she gathered herself to start running ahead of Hilary Biscay, but Gollnick and Kramer-Postma had gone by, running shoulder to shoulder.
At Mile 22 of the run, Kramer-Postma took the lead from Gollnick, with Kristensen back on form and holding off Biscay.
At mile 23, Kramer-Postma led Gollnick by 1:14, with Kristensen 2:35 behind and Hilary Biscay trailing at 4:24 behind.
At Mile 24, Kramer-Postma had a 2:13 lead over Gollnick with Kristensen at 3:52 behind and Biscay holding steady at 4:30 back of the leader.
At the finish, Kramer-Postma’s race-best 3:18:15 run gave her a 9:54:17 finish and a 2-minute 36-second margin of victory over Gollnick, who ran 3:35:35.
Gutting it out to the finish with a survival-style 3:40:31 run, Kristensen hit the tape third and 4:16 behind the winner.
There she was greeted warmly by life partner Andrew Johns, who led until he dropped out late in the bike with what he described as a “locked up back.”
Hilary Biscay, who was finishing her 8th Ironman of the year with Ironman Wisconsin next on her dance card, finished 4th overall, 58 second s back of Kristensen.
Ford Ironman Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky
August 31, 2008
S 2.4 mi/ B 112 mi/ R 26.2 mi
Results
Overall Men
1. Maximilian Longree (Ger) 8:33:58 * course record
2. Chris McDonald (Aus) 8:54:52
3. Sergio Marques (Por) 8:59:15
4. Michael Goehner (Ger) 9:04:24
5. Chris Hauth (USA) 9:13:24
6. Zack Ruble (USA) 9:21:53
7. Chris Gebhardt (USA) 9:22:37
8. Uzziel Valderrabano (Mex) 9:26:34
9. Brian Kaminski (USA) 9:31:06 * Amateur M 35-39
10. Peter Kotland (Cze) 9:32:49
Overall Women
1. Mariska Kramer-Postma (Ned ) 9:54:17
2. Heather Gollnick (USA) 9:56:53
3. Lisbeth Kristensen (Den) 9:58:33
4. Hilary Biscay (USA) 9:59:31
5. Rebecca Preston (Aus) 10:06:15
6. Marie Danais (Can) 10:17:46
7. Jacqui Gordon (Can) 10:26:01
8. Kathleen Pallardy (USA) 10:36:26 * Amateur F18-24
9. Teri Albertazzi (USA) 10:36:51
10. Meredith Brook Keeran (USA ) 10:38:56
11. Bree Wee (USA) 10:48:25
12. Katja Meyers (USA) 11:00:20
