Richard Ussher used his adventure racing fitness to win the 2009 XTERRA New Zealand, and narrowly held off Scott Thorne despite never having done any other XTERRA race before. Mountain biker Nicola Leary captured the women’s title.
by Herbert Krabel, April 20, 2009
Sam Gardner used his bike prowess to win the 2009 XTERRA Saipan. Renata Bucher now has won the event 5 times straight and soundly defeated 2-time XTERRA World Champion Julie Dibens.
We talked to Aussie Luke McKenzie last year in January and lots has changed for him since then. He moved from the Gold Coast to Noosa, attracted a few new sponsors and earned a couple Ironman titles.
2008 was a very good year for Eneko Llanos, but if he has his way in 2009 he’ll be a spot higher at a couple of events, including the Ironman World Championships. Eneko talked to slowtwitch.
Lothar Leder virtually disappeared from the triathlon scene after being involved in a blood value controversy prior to Ironman Germany in June of 2007. He spoke to slowtwitch about the incident and his plan to return to racing.
This week we look at running socks from Balega, trainers from Newton, compression socks from SLS3, a teaser from Scott USA and flip flops from Havaianas. If it were not for Scott USA, we could have called this one “the foot issue.”
Sandra Wallenhorst was a relative unknown in triathlon until she stormed to a record breaking win at Ironman Austria and a 3rd place in Kona in 2008. And this all happened after she had a baby.
Marino Vanhoenacker put on a very strong performance at the 2009 Spec-Savers Ironman South Africa and won in course record time. Lucie Zelenkova also broke the course record as she cruised to victory.
Canadian ITU and XTERRA racer Brent McMahon ran down the 2007 Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack to win the inaugural 70.3 New Orleans. In the women’s race Swiss Miss Natascha Badmann showed that she is finally back after endless battles with injuries stemming from the 2007 Ironman World Championships.
2008 has been a magical year for Ronnie Schildknecht with his wins at Ironman Switzerland, 70.3 Switzerland and the European Duathlon Championships, and a 4th place in Hawaii. He starts his 09 season in Oceanside at 70.3 California.
Matty Reed used a monster 1:11 run to take the 2009 70.3 California event ahead of Andy Potts. Mirinda Carfrae had to come from behind to catch late leader Sarah Groff less than a mile before the finish.
A quick look at the new waterproof Garmin 310XT and a velocity measuring device from SwiMetrics.
Young Swiss Pro Mathias Hecht is part of the powerful Dresdner Kleinwort triathlon team and finished in the top 10 in Kona in 2008. He has been in Australia for the last months to get ready for Ironman OZ.