Update April 4th: Victor Del Corral, Andreas Niedrig and Corinne Abraham won’t be starting.

Update April 6th: Daniela Sämmler has announced she has been sick and won’t start. Stephen Bayliss is reported by Tri247 to focus on IM Lanzarote. Diana Riesler will be racing IM Lanzarote and a start in Port Elizabeth seems very unlikely.

Update April 7th: Another German, Katja Konschak, has reportedly had an accident and won’t be racing.

Previous Winners

Year	Male Winner	Time	Female Winner	Time
2006	Gerrit Schellens (BEL)	08:36:06	Natascha Badmann (SUI)	09:46:38
2007	Gerrit Schellens (BEL)	08:33:05	Natascha Badmann (SUI)	09:22:01
2008	Stephen Bayliss (GBR)	08:18:23	Bella Bayliss (GBR)	09:27:48
2009	Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL)	08:17:32	Lucie Reed (CZE)	09:16:32
2010	Raynard Tissink (ZAF)	08:23:28	Sonja Tajsich (GER)	09:16:55
2011	Raynard Tissink (ZAF)	08:05:36	Chrissie Wellington (GBR)	08:33:56
2012	Clemente Alonso McKernan (ESP)	08:34:45	Natascha Badmann (SUI)	09:47:10
2013	Ronnie Schildknecht (SUI)	08:11:24	Jessie Donavan (USA)	09:10:58
2014	Nils Frommhold (GER)	08:26:07	Simone Braendli (SUI)	09:31:54
2015	Frederik Van Lierde (BEL)	08:16:35	Jodie Swallow (GBR)	09:26:56

Last Year’s TOP 3

Male Race Results

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time
1	Frederik Van Lierde	BEL	00:49:20	04:32:45	02:49:45	08:16:35
2	Ivan Rana	ESP	00:49:28	04:48:22	02:48:44	08:30:45
3	Bart Aernouts	BEL	00:52:07	04:44:30	02:55:04	08:35:59

Female Race Results

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time
1	Jodie Swallow	GBR	00:50:17	05:20:58	03:10:56	09:26:56
2	Lucy Gossage	GBR	00:59:35	05:20:12	03:06:04	09:31:20
3	Susie Cheetham	GBR	00:57:52	05:25:54	03:03:38	09:33:02

Course Records

Leg	Gender	Record	Athlete	Date
Total	overall	08:05:36	Raynard Tissink	2011-04-10
Swim	overall	00:45:22	Anton Storm	2009-04-05
Bike	overall	04:19:41	Raynard Tissink	2011-04-10
Run	overall	02:45:48	Gerrit Schellens	2007-03-18
Total	female	08:33:56	Chrissie Wellington	2011-04-10
Swim	female	00:47:40	Lucie Reed	2009-04-05
Bike	female	04:45:23	Chrissie Wellington	2011-04-10
Run	female	02:52:54	Chrissie Wellington	2011-04-10

Course Rating

The Course Rating for IM South Africa is 01:04.

The course has changed a bit this year – the bike course stays closer to the coast which might make it windier but also a lot less hilly than in previous years. Race conditions in South Africa depend a lot on the weather conditions, but the course changes could lead to fast times this year.

Race Adjustments for IM South Africa

Year	Adjustment	Swim Adj.	Bike Adj.	Run Adj.	# of Finishers	Rating	Swim Rating	Bike Rating	Run Rating
2006	-01:26	-05:28	-04:11	-00:35	28	-01:26	-05:28	-04:11	-00:35
2007	-04:39	-09:34	01:28	-01:26	33	-03:02	-07:31	-01:21	-01:01
2008	17:34	00:30	08:46	02:17	36	03:50	-04:51	02:01	00:05
2009	15:12	01:24	08:39	-02:45	28	06:40	-03:17	03:41	-00:37
2010	07:58	-00:52	07:52	01:19	34	06:56	-02:48	04:31	-00:14
2011	12:20	-00:23	13:11	02:18	36	07:50	-02:24	05:58	00:11
2012	-12:35	-09:02	-09:35	02:23	28	04:55	-03:21	03:44	00:30
2013	06:23	-01:48	09:45	02:52	36 of 44	05:06	-03:09	04:29	00:48
2014	-15:12	-01:35	-12:29	-01:16	29 of 40	02:51	-02:59	02:36	00:34
2015	-14:53	-01:24	-11:40	00:29	49 of 61	01:04	-02:49	01:11	00:34

KPR points and Prize Money

IM South Africa is a P-4000 race. It has a total prize purse of 150.000 US$ and automatic Kona slots for the male and female winners.

Male Race Participants

Rank	Bib	Name	Nation	Expected Time	Rating	Exp. Swim	Exp. Bike	Exp. Run	Overall
1	8	Bas Diederen	NED	08:20:56	08:29:00	00:49:45	04:32:33	02:53:37	18
2	2	Ronnie Schildknecht	SUI	08:20:59	08:30:44	00:53:51	04:31:45	02:50:23	20
3	4	Matt Trautman	ZAF	08:24:36	08:36:07	00:52:16	04:34:48	02:52:32	35
4	19	James Cunnama	ZAF	08:29:27	08:34:11	00:51:36	04:36:46	02:56:05	32
5	14	Kyle Buckingham	ZAF	08:30:30	08:39:04	00:50:56	04:33:55	03:00:38	49
6	7	Tim Van Berkel	AUS	08:31:23	08:38:02	00:51:29	04:40:50	02:54:04	45
7	3	Boris Stein	GER	08:32:28	08:31:35	00:57:26	04:36:06	02:53:56	23
8	22	Alessandro Degasperi	ITA	08:32:28	08:39:03	00:54:31	04:43:26	02:49:31	48
9	5	Victor Del Corral	ESP	08:34:40	08:35:18	00:57:56	04:40:58	02:50:46	34
10	27	Christian Kramer	GER	08:35:34	08:39:36	00:50:18	04:39:14	03:01:03	53
11	6	Ben Hoffman	USA	08:35:46	08:36:22	00:51:10	04:36:14	03:03:22	38
12	45	Andrej Vistica	CRO	08:38:31	08:45:57	00:54:42	04:38:02	03:00:47	71
13	9	Mike Aigroz	SUI	08:38:38	08:44:36	00:50:20	04:41:39	03:01:39	63
14	44	Jan Van Berkel	SUI	08:39:41	08:48:52	00:50:21	04:37:23	03:06:57	79
15	38	David Plese	SLO	08:40:03	08:39:27	00:54:53	04:42:21	02:57:49	52
16	10	Marko Albert	EST	08:40:18	08:37:59	00:49:25	04:42:49	03:03:04	44
17	37	Jens Petersen-Bach	DEN	08:41:42	08:42:51	00:53:09	04:47:34	02:56:00	58
18	42	Darby Thomas	FIN	08:43:50	08:51:14	01:01:15	04:41:33	02:56:02	87
19	35	Mark Oude Bennink	NED	08:44:23	08:55:41	00:50:41	04:44:47	03:03:54	110
20	12	Stephen Bayliss	GBR	08:45:23	08:51:07	00:49:59	04:46:07	03:04:18	86
21	17	Ben Collins	USA	08:48:01	08:59:42	00:53:21	04:44:01	03:05:40	(124)
22	43	Markus Thomschke	GER	08:51:06	08:59:10	00:55:40	04:38:09	03:12:17	119
23	11	Nick Baldwin	SEY	08:54:28	09:09:06	00:55:19	04:48:20	03:05:48	165
24	34	Andreas Niedrig	GER	08:55:19	09:04:45	00:50:05	04:38:23	03:21:51	145
25	20	Michael Davidson	ZAF	08:55:51	09:02:06	00:58:03	04:53:31	02:59:16	(132)
26	28	Freddy Lampret	ZAF	09:01:57	09:31:35	00:54:31	04:47:26	03:15:00	255
27	26	Olivier Godart	LUX	09:06:27	09:18:33	00:57:28	04:59:51	03:04:09	(210)
28	32	Tomas Mika	CZE	09:06:42	09:09:53	00:57:39	05:02:44	03:01:19	170
29	29	Cedric Lassonde	FRA	09:09:10	09:11:20	00:58:27	04:51:57	03:13:47	175
30	39	Ivan Risti	ITA	09:10:14	09:17:13	00:51:34	05:00:15	03:13:25	201
31	16	Greg Close	USA	09:10:22	09:16:50	01:01:16	04:57:45	03:06:21	197
32	31	Felipe De Oliveira Manente	BRA	09:15:16	09:27:26	00:55:46	05:03:42	03:10:48	235
33	41	Oliver Simon	GBR	09:21:50	09:27:36	00:51:26	04:54:56	03:30:28	238
34	24	Lewis Elliot	USA	09:23:07	09:43:46	00:56:51	04:52:46	03:28:30	(302)
35	30	Frederic Limousin	FRA	09:32:23	09:42:01	00:56:49	05:06:08	03:24:26	(295)
36	15	Emanuele Ciotti	ITA	09:33:18	09:43:24	00:54:49	05:06:52	03:26:37	(300)
37	21	Gerhard De Bruin	ZAF	09:41:47	09:49:28	00:56:58	05:07:51	03:31:59	(322)
38	46	Eric Watson	AUS	09:51:56	10:05:02	00:52:48	05:10:17	03:43:51	(369)
39	47	Ruedi Wild	SUI	10:41:58	11:02:44	00:52:36	04:52:12	04:52:10	(472)
40	13	Simon Brierley	SEY	10:45:41	10:53:40	01:02:41	05:28:36	04:09:24	(471)
41	33	Marek Nemcik	SVK	11:41:45	12:09:08	01:15:30	05:47:18	04:33:56	477
	23	Thomas De Schutter	BEL	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	25	Frederic Garcia	FRA	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)

Female Race Participants

Rank	Bib	Name	Nation	Exp. Time	Rating	Exp. Swim	Exp. Bike	Exp. Run	Overall
1	48	Jodie Swallow	GBR	09:12:33	09:19:52	00:50:43	05:02:18	03:14:32	(15)
2	49	Lucy Gossage	GBR	09:15:16	09:17:42	01:00:39	05:02:07	03:07:30	10
3	50	Susie Cheetham	GBR	09:18:09	09:17:03	00:57:56	05:11:53	03:03:20	7
4	64	Diana Riesler	GER	09:20:16	09:26:27	00:59:51	04:58:48	03:16:36	22
5	52	Corinne Abraham	GBR	09:20:21	09:21:15	01:01:50	05:04:50	03:08:41	16
6	69	Amanda Stevens	USA	09:26:15	09:30:05	00:53:44	05:11:50	03:15:41	26
7	53	Annabel Luxford	AUS	09:26:24	09:27:37	00:54:14	05:03:48	03:23:21	(24)
8	61	Kaisa Lehtonen	FIN	09:27:39	09:40:13	00:56:21	05:14:11	03:12:07	(45)
9	62	Asa Lundstroem	SWE	09:31:48	09:32:47	01:03:14	05:08:23	03:15:11	32
10	65	Darbi Roberts	USA	09:36:32	09:46:19	00:55:03	05:16:27	03:20:02	(57)
11	66	Daniela Saemmler	GER	09:37:24	09:40:07	00:58:09	05:12:25	03:21:50	44
12	57	Dede Griesbauer	USA	09:42:52	09:56:48	00:55:12	05:11:49	03:30:51	81
13	68	Bianca Steurer	AUT	09:47:55	09:54:52	00:59:49	05:25:59	03:17:08	74
14	60	Katja Konschak	GER	09:49:53	09:59:46	00:55:18	05:29:08	03:20:26	88
15	58	Katharina Grohmann	GER	09:58:41	10:06:21	01:13:58	05:21:31	03:18:12	98
16	56	Annett Finger	GER	10:03:24	10:16:45	01:09:59	05:23:25	03:25:00	(121)
17	70	Verena Walter	GER	10:04:05	10:08:01	01:02:35	05:22:57	03:33:33	103
18	55	Mariana Andrade	BRA	10:06:06	10:23:09	01:03:44	05:19:22	03:38:00	142
19	67	Lina-Kristin Schink	GER	10:09:05	10:13:20	01:14:19	05:24:31	03:25:15	116
20	54	Rahel Bellinga	NED	10:35:42	10:38:53	01:06:29	05:20:06	04:04:07	170
21	59	Claire Horner	ZAF	10:39:37	10:52:26	01:03:59	05:39:26	03:51:11	(177)
	71	Annah Watkinson	ZAF	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)

Winning Odds

Male Race Participants

After Jan Frodeno had to cancel his start in South Africa, the race is much more open. Based on previous results Ronnie Schildknecht and Bas Diederen are a step ahead of the rest, but there are 20 athletes that I expect to finish within 25 minutes so a lot can happen on race day. I’m sure that the South African athletes will be working extra hard for a podium spot (if not the very top spot), and it’ll be very interesting to follow Matt Trainman, James Cunnama and Kyle Buckingham on race day. Then there are a number of international athletes that could also do well:

• Ronnie Schildknecht: 30% (2-1)
• Bas Diederen: 25% (3-1)
• Matt Trautman: 9% (10-1)
• James Cunnama: 7% (13-1)
• Jan Van Berkel: 5% (18-1)
• Ben Hoffman: 5% (19-1)
• Kyle Buckingham: 4% (23-1)
• Tim Van Berkel: 4% (27-1)

Female Race Participants

Based on the performance she showed last year, Jodie Swallow is the front runner in the women’s race. She faces strong competition by her British compatriots Corinne Abraham (hopefully back to racing healthy), Lucy Gossage (hopefully recovered from racing IM New Zealand) and Susie Cheetham (probably not quite at 100% after breaking her arm at 70.3 South Africa in January).

• Jodie Swallow: 40% (1-1)
• Corinne Abraham: 20% (4-1)
• Lucy Gossage: 19% (4-1)
• Diana Riesler: 11% (8-1)
• Susie Cheetham: 5% (20-1)
• Amanda Stevens: 4% (23-1)

Race Conditions

The 2016 conditions were quite favorable for fast times, hardly any wind, cloudy on the bike and not too hot on the run – probably the best they have been in recent years (adjustment of 9:06, new course rating of 5:36). There have been some very fast times on the bike: The old women’s course record was 5:01 which was beaten by five athletes – Lucy Gossage now has the new record of 4:51:39. There has also been a new male bike course record of 4:22:31 by Dougal Allen, improving Bevan Docherty’s old record by more than twelve minutes! We’ve also seen a new run course record by Matt Hanson (2:41:20).

But it is interesting to note that while the winners had good bike times (still under the old records), they left enough in the tank for some great runs as well – Cam Brown running the second fastest 2:44 marathon and Meredith Kessler running a new run PR and run course record of 3:06:03. Getting the mix right allowed both of them to post new overall course records of 8:07:58 by Cam (improving Bevan’s  8:15 from 2013) and 8:56:08 by Meredith – the first sub-9 in Taupo, improving on last year’s 9:05.

Male Race Results

As usual Dylan McNeice was leading after the swim, but he struggled a bit after racing in Wanaka two weeks ago, eventually DNF’ing on the run. On the bike a large front group of more than ten athletes formed, only Cyril Viennot managed to build a bit of a lead into T2. Some slower swimmers were able to cut down the distance to the front group, so the race was wide open at the start of the run.

Callum Millward was pushing the pace early on, and only Cam Brown was able to stay with him. Cam was able to build a gap around the 30k mark but for a long time Callum stayed within a minute of Cam. Cam proved that he perfectly judged his effort, winning for the 12th time at IM New Zealand with a new course record – what a legend!

Second place went to Joe Skipper who had some gas left in the tank for the last 10k. After fighting for the win for most of the day, Callum Millward had to be content with third place. Fourth place went to the fastest runner of the day, Matt Hanson who posted a new run course record of 2:41:20 – faster than all the 2015 IM marathons! As usual Matt Russell also had a good run, allowing him to move from 11th place in T2 into 5th place.

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected	Prize Money
1	Cameron Brown	NZL	00:48:37	04:29:13	02:44:54	08:07:58	-14:16	US$ 14000
2	Joe Skipper	GBR	00:53:11	04:25:11	02:45:51	08:09:37	-18:31	US$ 7000
3	Callum Millward	NZL	00:46:49	04:31:13	02:48:01	08:10:57	-11:14	US$ 4500
4	Matt Hanson	USA	00:51:34	04:34:42	02:41:20	08:12:30	-22:28	US$ 3000
5	Matthew Russell	USA	00:56:23	04:28:28	02:45:10	08:15:25	-23:31	US$ 2500
6	Terenzo Bozzone	NZL	00:46:46	04:31:27	02:56:55	08:19:53	-06:25	US$ 2000
7	Dougal Allan	NZL	00:56:26	04:22:13	03:00:43	08:24:27	02:33	US$ 1500
8	Cyril Viennot	FRA	00:48:38	04:26:50	03:06:38	08:27:36	02:22	US$ 1250
9	Simon Cochrane	NZL	00:48:32	04:32:28	03:02:08	08:28:13	-26:35	US$ 1000
10	Mark Bowstead	NZL	00:46:36	04:31:30	03:06:15	08:29:38	n/a	US$ 750
11	Guy Crawford	NZL	00:46:43	04:31:22	03:20:08	08:43:28	-19:56
12	Antony Costes	FRA	00:46:40	04:33:42	03:19:27	08:44:40	n/a
13	Tohara Kaito	JPN	00:49:54	04:51:56	02:56:57	08:45:24	-15:55
14	Clayton Fettell	AUS	00:46:40	04:40:26	03:16:11	08:48:15	22:02
15	Chris Sanson	NZL	00:56:22	04:48:42	03:02:26	08:53:38	-04:32
16	Simon Billeau	FRA		04:38:54	03:15:02	08:54:14	09:22
17	Darren Jenkins	AUS	01:02:44	05:01:10	02:54:12	09:05:06	00:38
18	Young Hwan Oh	KOR	00:59:18	04:56:46	03:07:20	09:09:43	-1:20:18
19	Sam Clark	NZL	00:56:19	04:56:23	03:28:01	09:27:41	26:07
20	Brad Williams	USA	00:53:12	04:47:47	03:45:38	09:32:59	03:37
21	Matt Randall	NZL	00:57:51	05:00:03	03:45:18	09:49:37	09:31
	Alex Reithmeier	AUS	00:48:42	04:43:43		DNF
	Dylan McNeice	NZL	00:44:54	04:48:47		DNF
	Michael Poole	AUS	00:48:40	04:47:36		DNF
	Paul Matthews	AUS	00:46:41	04:50:42		DNF
	Daniel garry Brown	AUS	01:00:58	05:51:32		DNF
	Swen Sundberg	GER	00:53:09			DNF
	David Naesvik	SWE	00:53:45			DNF

Female Race Results

IM rookie Lauren Brandon had the fastest swim – her 46:00 moved her well into the leading male Pros. While she was quicker than the course record swim of Monica Byrn (nee Kaplan), Lauren wasn’t able to finish the race and couldn’t claim a new course record.

Meredith Kessler was second out of the water and quickly took the lead on the bike. The lead quickly extended to around 8 minutes but the fast bike riders Lucy Gossage and Laura Siddall worked to cut it down to about two minutes in T2. But MBK quickly showed that she wasn’t ready to relinquish her grip on the New Zealand title and posted the fastest run for a sub-9 finish and new course record – her fifth consecutive win at IM New Zealand. (Her first was the shortened 2012 race.)

Behind Meredith, Laura was the best runner at the start, but then her race from two week ago caught up with her and she eventually dropped to fourth place. Second place went to Lucy Gossage who had some issues early in the run but ended up two minutes ahead of Carrie Lester who had the second best run to claim third. Amanda Stevens had another solid race with a good run in fifth place.

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected	Prize Money
1	Meredith Kessler	USA	00:47:49	04:56:40	03:06:03	08:56:08	-14:09	US$ 14000
2	Lucy Gossage	GBR	00:55:45	04:51:39	03:12:10	09:05:08	-04:03	US$ 7000
3	Carrie Lester	AUS	00:52:14	05:01:22	03:08:13	09:07:19	-14:52	US$ 4500
4	Laura Siddall	GBR	00:55:38	04:53:11	03:14:53	09:09:08	-25:31	US$ 3000
5	Amanda Stevens	USA	00:50:44	05:05:38	03:10:29	09:12:50	-09:08	US$ 2500
6	Michelle Bremer	NZL	00:55:32	05:00:10	03:14:14	09:15:43	-16:32	US$ 2000
7	Mareen Hufe	GER	00:59:26	04:55:28	03:15:52	09:16:53	-10:14	US$ 1500
8	Gina Crawford	NZL	00:50:47	05:12:42	03:22:30	09:32:51	18:39	US$ 1250
9	Candice Hammond	NZL	01:01:59	05:13:44	03:14:37	09:35:36	08:07	US$ 1000
10	Vanessa Murray	NZL	00:52:17	05:16:43	03:24:08	09:39:16	n/a	US$ 750
11	Melanie Burke	NZL	00:59:29	05:15:47	03:27:35	09:49:12	09:37
12	Marina Jurjevic	AUS	01:04:14	05:16:46	03:39:08	10:07:31	08:01
13	Tracy Morrison	AUS	00:59:21	05:41:33	03:29:47	10:16:37	n/a
14	Kristy Hallett	AUS	00:59:58	05:29:32	03:42:56	10:19:37	09:02
15	Larisa Cochrane	NZL	00:55:48	05:19:08	04:28:49	10:50:16	n/a
16	Caroline Martineau	CAN	01:02:04	06:06:17	04:48:59	12:10:49	1:05:58
	Lauren Brandon	USA	00:46:00	05:17:01		DNF
	Lisa Marangon	AUS	00:52:22	05:12:40		DNF
	Kate Bevilaqua	AUS	00:52:19	05:17:12		DNF
	Keiko Tanaka	JPN	00:52:16	05:41:36		DNF
	Jocelyn Mccauley	USA	00:55:46			DNF

Update Feb 29th: There have been a few changes to the latest startlist: Per Bittner, Johan Borg and Mackenzie Madison won’t be racing.

Previous Winners

Year	Male Winner	Time	Female Winner	Time
2005	Cameron Brown (NZL)	08:20:15	Joanna Lawn (NZL)	09:30:14
2007	Cameron Brown (NZL)	08:26:33	Joanna Lawn (NZL)	09:20:02
2008	Cameron Brown (NZL)	08:24:49	Joanna Lawn (NZL)	09:16:00
2009	Cameron Brown (NZL)	08:18:05	Gina Crawford (NZL)	09:18:26
2010	Cameron Brown (NZL)	08:21:52	Joanna Lawn (NZL)	09:14:35
2011	Cameron Brown (NZL)	08:31:07	Samantha Warriner (NZL)	09:28:24
2013	Bevan Docherty (NZL)	08:15:35	Meredith Kessler (USA)	09:17:10
2014	Marko Albert (EST)	08:17:33	Meredith Kessler (USA)	09:08:46
2015	Cameron Brown (NZL)	08:22:13	Meredith Kessler (USA)	09:05:45

Last Year’s TOP 3

Male Race Results

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time
1	Cameron Brown	NZL	00:50:02	04:37:39	02:49:08	08:22:13
2	Terenzo Bozzone	NZL	00:47:04	04:41:08	02:55:51	08:28:53
3	Dylan McNeice	NZL	00:44:26	04:53:27	02:54:24	08:38:05

Female Race Results

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time
1	Meredith Kessler	USA	00:49:36	05:04:29	03:07:18	09:05:45
2	Gina Crawford	NZL	00:51:25	05:16:55	03:11:13	09:26:11
3	Melanie Burke	NZL	01:02:46	05:12:19	03:20:29	09:41:51

Course Records

Leg	Gender	Record	Athlete	Date
Total	overall	08:15:35	Bevan Docherty	2013-03-02
Swim	overall	00:44:26	Dylan McNeice	2015-03-07
Bike	overall	04:35:06	Bevan Docherty	2013-03-02
Run	overall	02:43:10	Cameron Brown	2009-03-07
Total	female	09:05:45	Meredith Kessler	2015-03-07
Swim	female	00:46:30	Monica Byrn	2005-05-03
Bike	female	05:01:17	Emi Shiono	2008-03-01
Run	female	03:01:06	Mirinda Carfrae	2011-03-05

Course Rating

The Course Rating for IM New Zealand is 05:09.

Race Adjustments for IM New Zealand

Year	Adjustment	Swim Adj.	Bike Adj.	Run Adj.	# of Finishers	Rating	Swim Rating	Bike Rating	Run Rating
2007	08:39	00:56	-00:21	06:30	24	08:39	00:56	-00:21	06:30
2008	09:27	01:37	02:46	04:33	36	09:03	01:16	01:13	05:31
2009	08:06	-00:01	03:19	03:03	38	08:44	00:51	01:55	04:42
2010	06:18	01:04	04:33	03:28	22	08:07	00:54	02:34	04:23
2011	-02:24	00:31	00:28	-00:58	24	06:01	00:49	02:09	03:19
2013	00:41	00:44	04:11	01:23	24	05:08	00:49	02:29	03:00
2014	03:02	01:04	00:00	02:29	31 of 41	04:50	00:51	02:08	02:55
2015	07:25	01:11	04:04	05:10	22 of 27	05:09	00:53	02:23	03:12

KPR points and Prize Money

IM New Zealand 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	1	Cameron Brown	NZL	08:24:03	08:35:34	00:49:51	04:39:23	02:49:50	33
2	9	Dougal Allan	NZL	08:26:33	08:35:30	00:58:20	04:27:54	02:55:19	32
3	4	Cyril Viennot	FRA	08:27:19	08:33:47	00:49:36	04:38:58	02:53:46	26
4	2	Terenzo Bozzone	NZL	08:29:35	08:34:44	00:46:52	04:41:53	02:55:50	29
5	7	Paul Matthews	AUS	08:30:01	08:38:31	00:46:04	04:40:03	02:58:54	45
6	21	Callum Millward	NZL	08:30:28	08:45:56	00:47:47	04:43:17	02:54:24	(69)
7	29	Joe Skipper	GBR	08:32:45	08:41:33	00:53:12	04:37:33	02:56:59	54
8	5	Matt Hanson	USA	08:33:21	08:43:16	00:53:17	04:46:54	02:48:09	59
9	18	Clayton Fettell	AUS	08:34:27	08:50:43	00:44:51	04:38:18	03:06:17	(86)
10	6	Per Bittner	GER	08:36:59	08:42:16	00:48:53	04:42:03	03:01:03	56
11	26	Matthew Russell	USA	08:38:32	08:47:17	00:56:25	04:41:41	02:55:26	74
12	3	Dylan McNeice	NZL	08:41:49	08:50:22	00:44:50	04:49:25	03:02:33	84
13	8	Alex Reithmeier	AUS	08:44:01	08:58:17	00:50:06	04:45:48	03:03:07	(115)
14	11	Simon Billeau	FRA	08:50:51	09:04:36	00:53:47	04:41:29	03:10:34	145
15	30	Swen Sundberg	GER	08:52:32	08:53:36	00:52:20	04:47:44	03:07:29	98
16	22	David Naesvik	SWE	08:53:21	09:02:17	00:54:36	04:44:53	03:08:51	132
17	31	Tohara Kaito	JPN	08:55:54	09:15:40	00:52:44	04:58:59	02:59:11	194
18	16	Simon Cochrane	NZL	08:56:16	09:08:48	00:50:38	04:55:54	03:04:43	162
19	17	Guy Crawford	NZL	08:57:05	09:17:44	00:48:23	04:43:03	03:20:39	206
20	27	Chris Sanson	NZL	08:59:02	09:12:38	00:56:00	04:54:56	03:03:06	180
21	20	Cedric Lassonde	FRA	09:05:01	09:11:20	00:55:03	04:52:39	03:12:19	174
22	12	Johan Borg	AUS	09:06:44	09:29:12	00:55:30	04:56:33	03:09:40	244
23	15	Sam Clark	NZL	09:11:20	09:27:50	00:56:40	05:00:24	03:09:15	(242)
24	19	Darren Jenkins	AUS	09:13:59	09:19:11	01:04:37	05:01:41	03:02:40	210
25	32	Brad Williams	USA	09:25:25	09:44:49	00:56:09	05:01:26	03:22:50	307
26	25	Matt Randall	NZL	09:50:23	10:07:55	00:58:41	04:58:33	03:48:09	(389)
27	23	Young Hwan Oh	KOR	10:39:31	11:05:14	01:01:59	05:24:08	04:08:24	(478)
28	14	Daniel Brown	AUS	10:50:23	11:30:56	01:03:42	05:36:34	04:05:07	(483)
	10	Antony Costes	FRA	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	13	Mark Bowstead	NZL	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	24	Michael Poole	AUS	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)

Female Race Participants

Rank	Bib	Name	Nation	Exp. Time	Rating	Exp. Swim	Exp. Bike	Exp. Run	Overall
1	40	Meredith Kessler	USA	09:06:48	09:19:19	00:48:32	05:03:07	03:10:09	14
2	41	Gina Crawford	NZL	09:16:48	09:35:11	00:51:15	05:11:16	03:09:17	37
3	47	Lucy Gossage	GBR	09:17:24	09:18:22	00:57:54	05:07:08	03:07:22	12
4	46	Carrie Lester	AUS	09:21:50	09:31:25	00:53:32	05:09:30	03:13:47	26
5	43	Amanda Stevens	USA	09:25:12	09:31:17	00:50:34	05:13:43	03:15:55	25
6	54	Candice Hammond	NZL	09:28:16	09:42:57	01:00:27	05:12:06	03:10:43	(49)
7	45	Mareen Hufe	GER	09:30:26	09:36:30	00:59:44	05:04:32	03:21:10	39
8	62	Laura Siddall	GBR	09:30:37	09:49:44	00:56:47	05:07:04	03:21:46	63
9	55	Jennie Hansen	USA	09:36:33	09:45:53	01:03:08	05:19:01	03:09:24	(52)
10	44	Michelle Bremer	NZL	09:38:56	09:47:26	00:57:11	05:15:41	03:21:04	57
11	57	Lisa Marangon	AUS	09:41:07	10:02:39	00:53:23	05:11:51	03:30:53	(90)
12	48	Mackenzie Madison	USA	09:41:10	09:49:27	00:57:50	05:18:16	03:20:04	61
13	42	Melanie Burke	NZL	09:42:07	09:49:31	01:04:39	05:13:55	03:18:33	62
14	49	Kate Bevilaqua	AUS	09:45:17	09:58:50	00:54:49	05:19:49	03:25:39	85
15	63	Keiko Tanaka	JPN	09:55:03	10:06:12	00:54:34	05:29:32	03:25:57	99
16	59	Jocelyn Mccauley	USA	09:55:34	10:16:37	00:58:50	05:30:45	03:21:00	(121)
17	51	Anna Cleaver	NZL	09:58:43	10:22:15	00:52:37	05:26:00	03:35:06	138
18	58	Caroline Martineau	CAN	10:09:37	10:23:21	01:02:17	05:31:17	03:31:03	143
19	56	Marina Jurjevic	AUS	10:09:57	10:21:59	01:05:30	05:21:37	03:37:50	(136)
20	53	Kristy Hallett	AUS	10:12:28	10:27:15	01:02:03	05:24:26	03:40:59	158
	50	Lauren Brandon	USA	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	52	Larisa Cochrane	NZL	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	60	Tracy Morrison	AUS	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)
	61	Vanessa Murray	NZL	n/a	unrated	unrated	unrated	unrated	(n/a)

Winning Odds

Male Race Participants

If there is a favorite among the strong field, it has to be Cameron Brown who has won this race 11(!) times. It is hard to choose a second tier, based on the previous results my picks are Cyril Viennot (5th and 6th in Kona), Matt Hanson (winner of IM Texas but crashed in Kona) and Dougal Allen (recent winner of Challenge Wanaka). Paul Matthews has been struggling a bit in his last races and will be looking for a good start to 2016 racing. Even the athletes with comparatively small statistical odds are very good athletes: Matthew Russell (always with a strong run split), Joe Skipper and Dylan McNeice (looking for a good result after Wanaka), or Terenzo Bozzone (always about to break through over the IM distance).

• Cameron Brown: 21% (4-1)
• Cyril Viennot: 19% (4-1)
• Matt Hanson: 15% (5-1)
• Dougal Allan: 15% (6-1)
• Paul Matthews: 9% (11-1)
• Matthew Russell: 5% (17-1)
• Joe Skipper: 5% (21-1)
• Dylan McNeice: 3% (31-1)
• Terenzo Bozzone: 3% (33-1)

Female Race Participants

3-time defending Champion Meredith Kessler is the clear favorite on the female side, but with competition such as Carrie Lester (winner of Chattanooga), Gina Crawford (another athlete looking for redemption after a DNF in Wanaka) or Lucy Gossage (winner of IM UK and 10th in Kona) Meredith’s top spot is far from assured.

• Meredith Kessler: 59% (1-1)
• Carrie Lester: 14% (6-1)
• Gina Crawford: 10% (9-1)
• Lucy Gossage: 8% (11-1)

Lauren Brandon could be an interesting IM rookie, with her strong swim and bike she’ll be near the front at least until the early parts of the run.

Race Conditions

As usual, Challenge Wanaka was a tough course. This year conditions changed throughout the day – a choppy swim was followed by a warm windy bike and rain on the run. The overall adjustment was almost the same as last year, but the 2016 bike was slower and the run a bit faster.

Technically, Dylan McNeice’s swim time of 43:30 was faster than his 2015 course record of 45:33, but as the swim was slightly shortened it will probably not count as a new record, even if this year’s swim was only a bit more than a minute faster than last year’s swim.

Male Race Results

As usual, Dylan McNeice was leading after the swim. He held on the lead until Maik Twelsiek took the lead at about 100k. Maik was leading in T2, but Dougal Allen improved his swim time from last year by more than eight minutes, posted the fastest bike ride of the day and was less than four minutes behind Maik in T2. It took him less than 15k to close the gap to Maik, and Dougal ended up winning his first IM-distance race by almost 9 minutes. Maik held on to second place, third place went to Matthew Russell who once more posted the fastest marathon of the day. Defending champion Dylan McNeice was dropped back to fourth, he was almost caught towards the end by Per Bittner who finished fifth.

Joe Skipper was the unfortunate DNF among the pre-race favorites, he had some technical issues after his bike was damaged during his flight to New Zealand. Hopefully he can get it fixed in time for IM New Zealand in two weeks, I’m sure he’ll be even more motivated to do well in Taupo now.
Photo: Dougal Allen celebrates his win, Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected
1	Dougal Allan	NZL	00:54:39	04:36:06	02:57:23	08:31:53	-14:39
2	Maik Twelsiek	GER	00:48:44	04:37:57	03:09:55	08:40:48	-09:17
3	Matthew Russell	USA	00:54:30	04:48:55	02:54:29	08:42:53	-17:12
4	Dylan McNeice	NZL	00:43:30	04:53:46	03:28:51	09:10:29	08:59
5	Per Bittner	GER	00:49:25	04:59:54	03:17:57	09:11:37	19:02
6	Chris Sanson	NZL	00:55:02	05:03:34	03:13:36	09:16:59	-04:19
7	Allister Caird	AUS	00:54:25	05:13:44	03:16:25	09:29:14	n/a
8	Brad Williams	USA	00:54:21	05:17:43	03:32:07	09:50:44	-05:29
9	Dan McGuigan	AUS	01:03:28	05:27:22	03:38:23	10:15:12	10:25
	Graham O’Grady	NZL	00:45:43	05:14:05		DNF
	Sean Donnelly	GER	00:48:40	05:26:10		DNF
	Matt Randall	NZL	00:58:12	05:17:08		DNF
	Joe Skipper	GBR	00:54:29			DNF

Female Race Results

While it wasn’t a surprise to see Anna Cleaver leading the race into T1, Laura Sidall and Yvonne Van Vlerken were in the same group with Gina Crawford just a few seconds behind – both Laura and Yvonne are typically slower swimmers and must have worked hard during the winter. Both quickly stormed to the front and Laura built a small lead into T2. The rest of the field was quite far behind after Gina, Simone Maier and Alyssa Godesky had to withdraw on the bike.

Yvonne proved to be the stronger runner, her race best marathon allowed her to build a margin of three minutes to the finish, but Laura also had a good run, continued to keep the pressure on Yvonne and finished in second place. Age grouper Meredith Hill had the third fastest female finish time, Julia Grant finished third in the Pro ranks.

Photo: Yvonne and Laura congratulate each other after the finish, Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Rank	Name	Nation	Swim	Bike	Run	Time	Diff to expected
1	Yvonne Van Vlerken	NED	00:54:32	05:15:53	03:12:01	09:26:50	-03:25
2	Laura Siddall	GBR	00:54:31	05:12:29	03:19:05	09:30:19	-38:09
3	Julia Grant	NZL	00:58:39	06:03:13	03:32:45	10:39:42	22:08
4	April Gellatly	USA	00:54:51	05:58:34	03:55:45	10:55:05	30:48
5	Rachael Paxton	AUS	00:58:14	05:57:12	04:14:03	11:16:09	n/a
6	Anna Cleaver	NZL	00:54:19	06:01:48	04:19:15	11:22:50	1:11:47
	Gina Crawford	NZL	00:54:30			DNF
	Tamsyn Hayes	NZL	01:00:11			DNF
	Alyssa Godesky	USA	01:01:40			DNF
	Simone Maier	GER	01:04:47			DNF