Graves, Bayliss take Ironman UK

Short of an exhaustive search of all records, 20-year-old Philip Graves likely became the youngest Ironman winner in history with a smashing bike split that gave him a 2 minute 37-seconds margin of victory over defending champion Stephen Bayliss at Ironman UK Sunday.

Graves, who won Ironman UK 70.3 earlier in the year, emerged from the water in 51:08 virtually tied with Bayliss. He then opened up a 7:27 lead with a race-best 4:57:22 bike on the rugged hills of the English countryside, and withstood Bayliss’s 2:47:22 counterpunch with a 2:52:18 marathon of his own.

"The bike was just a huge solid effort all the way round because of the wind and the hills and I came into T2 thinking how on earth am I going to be able to flog myself round this marathon in an anywhere near decent time," said Graves to slowtwitch. "The run at 70.3 went really quickly but it took ages and my legs were in absolute pieces just after half way but I knew I had to put my head down and just go as hard as I could and hope I would get a 2nd wind. I knew Steve was starting to catch me so I put in a really fast last km, as hard as I could go, though by this point it may have only been a 4 minute km. But was just overjoyed when I crossed the line, sheer relief more than anything that I could have a sit down and rest my legs!"

Graves' 8:45:51 topped Bayliss’ 8:48:29, while Finland’s Jarmo Host, who ran 2:46:16 for the fastest run, was third in 8:57:58.

On the same day that her husband came just short of defending his title, Bella Bayliss scored her third straight Ironman UK win in 9:33:48 which gave her an 11th career Ironman title. Bayliss earned a 12-minute, 16-second margin of victory over fellow Team TBB teammate Abigail Bayley with race bests swim, bike and run to take her second straight 2009 Ironman win on the circuit's toughest courses after a victory at Ironman Lanzarote in May.

As did Graves, Bayliss won it on the bike. She emerged from the swim in 59:19, just seven seconds in front of fellow 32-year-old Bayley. Bayliss then surged to a race-best 5:26:17 bike on Bolton’s rugged hills that added 7 minutes 9-seconds to her lead, then posted a 3:01:08 run that topped Bayley’s fine effort by just 14 seconds.

Ironman UK
Bolton, Great Britain
August 2, 2009
S 2.4 mi/ B 112 mi./ R 26.2 mi.

Results

Men

1. Philip Graves (GBR) 8:45:51
2. Stephen Bayliss (GBR) 8:48:29
3. Jarmo Hast (FIN) 8:57:58
4. Dejan Patrcevic (CRO) 9:00:20
5. Nicholas Peter Ward Munoz (ESP) 9:12:46
6. Dave Rost (NED) 9:12:50
7. Mark Stenning (GBR) 9:17:42
8. Christoph Loeffler (AUT) 9:21:45
9. Lothar Leder (GER) 9:23:38
10. Rob Johnson (GBR) 9:23:48

Women

1. Bella Bayliss (SCO) 9:33:59
2. Abigail Bayley (GBR) 9:46:15
3. Irene Kinnegim (NED) 10:06:40
4. Karina Ottosen (DEN) 10:49:08
5. Julia Hild (GER) 11:13:15
6. Nicola MacLeod (GBR) 11:19:10
7. Lisa Picton (GBR) 11:28:31