Post Ironman World Championship Coverage & Pictures

What a day we had this past weekend in Kailua-Kona at the 2008 Ironman World Championship. Overall, the field on both the men's and women's race was solid and the pre-race assumption / talk was that we would see Chris McCormack and Chrissie Wellington defend their titles. On the men's side the question was would we finally get to see the trio of McCormack, Stadler and A-Sultan race together and push each other to the finish line. On the women's side the question was which world record holder would come out on top; Wellington or Van Vlerken.

The day started off with David Goggins and others from the U.S. Navy jumping from a C-130 cargo plane into the bay before the race. Goggins was picked up after landing in the bay and immediately taken to shore to get ready for the start of the age-group race.

As expected and mentioned by Normann Stadler at the pro race meeting, Ironman rookie Andy Potts was first out of the water. On the bike Chris McCormack's day ended with a cable issue and Torbjorn Sindballe lead into T2 with a 4:27:41 bike split. Sindballe's lead didn't last long as Stadler took the lead heading to the energy lab. Craig Alexander started the run off in 9th place but quickly moved into 3rd place before the getting to the energy lab. On the run, Alexander caught and passed Stadler who at one point was walking. He battled with Eneko Llanos, who Macca mentioned as the dark horse of the day, on the run and pull off a 2:45:01 marathon split to win his first Ironman World Championship title. Llanos finished in 2nd place while Rutger Beke took 3rd.

On the women's side, Ironman Wisconsin Champion Hillary Biscay was first out of he water closely followed by Gina Kerr, Gina Ferguson. Chrissie Wellington was about two minutes behind. On the bike the un-imaginable almost happened, defending champion Wellington who was leading the women's race now goes down with a flat tire. A five minute leads turned into a 10 minute deficit because of an issue with her CO2 cartridge, her teamTBB teammate Rebekah Keat bailed her out with a cartridge. Wellington somehow managed to catch the leaders and then pull ahead on the bike. Because of the technical issue Yvonne Van Vlerken ended the day with the women’s fastest bike split but that didn't matter as Wellington had build up a significant lead on the run. She ended up running the fastest women’s marathon ever in Kona which ensured she defended her title over Yvonne Van Vlerken and Sandra Wallenhorst.

TRIjuice.com - 2008 Ironman World Championship picture gallery

Notable DNF's for the day besides Chris McCormack include: Luc Van Lierde, Luke Bell, Thomas Hellriegel, Frederik Van Lierde, Nina Kraft, Leanda Cave, Kim Loeffler and Natascha Badmann who came back to Kona after her crash last year. Timo Bracht was DQ's for not stopping at a penalty tent on the bike course.

Interesting facts of the day:
• 1,736 athletes started of the 1,816 registered for the race
• 1,731 came out of the water and 4 did not finish the swim
• 1,725 athletes started the bike
• 1,635 athletes finished the race, a 94.5% Finisher Rate
• Last Official Finisher: Joe Marinucci, 34 of Moultonborough NH in a time of 16:58:17
• Youngest finishers: Ariel Henbest, youngest female finished in a time of 16:46:11 while Tyler Foster finished in a time of 14:06:51. Both 18 years old and both from Kailua-Kona, HI
• Eldest finishers: Harriet Anderson 72 of San Carlos, CA finished in a time of 16:17:51, Edwin Wolfgram 75 of St. Louis, MO finished in a time of 16:48:22. Loren Leonard who was the eldest competitor at the age of 79 barely made the swim cut-off but was not fortunate enough make the bike cut-off.
• In the Physically Challenged category 34-year-old Jason Lester completed the race with only one good arm; he finished in a time of 13:07:21. Maverick Malech is legally blind, but that didn't stop him from finishing either, he finished in a time of 13:59:51. Jeff Glasbrenner a below-the-knee amputee as well as Brian Leske also completed the race.
• In the Hand Cycle division Hans Koeppen of Germany finished in 1st place in a time of 11:16:43 ahead of Jason Fowler of the USA and Marc Herremans of Belgium.

Here is a year to year comparison of the pro's finishes: