Thorsten

Race Conditions

Conditions on race day seemed to be pretty normal for CdA – a race adjustment of 2:34 leads to a new course rating of 3:36.

Male Results

Victor Zyemtsev took control of the race on the bike, leading into T2 and then posting the fastest run as well:

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Actual Time	Expected Time
1	Victor Zyemtsev	USA	00:51:56	04:47:55	02:49:37	08:32:29	08:38:15
2	Timothy O’Donnell	USA	00:49:20	04:56:22	02:52:59	08:41:36	08:43:46
3	Matthew Russell	USA	01:06:23	04:48:52	02:53:41	08:52:00	09:02:48
4	Kevin Taddonio	USA	01:05:32	04:47:10	02:59:45	08:55:48	08:56:35
5	Anton Blokhin	UKR	00:51:28	04:53:11	03:12:05	08:59:49	08:56:08
6	Joel Jameson	GBR	01:01:36	05:05:37	02:59:26	09:09:52	09:03:44
7	Ian Mikelson	USA	00:53:56	05:09:07	03:05:50	09:13:03	09:04:53
8	Bryan Rhodes	NZL	00:49:13	05:06:04	03:21:10	09:20:27	09:11:23
9	Chris Boudreaux		00:56:01	05:17:19	03:05:50	09:23:10	09:31:40
10	Brendan Halpin	USA	01:03:20	05:05:13	03:18:06	09:30:04	09:26:29
11	Guy Crawford	AUS	00:51:28	04:50:17	04:02:10	09:47:12	09:09:55
12	Blake Becker	USA	00:55:59	05:42:09	04:50:06	11:33:03	09:53:47
13	Lewis Elliot	USA	00:56:06	04:58:38	06:18:50	12:17:14	09:32:10

Tim O’Donnell had a solid race, moving into the second spot early in the run, and validating his Kona spot. Behind him there was quite some back and forth for the third podium spot on the run: At different points, Guy Crawford, Anton Blokhin and Kevin Taddonio held that spot, but in the end  it was taken by Matthew Russell.

Female Results

On the female side, Meredith Kessler posted the fastest splits across the board:

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Actual Time	Expected Time
1	Meredith Kessler	USA	00:51:53	05:13:16	03:12:04	09:21:44	09:33:44
2	Haley Cooper-Scott	USA	01:06:02	05:27:40	03:24:31	10:01:25	10:12:42
3	Whitney Garcia	USA	01:01:56	05:32:47	03:20:18	10:01:46	09:58:48
4	Rachel Kiers	CAN	01:01:39	05:39:13	03:31:41	10:16:19	10:14:40
5	Beth Shutt	USA	01:03:27	05:37:41	03:37:21	10:22:16	n/a
6	Stephanie Ossenbrink	CAN	01:01:42	05:30:14	03:48:53	10:24:44	n/a
7	Trish Deim	USA	01:06:50	05:36:04	03:45:59	10:34:32	n/a
8	Amanda McKenzie	AUS	01:05:55	06:11:01	04:00:33	11:22:40	11:04:32

The story that’s missing from the results is the drama around the disqualification of Heather Wurtele. She was leading the race together with MBK when the crank fell off her bike. Christie Sym (who apparently had DNF’d) then gave Heather her bike to finish the bike leg “BMX style” (Heather is 6’2”, and Christie’s bike was a 51cm – I’d love to see a photo). This seems to be in conflict with a USATA rule that forward progress on the bike leg has to be done with your bike at all times and it was decided she’d be DQ’d. She was not allowed to finish the race and contest the DQ afterwards. I hope that she’ll be able to regroup, validate her Kona spot in another IM race pretty soon and is going to have a strong Kona race.

Race Conditions

Conditions on race day were typical for France – a race adjustment of 7:40 was almost exactly in line with the new course rating of 7:47. Even if the conditions were not super-fast, the two winners set new course records.

Male Results

Frederik van Lierde successfully defended his title, leading almost from start to finish:

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Actual Time	Expected Time
1	Frederik Van Lierde	BEL	00:47:22	04:35:42	02:53:39	08:21:51	08:27:13
2	Paul Amey	GBR	00:48:46	04:55:50	02:52:15	08:42:48	08:26:47
3	Francois Chabaud	FRA	00:48:53	04:48:21	03:02:02	08:45:23	08:38:57
4	Bruno Clerbout	BEL	00:51:34	05:01:10	02:48:16	08:46:54	09:03:19
5	Sergio Marques	PRT	00:55:26	05:02:02	02:45:39	08:48:55	08:57:24
6	Jose Jeuland	FRA	00:50:35	05:02:23	02:54:30	08:53:52	09:12:54
7	Axel Zeebroek	BEL	00:47:24	04:56:43	03:06:52	08:56:43	08:45:47
8	Trevor Delsaut	FRA	00:55:29	05:06:51	02:54:45	09:02:59	08:54:51
9	Mike Schifferle	SWI	01:00:11	04:57:22	02:58:22	09:07:08	09:03:39
10	Jonas Djurback	SWE	00:50:30	05:02:36	03:10:39	09:09:28	n/a
11	Marcel Bischof	GER	00:57:16	04:59:23	03:12:07	09:14:56	09:28:49
12	Anthony Pannier	FRA	00:47:22	04:50:06	03:35:43	09:19:09	n/a
13	Rafael Gomes	POR	00:55:25	05:22:48	03:15:08	09:39:50	n/a
14	Pierre Dorez	FRA	00:52:31	04:52:05	03:55:32	09:46:09	n/a
15	Ludovic Le Guellec	FRA	00:59:41	05:25:09	03:34:12	10:05:28	09:51:02
16	Ulrik Schaarup	DEN	00:59:48	05:02:58	04:54:07	11:03:36	n/a

Late entry Paul Amey used his good marathon to run by Francois Chabaud to secure the second place.

Female Results

Tine Deckers took control of the race on the bike, and then went on to post a strong marathon to win in a convincing fashion:

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Actual Time	Expected Time
1	Tine Deckers	BEL	00:57:18	05:10:03	03:02:31	09:16:05	09:28:51
2	Gina Crawford	NZL	00:52:10	05:20:04	03:07:14	09:26:25	09:27:25
3	Kristin Moeller	GER	01:02:47	05:27:58	03:00:29	09:37:07	09:43:09
4	Tamara Kozulina	UKR	01:00:33	05:30:15	03:09:51	09:47:34	09:45:15
5	Martina Dogana	ITA	00:59:42	05:38:54	03:10:33	09:55:09	09:46:13
6	Beth Walsh	USA	00:59:48	05:44:05	03:08:32	09:58:26	n/a
7	Anne Basso	FRA	00:55:18	05:39:06	03:48:16	10:29:12	10:16:54

Gina Crawford had a solid race and finished second, Kristin Moeller needed the best marathon to run into third place.

If you are looking for additional information on the participants, you can find a full list of their pro results in the detail post.

Previous Results

IM France is one of the classic races – even if it used to be called “Niece” and was contested on the “Niece distance” (4-120-30). For quite a while now the race has be re-branded as IM France and is an iron-distance race. Especially the bike course is quite hard, the total course is “medium fast” – with a course rating of 7:14 it is similar to IM Arizona.

Last year’s race was won by Frederik Van Lierde (8:39) and Sylvia Felt (9:34). The course records are held by Marcel Zamora (8:25:28) and Tine Deckers (9:21:29).

Male Participants

Last year’s winner is back to defend his title:

Rank	Name	Nation	Expected Time	Rating	Rank
1	Frederik Van Lierde	BEL	08:27:06	08:34:32	23
2	Marcel Zamora	ESP	08:36:31	08:44:05	46
3	Francois Chabaud	FRA	08:38:50	08:46:26	62
4	Herve Faure	FRA	08:44:30	08:52:11	96
5	Axel Zeebroek	BEL	08:45:40	08:53:22	101
6	Trevor Delsaut	FRA	08:54:44	09:02:34	148
7	Sergio Marques	PRT	08:57:17	09:05:09	162
8	Domenico Passuello	ITA	08:57:23	09:05:16	163
9	Sebastian Pedraza	ITA	09:01:45	09:09:41	193
10	Bruno Clerbout	BEL	09:03:11	09:11:09	205
11	Mike Schifferle	SWI	09:03:31	09:11:29	209
12	Jose Jeuland	FRA	09:12:46	09:20:52	292
13	Nicholas Peter Munoz	ESP	09:15:58	09:24:07	308
14	Scott Defilippis	USA	09:16:10	09:24:19	313
15	Marcel Bischof	GER	09:28:41	09:37:01	406
16	Ludovic Le Guellec	FRA	09:50:53	09:59:33	558
17	Christophe Hamard		10:10:14	10:19:11	674
18	Anthony Pannier		n/a	unrated	n/a
19	Cedric Lassonde	FRA	n/a	unrated	n/a
20	Pierre Dorez		n/a	unrated	n/a
21	Zoltan Senczyszyn		n/a	unrated	n/a
22	David Vazquez	ESP	n/a	unrated	n/a
23	Ivan Kharin		n/a	unrated	n/a
24	Lance Armstrong		n/a	unrated	n/a
25	Ulrik Schaarup		n/a	unrated	n/a
26	Rafael Gomes		n/a	unrated	n/a

Freddy also has the best winning chances:

• Frederik Van Lierde: 50%
• Marcel Zamora: 20%
• Francois Chabaud: 18%
• Axel Zeebroek: 5%

The other main contender might be Lance Armstrong. He hasn’t finished any full IMs yet, so I can’t predict his performance based on past results. At least at the time of writing (Monday evening before the race), it was very doubtful if Lance would be able to start based on the investigation by USADA.

Female Participants

On the women’s side, course record holder Tine Deckers will try to repeat her 2010 win, but she only has the second best rating in the field:

Rank	Name	Nation	Expected Time	Rating	Rank
1	Gina Crawford	NZL	09:27:17	09:35:36	23
2	Tine Deckers	BEL	09:28:43	09:37:03	30
3	Kristin Moeller	GER	09:43:00	09:51:33	65
4	Tamara Kozulina	UKR	09:45:07	09:53:41	70
5	Martina Dogana	ITA	09:46:05	09:54:40	72
6	Suzanne Blackborrow	AUS	10:11:28	10:20:26	158
7	Anne Basso	FRA	10:16:46	10:25:48	176

Here are the winning odds:

• Gina Crawford: 48%
• Tine Deckers: 25%
• Kristin Moeller: 14%
• Tamara Kozulina: 10%

Since coming back to racing after having a child, Gina has posted solid results, so I consider her the favorite for the race.

Race Conditions

With an adjustment of 8:06 conditions on race day were typical for Regensburg (new course rating of 9:25). Moving the date from August to June didn’t seem to have a big impact: From what I heard it was getting pretty warm during the run, but otherwise you had pretty good racing conditions.

Male Results

Dirk Bockel won is first Ironman, setting a new course record:

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Actual Time	Expected Time
1	Dirk Bockel	LUX	00:45:03	04:31:08	02:51:56	08:11:59	08:18:09
2	Michael Raelert	GER	00:45:01	04:35:32	02:54:40	08:18:53	n/a
3	Mike Schifferle	SWI	01:00:24	04:40:13	02:50:52	08:36:53	09:05:10
4	Jens Kaiser	GER	00:57:00	04:43:28	02:58:48	08:43:57	n/a
5	Petr Vabrousek	CZE	00:51:03	04:50:06	03:02:06	08:47:53	08:49:14
6	Daniel Halksworth	GBR	00:45:05	04:52:18	03:08:59	08:50:38	n/a
7	Andreas Wolpert	GER	00:54:35	04:50:15	03:05:22	08:55:25	09:09:17
8	Tomas Mika	CZE	00:50:19	05:10:58	03:09:06	09:14:48	n/a
9	Jarda Brynda	CZE	00:50:20	05:09:31	03:21:35	09:26:24	09:00:43
10	Matjaz Kovac	SVN	00:53:35	05:08:07	03:42:23	09:50:00	09:41:28
11	Florian Kratz	GER	01:01:22	05:25:02	03:52:42	10:23:38	n/a
12	Marek Nemcik	SVK	01:08:01	05:38:10	04:05:48	10:58:33	12:10:56

Michael Raelert finished his first Ironman and seemed to race pretty smart: He set a new swim course record and started the bike pretty strongly. But when Dirk Bockel took the lead around the 160km mark, he continued to race within himself, still posting a sub-3h marathon. Both Dirk and Michael solidified their standings in the KPR and are pretty much guaranteed a Kona slot. And both of them are solid TOP10 contenders for Kona – maybe even more …

Female Results

On the women’s side, Heidi Sessner (probably better know under her maiden name of Heidi Jesberger) also won her first IM:

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Actual Time	Expected Time
1	Heidi Sessner	GER	00:53:22	05:16:55	03:29:15	09:43:52	09:56:49
2	Ute Streiter	AUT	01:03:55	05:30:42	03:42:03	10:22:43	10:22:53

I’m surprised that there were only two female pros racing .. this would have been a good opportunity to score some KPR points or earn a bit of price money.