By Brad Culp
Nov. 2, 2008 -- At 40-years young, Canadian Tom Evans is just reaching his athletic prime. Taking full advantage of the near-perfect conditions in Panama City Beach, Fla., Evans had a near-perfect race en route to a record-breaking 8:07:59 performance. That time, which included a jaw-dropping 4:18:59 bike split, shattered the existing course record by over 13 minutes. Scotland's Bella Comerford was equally as impressive in the women's race, finishing in 9:07:49, and netting her fifth win in North Florida.
The men's race got off to a quick start, as conditions in Gulf of Mexico were pool-like at 7 a.m., allowing Evans to blitz through the swim in 48:15. Not far behind was Denmark's Torbjorn Sindballe, the only man in the race with the ability to out-bike Evans. Less than a minute later, Germany's Andreas Boecherer and Belgian Bert Jammaer were out of the Ocean and looking to give chase to the leaders.
During the early miles of the bike it became clear that there would be no chase and Evans and Sindballe easily stretched their advantage. Only 10 miles into the bike their lead was almost two minutes and growing by minutes instead of seconds.
By mile 70, Evans was in front, one minute ahead of Sindballe, had who stated before the race that he wouldn't go full throttle on the bike. The chasers, led by Boecherer, were almost 10 minutes back.
Evans entered T2 with a three-minute gap on Sindballe and set off on a blazing pace. During the early miles of the run it looked as though the Canadian would have a chance of breaking the eight-hour mark. Sindballe didn't seem concerned with chasing down Evans, and rather just ran to secure second place and his Kona slot for 2009. The only man making up any ground on the run was uber-Ironman Petr Vabrousek of the Czech Republic, who was competing in his 12th Iron-distance race of 2008.
With the result never really in doubt, Evans crossed the line ten minutes in front of Sindballe and recorded the fastest Ironman ever by an athlete over 40-years old. Vabrousek ran his way into third after posting the best run of the day (2:55:36).
In the women's race, Comerford emerged from the Gulf just over 90 seconds off the pace set by defending champion Nina Kraft of Germany, American Bree Wee and Brit Rachel Joyce.
In typical fashion, Kraft looked to lead from start to finish and began building an advantage during the early miles of the bike. Kraft's moment in the sun would be short-lived, however, as her saddle broke near the 20-mile marker and she was unable to continue.
Comerford found her way to the lead and looked comfortable on the flat roads of the Florida Panhandle. Ninety miles in, Comerford was almost three minutes up on Joyce, with Wee another minute behind. The real story of the bike was being written another minute back, as American super-biker Jessica Jacobs had ridden her way up to fourth place, after exiting the water 14 minutes behind the leaders.
Comerford looked solid on the early miles of the run, as Wee and Joyce faded back. The Scot's only real competition for the win came from the Ukraine's Tamara Kozulina, who was ten minutes back at T2, but was the only women in the race out-pacing Comerford on the marathon. Comerford's advantage proved to be too much, however, and she crossed the line seven minutes ahead of Kozulina. Jacobs, who out-rode the women's field by almost ten minutes, finished comfortably in third, less than four minutes behind Kozulina.
2008 Ford Ironman Florida
Panama City Beach, Fla.
November 1, 2008
2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run
Men
1. Tom Evans (CAN) 8:07:59
2. Torbjorn Sindballe (DEN) 8:17:51
3. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) 8:23:00
4. Christophe Bastie (FRA) 8:24:41
5. Uwe Widmann (GER) 8:25:34
Women
1. Bella Comerford (GBR) 9:07:49
2. Tamara Kozulina (UKR) 9:14:15
3. Jessica Jacobs (USA) 9:17:51
4. Bree Wee (USA) 9:26:46
5. Rachel Joyce (GBR) 9:37:50