High drama in Texas
Timothy O'Donnell ran down Sebastian Kienle late in the race to take Memorial Hermann 70.3 Texas and the US Championship title. Kelly Willamson made the American sweep perfect as she stormed to the win in the women's race. Lance Armstrong dropped back to 7th after leading the field back into T2. Best bike split of the day though belonged to Sebastian Kienle who managed a 2:03:43 for the 56 mile segment.
The men
The temperatures hovered in the mid 70s with some high humidity thrown in for good measure as the strong men's field got on the way. Stephane Poulat and Axel Zeebroek set the early pace in the swim with Michael Raelert right on their heels, but a good sized pack of 10 more Pros was not very far behind and right at the end of that group that contained Marino Vanhoenacker and Timothy O'Donnell was Lance Armstrong. The end of the swim saw a little push for position and it was Raelert who came out of the water first.
Raelert was first out on the bike and held the lead for a few miles, but then Lance Armstrong steam rolled through that front group and before too long was riding in the front. After a few miles in the lead it appeared that Armstrong got second thoughts on leading the race so early and the Texan sat up and let all the other front group Pros ride by. Vanhoenacker was riding in the front but no one really seemed to want to take the bull by the horns and thus the lead changed several times. Jeremy Jurkiewicz at one point was at the head of the race, but Poulat was hovering up front most consistently. Before the halfway point Armstrong moved to the front of the bike again and at about that time Raelert flatted his rear wheel and it appeared his day was over without any spare tire kit on his bike. But he was lucky that neutral support wasn't that far behind and got a new wheel. Sebastian Kienle by now had made his presence known and was gaining time on the leaders, passing Raelert just as he got rolling again. Up front Armstrong increased his lead, but Kienle was riding a faster pace and gaining time on the Texan and the rest of the leaders. Towards the end of the bike segment Poulat reeled in Armstrong, but Armstrong fought back and reached the bike-run transition first. Poulat was second about 20 seconds later with Kienle in third another 30 seconds later and the day's best bike split of 2:03:43.
Out on the run Poulat soon moved into the lead and Kienle onto the shoulders of Armstrong, but Timothy O'Donnell and Marino Vanhoenacker were only about 2 minutes down. The big threat though seemed to be Michael Raelert who came off the bike 3.5 minutes behind Armstrong. Kienle quickly moved into the lead and Armstrong managed to catch Poulat again for second position, but O'Donnell was only 17 seconds behind Armstrong 4.5 miles into the run. At that time Vanhoenacker had fallen off the pace and Raelert also did not look so fresh. Kienle though looked very good up front and showed no signs of that impressive bike effort, but O'Donnell was steadily gaining on the German and caught him with about a mile to go. Kienle attempted twice to break the American, but after the second attack by the German, O'Donnell put in a counter surge and pulled away. O'Donnell took the Texas 70.3 win in 3:47:40 and the US Pro Champion title with it, with Kienle in second place about 20 seconds later and Ronnie Schildknecht rounding out the podium. Raelert found a second win and came in fourth.
The women
Kiwi Anna Cleaver led the women out of the water with German Nina Kraft leading a group of about 6 athletes 13 seconds plus adrift. Among those front group swimmers were Kelly Williamson and Amy Marsh.
Kelly Williamson led the women's race for quite a while and appeared to be very inspired by the Texan crowd. Fellow Texan Amy Marsh though wasn't very far behind and moved into the lead after 20 miles or so, with German Anja Beranek in very good position too. Later in the bike segment it was Beranek who took charge and grabbed the lead in the women's race. But Marsh was not going along and took the lead back, but meanwhile Yvonne Van Vlerken had moved into third position about 1:15 behind the leaders and Williamson a few more seconds behind the Dutch Pro. As the leaders reached the bike-run transition it was actually Beranek who got off the bike first, but Marsh was right there.
Beranek held the lead for a while but Williamson was running faster than any other female professional, and soon moved to the front of the race. At the 3 mile point of the run Amy Marsh was still in second position about 30 seconds behind the leader, with Van Vlerken in third and Beranek having fallen back to fourth position. 9 miles into the run the lead of Williamson had grown to almost 4 minutes over Van Vlerken who had moved up to second position, and from there it seemed quite obvious that the title would be in the hands of Williamson. Williams did not disappoint the armchair quarterbacks and indeed took the win in 4:13:27 and the US Pro title, making her fellow Texans especially happy. Van Vlerken took second place about 5 minutes later and Amy Marsh held on to third place.
"I've raced this event twice before and I felt like the course had my number. I struggled so much in 2010 and 2011 on the bike but this year, to manage a win but more so come off the bike less than 2 minutes down was huge for me. I think I proved to myself that I can bike flat courses, something I have struggled with for years. And to win the US Pro Champs in my adopted home state of Texas, I couldn't be any more proud," said Williamson to slowtwitch. "When I went by Lance on the run (she on her second loop and Lance on his third), I said to him something to the effect of 'Keep it up buddy, hang in there… We're all hurting out here, just hang strong.' I love how he rolled the dice a bit on the bike and hung on to still finish strong on the run when it got tough. Shows a lot of respect for the sport. He's a total class act in my opinion."
Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Texas
Galveston, TX / April 1, 2011
1.2m swim / 56m bike / 13.1m run
Top men
1. Timothy O'Donnell (USA) 3:47:40
2. Sebastian Kienle (GER) 3:48:03
3. Ronnie Schildknecht (SUI) 3:48:49
4. Michael Raelert (GER) 3:50:08
5. Stephane Poulat (FRA) 3:52:35
6. Jordan Jones (USA) 3:54:32
7. Lance Armstrong (USA) 3:54:32
8. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 3:54:55
9. Jeremy Jurkiewicz (FRA) 3:55:28
10. Axel Zeebroek (BEL) 3:55:43
Top women
1. Kelly Williamson (USA) 4:13:27
2. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 4:18:47
3. Amy Marsh (USA) 4:20:16
4. Caitlin Snow (USA) 4:22:03
5. Margaret Shapiro (USA) 4:25:27
6. Sarah Piampiano (USA) 4:26:43
7. Anja Beranek (GER) 4:29:12
8. Heather Wurtele (CAN) 4:29:43
9. Jessie Donavan (USA) 4:30:00
10. Jennifer Tetrick (USA) 4:31:09
Image 1 © Paul Phillips / Competitive Image
Image 2 © Robbie Little / FinisherPix.com
