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Preliminary Startlists for Challenge Dubai 2015 (February 27th)

Challenge Dubai

Here’s a look at the preliminary startlists for Challenge Dubai (also showing how the participants did in Challenge Bahrain last December). Dubai has a prize purse of $300.000 paying ten deep, with each winner earning $65.000.

Update Feb21st: Unfortunately, there were a few withdrawals from the race – most notably Andreas Dreitz, Jan Frodeno and Mel Hauschildt. But there are also some interesting additions to the field, such as Ivan Rana, Richie Cunningham or Will Clarke.

Male Race Participants

There are quite a lot of notable additions to the Bahrain field, among them are Javier Gomez, Jan Frodeno (who was a DNS last December), Terenzo Bozzone, Luke McKenzie, Andy Potts, and Bart Aeronauts. From the Bahrain Top 10 only Tim Don, Jeff Symonds and Luke Bell are not returning – probably Dubai does not fit well into their season planning.

Bib Name Nation Bahrain Finish
1 Raelert, Michael GER 1
2 Dreitz, Andreas GER 2
3 Reed, Timothy AUS 3
4 Cunnama, James ZAF 6
5 Llanos, Eneko ESP 5
6 Cigana, Massimo ITA 8
7 Van Berkel, Tim AUS 10
8 Gomez, Javier ESP
9 Frodeno, Jan GER  
10 Bozzone, Terenzo NZL
11 McKenzie, Luke AUS
12 Potts, Andy USA
13 Jacobs, Pete AUS 26
14 Aernouts, Bart BEL
15 Griffin, Leon AUS
16 Kahlefeldt, Brad AUS 11
17 Nicholls, Ritchie GBR DNF
18 Petraeus, Rasmus DEN 31
19 Ambrose, Paul GBR
20 Schramm, Till GER 23
21 Weiss, Michael AUT
22 O’Donnell, Timothy USA DNF
23 Bittner, Per GER
24 Passuello, Domenico ITA
25 Hoffman, Ben USA  
26 Fachbach, Markus GER
27 Ospaly, Filip CZE
28 Reichel, Horst GER
29 Wild, Ruedi SUI
30 Butterfield, Tyler BMU DNF
31 Gambles, Joe AUS
32 Clavel, Maurice GER
33 Wurtele, Trevor CAN
34 Molinari, Giulio ITA
35 Sudrie, Sylvain FRA  
36 Baertsch, Mauro SUI 22
37 Banti, Herve MCO
38 Brandt-Joergensen, Niels DEN
39 Cartmell, Fraser GBR
40 Csoke, Balazs HUN
41 Duncan, Robert USA
42 Fernandez, Nicolas FRA
43 Godart, Olivier LUX 19
44 Halksworth, Daniel GBR
45 Hryhoryeu, Mikita POL
46 Jensen, Martin DEN
47 Kastelein, Nick AUS  
48 Knossalla, Matthias GER
49 Kueng, Manuel SUI
50 Lange, Patrick DEU
51 Liebelt, Markus DEU
52 Mcnamee, David GBR
53 Murphy, Michael AUS
54 Nikitin, Evgeniy RUS
55 Oriet, Gilian SUI
56 Plese, David SLO 20
57 Rix, Joshua AUS
58 Ruenz, Michael GER
59 Schreiner, Frank DEU
60 Skipper, Joe GBR
61 Skipworth, Todd AUS
62 Van Berkel, Jan SUI
63 Watson, Eric AUS 18
64 Wojt, Lukasz POL
65 Wyss, Rafael SUI
66 Rana, Ivan ESP
67 Matthews, Paul AUS
68 Cunningham, Richie AUS
69 Del Corral, Victor ESP
110 Amorelli, Victor BRA
111 Steen Ollesen, Allan DEN
112 Franklin, Matt NZL
113 Petersen-Bach, Jens DEN
114 Sowinski, Milosz POL
115 Clarke, Will GBR

Female Race Participants

As for the men, there are great additions to the Bahrain field, Daniela Ryf, Yvonne Van Vlerken, Leanda Cave, Michelle Vesterby, Heather Wurtele, Anja Beranek , Eva Wutti and Svenja Bazlen are some of the added contenders for one of the money spots. From the Bahrain Top 10 Rachel Joyce, Angela Naeth, and Jodie Stimpson are not returning.

Bib Name Nation Bahrain Finish
70 Frederiksen, Helle DEN 1
71 Swallow, Jodie GBR 3
72 Luxford, Annabel AUS 4
73 Hauschildt, Melissa AUS 6
74 Steffen, Caroline SUI 7
75 Pedersen, Camilla DEN 9
76 Kessler, Meredith USA 10
77 Ryf, Daniela SUI
78 Vodickova, Radka CZE DNF
79 Van Vlerken, Yvonne NED
80 Cave, Leanda GBR
81 Vesterby, Michelle DEN
82 Wurtele, Heather CAN
83 Beranek, Anja GER
84 Wutti, Eva AUT
85 Casey, Deirdre IRL 14
86 Lester, Carrie AUS
87 Bazlen, Svenja DEU
88 Blazevic, Svetlana SCG
89 Brandon, Lauren USA
90 Carvallo, Valentina CHI  
91 Cheetham, Susie GBR
92 Duke, Dimity-Lee AUS
93 Ferreira, Caio BRA
94 Hector, Alice GBR
95 Kaye, Alicia USA
96 Nilsson, Jenny SWE
97 Saemmler, Daniela GER
98 Stevens, Alena SVK
99 Reed, Lucie CZE

Updated Top 10 Ratings

This is an excerpt from my free 2014 TriRating Report which has a lot more information and data on the 2014 season. You can still download it for free!

Men’s Top 10

Rank Name Nation Rating Last Race # Races
1 Sebastian Kienle GER 08:12:57 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 9
2 Nils Frommhold GER 08:14:10 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 4
3 Frederik Van Lierde BEL 08:19:33 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 14
4 Dirk Bockel LUX 08:21:49 Challenge Roth on 2014-07-20 11
5 Eneko Llanos ESP 08:22:10 IM Fortaleza on 2014-11-09 20
6 Craig Alexander AUS 08:23:13 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 12
7 Timo Bracht GER 08:23:54 IM Mallorca on 2014-09-27 23
8 Clemente Alonso McKernan ESP 08:25:34 IM Cozumel on 2014-11-30 11
9 Bart Aernouts BEL 08:25:34 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 6
10 Jordan Rapp USA 08:26:02 IM Arizona on 2014-11-16 13

There were a lot of changes and shifts in my Top 10 ratings in 2014.

SebiRunClearly, Sebastian Kienle had a dream year on the Ironman distance, winning in Frankfurt and in Kona. His only disappointment was the 70.3 World Champs – but of course that doesn’t influence his IM rating which he improved by almost 10 minutes! He is my new #1 rated athlete.

There is only a small difference from Sebi to #2 Nils Frommhold. After having to take most of 2013 off with an injury, Nils won IM South Africa, placed second in Roth and had a great first race in Kona, finishing 6th. He hasn’t had a “bad” Ironman race yet, and it’ll be interesting to see if he can improve further while staying healthy.

Last year’s Kona champion Frederick Van Lierde wasn’t able to build on his great 2013 season – but still managed to climb into #3 while improving his rating with a solid 2nd place in Frankfurt (just missing the 8-hour barrier) and finishing 8th in Kona. His Kona result will probably be a disappointment for him – he was in a good position on the run in second place, but ran out of steam in the Energy Lab. I don’t think we’ve seen his best Kona race yet!

Dirk Bockel (#4), Eneko Llanos (#5), Bart Aernouts (joint #8) and Jordan Rapp (#10) will have mixed feelings about their 2014 season. All of them had some good results, but they probably were aiming even higher. Dirk won in Melbourne, but struggled with injuries and missed Kona. Eneko focused on Kona but DNF’d, Bart was shooting for a Kona podium but was too far back after the bike, and Jordan had to re-focus his racing efforts.

Craig Alexander (#6) had practically ended his IM racing career after Kona 2013, then raced Melbourne and put in another focused effort to prepare for Kona, finishing a respectable 13th. This was probably the end of a fantastic IM career, I don’t expect to see him back on an IM start line.

Timo Bracht (#7) decided to skip Kona this year and fulfilled a career goal by finally winning Challenge Roth. He continued to race a lot after that (Copenhagen, Mallorca) and seemed to be a bit flat.

Clemente Alonso (joint #8) had a fantastic fall racing season: Second in Copenhagen, winning Barcelona, second in Arizona and third in Cozumel. He’s already safe for Kona 2015 – he’ll probably need some extended recovery, but will still have some time for a focused Kona preparation.

Women’s Top 10

Rank Name Nation Rating Last Race # Races
1 Mirinda Carfrae AUS 08:56:08 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 11
2 Daniela Ryf SUI 09:06:26 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 3
3 Rachel Joyce GBR 09:07:01 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 15
4 Caroline Steffen SUI 09:10:02 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 18
5 Yvonne Van Vlerken NED 09:13:42 IM Western Australia on 2014-12-07 15
6 Eva Wutti AUT 09:14:44 IM Barcelona on 2014-10-05 3
7 Jodie Swallow GBR 09:14:59 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 6
8 Mary Beth Ellis USA 09:17:08 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 13
9 Liz Blatchford GBR 09:17:12 IM Western Australia on 2014-12-07 6
10 Julia Gajer GER 09:17:22 IM Hawaii on 2014-10-11 8

RinnieBikeMirinda Carfrae continues to be the clear #1 female athlete. She had another phenomenal Ironman-year: Winning Roth in the fastest time of the year and then defending her Kona title with an epic come-from-behind run, improving her rating by almost 13 minutes! She’s leading by ten minutes, but can she have another year like this?

“Rookie of the year” is another obvious choice: Daniela Ryf. With her wins in Switzerland and Copenhagen and her second place in Kona she enters my ranking in #2, sneaking past a number of more established athletes. It seems as if she’ll continue on the path she took this year, but it’ll be hard to improve on winning the 70.3 champs and finishing second in Kona.

Rachel Joyce (#3), Caroline Steffen (#4) and Yvonne Van Vlerken (#5) all had a good season with solid results, but they are still looking for a great Kona race. Rachel wasn’t satisfied with her third place in Kona, Caroline was outright disappointed finishing fifth, and Yvonne even DNF’d. Still, I expect all of them to race strong in 2015, and their preparation will focus on beating Rinnie in Kona.

With Eva Wutti there is another new athlete in #6. She is however, a bit of “hit or miss”, either finishing sub-9 or not finishing at all. (Her three finishes are 8:37, 8:51 and 8:49.) I hope that she gets more stable and manages to be in the mix in the big races with strong fields.

Jodie Swallow in #7 finally managed to have long-distance results in line with her talent, work ethic and racing spirit. While she came up short of great results in South Africa (3rd) and Germany (7th), her season finished strong with a second place in 70.3 World Championships, a fourth place in Kona and also a third place in Bahrain. She proved she can be in the mix in the big races, and will be a strong podium contender in 2015.

Mary Beth Ellis (#8) continues to race on a high level, but she seems to be missing the “winning spark” that she had at the start of her long-distance career. Maybe she was still struggling after her injury late last season? She’ll work hard to win some more races in 2015.

After a stellar first season of IM racing culminating in a podium finish in Kona, Liz Blatchford (#9) solidified her position as one of the top IM racers. Similarly, Julia Gajer (#10) had a successful first Kona campaign, finishing in 6th place. Both will be strong contenders in their 2015 races and will look for a podium finish in Kona.

Multiple IM Winners in 2014

As part of my TriTrivia questions, I asked

Which athletes won two Ironman races in 2014?

Tawnee and I discussed this a few times on our TriNews podcast on EndurancePlanet, and a short, factual answer is also in my 2014 TriRating Report. (If you haven’t had a look at it, you can still download it for free!) This post has a longer look at these athletes and their results. Congratulations to these athletes on their great 2014 season – I’m very much looking forward to your 2015 seasons!

Linsey Corbin

CorbinBikeHoriz
Linsey had a great first half of the season, getting her two wins in March and June:

  • March 30: IM Los Cabos 9:16:43
    (53:11, 5:06:17, 3:12:03)
  • June 29: IM Austria 8:42:42
    (53:02, 4:47:02, 2:56:52)

She probably had big hopes for Kona, but unfortunately she did not have the race she wanted. Her 12th place should still give her enough points to plan a season focused on performing well in Kona.

Sebastian Kienle

KienleRunWideQueenK
Sebi had a dream year on the Ironman distance, winning the „big races“:

  • July 6: IM Frankfurt 7:55:14
    (49:40, 4:12:13, 2:49:35)
  • October 11: IM Hawaii 8:14:18
    (54:38, 4:20:46, 2:54:36)

His only disappointment was the 70.3 World Champs – but I guess that he prefers to have the Kona win instead of a 3rd 70.3 title.

Sarah Gross

SaraBrasilAt the start of the year, Sara was a bit frustrated by a string of DNFs. But she moved on and took a giant step forward by winning not only her first IM in Brasil but even following that up with another win in Mont Tremblant:

  • May 25: IM Brasil 8:56:35
    (55:41, 4:49:42, 3:06:12)
  • August 17: IM Mont Tremblant 9:40:26
    (58:42, 5:28:14, 3:07:33)

After all the racing in 2014 it wasn’t a big surprise to see her not have a great race in Kona. You can hear a lot more on her 2014 season in an interview with Sara that Tawnee an I did on EndurancePlanet.

Daniela Ryf

RyfRunNRGLabOut
Daniela was a great addition to the 2014 IM season. She won her first two IMs as part of a 6-week winning streak that also included the European and World 70.3 titles:

  • July 27: IM Switzerland 9:13:30
    (56:41, 5:00:18, 3:11:03)
  • August 24: IM Copenhagen 8:53:33
    (48:37, 4:44:09, 3:15:15)

She came very close to extending that streak by almost winning in Kona – she’ll be an athlete to watch in 2015 for sure!

Meredith Kessler

KesslerHoriz
At the start of the year, Meredith defended her New Zealand title and then clearly focused on Kona, only racing 70.3s over the summer. After her DNF in Kona, she finally won in Arizona after a string of 2nd place finishes:

  • March 1: IM New Zealand 9:08:46
    (46:47, 5:08:30, 3:08:06)
  • November 16: IM Arizona 8:50:41
    (50:22, 4:48:06, 3:07:56)

She seems very determined to finally deliver her best performance in Kona and will probably go with a similar season plan for 2015.

Britta Martin

BrittaWA
Britta had a great end to her 2014 racing season:

  • September 7: IM Wisconsin 9:30:08
    (59:13, 5:15:26, 3:08:40)
  • December 7: IM Western Australia 8:56:34
    (56:39, 4:55:37, 3:00:00)

In addition to these two IM races, she also won Challenge Taiwan in April, making her the only athlete with three wins over the Ironman-distance in 2014!

Including non-WTC Races

There are a few more athletes who won two races if I include non-WTC races over the Ironman distance:

  • Dylan McNeice
    Dylan is mostly racing Challenge races – he won Challenge Wanaka in January (8:38:48) and Challenge Taiwan in April (8:23:44).
  • Cam Brown
    In addition to IM Cairns in June (8:20:15), Cam also won MetaMan in August (8:28:21). He is currently aiming for his 11th win at his home race, IM New Zealand.
  • Mirinda Carfrae
    Rinnie’s 2014 wins are from Challenge Roth in July (8:49:31) and IM Hawaii in October (9:00:55). A great season, especially considering the strength of the women’s field in Roth this year.

Photo Credits

  • Jay Prasuhn: Linsey Corbin, Sebastian Kienle, Daniela Ryf, Meredith Kessler
  • Ironman: Sara Gross, Britta Martin

2014 Money Lists

This is a slightly updated excerpt from my free 2014 TriRating Report which has a lot more information and data on the 2014 season. You can still download it for free!

In other sports – such as golf – the main way of ranking athletes is by the amount of prize money they make. This year, I have extended my list: The 2013 list was limited only to WTC races, this year I also include Challenge and other notable longer races. Therefore, I have an overall money list and a few lists with money only from certain events.

Overall Money List

First, here is an overview of the races I have included in my money list:

Type Description Total Prize Money # of Athletes
Ironman Full-distance WTC races (not including Kona) $ 2.032.500 316
Kona Ironman World Championship (Kona) $ 650.000 20
70.3 Champs 70.3 World Championship (Mt. Tremblant) $ 250.000 20
Challenge Full-distance Challenge races (including Roth) $ 482.450 107
Bahrain Challenge Bahrain $ 440.000 20
Other MetaMan, Dubai, Embrun $ 430.000 38
Sum All included races $ 4.284.950 415

The next table shows the Top 20 athletes – both from the men and women – that have earned the most prize money in the 2014 calendar year from all the races listed above:

SebiKona

# Name Gender Total
1 Kienle, Sebastian M $145.000
2 Carfrae, Mirinda F $140.000
3 Ryf, Daniela F $125.000
4 Joyce, Rachel F $101.000
5 Raelert, Michael M $100.000
5 Frederiksen, Helle F $100.000
7 Swallow, Jodie F $78.000
8 Frodeno, Jan M $67.500
9 Hoffman, Ben M $65.000
10 Crawford, Gina F $64.500
11 Steffen, Caroline F $56.500
12 Hauschildt, Melissa F $55.000
13 Brown, Cameron M $52.500
14 Dreitz, Andreas M $50.000
15 Frommhold, Nils M $49.500
16 Gomez, Javier M $45.000
16 Butterfield, Tyler M $45.000
18 Kessler, Meredith F $43.000
19 Gross, Sara F $40.000
20 Potts, Andy M $37.500

For comparison, the ITU had a prize purse of $ 2.2 million in 2014. Their top earners are Javier Gomez (about $180.000) and Gwen Jorgensen (about $192.000).

Ironman Money List

Here are the Top 15 money earners from Ironman races (not including Kona):

# Name Gender Ironman Total Overall Rank
1 Gross, Sara F $40.000 $40.000 19
2 Alonso McKernan, Clemente M $31.000 $31.000 25
3 Kessler, Meredith F $30.000 $43.000 18
3 Corbin, Linsey F $30.000 $30.000 27
5 Williamson, Kelly F $27.500 $27.500 32
6 Abraham, Corinne F $26.750 $26.750 34
7 Kienle, Sebastian M $25.000 $145.000 1
7 Steffen, Caroline F $25.000 $56.500 11
7 Bockel, Dirk M $25.000 $26.500 35
7 Tollakson, TJ M $25.000 $25.000 40
11 Brown, Cameron M $22.500 $52.500 13
11 Wee, Bree F $22.500 $22.500 46
11 Ferreira, Amber F $22.500 $22.500 46
11 Braendli, Simone F $22.500 $22.500 46
15 Weiss, Michael M $21.500 $21.500 49

WTC Money List

Here are the Top 15 money earners from WTC races (including Kona and the 70.3 Champs):

# Name Gender Ironman Total Overall Rank
1 Kienle, Sebastian M $145.000 $145.000 1
2 Ryf, Daniela F $125.000 $125.000 3
3 Carfrae, Mirinda F $120.000 $140.000 2
4 Frodeno, Jan M $67.500 $67.500 8
5 Hoffman, Ben M $65.000 $65.000 9
6 Swallow, Jodie F $50.000 $78.000 7
7 Gomez, Javier M $45.000 $45.000 16
8 Steffen, Caroline F $44.000 $56.500 11
9 Joyce, Rachel F $40.000 $101.000 4
10 Kessler, Meredith F $40.000 $43.000 18
11 Gross, Sara F $40.000 $40.000 19
12 Frommhold, Nils M $38.500 $49.500 15
13 Potts, Andy M $37.500 $37.500 20
14 Ellis, Mary Beth F $33.000 $33.000 21
15 Aernouts, Bart M $31.500 $31.500 24

Money List from Challenge and other Races

After also adding Embrue, here are the Top 18 money earners from non-WTC races :

# Name Gender Non-WTC Total Challenge Bahrain Other Total
1 Raelert, Michael M $100.000   $100.000   $100.000
1 Frederiksen, Helle F $100.000   $100.000   $100.000
3 Joyce, Rachel F $61.000 $11.000 $50.000   $101.000
4 Dreitz, Andreas M $50.000   $50.000   $50.000
5 Hauschildt, Melissa F $47.000   $7.000 $40.000 $55.000
6 Butterfield, Tyler M $40.000     $40.000 $45.000
7 Crawford, Gina F $37.000 $7.000   $30.000 $64.500
8 Zamora, Marcel M $32.500     $32.500 $37.500
9 Brown, Cameron M $30.000     $30.000 $52.500
10 Swallow, Jodie F $28.000   $25.000 $3.000 $78.000
10 Croneborg, Fredrik M $28.000 $18.000   $10.000 $32.000
12 McNeice, Dylan M $26.000 $26.000     $28.500
13 Reed, Timothy M $25.000   $25.000   $31.000
14 Mullan, Eimear M $23.400   $23.400   $31.400
15 Carfrae, Mirinda F $20.000 $20.000     $140.000
15 Bracht, Timo M $20.000 $20.000     $25.000
17 Skipworth, Todd F $19.500     $19.500 $19.500
18 Van Vlerken, Yvonne F $19.000 $4.000   $15.000 $26.000

2014 TriRating Report is Available

TitlePage ThumbI have just released my 2014 TriRating Report, an “end-of-year” report looking back at the 2014 Ironman-distance races and my analysis of the results.

The Report has more than 50 pages, including:

  • Top 10 Ratings (overall and individually for swim, bike and run)
  • Top 10 Performances (by “clock time” and by my normalized times)
  • 2014 Money List
  • a first look forward to Kona 2015

and a ton of race results and all rated athletes!

A lot of people have asked how they can pay me back in some way for the information I’ve been putting out. In order to enable that, I’m releasing this report through Gumroad. The report continues to be free (you can just enter “0” as the amount), but if you like the report and want to show me your appreciation for my work, you can donate an amount of your choice. Regardless of whether you donate or not, feel free to share with others and enjoy!

2014 Ironman Season Trivia

Here are some Trivia questions on the 2014 season:

  1. Who had the fastest IM-distance debuts?
    a.Male
    b.Female
  2. Who had the fastest Ironman-distance times of 2014?
    a.Men
    b.Women
  3. In 2014 we’ve seen 5 sub-8h finishes (for the men) and 23 sub-9h finishes (for the women). Which race had the most of these?
  4. Who posted the fastest marathon times in an Ironman in 2014?
    a. Men
    b. Women
  5. Which races in 2014 had the closest and widest margin between the male and female winners (Pros only)?
    a. Closest Race (race, margin, male and female winners)
    b. Race with the widest margin (race, margin, male and female winners)
  6. Which country had the most Pro IM wins in 2014?
  7. Which IM-distance races in 2014 had the closest margin between the winner and runner-up (Pros only)?
    a. Closest Men’s Race (race, margin, name of 1st and 2nd finisher)
    b. Closest Women’s Race (race, margin, name of 1st and 2nd finisher)
  8. Who had the slowest swim when winning an IM in 2014?
    a. Male
    b. Female
  9. Who overcame the biggest deficit after the bike to win an IM in 2014?
    a. Male
    b. Female
  10. Who were the top US finishers in the last three years in Kona (2012/13/14)?
    a. Male
    b. Female
  11. Which athletes won two Ironman races in 2014?
  12. Which of the Kona Pros had the most Professional IM-distance career finishes before Kona?
    a. Male
    b. Female

All answers can be found in the Rating Report!

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