Bockel, Sessner take Regensburg
Dirk Bockel won the 2012 Ironman Regensburg in 8:11:59, after a tough battle with Michael Raelert. Heidi Sessner took the women's title in in 9:43:52 over a relatively weak field, where only 3 females managed to go sub-10 hours, and only one of the three starting Pros finished in the top 5.
Michael Raelert led the men out of the water Lake Guggenberger in 45:01, but he had Dirk Bockel and Daniel Halksworth hot on his heels. The gap to the other chasers was already substantial.
Raelert turned on the afterburners on the bike and quickly distanced Bockel and Halksworth, and built up quite a lead. Early on he had an advantage that hovered around 2 minutes over Bockel, while Halksworth lost even more time. But at about 80 miles into the bike segment his lead had grown to over 3 minutes. Soon after though his advantage started to melt away. With about 13 miles to go, Bockel in fact caught and passed Raelert and quickly pulled away. When the Luxembourger arrived at the bike-run transition he had reversed the situation and led the younger Raelert by a bit over 4 minutes with a race best 4:31:08 bike split.
With Raelert chasing, a 4-minute advantage doesn't seem to be safe, but Bockel really had the goods today. His 2:51:45 run was 3 minutes quicker than Raelert and allowed the Luxembourger to take the title in 8:11:59. Raelert finished second and Mike Schifferle rounded out the podium.
"It was hard, but the spectators were crazy supportive. I am now looking forward to a massage, a cool wheat beer, and it is time for a vacation," said Bockel.
Among the female Pros Heidi Sessner was first out of the water in 53:22 with Monica Stadlmann next in 53:33.
Sessner then added another 3 minutes of an advantage during the bike segment with a 5:16:55 bike split. Fastest bike split of the day belonged to 29-year old age grouper Barbara Geilhof who recorded a 5:08:04.
During the run Sessner pulled even further away, but now some of the age groupers started to move up through the field. About 10 miles into the marathon 40-year old age grouper Nicole Bretting was running in second position after a 1:04:55 swim and a 5:14:11 bike effort. Sessner though was well up the road and took her first Ironman title in 9:43:52 with a 3:29:15 run. Bretting grabbed second in 9:50:18 and age grouper Maria Lemeseva rounded out the podium in 9:52:31.
Ironman Regensburg
Regensburg, Germany / June 17, 2012
2.4m swim / 112m bike / 26.2m run
Top men
1. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 8:11:59
2. Michael Raelert (GER) 8:18:53
3. Mike Schifferle (SUI) 8:36:53
4. Jens Kaiser (GER) 8:43:57
5. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:47:53
6. Daniel Halksworth (GBR) 8:50:38
7. Philipp Mock (GER) 8:52:25 * AG
8. Gyula Kis (HUN) 8:53:56 * AG
9. Matthias Buxhofer (AUT) 8:54:10 * AG
10. Andreas Wolpert (GER) 8:55:25
Top women
1. Heidi Sessner (GER) 9:43:52
2. Nicole Bretting (Ger) 9:50:18 * AG
3. Maria Lemeseva (RUS) 9:52:32 * AG
4. Karin Gerber (SUI) 10:00:31 * AG
5. Barbara Geilhof (GER) 10:00:48 * AG
