Henning dominates, Wellington superb
Rasmus Henning was first out of the water, crushed the bike segment in 2:07:11 and then cruised home to win Ironman 70.3 Timberman in New Hampshire in 3:53:41. Chrissie Wellington also led from start to finish to take her fourth title and finish 9th overall.
Henning's 23:54 was quickest among the Pro men and had him at his bike a few seconds ahead of James Cotter.
Henning then went on cruise control on the bike and cranked out a race best 2:07:11 bike split, about 11.5 minutes better than Cotter. Mike Caiazzo's 2:11:48 was quite impressive too and allowed him to reach transition in second place a few minutes ahead of Cotter.
Henning ran well too and his 1:20:17 run was not the fastest, but quite sufficient t easily take the title. Caiazzo had a great run too, actually best among the Pros, and that gave him second place. German Stephan Vuckovic ran past Cotter to take the final podium spot.
"My new coach Matt Dixon and I had planned for me to go hard on the second part of the bike because my cycling has been a little off at some points in the season. My swim was not very good, but I was first out of the water and when nobody followed me on the bike I just rode by myself the entire way and went hard on the last half of the bike leg. It took it's toll on the run but I'm happy with my result here today," said race winner Henning.
Chrissie Wellington had a great swim and came out of the Lake Winnipesaukee just a step ahead of Caitlin Snow.
Wellington though quickly dropped Snow on the bike and her 2:27:51 bike split was 6 minutes faster. Amber Ferreira reached the bike-run transition next with her 2:34:04. A couple other Pros had faster splits than Snow and Ferreira, but they had much slower swims and none of them came close to touch Wellington's time.
The big story for Wellington though was her fantastic race best run. Her 1:18:44 half marathon time was only beaten by one male. Age grouper Tim Tapply beat all the Pro males with his 1:18:06 and finished 8th overall, just one spot ahead of Wellington who took the women's title in 4:16:33, and with a 10 minute advantage over runner-up Caitlin Snow. Annie Gervais finished third on the day.
Ironman 70.3 Timberman
Gilford, NH, USA / August 21, 2011
1.2m swim / 56m bike / 13.1m run
Top men
1. Rasmus Henning (DEN) 3:53:41
2. Mike Caiazzo (USA) 4:01:30
3. Stephan Vuckovic (GER) 4:06:36
4. James Cotter (USA) 4:10:20
5. Karl Bordine (USA) 4:12:02
6. Mike Lavery (USA) 4:14:25 * AG M25-29
7. James Chesson (USA) 4:14:57 * AG M30-34
8. Timothy Tapply (USA) 4:15:52 * AG M35-39
9. Ryan Kelly (USA) 4:17:56
10. Patrick Wheeler (USA) 4:21:42 * AG M25-29
Top women
1. Chrissie Wellington (GBR) 4:16:33
2. Caitlin Snow (USA) 4:26:36
3. Annie Gervais (CAN) 4:34:24
4. Tamara Kozulina (UKR) 4:39:25
5. Sharon Schmidt-Mongrain (USA) 4:39:30
6. Amber Ferreira (USA) 4:39:58
7. Beth Walsh (USA) 4:40:35 * AG W30-34
8. Carrie Bartlett (USA) 4:42:56 * AG W30-34
9. Christine Kachinsky (USA) 4:55:16 * W40-44
10. Amy Catlin (USA) 4:59:11 * W30-34
