While we devoted standalone articles on the ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Finals and the high dollar Hy-Vee 5i50 Championship, there was quite a bit more triathlon action around the globe. We bring you mudders in Denmark, half Ironmans in Brazil and Austria, Challenges in Vichy and Walchsee, and some very deserving Hall of Famers in Edmonton.

ITU names its first Hall of Fame class during its 25th anniversary celebration

The night before the conclusion of its 25th anniversary World Championship racing, the International Triathlon Union celebrated by naming seven inductees into its first Hall of Fame class.

“These nominees set a standard of excellence from the very beginning that was crucial to the development of both triathlon and the ITU,” said ITU President and International Olympic committee member Marisol Casado of Spain. “Without them, we would not have the global level of exposure and the Olympic standard of competition we enjoy today.”

After two days of racing in which certain future Hall of Famers Gwen Jorgensen and Javier Gomez won world titles, three men and three women elite competitors were chosen for election from 25 nominees -- and one unique man entered for his lifetime achievements:

Elite Women

Erin Baker - New Zealand 1989 ITU World Champion and 3-time World Cup winner.

Karen Smyers - USA Two-time ITU World champion (1990 and 1995) ITU Long Distance World Champion (1996) 7 ITU World Cup Wins, and ITU World Cup Series winner (1990).

Emma Carney - Australia Two time ITU World Champion (1994, 1997), 19 ITU World Cup wins , 3 time ITU World Cup series winner (1995, 1996, 1997).

Elite Men

Mark Allen – USA First ITU World Champion (1989), multiple ITU Long Distance and World Cup winner

Simon Lessing – Great Britain Four-time ITU Olympic distance World Champion (1992, 1995, 1996, 1998), ITU Long Distance World Champion (1996), 7 ITU World Cup wins, Olympian (2000).

Greg Welch - Australia ITU World Champion (1990), ITU World Cup series winner (1991), ITU Duathlon World Champion ((1993), ITU Long Distance World Champion (1996).

Lifetime Achievement

Les McDonald – Canada ITU President (1989-2009), Triathlon Canada President (1984-1996), largely credited with adding triathlon to the Olympic Games.

Marino Vanhoenacker and Eva Wutti win IM 70.3 Zell Am See-Kaprun

Belgian Ironman superstar Marino Vanhoenacker won it on the bike and Austrian Ironman speedster Eva Wutti composed a well-balanced swim, bike and run to win the men’s and women's titles at Ironman 70.3 Zell Am See-Kaprun.

Vanhoenacker opened with a 4th-best 24:07 swim, then brought out his big gun – a race-fastest 2:11:36 bike split that was 6:12 better than eventual runner-up Alberto Casadei of Italy, 6:44 better than South African Matt Trautman, and 7:12 better than Jonathan Ciavattella of Italy.

Casadei finished with a 2nd-fastest 1:16:45 run that was 4:45 better than Vanhoenacker but still 50 seconds short of the victorious Belgian. Trautmann fired off a race-best 1:15:37 run which left him in 3rd place, 1:31 short of the win.

Eva Wutti, who set the 7th-fastest women’s Ironman time in 2013 with a 8:37:36 at Copenhagen, used a 4th-fastest 27:30 swim, a 2nd-best 2:29:30 bike split and a 4th-quickest 1:25:59 run to finish in 4:28:35 with a 8:55 margin of victory over Kristin Möller of Germany and 9:59 over fellow German and 3rd-place finisher Anja Beranek of Germany.

Ironman 70.3 Zell Am See-Kaprun
Zell Am See-Kaprun, Austria
August 31, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 4:02:32
2. Alberto Casadei (ITA) 4:03:22
3. Jonathan Ciavattella (ITA) 4:07:02
4. Matt Trautman (RSA) 4:04:03
5. Manuel Küng (GER) 4:08:41

Women

1. Eva Wutti (AUT) 4:28:35
2. Kristin Möller (GER) 4:37:30
3. Anja Beranek (GER) 4:38:34
4. Stephanie Kuhnert (GER) 4:40:09 * W25-29
5. Erika Csomor (HUN) 4:42:39

Fabio Carvalho and Ariane Monticeli win Ironman 70.3 Foz do Iguassu

Brazilians Fabio Carvalho and Ariane Monticeli earned home country wins at Ironman 70.3 Foz do Iguassu.

Brazilians Luis Francisco and Almir Gustavo led the men’s swim with equal 23:46 splits, a minute and a half ahead of Brazilian pre-race favorites Santiago Ascenco, Fabio Carvalho and Guilherme Manocchio.

Ascenco and Carvalho surged to the lead and pulled away on the bike leg. On the run. Carvalho laid down the law with a race-fastest 1:17:52 split that brought him to the finish in 4:00:43 with a 3:10 winning margin over Ascenco and 5:53 over 3rd place finisher Manocchio.

In the women's race, Ariane Monticeli chased Carolina Furriela through the swim, the bike and much of the run before taking the lead while Vanessa Giannini went all out but could never bridge the gap. At the finish, Monticeli won in a time of 4:37:46 with a 4:08 margin of victory over Furriela and 5:51 over 3rd place finisher Giannini.

Ironman 70.3 Foz do Iguacu
Foz do Iguacu, Brazil
August 30, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Fabio Carvalho (BRA) 4:00:42
2. Santiago Ascenco (BRA) 4:03:52
3. Guilherme Manocchio (BRA) 4:06:35
4. Frank Souza (BRA) 4:09:05
5. Almir Martins (BRA) 4:11:56

Women

1. Ariane Monticeli (BRA) 4:37:45
2. Carolina Furriela (BRA) 4:41:53
3. Vanessa Giannini (BRA) 4:43:36
4. Romina Balena (ARG) 4:46:21
5. Mariana Andrade (BRA) 4:52:36

Giulio Molinari and Yvonne Van Vlerken win Challenge Walchsee-Kaiserwinkl

Giulio Molinari of Italy narrowly edged Ritchie Nicholls of Scotland and Yvonne Van Vlerken of the Netherlands held off a late surge by Felicity Sheedy-Ryan of Australia to win Challenge Walchsee-Kaiserwinkl in Austria.

Molinari exited the swim second, 38 seconds behind Michael Raelert’s race-fastest 22:14 split, 1:05 ahead of Ritchie Nicholls and 2:45 ahead of Michael Weiss. Molinari then took the race by the throat with a dominating 2:06:15 bike split in the Tyrolian Alps, putting 4:20 on Raelert and Weiss and 7:49 on Nicholls. While official splits were inconsistent and could not provide accurate run times, Nicholls made a charge on the run, but fell 21 seconds short of the win. Raelert, exhibiting an encouraging level of performance that seems to be approaching his old standards, took 3rd, 44 seconds behind Molinari. Weiss had decent bike and run splits but could not overcome a 25:37 swim and finished 4th, 2:38 behind the winner.

Van Vlerken began with a typical swim which left her 2:07 behind swim leaders Felicity Sheedy-Ryan and Michi Herlbauer. Then the Dutch dynamo unleashed a dominant 2:26:11 bike split that was 12:12 better than Sheedy-Ryan and 6:59 better than Herlbauer. With that cushion, Van Vlerken’s 1:28:01 run could afford to give back 8 minutes to Sheedy-Ryan, and 2:05 to Herlbauer and still cruise to the finish in 4:25:53 with a 1:48 margin of victory over Sheedy-Ryan and 2:27 over Herlbauer.

Challenge Walchsee-Kaiserwinkl
Walchsee-Kaiserwinkl, Austria
August 31, 2014
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Giulio Molinari (ITA) 3:51:34
2. Ritchie Nicholls (IRL) 3:51:55
3. Michael Raelert (GER) 3:52:18
4. Michael Weiss (AUT) 3:54:12
5. Thomas Steger (AUT) 3:57:15

Women

1. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 4:25:53
2. Felicity Sheedy-Ryan (AUS) 4:27:41
3. Michi Herlbauer (AUT) 4:28:20
4. Daniela Sämmler (GER) 4:30:42
5. Nina Kuhn (GER) 4:31:48

Andrej Vistica and Gabriella Zelinka win Challenge Vichy

Andrej Vistica of Croatia and Gabriella Zelinka of Hungary won the full distance Challenge Vichy Sunday.

Vistica combined a 53:55 swim, a 4:26:28 bike split and a 2:54:04 marathon to finish in 8:18:49 with a 2:52 margin of victory over Jens Kaiser of Germany and 25:38 over 3rd place finisher Jose Jeuland of France.

Zelinka swam 59:16, biked 5:05:03 and ran 3:04:54 to finish in 9:14:18 with a 6:01 margin of victory over Martina Dogana of Italy and 13:32 over 3rd place finisher Eva Potuckova of the Czech Republic.

Challenge Vichy
Vichy, France
August 31, 2014
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Andrej Vistica (CRO) 8:19:49
2. Jens Kaiser (GER) 8:21:41
3. Jose Jeuland (FRA) 8:44:27
4. Christophe Bastie (FRA) 8:46:33
5. Attila Szabo (HUN) 8:46:58

Women

1. Gabriella Zelinka (HUN) 9:14:18
2. Martina Dogana (ITA) 9:20:19
3. Eva Potuckova (CZE) 9:27:50
4. Stéphanie Reymond (FRA) 9:51:49
5. Nicole Woysch (GER) 10:08:28

Conrad Stoltz and Katrin Müller win XTERRA Denmark

Four-time XTERRA World Champion Conrad Stoltz of South Africa and recent XTERRA European Series champion Katrin Müller of Germany won XTERRA Denmark in wet and muddy Viking weather on the beach and forests of Tisvilde.

Caveman Stoltz handled the cool pouring rain, slick roots, soft sand, dense hardwood trees and steep hills slathered in slick mud better than anyone. After giving away his usual 1 minute on the swim, this time to Ben Allen of Australia, Stoltz had a two minute lead halfway through the 2-loop 30 kilometer bike course and by T2 his margin was 4 minutes.

Once on two feet, everyone took a shot at the Caveman, but his 47:13 trail run split was faster than his three closest chasers – Ben Allen, Dan Hugo and Jan Pyott – and his 2:30:56 finish was a comfortable 4:51 ahead of Allen, 5:32 in front of 3rd place finisher Dan Hugo and 7:27 in front of 4th place finisher Pyott.

“During the swim, the rain came pouring down which made the relatively easy bike course quite technical which made it fun for me and far slipperier than our pre-race tests,” said Stoltz. “I crashed one time and could hear my neck go crack! Once I clipped a pedal because you cannot see with all the water and mud in your eyes. On the run, there were long sections sliding down on my backside holding on to trees.”

Caveman Country!

With the XTERRA European Series title all wrapped up, Kathrin Müller underlined her season-long domination with her 6th series victory against her top five rivals on a day which defined the XTERRA challenge.

“Yesterday I really loved this course in dry conditions, but today it was too technical for me,” said Müller. “I had difficulties on the bike, but the run was fantastic – like a monkey course. I sprinted the first 2 kilometers to get away from Helena [Erbenova] and it worked.”

Erbenova finished 2nd on the day and 2nd on the XTERRA European Tour after winning the title in 2012 and 2013. Jacqui Slack embraced the mud and slick roots and finished on the final spot on the podium.

XTERRA Denmark
Tisvilde, Denmark
August 31, 2014
S 1.5k / MTB 30k / TR 10k

Results

Men

1. Conrad Stoltz (RSA) 2:30:56
2. Ben Allen (AUS) 2:35:47
3. Dan Hugo (RSA) 2:36:28
4. Jan Pyott (SUI) 2:38:23
5. Francois Carloni (FRA) 2:38:37

Women

1. Katrin Müller (GER) 2:53:01
2. Helena Erbenova (CZE) 2:54:15
3. Jacqui Slack (GBR) 3:01:44
4. Carina Wasle (AUT) 3:02:08
5. Renata Bucher (SUI) 3:07:13

Final XTERRA European Tour Point Standings

Best six finishes of 11 races

Elite men

1. Ruben Ruzafa (ESP) 600
2. Braden Currie (NZL) 527
3. Francois Carloni (FRA) 455
4. Ben Allen (AUS) 392
5. Jan Pyott (SUI ) 377

Elite Women

1. Kathrin Müller (GER) 600
2. Helena Erbenova (CZE) 570
3. Carina Wasle (AUT) 489
4. Jacqui Slack (GBR) 462
5. Renata Bucher (SUI) 452