On tap in the November 3 Weekend Box are a ton of impressive, speedy stats from the Florida panhandle, another 70.3 reduced to a duathlon due to dangerous waters, two new Aussies joining the ranks of the immortals who have won the Noosa classic, a come-from-behind thriller in the Bahamas and two of our favorite Halloween costumes sported by triathletes with a sly sense of humor.

IM Florida is a speedway with 3 women breaking 9 hours and 3 men breaking 8

Victor Del Corral of Spain posted a 10th-fastest ever men’s Ironman distance time of 7:53:12 and Yvonne Van Vlerken of the Netherlands, just 3 weeks after her 4th place finish at Ironman Hawaii, posted the 10th-fastest ever women’s Ironman distance time of 8:43:07 while winning the elite titles at Ironman Florida.

The pool table flat Panama City Beach course served up a feast of statistical triumphs as Andrew Starykowicz fell just 2 minutes 10 second short of a repeat win while breaking his already stupendous Ironman bike split record set last year by 2:22 with a 4:02:17 mark. Starykowicz also showed his 2012 Ironman Florida win was no fluke as his 2013 finish time of 7:55:22 was 10:55 better than last year’s mark.

Next in significance was Corral’s 2:37:29 marathon split, which was the 3rd-best Ironman-distance marathon run by a men’s winner in history, trailing only Peter Reid’s 2:35:21 at Klagenfurt in 1999 and Luc van Lierde’s 2:36:49 at Roth in 1997.

Also of note was the fact that Van Vlerken posted her 6th sub-9 hour finish at an Ironman-distance race, putting her second only to Chrissie Wellington’s 9 sub-9s in women’s Ironman-distance events. Also, since 6 of the marks ahead of Van Vlerken were set on non-Ironman courses, her 8:43:07 at Ironman Florida this year becomes the 4th-fastest official Ironman women’s finish in history. To top it off, Van Vlerken’s 4:35:49 is the second fastest Ironman-distance women’s winner’s bike split in history, only 20 seconds slower than Caroline Steffen’s bike split at Ironman Melbourne in 2012.

Not at all shabby was the 8:49:03 finish – comprised of a 55:21 swim, 4:51:20 bike split and a race-best 2:56:35 run - of women’s runner-up Ashley Clifford, which was the 19th fastest Ironman-distance women’s mark of all time. Erica Csomor also improved her already impressive career stats with a 3rd-place 8:56:41 time – her 4th career sub-9 hours for the Ironman distance and her second this year after an 8:59:31 finish in Austria.

Not to be forgotten should be Filip Ospaly’s first sub-8 hour Ironman finish – a 7:58:44 which earned him the final spot on the men’s podium.

As a footnote to all the heroics, 2013 Ironman World Champion Mirinda Carfrae took care of her 2014 Ironman World Championship entry validation by cruising to a 28th place women’s finish in 9:48:07. Fiancé Tim O’Donnell did the same, following up his 5th place at Kona with a 66th overall male finish in a time of 9:15:54.

Ironman Florida
Panama City Beach, Florida
November 2, 2013
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Victor Del Corral (ESP) 7:53:12
2. Andrew Starykowicz (USA) 7:55:22
3. Filip Ospaly (CZE) 7:58:44
4. Daniel Fontana (ITA) 8:05:48
5. Pedro Gomes (POR) 8:08:34
66. Tim O’Donnell (USA) 9:15:54

Women

1. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 8:43:07
2. Ashley Clifford (USA 8:49:03
3. Erika Csomor (HUN) 8:56:41
4. Simone Brändli (SUI) 9:00:40
5. Mareen Hufe (GER) 9:03:15
28. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 9:48:07

Fredrik Croneborg of Sweden and Michelle Wu of Australia win impromptu Taiwan Du

Heavy overnight rains forced organizers to change Ironman 70.3 Taiwan into a duathlon, substituting a 6 kilometer run for the planned 1.2 mile swim.

Fredrik Croneborg of Sweden emerged from a close run-bike duel with Guy Crawford of New Zealand to rocket away with a race-best 1:22:09 final run to finish in 4:01:14 with an 8:56 margin of victory over runner-up Crawford and 17:58 margin over 3rd place Hiroyushi Nishiuchi of Japan.

"Unfortunately it was changed to a duathlon so it really didn't play to my strengths. However the fastest bike split of the day and a good first run set me up nicely for a podium finish," said runner-up Guy Crawford.

Michelle Wu of Australia, the 2010 and 2011 winner of this race, combined a race-best 23:30 first run, a 2nd-best 2:30:30 bike split and a women’s race-best 1:32:44 final run to finish in 4:28:13 with a 7:42 winning margin over runner-up Kate Bevilaqua of Australia and 9:43 over Australian star Belinda Granger, who took the final spot on the podium.

Ironman 70.3 Taiwan
Kenting, Taiwan
November 2, 2013
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Fredrik Croneborg (SWE) 4:01:04
2. Guy Crawford (NZL) 4:10:10
3. Hiroyuki Nishiuchi (JPN) 4:19:12
4. Zsombor Deak (ROM) 4:19:40
5. Daiki Masuda (JPN) 4:21:35

Women

1. Michelle Wu (AUS) 4:28:13
2. Kate Bevilaqua (AUS) 4:35:55
3. Belinda Granger (AUS) 4:37:56
4. Keiko Tanaka (JPN) 4:44:55
5. Monica Torres (PHI) 4:55:55

Australians Aaron Royle and Emma Moffatt win the classic Noosa Triathlon

Aaron Royle and Emma Moffatt won their first Noosa Triathlon titles after very different periods of trying. The 23-year-old Royle won on his first attempt and Moffatt, after two World titles and an Olympic bronze in a decade of racing finally took the win at this Australian classic.

"It was the one thing I hadn't done and always wanted to do,'' Moffatt told Australian sports journalist Amanda Lulham. Moffatt finished second to Olympic gold medallist Emma Snowsill in the 2008 Noosa Triathlon after her 3rd place finish at the Beijing Olympics.

Moffatt screamed in fright when a water snake reared out of the water just before the start of the swim. By the end of the day, Moffatt posted a 1:58:41 time which was 21 seconds ahead of the runner-up, rising ITU star Ashleigh Gentle, and 3:01 ahead of two-time Ironman 70.3 World champion Melissa Hauschildt, who finished 3rd.

Aaron Royle, the 2012 ITU Under 23 World Champion and 7th place finisher in the elite category at the 2013 World Triathlon Series Grand Final, took the win with a 1:46:11 finish. Royle led an all-Australian men’s podium, 41 seconds ahead of runner-up Dan Wilson and 48 seconds ahead of 3rd-place finisher Ryan Bailie.

“There is such an honour roll of winners here,” Royle told Lulham. He joins the Olympians Craig Walton and Courtney Atkinson and former world champions Chris McCormack and Miles Stewart as a Noosa Triathlon winner.
Royle and Moffatt earned their second straight wins after victories at the Nepean Triathlon in Sydney last weekend.

Noosa Triathlon
Noosa, Australia
November 3, 2013
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Men

1. Aaron Royle (AUS) 1:46:11
2. Dan Wilson (AUS) 1:46:52
3. Ryan Bailie (AUS) 1:46:59
4. Cameron Good (AUS) 1:47:14
5. Ben Shaw (IRL) 1:49:07
6. Brad Kahlefeldt (AUS) 1:49:33
8. Greg Bennett (USA) 1:50:14

Women

1. Emma Moffatt (AUS) 1:58:41
2. Ashleigh Gentle (AUS) 1:59:02
3. Melissa Hauschildt (AUS) 2:01:42
4. Emma Jackson (AUS) 2:03:01
5. Liz Blatchford (AUS) 2:04:27
6. Laura Bennett (USA) 2:06:38

Shoemaker edges Don in sprint to line; Kaye dominates women at Bahamas Triathlon

Jarrod Shoemaker edged 2006 ITU World Champion Tim Don by 1.3 seconds in a come-from-behind finish line sprint and Alicia Kaye dominated the women in the elite division of the Olympic distance UWC Bahamas Triathlon Sunday.

Shoemaker emerged from the swim in 3rd, 4 seconds behind the race-best split of Barrett Brandon, 1 second behind British ITU star Tim Don, and 4 seconds ahead of U.S. Ben Collins, with Ben Hoffman, Ironman Hawaii runner-up Luke McKenzie, Leon Griffin and James Hadley in close pursuit.

On the bike, Tour de France star and 40-49 men’s amateur George Hincapie made up a lot of ground lost by a 30:56 swim with a race-best 50:17 bike split which still left him 5 minutes down on the pros. In the battle for the win, McKenzie (52:44), Collins (52:50), Don and Hoffman (52:56), Griffin (53:09) and Hadley (53:29) all put time on Shoemaker, who struggled through a 53:36 split that left him 7th but within range at T2.

Shoemaker then unleashed a sizzling, race-best 31:36 10k run that was 48 seconds better than the second-quickest effort by Don, who is famed for his fleet feet in big races. That surge brought Shoemaker past Don in the finish chute for a close win. Collins mustered the 3rd-best 34:04 run split to take 3rd, 1:42 back of the winner. Hincapie ran 41:32 to take 1st amateur and 12th overall, just behind the top two women.

Kaye combined a 4th-best 22:42 swim, a dominating 56:09 bike split that was a whopping 6:35 ahead of two-time 2013 World Triathlon Series winner Gwen Jorgensen, 3 minutes better than Lauren Brandon and Heather Wurtele and 4 minutes up on Sara McLarty. Jorgensen charged to a race-best 36:28 run but only regained 36 seconds from Kaye, whose 1:57:14 finish was 5:48 ahead of Jorgensen and 8:24 ahead of 3rd-place finisher Brandon.

UWC Bahamas Triathlon
Nassau, Bahamas
November 3, 2013
S 1.5k / B 40k / R 10k

Results

Elite men

1. Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) 1:48:52
2. Tim Don (GBR) 1:48:53
3. Ben Collins (USA) 1:50:34
4. Leon Griffin (AUS) 1:52:10
5. Barrett Brandon (USA) 1:52:30
6. Ben Hoffman (USA) 1:52:50
7. Luke McKenzie (AUS) 1:53:12

Elite Women

1. Alicia Kaye (USA) 1:57:14
2. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 2:03:02
3. Lauren Brandon (USA) 2:05:34
4. Heather Wurtele (CAN) 2:07:22
5. Sara McLarty (USA) 2:09:07

Brandon and Amy Marsh earn our vote as Best Triathlete Halloween costume

From Maui to Miami, triathletes across the United States donned excellent costumes to celebrate Halloween this week. But we submit that when Brandon and Amy Marsh teamed up with their peanut butter and jelly get ups back home in Austin, Texas, nothing could be wittier or more symbolic of their fine partnership.