Kona 2011 – race day
An amazing race day in Kona is behind us with Craig Alexander and Chrissie Wellington taking the titles. Crowie broke Luc Van Lierde's 15-year old course record as he won his 3rd Ironman Hawaii, and Chrissie Wellington overcame a large deficit after the swim to take her 4th win in Kona and remains thus unbeaten when starting an Ironman race. Quite impressive when considering she recently had a pretty hard bike crash.
But there was much more going on and here is a selection of images from this inspirational day. We'll add more galleries later.
All images © slowtwitch.com
Crowie's helmet and bike is ready for action.
Chrissie Wellington tuned out the ambient transition noise with some tunes.
Marino Vanhoenacker got into the water relatively late.
Frederik Van Lierde is contemplating the day ahead.
Meanwhile the age groupers are lining up for their start.
Craig Alexander had a superb day in Kona and especially improved his bike split.
Andi Boecherer showed that he is someone to watch.
Timo Bracht was chasing all day on the bike but ended up finishing 5th.
Michael Lovato didn't have a good start and collected a penalty on the bike relatively early.
Julie Dibens had an amazing bike ride in Kona but would not finish the race, hampered by a foot injury.
Caroline Steffen was chasing Julie Dibens all day on the bike but lost more and more time.
Mirinda Carfrae on her way to second place.
Virginia Berasategui
It didn't take Craig Alexander very long to be running in the lead and he stormed to his 3rd Kona title in a record time.
Pete Jacobs had the fastest run split in Kona and was rewarded with the runner-up spot.
Nothing would happen in Kona without the 5,000 volunteers and we are all very thankful.
Andreas Raelert got passed late in the run, but finished third on the day.
Dirk Bockel had his best Kona finish to date and finished fourth.
Chrissie Wellington had to give it all to take the win, but remains unbeaten in Ironman races.
5 seconds – and Mike Reilly shows that he is feeling the pain for the woman who did not make the time cut.
