Lessing Drops to Fourth at Ironman Canada

Sunday, 28th August 2005

Great Britain's Simon Lessing's challenge to win today's Subaru Ironman Triathlon in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada fell away over the closing stages of the run.  Struggling in the 30 degree conditions, Lessing was caught in the final miles of the run by Stephan Vuckovic (Ger) and Nigel Gray (USA), after earlier battling it out with winner Chris Leito (USA).

The race started with Jan Sibbesen (Ger) leading the swim with Lessing close behind. Lessing took the lead at one point with Sibberson on his feet.  Sibberson was first to emerge from the water in 46:56, with Lessing five seconds behind him in 47:01.

Lessing took the lead shortly after the first transition, 1:20 up on Sibberson in the first 20km. Lieto moved up to second place by the halfway stage reducing Lessing's lead to 30 seconds.  Leito continued to erode Lessing's lead, passing him and building a 1:30 lead.  Lessing responded and pulled back Leito to within 9 seconds but Lieto again went off the front building a 2:52 lead into transition two.  Leito's time at T2 was 5:19:36 to Lessing's 5:22:28.

Lessing then closed Leito's lead by over 2 mins by the five mile point, reducing it to 17 seconds. At seven miles Lessing had passed Leito building up a 2 minute lead, but this fell back to 55 seconds by ten miles. At the twelve mile mark, Lessing had a 1:15 lead.  His split for the first 13.1 miles of the marathon was 1:30:31.  Going through 17.5 miles, Lieto got a second wind and passed Lessing. 

By twenty one miles Leito's lead was 2:45, but with temperatures soaring to 30 degrees, he was reported to have started walking. Lessing was also reported to be struggling.  Vuckovic quickly moved through the field, caught and passed Lessing.

Leito managed to hold off Vuckovic's challenge and, although clearly in pain, crossed the finish line in 8:33:32.  Vuckovic placed second with Nigel Gray catching and passing a fatigued Lessing in the closing stages of the run. Lessing finished fourth, qualifying for the Ironman Championships in Kona, and was immediately taken off to the medical tent.

Another fine performance was that of Sarah Gross who finished 5th in the women's race.

British competitors results - 4 Simon Lessing 8.43.13; 21 Ben Bigglestone 9.43.12; 52 Sarah Gross 10.03.55 5th Woman; 93 Duncan Shea-Simonds 10.21.04; 626 Michael Hargreaves 12.06.08; 644 Tom Barker 12.08.27; 722 James Millen 12.19.11; 723 Georgia Wood 12.19.14; 738 Omar Abdellaqoui 12.21.21; 781 Jon Houghton 12.27.14; 787 Tim Buckley 12.28.27; 800 Neville Jewell 12.29.46; 974 David Walker 12.52.02; 1490 Brian Jokat 14.08.30; 1500 Francois Theron 14.10.27; 1560Tony Shaw 14.23.09; 1612 Mike Griffiths 14.32.09; 1716 Patrick Berkhold 14.59.53; 2197 Keith Sanders No time.

Article Source:  British Triathlon Association, 28th August 2005