Twelsiek and Ferguson fly at Ironman Wisconsin 2007

Madison, WI, September 10: Maik Twelsiek of Germany won the 2007 Ironman Wisconsin and with it grabbed his first Ironman title. New Zealand's Gina Ferguson won the women's race in a course record-breaking 9:37:03 and with it her first Ironman crown.

Water temperatures had forced the professionals to race without wetsuits, and Germany's Rene Goehler emerged first from the two-loop swim course in 51:42. Twelsiek followed in 54:09, and Paul Fritzsche of State College, PA was a further 23 seconds behind. Goehler lead for the first part of the bike, before being passed by Twelsiek about 45 miles into the ride. Twelsiek continued to push the pace on the very hilly Madison course and arrived in T2 in 4:47:27. The rest of the men's pro field would roll in more then ten minutes later and were forced to have an amazing marathon run if they had any hopes for the title. Twelsiek though ran a 3:03:22 and finished unthreatened in 8:52:49. The battle was actually for the next placings and Fritzsche eventually would come through in second place with a 3:05:05 marathon and a final time of 9:03:22. Mexico's Uzziel Valderrabano outran Austria's Werner Leitner to take the final podium spot in 9:06:05, while France's Christophe Bastie finished 5th in 9:08:08. Eric Bean finished in 6th place barely ahead of Slowtwitcher Big Zach Ruble who finished 7th. In the very end 3rd through 8th place were barely 3 minutes apart.

Ferguson exited the 2.4-mile swim in Lake Monona in 53:59 with Hillary Biscay from Tuscon, AZ right behind her. The gap to all other women was quite large and early on Biscay and Ferguson stayed fairly close together. Eventually though Ferguson would surge ahead of Biscay and arrive at T2 in a very impressive 5:22:07. Wisconsin's Lauren Jensen would be next to arrive in T2 followed by German Ina Reinders. Ferguson made the marathon look very easy and eventually finished in 9:37:03, bettering the previous Ironman Wisconsin course record by almost 10 minutes. Biscay managed to regain second place late in the marathon to finish in 10:01:30, while Reinders secured third place in 10:03:39. Jensen would eventually fall back to fifth place in 10:07:41 as fellow Wisconson racer Heather Haviland overtook her for fourth in 10:06:26.

Slowtwitcher PAW Eric Peterson recorded the fastest swim of the day in 49:41 en route to his 2nd place age group finish and 18th overall.

Ironman Wisconsin 2007 results

Madison, WI, September 9

Top ten men

1. Maik Twelsiek 8:52:49
2. Paul Fritzsche 9:03:22
3. Uzziel Valderrabbano 9:06:05
4. Werner Leitner 9:06:41
5. Christophe Bastie 9:08:08
6. Eric Bean 9:08:38
7. Zach Ruble 9:08:45
8. Norbert Koenig 9:09:18
9. Bernd Hagen 9:09:39
10. Rene Goehler 9:17:39

Top ten women

1. Gina Ferguson 9:37:03
2. Hillary Biscay 10:01:30
3. Ina Reinders 10:03:39
4. Heather Haviland 10:06:26
5. Lauren Jensen 10:07:41
6. Marie Danais 10:08:30
7. Heidi Jesberger 10:17:16
8. Isabella Jungfer 10:19:28 *
9. Liz Vitai 10:22:21
10. Stephanie Jones 10:29:21

* AG athlete