McCormack, Wallenhorst capture Ironman 70.3 Austria titles
At the 2009 Ironman 70.3 Austria, Chris McCormack won the title by 3 seconds after battling Marino Vanhoenacker throughout the race. Defending 70.3 Austria champion Massimo Cigano finished. Sandra Wallenhorst came from behind on the run to take the women's race.
The men
Marko Albert cruised through the waters of the Viehofner See and set a new swim record in 23:18 with Adam Molnar hot in pursuit. About a minute later most of the favorites including Chris McCormack and Marino Vanhoenacker exited the waters.
Once on the bike, McCormack moved into the lead, but Vanhoenacker went past him at the 21k mark. Marko Albert and Molnar weren't far behind. McCormack and Vanhoenacker went back and forth and by the time they entered the second transition they were still together. Albert and defending champion Massimo Cigana entered T2 in third and fourth respectively.
The run promised to be very exciting as McCormack and Vanhoenacker started the run side by side. Third was Marko. They kept pushing each other, but it appeared that no one had an edge. In the end though it was McCormack who took the title in 3:54:15. Vanhoenecker crossed the line 3 seconds later and Cigana finished third in 3:56:22.
"I had a great race and felt really strong on the run. My run has come along well after working a lot on my bike earlier in the year and changing my position to a more aggressive one over the winter. I feel good on the bike and am building my run now and it seems to be strong. It is still a long way to Hawaii which is my key objective for the year but my season so far has been great." said McCormack to slowtwitch.
The women
As expected, Lucie Zelenkova was the first women out of the water with Eva Dollinger and Gina Ferguson about a minute behind.
Zelenkova continued to lead throughout the bike segment and was first into T2. She was followed by Dollinger and Caroline Steffen. A speedy bike split by 2008 Ironman Austria champion Sandra Wallenhorst though had put her in striking distance for the run.
For the first few k's of the run it was still Zelenkova followed by Dollinger and Steffen, but the hard charging Wallenhorst started to pick them off one by one.
Wallenhorst ended up with the fastest women's run split of the day in a time of 1:21:37, and that gave her the victory in an overall time of 4:28:46. Zelenkova and Steffen rounded out the podium.
"I felt a little bit of weakness on the bike which I did not expect. Finally in the run I felt easy and knew soon I would catch the pack of the three girls in front of me." said Wallenhorst when asked by slowtwitch about her race. She added "I'm quite happy with my run split especially because I felt there was something left."
Ironman 70.3 Austria
St. Poelten, Austria / May 24
Top 10 men
1. Chris McCormack (AUS) 3:54:15
2. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 3:54:18
3. Massimo Cigana (ITA) 3:56:22
4. Marko Albert (EST) 3:56:26
5. Aaron Farlow (AUS) 3:56:37
6. Dennis Devriendt (BEL) 3:58:06
7. Markus Fachbach (GER) 3:59:02
8. Csaba Kuttor (HUN) 3:59:29
9. Dejan Patrcevic (CRO) 3:59:41
10. Nick Saunders (GBR) 4:00:06
Top 10 women
1. Sandra Wallenhorst (GER) 4:28:46
2. Lucie Zelenkova (CZE) 4:30:03
3. Caroline Steffen (SWI) 4:31:50
4. Eva Dollinger (AUT) 4:32:10
5. Súsanna Skylv (NOR) 4:33:27
6. Erika Csomor (HUN) 4:35:37
7. Tove Wiklund (SWE) 4:37:45
8. Veronika Hauke (AUT) 4:38:11
9. Tara Prowse (AUS) 4:38:56
10. Meike Krebs (GER) 4:40:47
