From the Ground at IRONMAN Lanzarote

Lucy Charles-Barclay was in a race of her own as she dominated IRONMAN Lanzarote. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Jeanne Collonge just can’t buy a break at IRONMAN Lanzarote these days. Last year the Frenchwoman rolled into the third oldest IRONMAN race still running (after Kona, of course, and IRONMAN New Zealand) and put together a time that would have won the race many years, only to find herself up against Anne Haug on a record-setting spree. Haug would prepare for her other-worldly Roth performance seven weeks later by breaking Paula Newby-Fraser’s long-standing record in Lanzarote, going 9:06:40 to Collonge’s 9:50:24. This year the Frenchwoman upped her game, finishing in 9:37:36, again, a time that would have won so many editions of this challenging race. This time it was Lucy Charles-Barclay who was out in front from the gun – the 2023 Kona champ only needed to finish the race to validate her world championship slot, but as we all know, the Brit has only one race speed. While she appeared to be taking her time on the run to make sure she was hydrating properly at every aid station, Charles-Barclay certainly seemed determined to push herself right to the line.

Charles-Barclay’s domination of the day was complete – she had the day’s fastest swim (48:24), bike (5:21:54) and run (3:01:58) to finish the race in 9:17:15. That time is the second-fastest ever recorded on the IRONMAN Lanzarote course after Haug’s record and ahead of Newby-Fraser’s previous record of 9:24:39.

(And in case you’re wondering why this story is so heavy on bike shots instead of any finishers shots, I was working as the lead announcer for the event – I had a break of a few hours to sneak out on the bike course and get some photos, but the rest of the time was busy on the mic. I’ll have a follow up story with more photos and some interesting stories tomorrow.)

OK, I did manage to get a couple of run shots – this is Jeanne Collonge starting the run. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Collonge would find herself having to push right to the line as Germany’s Merle Brunnee used the day’s second-fastest bike split (5:26:54) and third-fastest run (3:04:40) to finish just 40 seconds back in third.

Merle Brunee. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

The excitement didn’t end there, though, as we ended up seeing a race for the final Kona qualifying slot. Last year’s fourth-place finisher here in Lanzarote, Rosie Wild (the first woman to ever pass the British Paratrooper course – she’s a real-life GI Jane) found herself trying to hold off a fast-running Julia Skala for that oh-so-valuable fourth place spot. Skala would post the day’s second-fastest run (3:02:01) to get past the Brit for fourth in 9:56:16, with Wild crossing the line in 9:58:39, a three-minute improvement on her time from last year (in tougher biking conditions).

Speaking of Excitement …

While Charles-Barclay was out dominating the women’s race, the men were putting on an incredible show. Switzerland’s Sven Thalmann got the day started by setting a new swim course record of 45:42, beating Luc Van Lierde’s time from 2006 to set the day off to a fast start. (Thalmann would eventually DNF, so the record remains with Van Lierde.)

Petersen spent much of the bike at the front. Photo: Kevin Mackinnon

Through the early stages of the bike there was a group of four out front that included Denmark’s Mathias Petersen, Spain’s Mikel Ramos and France’s Dylan Magnien and Clement Mignon. That group of four would stay together through the two major climbs up Mirador de Haria and del Rio, with some of the other men we figured would be in contention – last year’s runner-up Jordi Montraveta and Ben Hoffman, for example – all within three minutes of the lead. Over the final 40 km of the bike Breivold charged up to the front and the lead group started to break up. Hitting T2 it was Motraveta in front with Breivold a few seconds back, France’s Anthony Roux 12 seconds behind, with Petersen leading the rest of the group that included Magnien, Ramos and Mignon a little under a minute down.

Hoffman (above – photo: Kevin Mackinnon) would have some bad luck as he hit the final steep descent back to Puerto del Carmen – he would flat and have to “ride the rim” over the final stretch (I can’t imagine how scary that would have been – the descent is nutty enough on the back of a motorcycle), which meant he lost roughly 12 minutes, putting him out of contention for a top finish.

The rest of the men weren’t waiting around for the American, and the run quickly turned into a footrace with at least seven men in contention for the win. Through 5 km Magnien was the last of that group, sitting 71 seconds behind Montraveta, but things would tighten up dramatically before the end of the first loop of the run (20 km) as those seven were separated by less than a minute. Petersen and Montraveta were running stride for stride at the end of the first loop of the run, with Breivold and Kristian Grue (Norway) running next to each other 10 seconds behind, and Magnien sitting 17 seconds back. (Mignon appeared to be starting to fade – he was 36 seconds behind, while Ramos was sitting in seventh at 56 seconds.)

With just over 10 km of running to go Petersen and Motraveta continued to push at the front, but Magnien appeared to be getting ready to make his move, but was still 14 seconds back. Mignon was hanging tough in fourth at 38 seconds, but the rest of the crew had cracked. Magnien made his charge to the front shortly afterwards and was able to open up a gap of 28 seconds on Montraveta at the 36 km point. Petersen appeared to be out of medal contention (he was almost two minutes behind Magnien) as he dropped behind Mignon, who was 1:21 back.

Magnien, who had finished second at IRONMAN Portugal two years ago and third at IRONMAN Barcelona last year, wasn’t going to let his first IRONMAN win slip away, and he held on for the win, setting a new run course record (2:39:00) along the way to finish in 8:27:57. Montraveta would have to settle for a second-straight second-place finish, crossing the line 38 seconds later (8:28:35). Petersen would get past Mignon to round out the podium (8:31:11). Breivold (8:31:51) would also pass a fading Mignon (8:32:21) to take fourth, with the Frenchman rounding out the top five.

I’ll have more from the race (with finisher’s photos, I promise) tomorrow.