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The Weekend That Was In Triathlon And Ironman (7/8 July)

  • By Paul Moore
  • Published July 9, 2012

You can’t seem to move for European Championships these days. There was that one involving a pig’s bladder being kicked about a park in the Ukraine a few weeks back and there were THREE going on in triathlon this weekend. A bit of inter-race organisational rivalry? Perhaps. Needless to say we won’t speculate about the political motivation of scheduling the Ironman European Championships on the same day as Challenge Roth (which doubled up as the ETU European Championships), but simply spend a little bit of time mulling over what happened and where.

Royce And Cunnama Win Challenge Roth
The pre-eminent European Ironman-distance race delivered yet again in spades. Admittedly we weren’t treated to the record-breaking exploits of 2010 (although the crowd that turned out was said to be bigger than any other year) but the racing was still of the best quality. Rachel Joyce underlined her Kona credentials with an emphatic win over a solid field. Joyce simply rode away from the rest of the girls and finished off her race with a 2:59:53 marathon. In the men’s race James Cunnama was able to break Timo Bracht on the run after the pair had worked tirelessly to stay with uber-biker Konstantin Bachor. Cunnama claimed his first sub-8 Ironman, while Bracht finished second to take the European title.
READ THE RACE REPORT HERE

Vanhoenacker, Steffen Dominate Ironman European Championships
If Joyce was rocking her thing in Roth, one of her main opponents at Kona this year was backing up her Ironman Asia-Pacific title with an impressive win in Frankfurt. Caroline Steffen looks increasingly like a Kona Queen in the making, and after dealing with a spirited attack from Anja Beranek on the bike, coasted to a comfortable win with a 3:06:52 marathon. In the men’s race Marino Vanhoenacker made a solid field look relatively ordinary with an emphatic display of bike and run strength. Sebastian Kienle went with the Belgian but was unable to bridge the gap that Vanhoenacker took out in the latter stages of an exciting race. Andreas Raelert didn’t have his greatest race and struggled with stomach issues, but still managed to grab fourth spot.
READ THE RACE REPORT HERE and SEE THE GALLERY HERE

Klamer Defends Crown At ETU European Cup
We mentioned a third championship and we meant it! Dutch athlete Rachel Klamer threw down a solid performance in Holten to win her third successive title on home soil. Klamer, who will be heading to London for the Olympics, led from start to finish. In the men’s race Gregor Bucholz held off Tom Bishop to claim the win after a tight race.
READ THE RACE REPORT HERE

Canadians Rule At ITU World Cup, Edmonton
With all eyes now firmly fixed on Hyde Park and the London 2012 Olympics, there was time for one last dust off before the big show begins. And while Canadians were denied the chance to wish Simon WHitfield well on his way to the Olympics, they did get to revel in their first clean-sweep of an ITU event since 2001. Kyle Jones led home the men with Tim Don back in fourth, while Lauren Campbell was the first woman home after a surging run.
READ THE RACE REPORT HERE

Ospaly And Ellis Win Ironman 70.3 Haugesund
The presence of Rasmus Henning in the field may have dominated the headlines going into this race, but it was Filip Ospaly who stole the show with a dominant win in Norway. Ospaly posted race best splits over all three disciplines to finish more than seven minutes ahead of Henning. Mary Beth Ellis was equally dominant in the women’s race, running her way to victory over Michelle Vesterby.
READ THE RACE REPORT HERE

Race Round-Up From The States
It was a busy weekend Stateside too so here’s a round-up of who did what where.
Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island: Paul Ambrose won his favourite race at Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island, taking victory with race-best splits at all disciplines. Caitlin Snow was equally impressive with her win in the women’s race.
New York City Triathlon: Pete The presence of Pete Jacobs in the field may have unsettled a few of the home-grown favourites, but Jacobs was just tuning up for Ironman Lake Placid. In a stacked field Jordan Jones made up for a poor swim with a fast bike and run to take the win. It was a similar story in the women’s race, with Amy Bevilacqua taking the win after Liz Blatchford was surely denied victory following a bike penalty (she finished second).

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Paul Moore

Paul Moore

Paul Moore is the Online Editor for Triathlete Europe. When not glued to a computer he can be found writing books - most recently The World's Toughest Endurance Challenges which you can buy on Amazon. Paul has also written Ultimate Triathlon: A complete training guide for long-distance triathletes which is also available on Amazon.