Pontano and Shea-Kenney rule rainy Ironman Lake Placid
Francisco Pontano (ESP) won the 2008 Ironman Lake Placid despite the hard raining condition. Caitlin Shea-Kenney (USA) was the surprise winner in the women's race thanks in part to her amazing sub 3 hour marathon.
James Bonney and Francisco Pontano pushed the swim early and managed to separate themselves from the competition, but it was Pontano who exited the water first with Bonney just a step behind. Mathias Hecht and Bjorn Andersson followed next trailing 2:06 and 2:15 respectively.
Once on the bike it was soon a battle between Pontano and Andersson and despite the heavy rain and torrid pace neither man seemed willing to relent. By mile 79 of the bike they were over 11 minutes ahead of their closest pursuer Mathias Hecht. It was somewhat expected that Pontano would fall off the bike pace later on, but he never did and Andersson and Pontano entered T2 just a couple seconds apart.
Pontano quickly surged away from Andersson and by mile 10 had a 5-minute lead over the tall Swede. Andersson though hung in tough and lost only a few more seconds over the next 4 miles, but he started to walk soon after that point. Meanwhile Petr Vabrousek had moved within striking distance and he moved into second place. At mile 21 Andersson was still in 3rd place but he was walking again and several smooth looking runners were not that far behind.
Pontano easily cruised to victory in 8:43:32 and Petr Vabrousek and Mathias Hecht finished second and third. Christian Brader grabbed fourth and Slowtwitcher Will Ronco took fifth.
In the women’s race it was Hillary Biscay who took charge during the swim and she was also the first out of the water. Following Biscay was Alison Fitch at 1:32 and Caitlin Shea-Kenney at 2:35.
Biscay continued her hard pace on the bike and pulled away even further from the competition. By mile 79 she was 9 minutes ahead of Kim Loeffler and 13:52 in front of Desiree Ficker. Loeffler though started to slowly take some time back and by the time they hit T2, she was 7:30 behind Biscay. Ficker though looked a bit in trouble and was now almost 20 minutes behind.
The fleet footed Loeffler looked very smooth on the run and made up 3 minutes by the 6 mile marker. Ficker seemed to have overcome her bad patch and she also gained 3 minutes back in that time period and gained even more time on Biscay by mile 9.5, but by mile 14 she had dropped back to almost 20 minutes again. At that point Loeffler was less than a minute behind the leader and Caitlin Shea-Kenney had moved herself into 3rd position about 8 minutes behind Loeffler. Shea-Kenney was running like a woman possessed and by mile 22 she was 1:30 behind new leader Loeffler, and 1 minute behind Biscay. 2 miles later Shea-Kenney grabbed the lead and won the 2008 Ironman Lake Placid in 9:51:00. Kim Loeffler and Hillary Biscay rounded out the podium. Canadian age groupers Leslie Sanderson and Fiona Gray-Whitby finished fourth and fifth respectively.
On a related note: Caitlin Shea-Kenney married pro Tim Snow just a couple days earlier so keep an eye out from now on for Caitlin Snow.
Top 10 men
1. Francisco Pontano (ESP) 8:43:42
2. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:55:20
3. Mathias Hecht (SUI) 8:56:33
4. Christian Brader (GER) 8:58:10
5. Will Ronco (USA) 9:02:32
6. Paul Fritzsche(USA) 9:06:17
7. Dave Harju (CAN) 9:11:58
8. Alex McDonald (USA) 9:13:04
9. Patrick Evoe (USA) 9:14:18
10. Tim Snow(USA) 9:18:38
Top 10 women
1. Caitlin Shea-Kenney (USA) 9:51:00
2. Kim Loeffler (USA) 9:54:55
3. Hillary Biscay (USA) 9:58:55
4. Leslie Sanderson (CAN) 10:18:04 *
5. Fiona Gray-Whitby (CAN) 10:18:34 *
6. Danielle Sullivan (USA) 10:18:40
7. Jacqui Gordon (USA) 10:31:53
8. Shandra Richardson (USA) 10:32:34 *
9. Mimi Boyle (USA) 10:33:57 *
10. Natalie Groves (CAN) 10:36:45 *
* = AG athlete
