Sturla and Griesbauer in Brazil
Eduardo Sturla dominated the field at the 2009 Ironman Brazil and crossed the line 15 minutes up on Reinaldo Colucci. Dede Griesbauer took the women's title thanks to a strong performance in all three disciplines but especially on the bike.
The men
Frederico Monteiro was first out of the water followed by Reinaldo Colucci and Fabio Carvalho.
Once on the bike, defending champion Eduardo Sturla quickly asserted himself and moved to the front of the field. He was being matched by Colucci and the two South Americans soon left all other competitors behind. Fairly late in the bike segment Sturla was finally able to get rid of his younger competitor and cruised into T2 with an almost 5 minute margin.
Sturla looked very strong on the run too and steadily increased his lead. By the time he crossed the finish line in 8:13:39 he was almost 15 minutes ahead of Colucci. Despite slowing down Colucci hung on for second place and Petr Vabrousek grabbed the final podium spot.
"When I got the lead the only guy that accepted the challenge to follow me was Colucci. I thought that the race would be decided in the marathon stage, because Colucci was really following me so close. But at 150 km I finally dropped him and took a 5 minute lead until the end of the bike. I started the run in a conservative pace. I wanted to check how much I needed to push, and control the rest of the field." said Sturla.
The women
First woman out of the water was Carla Moreno but Dede Griesbauer wasn't far behind. Griesbauer then pushed a very hard pace on the bike and left all other competitors in her wake. By the time she reached the bike-run transition she was almost 6 minutes up on Charlotte Kolters and almost 11 minutes up on Lisbeth Kristensen.
"I was 2nd out of the water by a few seconds, but first out on the bike. It's a fast course, but was a bit windy in spots. I was surprised with my bike split…much faster than 2 years ago on a day I didn't feel the conditions were as good." said Griesbauer to slowtwitch.
With a greatly improved run Griesbauer increased her lead even more so and finally crossed the line in 9:10:15. Kolters finished in second place about 8 minutes later and Heather Gollnick rounded out the podium. Kristensen who was a late race entry had looked very strong most of the day but pulled out of the race at the 23k mark of the marathon.
"I've been working a LOT on my run, so I hoped I'd be able to hang in there. While my split came up a bit short of what Karen (Karen Smyers ed.) and I had hoped and trained for it to be, it was good enough on the day. I didn't really have any "lows" on the run and felt pretty strong all the way around." added Griesbauer.
Ironman Brazil
Florianopolis, Brazil / May 31
Top 10 men
1. Eduardo Sturla (ARG) 8:13:39
2. Reinaldo Colucci (BRA) 8:28:08
3. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:37:18
4. Ezequiel Morales (ARG) 8:39:01
5. Raul Futado (BRA) 8:53:20
6. Lucas Pretto (BRA) 8:56:49
7. Leandro Bonet (ARG) 8:57:37
8. Fabio Carvalho (BRA) 8:59:08
9. Virgilio Castilho (BRA) 9:02:45
10. Ivan Junior (BRA) 9:04:38
Top 10 women
1. Dede Griesbauer (USA) 9:10:15
2. Charlotte Kolters (DEN) 9:18:49
3. Heather Gollnick (USA) 9:31:42
4. Sara Gross (CAN) 9:44:46
5. Ana Borba (BRA) 9:52:29
6. Fernanda Keller (BRA) 9:54:11
7. Maria Omar (ARG) 9:57:52
8. Mariana Ohata (BRA) 10:08:23
9. Arianie Silveira (BRA) 10:09:41
10. Flavia Rocha (BRA) 10:13:04 * AG F35-39
