By T.J. Murphy Nov. 11, 2006 -- Sunny skies and 60-degree temperatures greeted the 1360 starters of a race that matched some of the world's top Ironman stars against some of the top world's best Olympic-distance athletes, punctuating the first year of the 70.3 series with its first world championship. The conditions and the flat, furiously fast course lilted under the heat of intense competition, and two of the favorites -- Canadian Samantha McGlone and Australian Craig Alexander -- blazed to victories in times of 4:12:48 and 3:45:37 respectively.
Alexander, 33, got off to a good start in the wetsuit-legal 1.2-mile swim by breaking free with the first pack in the men's race. The eight-man group exited the waters of the Gulf of Mexico in 24 minutes and included Britain's Simon Lessing, Canada's Michael Simpson, American Chris Lieto and Australian Richie Cunningham. Two minutes later the second group scrambled to shore, and with it one of the favorites, Aussie Chris Legh.
"I thought I was in the lead pack," Legh said after the race. "It wasn't until I got out of the water that I realized there was a pack of eight two minutes ahead. That's when I thought, 'That's it. That was the race.'" Legh would fight his way back to a disappointing fourth-place finish, but that was the best he could manage.
As Legh indicated, the 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile half-Ironman distance showed its true colors as a race of its own today, rather than being something lost between the full-Ironman distance and the usual sprint distances. When he came out two minutes behind, there would be too much speed in front of him and too little room for the typical Ironman troubles that often surface 140.6-mile event and wear down naïve front-runners.
And the athletes let the hammers drop. "I knew that at times we were riding about 45km per hour," Alexander said. His split, 2:05:34, placed Alexander -- one of the best runners in triathlon -- in ideal circumstances to claim the race.
Simon Lessing proved to be Alexander's greatest threat, although a misstep on the bike would slow him down in the run. "I lost a gel bottle and then a bottle of fluid during the bike, and I knew I wouldn't have the calories in me that I would need to run the speed I would need to. I was running on empty." Lessing also lost precious time in transition. "I've got in the habit of putting on socks," he said about his 45 second T-1 transition, compared to others (including Alexander) who were clocked in less than 10 seconds.
"I hung tough," Lessing said. "But I knew Craig was going to be psyched up for the run."
Lessing and Alexander both recorded 2:05 bike splits, and Alexander took off out of T2 at warp speed. "That's always my strategy -- to start off fast," Alexander says, and in employing this strategy, he immediately seized the lead with sub-6:00-per-mile pace. Falling off the pace were names like Lieto (Lieto had the fastest bike split of the day with a 2:02:10), New Zealand's Terenzo Bozzone, Cunningham and Simpson.
Alexander's 1:12:43 run split sealed the deal and would have been 30 seconds faster if he hadn't eased up in the finish chute to enjoy the moment with spectators.
"It's an incredible distance," Alexander said. "I can't believe it. The win feels better than I could have imagined."
Lisa Bentley wasn't supposed to be so fast today, having crossed the finish line in Kona just three weeks ago and taking third place there. Obviously the 37-year-old's powers of recovery were intact.
"I didn't not do anything for three weeks," Bentley said. "I did short runs and worked in a bit of speed." And then she re-performed her Kona taper. "I had the race today I wished I had in Kona. I had a great swim, a great bike ride and a good run." Bentley was just 20 seconds back of McGlone out of the swim and surprised everyone by out-biking the former Canadian Olympic team member.
Although Bentley is known for her great running ability, so is McGlone, and McGlone's 1:20:22 was a minute faster than Bentley's split. But although McGlone had built a solid lead, she received an injection of fear with three miles to go. "I had 5km left, and my coach told me that Lisa was starting to gain on me. I wasn't sure it would be enough to hold the pace I was running; I didn't know if I had to speed it up." Nonetheless, when the McGlone, 27, turned into the finishing chute and ventured a look back -- and having no Bentley in sight -- she ran past the crowd, broke the tape and then sat down on the carpet, not so much in pain as in shock. "It hasn't sunk into me yet," she said. "Maybe it will in 10 minutes or so, but right now I don't believe it."
Ford Ironman 70.3 ChampionshipClearwater, FloridaNov. 11, 20061.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile runWomen 1. Samantha McGlone 27:29 2:21:33 1:20:22
4:12:582. Lisa Bentley 27:49 2:21:04 1:21:33
4:14:303. Mirinda Carfrae 27:33 2:21:11 1:23:59
4:16:444. Leanda Cave 25:13 2:23:47 1:25:46
4:18:475. Yvonne Van Velkren 28:18 2:19:44 1:27:17
4:19:50Men1. Craig Alexander 24:08 2:05:34 1:12:43
3:45:372. Simon Lessing 24:05 2:05:27 01:14:10
3:47:253. Richie Cunningham 24:02 02:05:38 01:16:20
3:49:174. Chris Legh 26:06 2:06:05 1:14:07
3:49:425. Michael Simpson 25:56 02:06:02 01:15:35
3:51:24