Race Conditions
This was the first time that IM Melbourne was held. It was a really exciting race with very strong fields and fast times. The course itself was pretty quick (course rating of 8:58 – similar to Arizona and Cozumel), but not crazy quick such as Austria or Roth (almost 17 and 19 minutes). This makes the really fast times by Crowie and Caroline Steffen that much more impressive! It also goes to show that good, deep fields keep the athletes “honest” and help in pushing everyone to their limits.
Male Results
On the men’s side, Crowie battled Cam on the run and managed to pull off his first sub 8:
Rank Name Nation Actual Time Expected Time 1 Craig Alexander AUS 07:57:44 08:09:14 2 Cameron Brown NZL 08:00:12 08:23:31 3 Frederik Van Lierde BEL 08:01:26 08:32:31 4 Eneko Llanos ESP 08:02:23 08:14:11 5 David Dellow AUS 08:04:19 08:40:51 6 Paul Matthews USA 08:05:58 n/a 7 Luke Bell AUS 08:10:38 08:41:54 8 Joe Gambles AUS 08:12:46 08:32:53 9 Marko Albert EST 08:18:04 08:26:34 10 Bart Aernouts BEL 08:18:17 n/a 11 Joshua Rix AUS 08:22:17 08:59:47 12 Romain Guillaume FRA 08:25:51 09:16:06 13 Petr Vabrousek CZE 08:29:25 08:49:06 14 Jens Petersen-Bach DNK 08:30:10 n/a 15 Todd Israel AUS 08:33:31 n/a 16 Esben Hovgaard DNK 08:38:51 08:40:03 17 Alejandro Santamaria ESP 08:41:15 08:51:58 18 Mitchell Anderson AUS 08:46:39 08:36:05 19 Lothar Leder GER 08:51:34 08:54:10 20 Sergio Marques PRT 08:54:14 08:57:03 21 Jason Shortis AUS 08:57:33 08:46:45 22 Matt White AUS 08:58:10 08:44:16 23 Joel Jameson GBR 08:59:28 08:55:27 24 Jens Grønbek DEN 09:00:36 n/a 25 Shinya Suganuma JPN 09:02:50 09:14:19 26 Greg Bennett USA 09:04:01 n/a 27 Fredrik Croneborg SWE 09:04:44 n/a 28 Justin Granger AUS 09:05:13 09:08:04 29 Finnbar Crennan AUS 09:14:44 n/a 30 Hiroyuki Nishiuchi JPN 09:18:01 09:17:18 31 Gudmund Snilstveit NOR 09:19:39 08:53:13 32 Johan Borg AUS 09:21:53 n/a 33 Simon Billeau FRA 09:25:22 08:44:33 34 Courtney Ogden AUS 10:23:45 08:39:08
Crowie’s performance in Melbourne was on the same level as his course-record win in Hawaii 2011. Cam Brown’s second place was his best performance by a long shot, both in absolute and adjusted times (his 8:00 is an adjusted 8:08, his best adjusted performances from the past were in the low 8:20s). It’s hard to pick out just a few performances .. there are just too many great results!
Female Results
On the women’s side, we saw another fantastic winning time by Caroline Steffen:
Rank Name Nation Actual Time Expected Time 1 Caroline Steffen SWI 08:34:51 09:19:50 2 Rachel Joyce GBR 08:46:09 09:20:07 3 Mirinda Carfrae AUS 09:04:00 09:00:59 4 Joanna Lawn NZL 09:06:53 09:27:01 5 Gina Crawford NZL 09:11:16 09:28:13 6 Rebekah Keat AUS 09:13:43 09:18:55 7 Jessica Jacobs USA 09:13:57 09:35:54 8 Carrie Lester AUS 09:18:25 09:33:45 9 Michelle Vesterby DNK 09:19:05 09:15:47 10 Belinda Granger AUS 09:26:21 09:34:21 11 Mareen Hufe GER 09:42:47 n/a 12 Katja Rabe GER 09:44:02 09:51:20 13 Suzanne Blackborrow AUS 09:50:40 10:31:29 14 Kate Murphy AUS 09:59:11 n/a 15 Dana Wagner GER 10:03:52 n/a 16 Fernanda Keller BRA 10:26:28 10:27:31 17 Conny Dauben GER 10:54:21 10:39:56 18 Marthe Eikre-Telle NOR 11:43:01 n/a
She had the fastest bike split ever by a female (4:35:29) and even if her run is not quite in Rinnie territory, she pulled off a finishing time that seemed to be reserved for Chrissie. Rachel Joyce had a great race as well and continues to improve. Rinnie’s third place might have been a disappointment for her Australian compatriots, but was actually quite a lot better than last year in New Zealand (even accounting for time lost with a flat) – I expect her to be on fire for Kona. Similar to Cam Brown on the men’s side, Jo Lawn delivered one of her career best performances in Melbourne. What a shame for these two that their home race had to be shortened!
I’d like to highlight one more athlete: Michelle Vesterby. She came into Melbourne virtually unknown and with just one IM result to her credit. Her performance in Melbourne is on the same level as her time from Arizona, and she seems to be a solid TOP 10 contender now. A ninth place in such a stellar field is nothing to sneeze at!