Career Highlights

• Olympic Champion 2008
• 70.3 World Champion 2015

2015 Season

• 1st 70.3 California, 70.3 Barcelona
• 1st IM Frankfurt 7:49:48
• 1st 70.3 Champs

In his 2014 Ironman races, “Frodo” was forced to deal with problems: Three flats in Frankfurt led to a wheel change and lots of lost time, another flat in Kona was quickly fixed but he incurred a penalty when he went back on the course in the middle of a group. But at IM Frankfurt 2015 everything came together for him. He also showed how to beat Sebi: Frodo had the fastest swim and then hammered a new 4:08 bike course record. Sebi was one minute faster than his old bike CR, but he still lost three minutes to Frodo who sealed up the race with a 2:50 marathon, winning by almost 12 minutes.

Frodo continued his domination by winning the 70.3 Championships in Zell am See – again reaching T2 in front of Sebi and building a dominating lead in the first half of the run.

If Frodo is anywhere close to his summer shape, he’ll be hard to beat in Kona with his strength in all three legs and the flexibility that gives him. But there are very few cases of athletes doing well in a summer IM and also in Kona.

(Photo: Frodo leaving T2 at IM Germany, Credit: TriRating)

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Career Highlights

• 70.3 Champion 2014&15
• Multiple IM Winner (Switzerland, Copenhagen, Germany)
• 2nd Kona 2014
• 2-time Olympian (2008, 2012)

2015 Season

• 1st 70.3 Mallorca, 70.3 Switzerland
• 1st IM Germany 8:51:00 (CR)
• 1st 70.3 Champs 4:11:34

Daniela is going from one amazing win to the next – her second place finish in Kona is the only race she hasn’t won since switching to Ironman racing last summer. Her wins include two 70.3 Championships and a new course record in Frankfurt (8:51 in hot conditions). Daniela has made improvements in every Ironman she has raced so far – her bike power is undisputed, and her run times are getting faster as well, even if her fastest marathon is “only” a 3:06 in the Frankfurt heat. If everything goes right in her Kona build and race, no one would be surprised to see a Chrissie-level domination by Daniela. However, I think that she’ll need to run close the 3-hour mark if she want to win – with a 3:07 marathon (as last year) one of the other strong women on the Kona start line will be able to snatch the win from her.

(Photo: Daniela winning 70.3 Champs. Credit: Delly Carr)

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Career Highlights

• Multiple 70.3 Winner (Norway, Dublin)

2015 Season

• 3rd IM Barcelona 9:03:32
• 3rd IM South Africa 9:33:02
• 1st 70.3 Dublin
• 7th 70.3 Championships

I didn’t know too much about Susie when she was one of the first women to secure a 2015 Kona spot. Since then I’ve had the chance to chat with her and write a longer profile on her on TriRating (“Introducing Susie Cheetham“).

Susie has been racing shorter distances (mainly 70.3s) until she decided to race an Ironman at the end of 2014. She had a spectacular first IM: “Going into the race with no preconceptions meant there wasn’t too much that surprised me. Thankfully it didn’t hurt as much as I thought. If anything, the whole race flew by and I hadn’t expected that.” She finished in third place with a quick time of 9:03, one of the fastest debuts by a British woman. She then decided to race IM South Africa for a chance to secure a Kona spot. She came off the bike in sixth place and then had a great run. “When I heard that my friend Lucy Gossage was in second, I was in fourth. I thought ‘Lucy can’t get on the podium and not me.’ And then I was running and she saw that I was gaining on her and then she ran harder. I think we both ran each other onto the podium.” Her third place finish gave her enough points for a safe Kona slot and she was able to focus on October. Even with the training for Kona, Susie continued to race well in 70.3s, winning 70.3 Dublin and finishing second in Staffordshire and Norway. Her personal highlight of the season has been the 70.3 Championships in Zell am See: “I certainly didn’t think a 7th place was possible when I started the year. To also get a decent result after a debatable 5 min penalty for ‘dangerously cutting in’ on someone, has given me confidence in my current form and confidence that I can compete at that top level.”

She feels that she was able to improve in her Kona build: “I’ve had the opportunity to build up to this one as a full time athlete. In my last two Ironman races I’ve been balancing training alongside work demands. This has been a huge advantage, I am definitely fitter and in better shape as a result of focusing 100% on training and recovering.” Physically and mentally she seems to be ready for Kona: “As with any Ironman there are so many limiters, that’s what attracts people to the sport. Kona adds in a few more limiters with the heat, the strongest competition of the year, an (apparently) long swim which challenges even the best and most experienced of athletes. I’ve tried to prepare for those factors as much as possible by training in the heat and mentally preparing different factors.”

With her slower swim, she’s used to be a bit behind on the swim and keep focused on the bike: “Mentally it’s a tough race. I think a lot of people get psyched out in a race where there are 20 girls ahead of them but they’ve spent the rest of the year pushing the pace at the front of the race. You need to be prepared for all eventualities and not convince yourself early in the race that it’s not your day!” Her best leg will definitely be the run and she’d love to continue to improve in order to run sub-3 in Kona. With that kind of run speed, a lot is possible for Susie, maybe even a Top 10. But Susie doesn’t get carried away by any specific place: “There are so many factors on the day that will impact on others performances as well as your own that make the outcome too difficult to predict…especially as a Kona rookie!”

(Photos: Susie in Zell Am See, Credit: Trimax Hebdo; Susie and Lucy Gossage after 70.3 Staffordshire, Credit: Alice Hector)

This is an excerpt from my free “Kona Rating Report” – 150+ pages with tons of information about the Kona Pro races!

Career Highlights

• Winner IM UK 2010

2015 Season

• 2nd IM Wales 9:07:00
• 19th IM South Africa 9:07:13
• 6th 70.3 Kraichgau
• 2nd IM UK 8:51:06
• 11th 70.3 Dublin
• 7th 70.3 Indonesia

Fraser has had pretty much instant success when he stepped up to the Ironman distance, winning his debut Ironman in 2010. He made it to Kona that year, finishing 29th: “I spent a full month on the island leading into the race, which I feel was too long. I became stale and probably a little drained by the conditions on the island.” The following seasons were not quite what he was hoping for, it wasn’t before this season that he was able to make another serious attempt to race at the Ironman distance and to qualify for Kona. It started well with a second place at IM Wales after a good battle with Matt Trainman. He raced IM South Africa but struggled a bit with a 19th place finish, and a 13th at 70.3 Pays d’Aix didn’t add too many points. He was getting into form for the summer (6th at 70.3 Kraichgau in a strong field) and finished second at his “home” IM in Bolton. “Without doubt my season highlight. It was my goal race for ’15 and given I led the race for quite some time on the marathon it was a fun day. My mate David McNamee had a superb day and if I wasn’t going to win, I was glad he did that day.” Still that left him 125 points behind Luke Bell who received the last July slot.

While he was hoping to avoid having to do another full distance Ironman, he still wanted to make it to Kona: “It was a case of wanting to be back on the island to race rather than spectate as I have done the last 3 trips. The atmosphere is quite simply unlike any other race out there. Also, I genuinely believe it is the only race that truly matters. It is generally what people will ask me about and it is also important from a sponsor perspective, in my opinion.” His first try to add points was 70.3 Dublin, but a flat left him far behind, finishing in 11th place for only adding 85 points. He was very much troubled by the uncertainty, so rather that follow the racing and see others race him out of the slots, he decided to travel to Indonesia and race the P-750 70.3 there. In the end, his 7th place there wasn’t really needed for a Kona slot, so a lot of worries were unnecessary after all.

Rather than repeat the extended Kona trip from 2010, Faser decided “to train in Fuerteventura which I feel has many similar characteristics to Kona but perhaps without the same humidity/heat combo. Hopefully it will have been a useful place to do my final prep and time will tell!” He was part of a group that prepared with Andy Raelert, so it certainly wasn’t a vacation he spent on the Canary island. Similar to a lot of others, his race will be decided on the marathon: “If I am healthy and ready to race to my potential then I believe I can swim and ride towards the front portion / third of the race. Of course there are plenty factors that can limit this – not least the heat, wind and nutrition on the day. Being able to continue to make good progress on the marathon ensures all of that beforehand is worth it. I will aim for a Top 20 result and given my own qualification scenario, I would be more than happy to achieve that.” 

(Photo: Fraser on the bike at 70.3 Kraichgau, Credit: Ingo Kutsche, supplied by Fraser)

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