Ironman Hawaii Press Release

Monday, 24th October 2005

Germany's Faris Al-Sultan and Switzerland's Natascha Badmann dominated this year's Ford Ironman World Championship. Al-Sultan crossed the finish line with a time of 8:14:17 and Badmann broke the finish line tape at 9:09:30.

Last year, Al-Sultan placed third in the 2004 Ironman Triathlon World Championship and has had an impressive year with his first win at the 2004 Ironman Arizona Triathlon. Badmann, often referred to as the "Swiss Miss" will be crowned with her sixth world championship title today.

The men's field, consisting of top pros such as Tim DeBoom, Cameron Brown, Rutger Beke, Luke Bell and Peter Reid were prepared for a fast bike ride after Normann Stadler's lead of more than 16 minutes last year. To much surprise, Stadler dropped out before the end of the bike race. Al-Sultan led on the bike portion for the first 100 miles until Torbjorn Sindballe took the lead with less than 15 miles left. Today, Torbjorn Sindballe broke the current bike course record held by Thomas Hellriegel (4:24:50) by nearly three minutes with a total bike time of 4:21:37.

Cameron Brown, five-time Ironman New Zealand champion took second place with a finish of 8:19:36 and three-time world-champion Peter Reid was third crossing at 8:20:04. Last year's fifth place finisher Rutger Beke took fourth at 8:22:30 and Colorado's Cam Widoff placed fifth with a time of 8:23:01.

Michellie Jones, a Silver Medalist at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney took on her first Ford Ironman World Championship and placed second with a time of 9:11:51. Australia's Kate Major, also winner of this year's Ironman Arizona followed shortly behind in third crossing the line at 9:12:39 and Joanna Lawn, three-time winner of Ironman New Zealand placed fourth at 9:14:53. Austrian and Olympic champion Kate Allen finished at 9:22:08.

Robert McKeague became the first 80 year old to finish the race, in just over 16 hours, and Madonna Buder became the oldest woman to finish the event. Her time was 15:54.

There is a professional prize purse totaling $560,000 at this year's world championship. Also new to this year's event were the Timex Ironman Watch bonuses worth $20,000 for a total prize purse of $580,000. The bonuses were located on the bike and run course and the winners of each bonus are as follows:

Bike Portion:
Male - Faris Al-Sultan ($5,000 prize)
Female - Michellie Jones ($5,000 prize)

Run Portion:
Male - Faris Al-Sultan ($5,000 prize)
Female - Michellie Jones ($5,000 prize)