Strange, Pedersen top Denmark
Thomas Strange and Camilla Pedersen took home country wins at the half distance Challenge Denmark.
Men
Strange combined a 2nd-best 21:15 swim, a 3rd-fastest 2:08:47 bike leg and a 3rd-fastest 1:16:23 half marathon to finish in 3:49:23 with a 17-seconds margin of victory over Per Bittner of Germany and 2:42 over 3rd-place finisher Markus Fachbach of Germany.
Lukasz Wojt of Germany led the swim in 19:38 which gave him a 1:37 lead on Strange, 1:40 on Evert Scheltinga of Netherlands, 1:44 on Fachbach, 1:45 on Bittner and 6:09 on Matthias Knossalla of Germany.
After a 3rd-best 2:08:37 bike split, Strange led the pro men into T2 by 43 seconds over Wojt, 45 seconds on Fachbach, 46 seconds on Scheltinga and 48 seconds on Bittner. Knossalla blazed to a race-best 2:06:54 bike split but only advanced to 6th-place, 3:09 off the lead.
Strange sped through T2 with a race-best 1:17 transition which provided a crucial 17 seconds advantage over Bittner and gave the Dane a 1:05 lead over the German starting the run.
Bittner ran a race-best 1:15:35 half marathon which cut 48 seconds from Strange’s lead bur left him 17 seconds – precisely the time he lost in transition – back of Strange’s winning time. Fachbach took 3rd place, 2:25 behind Bittner.
Women
Unlike the back and forth of the men’s race, Camilla Pedersen made it simple for spectators with a wire-to-wire victory. Pedersen led the women's swim in 23:37 which gave her 1:50 lead on fellow Dane Maja Stage Nielsen, 1:58 on Yvonne Van Vlerken of Netherlands, and 1:59 on Karoline Hemmsen of Denmark.
After a women's-fastest 2:21:50 bike leg which was just 1 second faster than Van Vlerken, Pedersen had a 1:42 lead on the Netherlander, 9:09 on Nielsen and 12:37 on Hemmsen.
Pedersen then cruised home with a women's-fastest 1:24:25 run which gave her a 4:01 margin of victory over Van Vlerken (1:26:14 run) and 10:45 over women’s 3rd-place finisher Nielsen (1:25:55 run).
Challenge Denmark
Odense, Denmark
August 6, 2016
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.
Results
Pro Men
1. Thomas Strange (DEN) 3:49:23
2. Per Bittner (GER) 3:49:40
3. Markus Fachbach (GER) 3:52:05
4. Evert Scheltinga (NED) 3:52:51
5. Lukasz Wojt (GER) 3:53:02
6. Matthias Knossalla (GER) 3:53:10
7. Massimo Cigana (ITA) 3:59:30
8. George Bjälkemo (SWE) 4:00:29
9. Peter Seidel (GER) 4:01:52
10. Nicholas Ward Muñoz (GBR) 4:03:14
Pro Women
1. Camilla Pedersen (DEN) 4:13:11
2. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 4:17:12
3. Maja Stage Nielsen (DEN) 4:23:56
4. Laura Zimmerman (GER) 4:36:11
5. Karoline Hemmsen (DEN) 4:37:16
6. Frankie Sanjana (GBR) 4:39:53
