After bike leader Alistair Brownlee faded then withdrew on the run leg, Lionel Sanders ran away from Sebastian Kienle at the 16km mark of the run to win the men’s title at The Championship by a 1:43 margin.
After the race, Sanders told Challenge media: “That was by far the hardest I have ever suffered after battling Sebastian on the run. Kudos to Challenge Family for introducing the 20 meter draft rule.”
Lucy Charles, recent winner of Challenge Lisboa and Ironman Lanzarote, led the swim, faded to 4 minutes back after the bike leg, then stormed back on the run to take the lead with a kilometer to go to edge Annabel Luxford by 34 seconds.
Charles was exultant after her come from behind win. "I can't believe it,” she said. “I could see that I was closing the gap on the run, but I didn't expect to claw in the race win. Epic course, epic race and I really am over the moon.”
Sanders and Charles took home 30,000 Euros for their victories.
Men
Slovakian ITU star Richard Varga led the swim in 21:31, which gave him a 45 seconds lead on recent St. George Ironman 70.3 winner Alistair Brownlee and 1:17 on Michael Raelert. Overall contenders Lionel Sanders and Sebastian Kienle were 3:15 back of the leaders.
On the bike leg, Raelert soon passed Varga and Brownlee to take an early lead followed soon by Challenge Bahrain winner Andreas Dreitz with Sanders and Kienle a minute back at the 4 kilometer mark. Brownlee recovered momentum and posted a 2:00:33 bike split to lead the field into T2 with Kienle and Sanders 41 seconds behind after 1:58:45 and 1:58:46 bike splits.
On the run, Kienle and Sanders quickly overtook Brownlee, who continued to fade until he retired before the finish. The Canadian and the German traded the lead until the 16 kilometer mark of the run when Sanders made a decisive breakaway. After a race-best 1:14:21 run, Sanders hit the finish line in 3:40:03 with a 1:43 margin of victory over Kienle [1:16:07 run] and 5:31 over third-place Raelert [1:18:01 run]
Women
Former internationally ranked swimmer Lucy Charles of Great Britain led the swim in 23:25 which gave her a 25 seconds lead on Annabel Luxford of Australia and 1:26 on Ellie Salthouse of Australia. Eventual podium finisher Heather Wurtele of Canada, began her day with a 2:36 deficit to the leader.
On the bike leg, Luxford quickly erased her deficit and took the lead, followed by Kimberley Morrison of Great Britain who took second at 45km as Charles fell to 3rd. Wurtele and Rachel Klamer of Netherlands pushed hard to catch up to the lead pack, while Morrison, after a women's-best 2:13:45 bike split, took a 54 seconds lead on Luxford and 2:08 on Wurtele at T2 while Charles fell to 4th, 4:15 back of Morrison.
Within 5 kilometers of the run, Luxford took over the lead from Morrison, followed closely by Wurtele, while Charles surged into 3rd place running the fastest pace in the field.
Flying along to a women's-fastest 1:25:10 half marathon run split, Charles overtook Luxford in the final kilometer and finished in 4:13:59 with a 34 seconds margin of victory over Luxford (1:29:30 run) and 1:37 over Wurtele (1:29:14 run).
Challenge – The Championship
Samorin, Slovakia
June 3, 2017
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Men
1. Lionel Sanders (CAN) 3:40:03 – S 24:46 B 1:58:46 R 1:14:21
2. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 3:41:46 – S 24:45 B 1:58:45 R 1:16:07
3. Michael Raelert (GER) 3:45:34 – S 22:48 B 1:57:45 R 1:18:01
4. Andreas Dreitz (GER) 3:47:17
5. Richard Murray (RSA) 3:50:22
6. Pieter Heemeryck (BEL) 3:52:17
7. Boris Stein (GER) 3:54:21
8. Julian Mutterer (GER) 3:55:29
9. Trevor Wurtele (CAN) 3:56:36
10. Mark Buckingham (GBR) 3:58:06
Women
1. Lucy Charles (GBR) 4:13:59 – S 23:25 B 2:22:35 R 1:25:10
2. Annabel Luxford (AUS) 4:14:33 – S 23:49 B 2:18:50 R 1:29:30
3. Heather Wurtele (CAN) 4:15:36 – S 26:01 B 2:17:52 R 1:29:14
4. Rachel Klamer (NED) 4:17:19
5. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) 4:20:49
6. Kimberley Morrison (GBR) 4:22:30
7. Anja Beranek (GER) 4:23:51
8. Corina Hengartner (GER) 4:23:51
9. Judith Corachan Vaquera (ESP) 4:26:02
10. Radka Kahlefeldt (CZE) 4:26:49
