Vernay and Ferguson victorious in Western Australia
Patrick Vernay wins the 2009 Ironman Western Australia in Busselton and takes the title back from Timothy Berkel. Gina Ferguson repeats in the women's race after also having won that event in 2008.
The men
Very hot conditions greeted the athletes in Western Australia and promised to make this event a race of attrition. South African Lawrence Van Lingen pushed the pace during the swim and managed to get out of the water first. He had Scott Neyedli hot on his heels and the chase group with the main contenders another 40 seconds back.
Dane Jimmy Johnsen managed to pass the faster swimmers in transition and started to crank on the pedals of his bike. He steadily moved away from his competitors and by the time he hit T2 he had established a 6 minute minute lead over a small group that included defending champion Tim Berkel, 2007 winner Patrick Vernay, Scott Neyedli, Courtney Ogden and Matty White.
Out on the run though it became clear quite fast that the race would come down between Vernay and Neyedli, as the seemed to be unaffected by the heat. Ten miles into the marathon, Vernay caught Johnsen and soon after Neyedli also made a pass, and that is how they eventually crossed the finish line. Vernay in first in 8:13:59, Neyedli grabbed second and Johnsen held on to third. For Vernay this is actually his 5th Ironman win in Australia and the athlete from New Caledonia might soon get honorary citizenship down under. Neyedli raced his last event as a member of the Commerzbank Triathlon Team and he certainly managed to pad his resume nicely as he is now in the job market.
The women
Defending champion Gina Ferguson set the pace from the start and managed to get first out of the water together with Sarah Pollett.
Ferguson then flew away on the bike and established a solid 11 minute lead going into the run. A couple competitors started to eat into her lead but no one came close enough to take the title away from Ferguson.
"I am so happy to finish the year on a high after a number of challenges these last few months which started back in June with getting the flu and having to pull out of racing Ironman France," said Gina Ferguson to slowtwitch, and added "I had a very limited run build up to this race with coming back from the ankle injury so now I am very excited to be back on track and will be working on improving my run for the Challenge Wanaka race next month in New Zealand."
Ironman Western Australia
Busselton, Australia / December 5, 2009
Top 10 men
1. Patrick Vernay (NCL) 8:13:59
2. Scott Neyedli (GBR) 8:17:47
3. Jimmy Johnsen (DEN) 8:21:11
4. Courtney Ogden (AUS) 8:22:06
5. Matty White (AUS) 8:35:03
6. Jason Shortis (AUS) 8:37:20
7. Timothy Marr (USA) 8:40:35
8. Bradley Hosking (AUS) 8:52:25 * AG M40-44
9. Mark Jansen (SIN) 8:54:48 * AG M35-39
10. Luke Whitmore 8:56:04
Top 10 women
1. Gina Crawford (NZL) 9:16:52
2. Christie Sym (AUS) 9:20:41
3. Sarah Pollett (AUS) 9:21:33
4. Charlotte Paul (AUS) 9:33:05
5. Kate Bevilaqua (AUS) 9:45:53
6. Linda O'Connor (AUS) 9:50:10 * AG F40-44
7. Rebecca Eveleigh (AUS) 9:50:55
8. Dianne Emery (RSA) 9:54:27 * AG F25-29
9. Katie Kenny (AUS) 9:57:01 * AG F30-34
10. Nera Jareb (AUS) 10:00:00 * AG F25-29
