Halksworth, Mullen prevail at IM UK

Daniel Halksworth of Great Britain and Eimear Mullen of Ireland both won come from behind, breakthrough victories at the challenging, hilly Ironman UK course.

The Men

Halksworth passed Fraser Cartmell at Mile 10 of the run to finish in 8:55:11 with an 11:49 margin of victory over his countryman. The win was Halksworth’s first at the distance and he followed fellow Team TBB athlete and last year’s champion Aaron Farlow in winning his first Ironman victory at the challenging Bolton course.

Cartmell, who won this race in 2010, was 19 seconds back of Halksworth 's 47:56 swim and took a slight lead after his race-best 4:59:30 bike split was 53 seconds better than Halksworth's effort.

Cartmell clung stubbornly to the lead until Halksworth cracked open the race at Mile 10 of the run and won by a comfortable margin as Cartmell finished with a survivor-style 3:15:45 run that held off 3rd place Paul Hawkins by 3:50.

Halksworth took a highly unusual warm up to his victory – he raced Ironman Switzerland last weekend and chose to DNF on the run when things went badly there.

The most excitement came with the men’s duel for 3rd, 4th and 5th as Great Britain’s Paul Hawkins, gritting out a 3:11:18 marathon, held off the 2:54:16 late charge of Ironman glutton Petr Vabrousek to take 3rd in 9:10:50, just 10 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic star. Sam Hawkins, a 30-34 age grouper from Great Britain, ran 3:04:31 to finish 10 seconds behind Vabrousek in 5th.

The Women

Mullen overcame U.S. triathlete Amanda Stevens’ 17-minute lead off the bike with a race-best 3:18:32 run that passed Stevens at Mile 16. Mullen finished in 10:08:44 with am 8:13 margin over Stevens and 13:14 over third place finisher Annett Kamenz of Germany.

Stevens charged into the lead with a race-best 48:19 swim that was precisely 15 minutes faster than Mullen – who won Ironman 70.3 UK recently. Stevens added 2:21 to her lead over Mullen with a race-fastest 5:42:25 bike split. But the rising Irish star, clad in bright green Irish colors, passed Stevens at Mile 16 of the run as Stevens faded to a 3:39:07 run – understandably tired after her stellar bike effort on a course with 5,000 feet of climbing.

Germany’s Annett Kamenz combined an even slower 1:04:02 swim witb a 3rd-fastest 5:46:56 bike and a 2nd-best 3:23:23 run to finish 3rd in 10:21:58.

Ironman UK
Bolton, Lancashire, England
July 22, 2012
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Daniel Halksworth (GBR) 8:55:11
2. Fraser Cartmell GBR) 9:07:00
3. Paul Hawkins (GBR 9:10:50
4. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 9:11:00
5. Sam Baxter (GBR) 9:11:10 * M25-29
6. Dirk Wijnalda (NED) 9:15:51 * M35-39
7. Martin Cain (GBR) 9:30:48
8. Ekaitz Arronategi (ESP) 9:35:47 * M30-34
9. Eneko Elosegui (ESP) 9:38:03
10. Anders Nyberg (DEN) 9:46:04 * M30-34

Women .

1. Eimear Mullen (IRL) 10:08:44
2. Amanda Stevens (USA) 10:16:57
3. Annett Kamenz (GER) 10:21:58
4. Kristin Baker (CAN) 10:48:39
5. Emma Cranfield (GBR) 10:52:13 * F30-34
6. Rebecca Romero (GBR) 11:10:02 * F30-34
7. Marie Kirton (GBR) 11:19:04 * F30-34
8. Zoe Smith (GBR) 11:22:02 * F30-34
9. Corinne Clark (GBR) 11:24:15 * F25-29
10. Gill Fullen (GBR) 11:29:41 * F45-49