Record Field for Ironman Lanzarote Canarias
Sunday, 21st May 2006
Like Lanzarote's hot lava fields in the sun, things are heating up in Puerto del Carmen and La Santa as the 15th Ironman Lanzarote Canarias creeps closer to its start.
Never before have so many world class athletes chased the title and the US$ 50,000 price money. The organisers from Club La Santa are excited about the record field of competitors almost 1000 athletes will start the race tomorrow morning.
Lanzarote's race course is known as one of the most difficult in the Ironman circuit and shares a lot of similarities with the course in Hawaii. The heat and wind on the volcanic Canary Island symbolize the challenge of Ironman: the battle against yourself, the forces of nature, and the most challenging bike course in the Ironman circuit.
Kenneth Gasque, the race director says: "For the first time in the history of Ironman Lanzarote, we had to reject more than 100 athletes, because we had to close the field at 1000 competitors. But don't worry, next year we will allow 1300 athletes on the course, the government of the Canary Islands already agreed on that number. I regret it a little that we will have probably just below 1000 athletes at the starting line, because we had to reject some."
In the woman's race, Swiss Miss Karin Thurig and Australian Rebecca Preston are the big favorites. The Aussie, winner of last years Ironman UK has a little handicap because she arrived on the island only two days before the race. Many experts think that's not enough time to acclimatize and handle the jetlag for such a difficult race course. The main competition for last years 11th place finisher in Kona is Switzerland's Karin Thürig, who crossed the line just after Preston in 12th place.
Insiders know that Thurig is not only a two-time Ironman champion, but also a two-time World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist in the time trial. The difficult bike course in Lanzarote, with more than 9000 feet (2600 meter) of climbing, seems made for her.
"I love the bike course here, when I trained on it for the first time in the beginning of the month, I was thrilled!" says the 33-year-old economist. When it's windy on race day, you have to ride smart. There are a lot of corners where you can save time. The second part of the course is especially great for attacks."
She says modestly: "I'm not in top form, because I also prepared for the track cycling world championships. My goal is top three and to qualify for Hawaii."
In the battle for the crown in Lanzarote you have to also look out for Holland's Mariska Kramer and Tiina Boman from Finland. Kramer, a 32-year-old social worker, winner of last years Ironman France, is a lightweight, which is a handicap on Lanzarote's bike course: "It will be a hard race with so many strong athletes on such a windy bike course. And I still feel a light bronchitis. But if I feel better, I would like to run 3:10 in the marathon, so that hopefully leads me to a Hawaii qualification."
Boman, who placed 4th in Lanzarote 2005, could make the jump on the podium in this years event. Hélén Bij de Vaate (NED), Kate Bevilaqua (AUS) and the two German girls Kathrin Petzold and Silke Hinrichs are also among the favorites.
In the men's race we have two groups of favorites: the strong cyclists and the strong runners. According to two-time Lanzarote champion Thomas Hellriegel: "It will be a really hard race on the bike, and the one who is still able to run will win. Even if the top cyclists can get a big lead at the second transition, though, there are some good runners who have a full marathon to catch up before the finish line.
Among the top cyclists are defending champion Ain-Alar Juhanson from Estonia, Germany's Thomas Hellriegel and Steffen Liebetrau, and Björn Andersson from Sweden. Ain-Alar Juhanson just got more confident in his running abilities with his win at the Bonita Ironman New Zealand. On the shortened course he managed to keep up over a half marathon with running specialist Cameron Brown. The 29-year-old has another bonus for Lanzarotes conditions: his 64 (1.95 m) and 200 pound (90 kg) frame is not only resistant against the strongest gusts, according to Juhanson he isn't as affected by the heat.
"With my race weight I don't worry about extreme heat. It makes no difference to me if it's 95 or 110 degrees (35 or 45 Celsius).
Former Hawaii champion Hellriegel is fully recovered after a long absence from racing due to a virus infection. The 35-year-old with the nickname hell on wheels says: "After such a long absence from racing, its hard to say if I'm in top shape or not. I feel confident with my swimming and my running and want to run a sub-3 hour marathon. But in cycling I have sometimes the feeling that I miss some power."
Steffen Liebetrau is a two-time runner-up at Ironman Lanzarote Canarias, and is hungry for victory.
"To win this race is one of my life's dreams, I really love this race and have a lot of positive memories from Lanzarote. The 33-year-old describes his race tactics with the words of Hawaii champion Faris Al Sultan: "Go full power, do your own race and don't blow up." And he adds: "Lanzarote is the most honest Ironman, it won't help you here much if you draft. The only way to win is concentrating on yourself and the forces of nature."
In the group of the strong runners we have Belgium's Gerrit Schellens, Luc van Lierde and Felix Javier Martinez from Spain.
Schellens is very confident after his victory at the Spec Savers Ironman South Africa where he beat Ford Ironman World Champion Faris Al Sultan. "I know I could close a gap of 15 minutes in the run and would like to run a 2:40 or a 2:45. I hope that the fast cyclists hurt themselves on the bike course so bad that they can't run fast enough anymore."
Ironman record holder van Lierde plans to run fast. "I know that I can run a 2:40 in the marathon", says the 37-year-old who is trained by Paula NewbyFraser. "I will start tomorrow, I know. In the past I had a lot of DNS. I've had a lot of problems with injuries and motivation. My focus this year is a comeback in Kona. I am training as a pro again and Sunday will show where I am standing. This is my very first and very serious test. It is a strong field and top five would be great."
Also among the favourites are Frenchman Cyrille Neveu and the Spaniard Eneko Llanos.
Marc Herremans of Belgium is one of the most incredible athletes in the event. The 32-year-old is paralysed from the chest down and will compete in the hand cycle division. During the race, Herremans will pass the location where he broke his back in an accident four years ago. He rode down mount Haria while training for the Ironman.
While German Kai Hundertmarck, the former cycling professional from Team T-Mobile and 16th in Kona in 2004, had to cancel his start because of a stress fracture, his ex-team mate Rolf Aldag is getting lots of attention as he prepares for his first Ironman. Aldag is a hero in Germany. The 37-year-old cycling legend competed in the Tour de France 10 times with Team T-Mobile and was one of Jan Ulrich's best helpers in the battles against Lance Armstrong. He is not planning a pro career in triathlon now, though.
"I retired from cycling and as a pro athlete last year and don't have any ambitions to win an Ironman. That would be as unrealistic as if Norman Stadler would like to win the Tour de France. I just want to compete here for fun and as a personal experience."
A few weeks ago Aldag finished his first marathon in 2:42, which was especially impressive considering he had only trained a total of 600 kilometres.
And about half of it was special training: "With my wife, daughter and the baby jogger in a 5 min per kilometre pace."
In swimming though, Aldag has a lot of work to do. "I'm happy if I can finish the Ironman without any big problems."
Slovenias France Cokan, 75, from the Seattle Triathlon Club is the oldest competitor in the field, followed by Germany's Kurt Einsiedel, 70, and Rob Brouwer from Holland who is 69. The youngest competitor at the Ironman Lanzarote Canarias is the 21-year-old Christoph Havixbeck from Germany.
Source: Ironmanlive.com
More info: www.ironmanlanzarote.com