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Challenge Almere 2018 – Analyzing Results

ChAlmereLogoCourse Conditions

This year’s Challenge Almere saw the very fast conditions. While last year was cold and rainy, the weather this year was perfect with no rain and temperatures just under 20°C. However, this close to the North Sea there will always be some wind, but this probably affected the agegroupers more than the Pros. The mild conditions helped athletes post some very fast run times.

The swim times were pretty slow (maybe two minutes slower than the typical swim times in Almere), followed by a typical fast bike leg. Cam Wurf was able to improve on last year’s bike course record by Kristian Hoegenhaug by almost three minutes. But the main focus was on the overall record which was one of the oldest standing triathlon records: Jan van der Marel had posted a 7:57:46 in 1999 which was broken by Jaroslav Kovacic with by more than two minutes. The new record now stands at 7:55:43.

Male Race Results

After the swim Evert Scheltinga and Jaroslav Kovacic had a three minute lead on the rest of the field. They were holding on to the lead for most of the bike, but after 100k on the bike Cameron Wurf took over the lead, eventually posting a new bike course record. The old bike course record holder, Kristian Hoegenahaug was also making up time, and all four reached T2 within four minutes. Both Cam Wurf and Jaroslav Kovacic started the marathon with a sub-2:45 pace, chase of the overall course record. By lap four (of 6) of the run course Cam started to slow down, and Jaroslav took over the lead. It was obvious from the great live stream coverage that he was giving 110%, finally being able to post a 2:43 marathon, winning the race and breaking the course record by two minutes.

Almere Jaro

After relinquishing the lead, Cam continued to run well and finished second. He posted a 2:52 marathon which was a new marathon PR for him by more than six minutes. Third place went to Kristian Hoegenhaug, with a 2:50 marathon he was able to overtake Evert Scheltinga who finished fourth.

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to exp. Prize Money
1 Jaroslav Kovacic SLO 00:50:07 04:18:52 02:43:27 07:55:43 -13:37 EUR 6,000
2 Cameron Wurf AUS 00:53:47 04:10:48 02:52:24 08:00:55 -07:01 EUR 3,750
3 Kristian Hoegenhaug DEN 00:54:56 04:13:50 02:50:22 08:03:31 -07:50 EUR 2,500
4 Evert Scheltinga NED 00:50:04 04:18:40 02:57:32 08:10:31 02:45 EUR 1,750
5 Marc Unger GER 00:53:38 04:26:16 02:55:33 08:19:28 -29:12 EUR 1,300
6 Bryan McCrystal IRL 00:58:07 04:16:18 03:08:09 08:27:08 02:15 EUR 1,100
7 Diederik Scheltinga NED 00:53:36 04:35:25 02:55:20 08:28:50 -34:36 EUR 900
8 Dirk Wijnalda NED 01:00:54 04:36:17 02:51:20 08:32:15 06:16 EUR 700
9 Stefan Overmars NED 00:54:52 04:30:42 03:10:14 08:41:07 -13:17 EUR 550
10 Till Schramm GER 00:53:38 04:33:03 03:10:28 08:41:40 -15:00 EUR 450
11 Peter Seidel GER 00:58:03 04:32:35 03:08:36 08:43:22 -05:03
12 Wouter Monchy BEL 00:53:43 04:40:33 03:05:39 08:44:20 -00:28
13 Carson Christen USA 00:53:34 04:42:28 03:05:14 08:46:49 n/a
14 Benjamin Feraud FRA 01:00:42 04:51:46 02:52:03 08:49:12 n/a
15 Tjardo Visser NED 00:53:35 04:58:25 03:08:07 09:03:48 18:32
16 Marijn De Jonge NED 00:58:10 04:48:41 03:19:40 09:11:35 -02:00
Chris Goodfellow GBR 01:03:16 04:51:45 DNF
Pete Dyson GBR 00:58:09 DNF

Female Race Results

Debbie Greig had the best swim go the female Pros, she was starting the bike with a gap of almost three minutes to the two race favorites, Yvonne Van Vlerken and Els Visser. Debbie continued to lead her first Pro Ironman race for the first three hours, then Yvonne and Els caught her. For a while these three were riding in a legal group (Challenge Almere was using a 20m draft zone), before Yvonne slowly moved away. Yvonne also posted the fastest marathon, barely missing 9 hours (apparently the battery on her watch had run empty) in her 16th long-distance career win.

Almere Yvonne

After her solid bike leg, Els Visser was very happy to hold on to second place on the run. Lina-Kristin Schink was able to claim third place with a good marathon, edging out Debbie Greig who finished in fourth place.

Rank Name Nation Swim Bike Run Time Diff to exp. Prize Money
1 Yvonne Van Vlerken NED 01:00:29 04:48:33 03:07:02 09:00:01 04:54 EUR 6,000
2 Els Visser NED 01:00:29 04:53:03 03:19:12 09:16:29 -05:33 EUR 3,750
3 Lina-Kristin Schink GER 01:07:39 04:56:14 03:08:09 09:17:46 -29:47 EUR 2,500
4 Debbie Greig GBR 00:57:59 04:59:41 03:18:38 09:20:38 n/a EUR 1,750
5 Karen Steurs BEL 01:00:39 05:01:48 03:14:06 09:22:04 -06:04 EUR 1,300
6 Renee Kiley AUS 01:00:26 04:59:53 03:26:27 09:32:59 -13:05 EUR 1,100
7 Jenny Nae SWE 01:10:32 05:13:14 03:07:44 09:35:28 11:29 EUR 900
8 Brooke Brown CAN 01:00:36 05:03:20 03:32:06 09:44:53 14:07 EUR 700
9 Marleen Honkoop NED 01:08:01 05:15:04 03:21:53 09:51:47 n/a EUR 550
10 Rahel Bellinga NED 01:09:15 05:08:06 03:28:41 09:51:49 -12:25 EUR 450
Ewa Komander POL 01:00:37 04:59:48 DNF
Kathrin Walther GER 01:00:36 05:09:48 DNF
Corine Nelen NED 01:00:32 05:33:34 DNF

Photo Credit: James Mitchell / Challenge Almere

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