Thorsten

Race Conditions

The weather this year was cold and rainy, resulting in slow conditions even for the tough bike course of Ironman UK: A -20:27 adjustment for the bike and an overall adjustment of -17:24 are some of the slowest numbers we’ve seen all year so far.

Male Race Results

David McNamee was leading the race for almost the whole day – after the swim he was joined by Fraser Cartmell who built a three minute lead into T2. Fraser ran well and finished second but David’s 2:51 marathon won the race by a comfortable margin. Joe Skipper managed to get onto the UK podium for the third time in three years – but not in the place he was looking for.

While both Fraser and Denis Chevrot (5th place) are just short of the 40th July cutoff place, David, Joe and Victor Del Corral (4th place) are safe for a July slot.

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected	Prize Money
1	David Mcnamee	GBR	00:48:01	05:02:34	02:51:48	08:46:37	00:47	US$ 14000
2	Fraser Cartmell	GBR	00:48:28	04:58:39	02:59:52	08:51:06	-13:20	US$ 7000
3	Joe Skipper	GBR	00:56:06	04:58:30	02:55:44	08:55:38	00:12	US$ 4500
4	Victor Del Corral	ESP	00:55:54	05:00:07	02:56:32	08:58:45	07:59	US$ 3000
5	Denis Chevrot	FRA	00:48:06	05:08:51	03:05:38	09:09:09	17:37	US$ 2500
6	Brad Williams	USA	00:57:06	05:14:43	03:09:10	09:27:56	n/a	US$ 2000
7	Sam Clark	NZL	00:57:29	05:17:19	03:07:09	09:28:26	n/a	US$ 1500
8	Oliver Simon	GBR	00:51:36	05:20:29	03:19:05	09:37:40	-07:02	US$ 1250
9	Yu Shinozaki	JPN	00:56:48	05:27:38	03:52:14	10:22:54	01:09	US$ 1000
10	Simon Brierley	SEY	01:00:41	06:00:03	03:48:09	11:03:14	n/a	US$ 750
	David Dellow	AUS	00:48:32			DNF

Female Race Results

Lucy Gossage repeated her 2013 win in convincing fashion by posting the fastest bike and run, winning by more than 30 minutes. Carolin Livesey used a strong bike ride to finish in second place, while Alice Hector returned to Ironman UK after an 8-year “break” to finish third, outrunning Eleanor Haresign by just a minute.

With regards to Kona qualifying, Lucy was already safe, but Michelle Vesterby had a frustrating DNF on the run after being misled on the bike, resulting in extra 16k and being well out of contention for the second place she needed. 

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected	Prize Money
1	Lucy Gossage	GBR	00:59:11	05:22:56	03:03:43	09:31:58	-05:52	US$ 14000
2	Caroline Livesey	GBR	01:01:03	05:36:36	03:21:07	10:05:21	-10:33	US$ 7000
3	Alice Hector	GBR	00:56:49	05:59:01	03:16:06	10:18:46	-39:31	US$ 4500
4	Eleanor Haresign	GBR	00:59:11	05:46:46	03:26:43	10:19:48	01:06	US$ 3000
5	Shiao-yu Li	TWN	01:05:49	06:01:53	03:10:37	10:29:52	14:36	US$ 2500
6	Joanna Carritt	GBR	01:04:02	06:01:48	03:35:36	10:48:47	13:57	US$ 2000
7	Anne Jensen	DNK	01:13:09	05:56:37	03:48:32	11:05:57	33:16	US$ 1500
8	Kathryn King	GBR	01:10:02	06:17:16	03:39:51	11:17:20	n/a	US$ 1250
9	Jana Candrova	CZE	01:08:58	06:18:53	03:42:43	11:19:40	32:16	US$ 1000
10	Suzie Richards	GBR	01:03:23	06:31:08	04:05:06	11:48:48	n/a	US$ 750
	Michelle Vesterby	DEN	00:54:57	06:06:10		DNF
	Keiko Tanaka	JPN	00:55:02	06:12:25		DNF
	Amy Forshaw	GBR	01:03:44			DNF

Race Conditions

As seems to be the norm for Switzerland the last few years, the race was again a slow one. A non-wetsuit swim and hot weather on the run lead to an adjustment of -8:09 and a new course rating of 4:49. Obviously, no new course record could be set in these conditions.

Male Race Results

Ronnie Schildknecht & IM Switzerland – what else is there to say?! Ronnie raced a very smart race to win his home race for the eighth time! This year he needed a strong 2:50 marathon to overtake the T2-leaders. Of these Manuel Küng couldn’t quite hold on to the lead (he still finished a respectable 7th), but Jan Van Berkel fought hard for his second place and a Kona slot. Alessandro Degasperi had the fastest marathon (2:47), but he lost too much time on the bike to move further ahead than third place.

Only Jan was able to score enough points for a Kona slot (Ronnie was already safe), especially Michael Raelert (DNF with cramps, decided not not to risk too much for 70.3 Worlds) and Mike Aigroz (had a good swim but hurt his foot when exiting the water) were frustrated with their races.

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected	Prize Money
1	Ronnie Schildknecht	SUI	00:55:14	04:32:11	02:50:02	08:21:19	-13:27	US$ 10000
2	Jan Van Berkel	SUI	00:50:47	04:33:04	03:00:53	08:28:57	-26:51	US$ 5000
3	Alessandro Degasperi	ITA	00:55:16	04:44:47	02:47:07	08:31:36	-04:30	US$ 3250
4	Mike Schifferle	SUI	01:03:07	04:39:30	02:56:23	08:46:44	-25:00	US$ 2500
5	Pascal Ramali	GER	01:01:56	04:37:08	03:06:47	08:50:44	n/a	US$ 1750
6	David Plese	SLO	00:55:12	04:48:15	03:08:29	08:56:19	09:17	US$ 1250
7	Manuel Kueng	SUI	00:48:52	04:33:19	03:33:02	09:00:10	-23:15	US$ 750
8	Dirk Wijnalda	NED	01:02:23	04:58:06	03:09:03	09:13:57	06:19	US$ 500
9	Rafael Wyss	SUI	01:02:18	04:52:42	03:17:00	09:17:23	-00:30
10	Samuel Huerzeler	SUI	00:55:20	04:59:13	03:25:41	09:25:41	11:14
11	Rinus Holvoet	BEL	00:58:41	05:03:48	03:26:26	09:37:32	14:45
12	Kevin Everett	USA	00:50:49	05:17:04	03:41:52	09:57:31	38:44
13	Matthew Smith	CZE	01:06:44	05:27:20	03:27:48	10:08:30	00:28
14	Lukas Polan	CZE	01:06:27	05:25:25	04:21:55	10:59:18	55:44
15	Michal Volejnik	CZE	01:06:35	05:21:50	04:35:03	11:12:16	n/a
16	Ivan Kharin	RUS	01:06:59	05:33:05	06:09:33	12:54:50	1:46:08
17	Mathias Nagel	GER	02:00:54	06:51:46	06:13:29	15:14:34	n/a
	Michael Raelert	GER	00:50:43	04:47:11		DNF
	Mauro Baertsch	SUI	00:58:36	04:41:03		DNF
	Matteo Fontana	ITA	01:01:55	04:41:53		DNF
	Alberto Casadei	ITA	00:50:48	04:56:16		DNF
	Martin Bader	AUT	00:51:35	05:02:27		DNF
	Thomas Kaiser	GER	01:03:04	04:59:00		DNF
	Marek Nemcik	SVK	01:15:41	06:31:17		DNF
	Mike Aigroz	SUI	00:53:42			DNF
	Evgeniy Nikitin	RUS	00:54:53			DNF
	Damien With	FRA	00:58:06			DNF
	Gilian Oriet	SUI	01:01:52			DNF
	Valentin Zasypkin	RUS	01:28:02			DNF

Female Race Results

Mary Beth Ellis was the race leader for most of the day. She was setting the pace on the swim and the bike, but she was struggling on the run. However, it took Beth Gerdes a phenomenal 3:01:24 marathon (only 38 seconds slower than Kristin Möller’s course record) to close the gap to MBE. Beth took the lead at 36k and went on to win her first professional Ironman. MBE finished second and Mareen Hufe took a solid third place. All podium finishers can be happy with their results as all of them secured Kona slots. 

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected	Prize Money
1	Beth Gerdes	USA	01:00:53	05:13:40	03:01:24	09:21:05	-28:36	US$ 10000
2	Mary Beth Ellis	USA	00:55:12	05:02:07	03:24:13	09:26:37	00:55	US$ 5000
3	Mareen Hufe	GER	01:01:42	05:10:33	03:18:06	09:35:26	-10:20	US$ 3250
4	Dimity-Lee Duke	AUS	01:03:56	05:18:26	03:23:32	09:51:24	-03:40	US$ 2500
5	Lina-Kristin Schink	GER	01:14:00	05:26:57	03:25:27	10:11:12	-14:41	US$ 1750
6	Alena Stevens	SVK	01:04:39	05:26:41	03:35:22	10:11:40	-19:44	US$ 1250
7	Mariana Andrade	BRA	01:03:58	05:40:59	03:55:37	10:46:04	26:08	US$ 750
	Regula Rohrbach	SUI	01:01:45	05:26:59		DNF
	Angela Kuehnlein	GER	01:06:51			DNF

Race Conditions

Challenge Roth is one of the fastest courses. This year was no exception, the adjustment of 19:17 was just a bit faster than the course rating of 18:46. The weather seemed to be perfect for racing – a few clouds, little wind and not too hot.

Male Race Results

After making up his 2 minute deficit after the swim, Andrew Starykowicz tried to ride away from the field. He managed to post a new bike course record (4:09:13), but Nils Frommhold rode with him, managed to distance Andy into T1 and had a bike split that was just 17 seconds slower. Nils then ran what seemed to be a very controlled 2:51 marathon to win by five minutes.

Timo Bracht was just a bit slower than last year, he had the strongest marathon to finish second. Late entry David Dellow redeemed himself after his DNF in Frankfurt from a week ago with his first sub-8 result to finish third. Per Bittner had the best race of the top finishes, while Andy Starykowicz walked most his marathon for a 9:36 finish to validate his bike record.

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected
1	Nils Frommhold	GER	00:47:33	04:09:30	02:51:47	07:51:28	-08:46
2	Timo Bracht	GER	00:47:37	04:20:42	02:45:33	07:56:31	-10:22
3	David Dellow	AUS	00:47:35	04:20:24	02:48:12	07:59:28	-10:00
4	Per Bittner	GER	00:47:38	04:21:04	02:52:39	08:04:29	-22:46
5	Stefan Schmid	GER	00:51:14	04:24:33	02:51:53	08:11:04	-18:23
6	Markus Fachbach	GER	00:47:42	04:20:57	03:01:55	08:13:26	-10:22
7	Johann Ackermann	GER	00:47:34	04:24:34	03:00:58	08:16:09	-09:21
8	Andrej Vistica	CRO	00:51:24	04:26:10	03:01:08	08:21:36	-02:00
9	Gerrit Schellens	BEL	00:53:13	04:39:49	02:53:38	08:30:14	00:02
10	Christian Brader	GER	00:53:11	04:40:54	02:54:23	08:31:30	-06:02
11	Marton Flander	HUN	00:47:36	04:49:29	02:53:49	08:33:51	n/a
12	Julian Mutterer	GER	00:50:13	04:42:37	02:59:21	08:34:55	n/a
13	Christopher Bagg	USA	00:51:21	04:36:41	03:03:35	08:35:24	-29:02
14	Sebastian Bleisteiner	GER	00:49:59	04:39:36	03:02:39	08:35:42	-09:27
15	Niels Brandt-Joergensen	DEN	00:59:01	04:45:49	02:49:30	08:38:59	-06:42
16	Marcel Bischof	GER	00:54:42	04:40:05	03:01:24	08:39:48	-15:49
17	Michael Wetzel	GER	00:54:44	04:39:54	03:04:21	08:42:19	-07:11
18	Petr Vabrousek	CZE	00:54:51	04:39:42	03:09:44	08:48:04	06:55
19	Robert Karas	POL	00:50:20	04:47:31	03:09:43	08:50:20	n/a
20	Thomas Naasz	NED	00:54:54	04:47:10	03:10:47	08:55:55	-06:23
21	Josef Krivanek	CZE	00:54:53	04:48:00	03:11:39	08:57:47	-36:20
22	Raul Furtado	BRA	00:54:40	04:37:38	03:31:27	09:07:07	10:14
23	Christian Jais	GER	00:54:47	04:47:21	03:32:19	09:17:42	n/a
24	Gyula Kis	HUN	00:51:17	04:59:53	03:28:32	09:24:20	53:22
25	Scott Defilippis	USA	00:52:32	05:07:47	03:20:47	09:25:40	42:06
26	Andrew Starykowicz	USA	00:49:18	04:09:13	04:34:48	09:36:44	1:26:20
27	Kaon Cho	KOR	00:56:49	05:05:48	03:37:27	09:44:12	-1:43:11
28	Henry Beck	GER	00:47:25	04:46:59	04:15:14	09:54:51	n/a
29	Blake Becker	USA	00:54:57	04:42:00	04:18:15	09:59:17	48:54
30	Gergö Molnar	HUN	00:50:22	05:12:57	03:55:48	10:03:47	1:26:29
31	Horst Reichel	GER	00:47:33	05:20:47	03:57:52	10:13:22	1:44:43
32	Dan McGuigan	AUS	01:06:53	05:15:56	03:48:13	10:19:01	1:03:37
	Casey Munro	AUS	00:47:31	04:46:47		DNF
	Harry Wiltshire	GBR	00:47:24	04:46:57		DNF
	Dave Rost	NED	00:51:02	04:48:48		DNF
	Kasper Ougaard	DEN	00:55:08	04:48:24		DNF
	Olivier Godart	LUX	00:54:49	04:55:01		DNF
	Michael Louys	BEL	00:58:58	04:53:02		DNF
	Toumy Degham	FRA	00:50:18			DNF
	Urs Mueller	SWI	00:54:38			DNF
	Jens Kaiser	GER	00:54:58			DNF
	Christopher Haas	GER	01:18:20			DNF

Female Race Results

After catching best swimmer Laura Bennett, Anja Beranek was the leader into T2. Even though riding a few minutes apart, Anja posted almost an identical bike split to chasers Carrie Lester and Yvonne Van Vlerken. Yvonne then had the best marathon, took the lead around the half marathon and overcame a weak period around the 30k mark to win in 8:50 by a little over two minutes in front of Carrie and Anja who both went sub-9 as well.

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected
1	Yvonne Van Vlerken	NED	00:54:46	04:47:34	03:05:43	08:50:53	-03:44
2	Carrie Lester	AUS	00:52:09	04:47:43	03:09:50	08:53:09	-25:48
3	Anja Beranek	GER	00:49:20	04:47:58	03:14:55	08:55:19	-07:00
4	Gina Crawford	NZL	00:50:13	04:58:38	03:12:01	09:04:45	00:25
5	Daniela Saemmler	GER	00:53:06	04:55:29	03:18:12	09:09:33	-08:32
6	Svenja Bazlen	GER	00:50:04	05:09:48	03:19:43	09:22:34	n/a
7	Natascha Schmitt	GER	00:53:00	05:17:52	03:24:43	09:39:59	02:08
8	Verena Walter	GER	00:56:30	05:07:40	03:32:27	09:40:38	05:44
9	Simona Krivankova	CZE	01:07:57	05:22:55	03:20:21	09:54:52	n/a
10	Ana Casares	ESP	01:13:26	05:24:12	03:39:48	10:22:21	46:40
11	Laura Bennett	USA	00:47:38	05:15:53	04:29:02	10:38:21	1:18:53
12	Cathleen Knutson	USA	01:05:39	05:31:03	04:56:29	11:37:11	1:25:11
	Stefanie Adam	BEL	00:55:05			DNF
	Vanessa Pereira	POR	01:05:41			DNF

Photos by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images for Challenge Triathlons

Update (July 11th): Mareen has decided to race in Switzerland and has been removed from the UK startlist. Corinne has told me that she won’t be racing either. (Both allowed me to share this information.)

Previous Winners

Year	Male Winner	Time	Female Winner	Time
2005	Bryan Rhodes (NZL)	08:42:11	Rebecca Preston (AUS)	09:37:56
2006	Frank Heldoorn (NED)	08:36:34	Dede Griesbauer (USA)	09:37:41
2007	Scott Neyedli (GBR)	08:35:57	Bella Bayliss (GBR)	09:36:13
2008	Stephen Bayliss (GBR)	08:53:59	Bella Bayliss (GBR)	09:49:07
2009	Philip Graves (GBR)	08:45:52	Bella Bayliss (GBR)	09:34:00
2010	Fraser Cartmell (GBR)	08:40:18	Yvette Grice (GBR)	10:01:03
2011	Aaron Farlow (AUS)	08:24:34	Kristin Moeller (GER)	09:19:04
2012	Daniel Halksworth (GBR)	08:55:11	Eimear Mullan (IRL)	10:08:44
2013	Daniel Halksworth (GBR)	08:45:48	Lucy Gossage (GBR)	09:29:12
2014	Cyril Viennot (FRA)	08:44:10	Tamsin Lewis (GBR)	09:52:12

Last Year’s TOP 3

Male Race Results

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time
1	Cyril Viennot	FRA	00:51:15	04:50:48	02:57:35	08:44:10
2	Joe Skipper	GBR	00:51:17	05:04:04	02:48:20	08:48:12
3	Kirill Kotshegarov	EST	00:51:14	04:58:58	02:55:41	08:51:01

Female Race Results

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time
1	Tamsin Lewis	GBR	00:55:07	05:33:14	03:18:04	09:52:12
2	Katja Konschak	GER	00:51:17	05:59:02	03:14:34	10:11:25
3	Joanna Carritt	GBR	01:00:09	05:42:46	03:33:35	10:21:14

Course Records

Leg	Gender	Record	Athlete	Date
Total	overall	08:24:34	Aaron Farlow	2011-07-31
Swim	overall	00:43:35	Fraser Cartmell	2010-08-01
Bike	overall	04:50:48	Cyril Viennot	2014-07-20
Run	overall	02:41:46	Aaron Farlow	2011-07-31
Total	female	09:19:04	Kristin Moeller	2011-07-31
Swim	female	00:48:19	Amanda Stevens	2012-07-22
Bike	female	05:22:13	Lucy Gossage	2013-08-04
Run	female	02:41:57	Kristin Moeller	2011-07-31

Course Rating

The Course Rating for IM UK is 00:47.

Race Adjustments for IM UK

Ironman UK was held in Sherbourn up to 2008, since 2009 it is held in its current location in Bolton.

Year	Adjustment	Swim Adj.	Bike Adj.	Run Adj.	# of Athletes	Rating	Swim Rating	Bike Rating	Run Rating
2006	10:29	04:55	04:38	06:03	18	10:29	04:55	04:38	06:03
2007	11:09	03:07	-04:13	10:14	28	10:49	04:01	00:13	08:08
2008	-02:39	01:12	-14:08	04:12	21	06:20	03:05	-04:34	06:50
2009	02:07	-03:07	-10:16	10:41	16	05:16	01:32	-06:00	07:47
2010	00:57	04:32	-24:08	09:33	12	04:24	02:08	-09:37	08:09
2011	08:04	04:43	-14:36	23:08	15	05:01	02:34	-10:27	10:38
2012	-07:15	00:00	-10:22	02:14	8	03:16	02:12	-10:26	09:26
2013	-05:41	04:02	-12:24	03:09	13	02:09	02:25	-10:41	08:39
2014	-10:08	01:09	-15:16	01:17	14	00:47	02:17	-11:11	07:50

KPR points and Prize Money

IM UK is a P-2000 race. It has a total prize purse of 75.000 US$.

Male Race Participants

Rank	Bib	Name	Nation	Expected Time	Rating	Exp. Swim	Exp. Bike	Exp. Run	Overall
1	11	David Dellow	AUS	08:28:00	08:36:46	00:44:56	04:48:08	02:49:56	(39)
2	8	Denis Chevrot	FRA	08:32:09	08:38:58	00:45:10	04:55:46	02:46:13	46
3	6	David McNamee	GBR	08:33:12	08:44:16	00:46:12	04:53:41	02:48:18	(63)
4	10	Victor Del Corral	ESP	08:35:10	08:33:24	00:53:09	04:53:22	02:43:38	31
5	4	Joe Skipper	GBR	08:35:22	08:43:20	00:50:45	04:51:20	02:48:17	59
6	2	Fraser Cartmell	GBR	08:39:24	08:47:19	00:46:11	04:48:36	02:59:37	77
7	1	Stephen Bayliss	GBR	08:42:29	09:04:29	00:45:29	04:55:59	02:56:01	(147)
8	3	Will Clarke	GBR	08:59:47	09:11:26	00:47:43	04:56:52	03:10:12	(182)
9	13	Yu Shinozaki	JPN	09:18:58	10:07:41	00:54:01	04:59:49	03:20:07	400
10	5	Oliver Simon	GBR	09:20:04	09:31:44	00:46:44	05:04:20	03:24:00	268
	7	Simon Brierley	SEY	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	9	Sam Clark		n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	12	Dominic Rohan-Gates	GBR	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	14	Brad Williams	USA	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)

Female Race Participants

Rank	Bib	Name	Nation	Expected Time	Rating	Exp. Swim	Exp. Bike	Exp. Run	Overall
1	19	Lucy Gossage	GBR	09:20:51	09:19:24	00:54:57	05:19:12	03:01:42	11
2	35	Diana Riesler	GER	09:22:14	09:32:41	00:54:52	05:12:22	03:10:00	31
3	21	Corinne Abraham	GBR	09:23:17	09:23:37	00:56:55	05:19:27	03:01:55	15
4	37	Michelle Vesterby	DEN	09:26:44	09:30:27	00:49:45	05:20:58	03:11:00	27
5	29	Mareen Hufe	GER	09:37:40	09:37:04	00:57:46	05:18:18	03:16:36	41
6	36	Keiko Tanaka	JPN	09:56:12	10:06:13	00:53:04	05:41:16	03:16:52	104
7	32	Shiao-yu Li	TWN	09:57:26	10:00:55	01:04:40	05:38:10	03:09:36	89
8	27	Eleanor Haresign	GBR	10:00:47	10:04:43	00:56:58	05:34:42	03:24:07	101
9	33	Caroline Livesey	GBR	10:01:22	10:08:22	00:58:30	05:38:35	03:19:17	(110)
10	22	Joanna Carritt	GBR	10:05:11	10:13:55	00:59:14	05:38:46	03:22:11	118
11	30	Anne Jensen	DNK	10:16:26	10:23:30	01:05:47	05:32:22	03:33:17	(144)
12	20	Amy Forshaw	GBR	10:19:01	10:30:08	01:00:21	05:52:05	03:21:35	156
13	24	Jana Candrova	CZE	10:27:48	10:31:44	01:01:42	05:49:36	03:31:29	157
14	28	Alice Hector	GBR	10:40:36	10:57:41	00:53:27	06:07:11	03:34:58	(170)
	31	Kathryn King	GBR	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	34	Suzie Richards	GBR	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)

KPR Situation

Male Race Participants

After his second place in Texas, Joe Skipper is almost assured his Kona slot with 4.015 points, but he’ll want to show that he is the best British athlete on the start list.

Behind him, there are quite a few athletes that are looking for some more points to reach my projected cutoff of 3.800 points. Most of them still have an “open points slot” and can just add their UK points to their total, for the others I’m showing the “base points” before removing their weakest result:

• Victor Del Corral (3.020, base 2.900; needs 4th or better)
• Denis Chevrot (2.820; needs 4th or better)
• David McNamee (2.695; probably needs 3rd or better)
• Will Clarke (2.405; needs 3rd or better)
• Fraser Cartmell (1.945; needs a win)

Female Race Participants

Lucy Gossage is racing for the win, with 5.425 points she is already well clear of my cutoff projection of 5.100. Diana Riesler is also safe (6.270) but she has told me that she won’t be racing. There are others that need more points:

• Corinne Abraham (4.725; needs 6th or better – unclear if she’ll race, she was taken off the Switzerland list and posted on her blog that she’ll be racing Maastricht)
• Mareen Hufe (4.490, base 3.975; needs 3rd or better – also on the Switzerland list)
• Michelle Vesterby (3.575; needs 2nd or better)
• Shia-Yu Li (3.560, base 2.600; probably too far back even with a win)

Winning Odds

Male Race Participants

Based on previous results, this looks to be a close race between Denis Chevrot and David Dellow, but David has just had a DNF in Frankfurt. If I had to pick a favorite it would be Joe Skipper who had fantastic race in Texas and is anxious to show he can ride sub-5 in Bolton and win his home IM:

• Denis Chevrot: 26% (3-1)
• David Dellow: 24% (3-1)
• Fraser Cartmell: 15% (6-1)
• Victor Del Corral: 13% (6-1)
• Joe Skipper: 12% (7-1)
• Stephen Bayliss: 6% (15-1)

Female Race Participants

Lucy Gossage is the clear favorite for the women, and another British win looks very likely. Diana Riesler won’t start, and Corinne Abraham and Mareen Hufe are also on the list for Switzerland:

• Lucy Gossage: 44% (1-1)
• Diana Riesler: 30% (2-1)
• Corinne Abraham: 15% (6-1)
• Michelle Vesterby: 8% (11-1)
• Mareen Hufe: 2% (48-1)