Cartmell, Grice take IM UK wins

Fraser Cartmell beat Stephen Bayliss with a race-best bike and Yvette Grice toppled Bella Bayliss’s 15-minute lead after the bike with a sizzling fast 3:02:03 run to win the rugged Ironman UK Sunday.

Cartmell’s 6 minutes, 1-second victory in 8:40:17 thus continued the swift Scot’s 2010 hot streak that includes a 4th at the Abu Dhabi International and wins at Ironman 70.3 UK and Ironman 70.3 South Africa.

Cartmell emerged from the water first in 43:34, 2 seconds ahead of Bayliss and 4 seconds ahead of Axel Zeebroek of Belgium. Then the blond, curly-haired charger took off to a race-best 5:02:47 on the exceedingly rugged 112-mile bike, thus gaining 6:06 on Zeebroek and 6:44 on Bayliss. On the run, Cartmell’s third-best 2:49:55 marathon essentially held serve on Bayliss’s second-best 2:49:34 effort and put 2:43 on Zeebroek’s 2:52:38 run, while Spain’s Gregorio Caceres Morales’s race-best 2:43:21 marathon zoomed him to a 4th place finish in 9:09:53, 3:51 ahead of 5th place finisher Brandon Marsh of the USA.

Cartmell's bike may have been 5 minutes slower than last year's winner Phillip Graves, but Cartmell's overall finish was 5 minutes faster.

Yvette Grice completely transcended her previous 2010 results of 6th at Ironman Lanzarote and 4th at Ironman 70.3 UK with an impressive come-from-15-minutes-behind to pass multiple Ironman winner Bella Bayliss with a 3:02:03 run.

Grice and Bayliss started the day virtually even with 1-2 ranked 50:03 and 50:16 swims respectively. Bayliss hammered to a 15-minute lead with a race-best 5:48:25 bike while Grice struggled to a 5th best 6:03:13 as Donna Phelan (51:11 swim and 6:02:49 bike) held third.

Grice finished in 10:01:02 with a 5:49 margin of victory over Bayliss, who faded with a 3:22:42 run. Joanna Carritt took 3rd in 10:16:22, 41 year old age grouper Ruth Bradbrook took 4th in 10:38:54 and Donna Phelan, who faded from third with a 3:44:05 marathon, took 5th in 10:42:56

Bayliss obviously was off form since her third straight Ironman UK win last year was 29 minutes faster than Grice's 2010 winning time.

Ironman UK
Bolton, Lancashire, Great Britain
August 1, 2010
S 2.4 mi. / B 112 mi. / R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Fraser Cartmell (GBR) 8:40:18
2. Stephen Bayliss (GBR) 8:46:19
3. Axel Zeebroek (BEL) 8:49:38
4. Gregorio Caceres Morales (ESP) 9:03:54
5. Brandon Marsh (USA) 9:07:45
6. Jerome Phillippe (FRA) 9:22:05 * M 35-39
7. Toby Radcliffe (GBR) 9:25:28
8. Andoni Ibarbia (ESP) 9:32:07 * M30-34
9. Andrew Fisher (GBR) 9:36:32 * M 35-39
10. Eneko Elosegui (ESP) 9:38:53

Women

1. Yvette Grice (GBR) 10:01:03
2. Bella Bayliss (SCO) 10:06:52
3. Joanna Carritt (GBR) 10:16:22
4. Ruth Bradbrook ( ) 10:38:54 * F 40-44
5. Donna Phelan (CAN) 10:42:56