Andreas Raelert stormed to an amazing 7:41:33 at the 2011 Challenge Roth in Germany and Chrissie Wellington went 8:18:13, finishing well clear of all other females and 5th overall. Both athletes went well faster than the previous best times for this distance.

Matty Reed and Sarah Haskins were the champions of the 2011 Life Time Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis and Eric Wynn captured images from the happenings there.

Matthew Sharpe, a 19-year-old longshot, topped the men’s field and Sarah-Anne Breault an equally long-odds Canadian, won the men’;s and women’s titles at San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure Island

Matt Reed rediscovered his bike speed and outlasted a hard-charging Andy Potts. He wins the Life Time Fitness Tri in Minneapolis, and Sarah Haskins returns to the series to take her 3rd Toyota Cup win of the year.

Ben Hoffman crushed the bike with a 2:01:11 split and stormed to a win at the 2011 Ironman 70.3 Muncie. Melissa Rollison passed longtime leader Leanda Cave on the run to take the win.

Alistair Brownlee took the win at the GP Lyonnaise des Eaux in Paris just ahead of his younger brother Jonathan. Emma Moffatt and Emma Jackson took the top two spots in the women’s race.

An unmarked Mercedes Sprinter van loaded with custom blueseventy Helix wetsuits and various other items was stolen after the British Gas Great Swim in London and has disappeared.

Trying for a Kona three-peat, Craig Alexander ran his best-ever 2:41 marathon – but finished 4th. After turning 38 and weathering a debilitating virus, Alexander set a record at Coeur d’Alene and says his best Kona race is yet to come.

In early May we hung out a day with Jan Frodeno in Germany and shared a picture gallery of that outing. Jan though spends quite a bit of time in Stellenbosch, South Africa and here is a video day feature of him there.

Maik Twelsiek has proven a few times what a threat he is on a bike and his run is getting quicker too. He just recorded a 4:29:10 in Coeur D’Alene but got run down by 2-time Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander for the win.

Dave Salazar has been involved with the Aerodyn / A2 wind tunnel for quite some time now but with the recent departure of Mike Giraud he stepped up to handle the bike program.

This shoe snuck up on me. I didn’t see it coming. It doesn’t only look good, it has a great fit and that’s not the end of it. Tim DeBoom inspired this shoe, and the result is solid.

Heading into the 4th round in Minnesota, Andy Potts’ 2-1-1 finishes lead the 2011 Life Time Fitness / Toyota Cup series men’s points chase; while Alicia Kaye’s 4-2-2 finishes lead the women

I read Cyclingnews.com with vigor. I do so every morning. A cup of coffee, a muffin, and that site starts things off right for me. It was during one of my forays over to Cyclingnews, reading Tour coverage, that I saw an ad for Cenegenics.

Announcing the Enhanced Race Results site – improved and expanded! Plus IMCDA Enhanced Race Results ready for download.

Any circa-1984 cyclist who saw the original Look pedal, and who was a snow skier, recognized the genius, and the simplicity, of the design. Twenty-five years later, Look has not squandered its first-to-market advantage.

When Rasmus Henning DNF’d with cramps, Rasmus Petraeus combined a race-best swim, 6th-best bike and 3rd best run to win the swim-shortened Challenge Aarhus half; Caroline Steffen devastated the women’s field

Balazs Csoke of Hungary won his first Ironman and Kate Bevilaqua of Australia won her second IM title and first race of 2011 at Ironman Korea.

Jose Almagro, by 3 minutes, and Esther Leal, by 5 minutes, take home town victories at TriStar111 Madrid

Miquel Blanchart of Spain and Lucy Gossage of Great Britain won the third round of the TriGrandPrix series, the half Ironman distance event in Navarra

Marino Vanhoenacker smashed the all-time Ironman record of 7:50:27 set by Luc Van Lierde in 1997 and recorded a stunning 7:45:58 at the 2011 Kärnten Ironman Austria. Mary Beth Ellis took the women’s title in 8:43:34.

Cameron Brown leads an all Kiwi men’s podium ahead of Guy Crawford and Kieran Doe; Joanna Lawn tops the women and makes Korea 70.3 an all-Kiwi winner’s sweep

Commerzbank, the main sponsor of the very successful Commerzbank Triathlon Team announced that they would not extend the sponsorship past 2011 and would focus on soccer instead.

After an accident in 2009 John Carson was destined to be wheelchair bound but he was determined to walk again. He has since finished Ironman Lake Placid, the Boston Marathon and Ironman Coeur D’Alene, but that one was his swan song of sorts.