Thunder Subsides as Aussies Anderson and Milne Storm to Victory
Sunday, 27th November 2005
A fierce electrical storm lashed the seaside town of Busselton on the eve of the Ironman Western Australia Triathlon. Anxious race organizers called a 4am meeting with the local weather bureau but as daylight broke, the storm, which had been raging for eight hours, dissipated. Athletes and officials breathed a collective sigh of relief, and the race was underway at 6.30am, which was half an hour later than scheduled. The finish time was also extended by half an hour to 11.30pm, keeping the publicized 17-hour cut-off.
Choppy seas greeted the athletes in the usually calm waters of Geographe Bay for the 3.8km swim. For the first time in Ironman a team's event was held, and Australian surf lifesaving champion Ky Hurst got his star-studded team off to a great start, completing the swim in a time of 44:16. In the individual event, 11 athletes swam together, amongst them Bryan Rhodes, Pete Jacobs and Matt Tibbett. One of the pre-race favourites Mitch Anderson was seven minutes behind this pack. In the women's event, Silke Hinrichs from Germany handled the rough water conditions well and exited in first place. Angela Milne hit dry land in 58:40 and faced a six minute deficit.
Conditions were soggy underfoot but brightening up overhead for the 180km cycle. Luke McKenzie led the way for most of the ride in conditions that were blustery, with a head wind facing riders after the turn around point. Mitch Anderson was slowly making his way through the field and eventually joined McKenzie late on the ride. Anderson stated later that he was thankful for the wind, as it played to his cycle strength and he hit the bike-to-run transition first, but McKenzie surged early on the run and gained 1:30 on Anderson in the first 12km. However Anderson's patience paid off as he slowly pegged the lead back until he passed McKenzie at the 25km point of the 42.2km marathon. Soon after this McKenzie pulled out citing Achilles problems. With his main nemesis of the day now out of the race, Anderson cruised to victory and crossed the line, appropriately to the tunes of ACDCs Thunder Struck, to win his first Ironman title in a time of 8:27:36 . Anderson dedicated the win to his wife, Bridie, who ironically had already qualified for Kona 2006 in a lottery and had been putting the pressure on her husband to also qualify so they can train and compete together next year
In second place was Spaniard Llanos Eneko in a time of 8:31:41 . He was closely followed by Swiss athlete Mathias Hecht who collapsed after crossing the line only 30 seconds behind Eneko.
In the women's event, Angela Milne received a five-minute drafting penalty on the bike, but this seemed to just spur her on and she made up the time and then entered T2 with a five-minute lead over Lisa Marangon. Milne was in no danger of losing her lead for the rest of the day, and crossed the line in victory in a time of 9:31:32 . "I had many ups and downs during the day. I had forgotten just how hard these races are," said Milne after the race. She dedicated the win to her father who passed away six years ago.
The women's placings were more closely fought as the positions changed early on the run. Marangon dropped back and Canadian Marilyn MacDonald moved up into second place where she remained for much of the run before being passed by Bondi athlete Charlotte Paul. Paul finished second after a strong run leg, crossing the line in a time of 9:47:28 . MacDonald held on for third, German Imke Schiersch was fourth and age-group competitor Western Australian Joanne Davies had a great race to cross the line in fifth.
The team of swimmer Ky Hurst, cyclist Henk Vogels and physically challenged athlete John MacLean easily won the teams division in a time of 7:21:09 .
The heat of the day belied the early cold and windy conditions, and athletes and spectators alike baked in the hot afternoon sun. Busselton once again hosted a successful event as many of the 645 athletes continued on into the night trying to beat the 11.30pm cut-off time.
Results:
Men
Name Swim Bike Run Total
1. Mitchell Anderson 8:27:36
2. Eneko Llanos 8:31:41
3. Mathias Hecht 8:32:16
4. Bryan Rhodes 8:34:26
5. Petr Vabrousek 8:36:06
Women
Name Swim Bike Run Total
1. Angela Milne 9:31:32
2. Charlotte Paul 9:47:28
3. Marilyn MacDonald 9:56:51
4. Imke Schiersch 10:01:40
5. Joanne Davies 10:04:55
Article Source: Ironman Western Australia, 27 November 2005