Alexander, Steffen rule Melbourne

3-time Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander thrilled the Aussie crowd with a thrilling 7:57:44 win at the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championships in Melbourne. Caroline Steffen took the women's title with a record bike split of 4:35:29 and a fantastic final time of 8:34:51.

The men

Calm waters greeted the athletes at the start of the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship Melbourne event and as expected the swim was indeed a Clayton Fettell show. The Aussie steadily pulled away from the other competitors and by the time he reached the first transition he was 1:12 ahead of Luke McKenzie, and a few more seconds up on Marko Albert and Greg Bennett.

Out on the bike Clayton Fettell steadily pulled away, as behind him all the other contenders were jockeying for position. Frederik Van Lierde, Eneko Llanos, Luke Bell, Joe Gambles, Greg Bennett and Luke McKenzie were in the first chase pack, with Craig Alexander in another group not far behind. Fettell built that advantage up to almost 4 minutes, but could not keep up the pace. At the 150k point he was caught, and from that point on a good sized group was riding at the front of the race that included pretty much all the guys who had been favored to do well.

During the run Llanos, Van Lierde, Gambles and Cam Brown were setting the early pace, but after a bit slower start Craig Alexander pulled up to them. Gambles dropped off the pace first and eventually Llanos and Van Lierde also started to drop back. Up front Cam Brown and Craig Alexander were running shoulder on shoulder and showing some of the younger competitors behind them how it is done, and that it ain't over until the fat lady sings. Llanos and Van Lierde were hovering about 70 seconds behind at the 30k point of the run with David Dellow running in 5th position. After a few earlier attempts to get rid of the Kiwi, Alexander surged again at 35k and that finally broke the elastic. The Aussie crowd went ballistic when the 3-time Ironman World Champion ran down the finishing chute clear of any other competitor and well under 8 hours. His 2:38:46 marathon time combined with very fine swim and bike performances allowed to him take the win in 7:57:44. Cam Brown hung on to second place with a very impressive performance and Frederik Van Lierde finished third, showing that he is indeed someone to watch.

"The atmosphere was electric in the finishing chute and certainly topped off a great day for me. Crowie had an awesome race again, I pushed him as hard as I could and was happy to be bridesmaid today, to one of the best Ironman athlete’s in the history of our sport," said runner-up Cameron Brown.

The women

In the women's race Rachel Joyce took charge in the swim and not surprisingly was first out of the water. About 30 seconds later Gina Crawford emerged from the swim, and about 10 seconds later a bunch led by Michelle Vesterby and Rebekah Keat charged into transition.

But the bike story in Melbourne was written and dominated by Caroline Steffen. The fast Swiss Pro caught up to Rachel Joyce relatively early in the bike segment and both of them were riding well faster than all the other female competitors. Eventually Steffen dropped Joyce and recorded an unbelievably fast 4:35:29 bike split, which appears to be the fastest Ironman bike time recorded. Joyce also stayed sub-5 hours on the bike and managed a very respectable 4:44:57, but it was more than 5 hours for the rest of the female field. Mirinda Carfrae had gone into the race as one of the favorites, but she reached the bike-run transition more than 30 minutes behind Steffen.

Jo Lawn and Bek Keat were running in 3rd and 4th position, and Michelle Vesterby in 5th, but they all really seemed to be fighting for the final podium spot, with Steffen and Joyce well up the road. Carfrae, Lawn and Keat were among those gaining time back, but not really in amounts that promised to change the situation. Up front Steffen was never really challenged other than by herself and just ran a superb race. Her final time of 8:34:51 almost broke the World Record of Chrissie Wellington (8:33:56 at IM South Africa 2011) and gave her the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship title and 4000 points towards Kona.

"On the run, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a good run, I knew what I had to do, I concentrated and I worked really hard on the run. I knew it was definitely fast,” said Steffen.

Ironman Asia-Pacific Championships Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia / March 25, 2012

Top men

1. Craig Alexander (AUS) 7:57:44
2. Cameron Brown (NZL) 8:00:12
3. Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 8:01:26
4. Eneko Llanos (ESP) 8:02:23
5. David Dellow (AUS) 8:04:19
6. Paul Matthews (AUS) 8:05:58
7. Luke Bell (AUS) 8:10:38
8. Joe Gambles (AUS) 8:12:46
9. Marko Albert (EST) 8:18:04
10. Bart Aernouts (BEL) 8:18:17

Top women

1. Caroline Steffen (SUI) 8:34:51
2. Rachel Joyce (GBR) 8:46:09
3. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) 9:04:00
4. Joanne Lawn (NZL) 9:06:53
5. Gina Crawford (NZL) 9:11:16
6. Rebekah Keat (AUS) 9:13:43
7. Jessica Jacobs (USA) 9:13:57
8. Carrie Lester (AUS) 9:18:25
9. Michelle Vesterby (DEN) 9:19:05
10. Belinda Granger (AUS) 9:26:21