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Alistair Brownlee has produced one of the most impressive Ironman debuts of all time today in Utah. Facing a formidable and hugely experienced field at the Ironman 70.3 North American Pro Championship in St. George, the Brit double-Olympic Games winner stormed to victory ahead of Canada’s Lionel Sanders, with his 3:41:58 overall time breaking the course record to boot.
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The win automatically qualifies Brownlee for September’s Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Tennessee, and silences anyone who doubted his ability to make the jump to middle-distance racing from ITU events.
The women’s race was won by fellow Brit Holly Lawrence, who dominated from the get-go to produce another commanding performance in 113km racing.
Brownlee made his debut at the 113km distance late last month at Challenge Mogan Gran Canaria, where he crossed the line in 4:03:09, beating the next man across the tape, Belgian Pieter Heemeryck, by over eight minutes.
Where Gran Canaria had a shallow pro field, the Utah contenders were daunting, with Germany’s former Ironman and Ironman 70.3 world champion Sebastien Kienle, the fastest official Ironman in history, Canada’s Lionel Sanders, fellow Brit and former ITU rival Tim Don (a man with plenty of 70.3 victories on his racing palmares, Canada’s Brent McMahon and South Africa’s recent Ironman African Championship winner Ben Hoffman.
Brownlee would need a win to automatically qualify for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Chattanooga in September, and he came second out of the 1.9km swim in 23:18 behind Ben Kanute and just in front of his Olympic 2012 domestique, Brit Stuart Hayes, and 42secs ahead of Don. Kienle was 2mins back and Sanders over 3mins, and Alistair would power into the lead over Kanute within 20mins on the 90km bike
THE CHASE IS ON
Kienle and Sanders were the key chasers on a course that Ironman tout as one of the hardest on the 70.3 circuit, with 1,077m of total elevation gain over the 90km duration. At the 65km mark, Brownlee was 2:40mins ahead of Kienle and Sanders, with Brownlee actually extending his lead over Kienle by 40secs since the start of the bike. But could he maintain it? Oh yes he could, finishing with a 90km bike split of 2:01:39 to enter T2 with a three minute lead over Kienle and Sanders, 4:35mins over Don.
The half marathon run featured 386m of total elevation gain, includes scaling Red Hills Parkway and through the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, with Sanders gaining 20secs in the first 4km on Brownlee. By 15km, Brownlee’s lead had been reduced to a minute by the fast closing Sanders (who would clock a 1:12:19 run split) but it was too late for the Canadian as Brownlee triumphed in 3:41:58 to win by 33secs after a 1:14:49 half marathon. Kienle would finish third over 4mins behind Brownlee, with Don another 30secs back.
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Brownlee’s time was a St. George course record and qualifies him for the 70.3 Worlds in Chattanooga, where hopefully we’ll see a face-off between Sanders, Kienle and his old ITU rival Javier Gomez.
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The women’s race saw California-based Brit Holly Lawrence exit the swim in first in 24:56 and gain a comfortable 5min lead by the 65km mark on the bike. At the halfway stage on the run, the reigning 70.3 world champ Lawrence was 6mins ahead of Jeanni Seymour and she hold on for another impressive win, finishing in 4:12:07 to make it a famous day for British long-course tri.
Alistair Brownlee’s key triathlon training sessions
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The weekends retreats will be based in the Forest of Dean staying in the luxury accommodation at Broadrock, riding on some of the forests natural single track trails. The weekends will be lead by Adrian Stokes and Karen Maidment of Pure Body Balance and aimed at at those looking to improve there fitness, strength, health on and off the bike with a big focus around skills work when out on the trails.
Adrain Stokes will be there to work through key movement patterns and giving you an insight to insider secrets for ultimate strength, balance and coordination on the bike. Karen Maidment will guide you through the perfect post ride mountain bike specific yoga sessions as well sharing her knowledge about the key nutrition secrets needed for lasting out on those all day rides. Jake Ireland, owner and technician at Sprung Suspension will be on hand to get that perfect bike set-up specifically for you, making your ride even smoother when ripping up the trails. Katy Curd, top professional mountain bike racer, will be there to help guide you through the skills on the bike, helping you build up your confidence and skills to maintain natural flow on any trails you ride.
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How to regain your confidence after a fall off the bike
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The line up for WTS Yokohama includes Olympic medallist Jonathan Brownlee. This will be Jonny’s first race of the 2017 season after having to pull out of the earlier races in Abu Dhabi and the Gold Coast.
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Jonny said: “It’s good to be back in Japan, and it’s good to be back racing. I’ve been feeling strong in training, so I hope everything comes together for a good result on Saturday.”
Trying to stop Jonny topping the podium will be current and former ITU World Champions, Mario Mola and Javier Gomez of Spain, however Gomez has been suffering from toothache and an infected root canal we will have to wait and see if this has affected him.
A painful toothache, that turned out to be an infected root canal has knocked me around this week with fever and put me on antibiotics. But thanks to the help of dentist Nana Salzfeld and her team I’ll try to be on the start line ready to give my best on Saturday in Yokohama. Also thanks to the ITU for the help! / He tenido una semana complicada con una infección en una muela que me ha dado, además de dolor, fiebre y me ha obligado a tratarme con antibióticos. Parece que voy mejor así que haré todo lo posible por estar en la salida de la WTS de Yokohama este sábado, para dar el 100% como siempre. Quiero agradecer a la dentista Nana Salzfeld y su equipo por tratarme en Tokio para estar bien lo antes posible. Y a la ITU por su ayuda!
British hopes will also fall on Tom Bishop who raced a fantastic race in Abu Dhabi to finish second behind Gomez. Can he make the podium again?
Gordon Benson and five-time Yokohama top ten finisher, Adam Bowden make up the four GB men racing.
In the women’s series New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt has been the in-form athlete so far with two Series wins from two starts (Abu Dhabi and Gold Coast), however for the first time this year she has to race ITU Word Champion, Flora Duffy, who starts her 2017 campaign here.
Also hoping for a podium finish will be GB triathletes Non Stanford, who comes here after winning the Chengdu ITU World Cup last weekend, and Olympic bronze medal winner Vicky Holland.
Stanford said: “I’m feeling fairly relaxed and happy following the win in Chengdu last weekend. I’m looking forward to doing my first full distance race of the season and seeing where I am.”
Making up the British female team of five are Jess Learmonth, Lucy Hall and Sophie Coldwell, who have all scored World or European Cup wins this season. Expect them to attack the swim and bike courses in their usual style.
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The course is flat, but the forecast rain and technical bike leg with lots of tight corners should suit all of the British athletes.
Britain’s paratriathletes, including Rio gold medal winner, Andy Lewis, start their international seasons in Yokohama as well this weekend.
How to watch
There will be live BBC Red Button coverage of the men and women’s elite races on Saturday and highlights on Sunday:
Women’s race: Live 2am, repeated 10:12am
Men’s race: Live 5am, repeated 12:15pm
Highlights: 1pm BBC2 (including interviews with Andy Lewis and Jonathan Brownlee)
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For those that don’t have the BBC head to Triathlon Live (you need to purchase a pass)
it was a top-class line-up at the third race of the World Triathlon Series, WTS Yokohama, which included reigning world champion Mario Mola (ESP), double Olympic medallist Jonny Brownlee, five-time ITU world champ Javier Gomez (ESP) and Rio bronze medallist Henri Schoeman (RSA).
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Conditions in Yokohama, Japan, were wet and rainy, making it a slippy and unpredictable race. In the swim leg the men kept as a pack with Jonathan Brownlee leading after lap one and exiting the waters first.
However they still remained together and after a busy T1, 30 men emerged onto the bike leg, including some of the day’s biggest names Javier Gomez Noya, Mola and Brownlee.
The chase pack behind, which was being led by Aussie Jake Birtwhistle, had a large gap of over two minutes that they could not make up.
As the lead bike pack got close to the T2, it seemed that it would be Brownlee against the Spaniards on the run course, however, Brownlee got caught in a bike crash 1km from T2, which took him out of the running for the podium.
But with true Yorkshire grit running through his veins giving up was never going to be an option, and he picked up his bike and ran it in to T2 to be able to finish the race, where he ended up 42nd.
Brownlee said: “My first reaction was to get back on the bike, get back riding, but then I got to my bike and the handle bars were pointing wrong direct and I couldn’t move it. I still want to run, I’ve not come all the way to Japan not to finish.”
The bike is not supposed to look like that. Taken down by another athlete. Not had a lot of luck this year. Really disappointed pic.twitter.com/JjMD3NigKu
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— Jonathan Brownlee (@jonny_brownlee) May 13, 2017
Out on the run leg South Africa’s Henri Schoeman, Hungary’s Gabor Faldum and Blummenfelt were the immediate frontrunners, but on the first lap, Mola picked up his pace and swiftly overtook them to take the lead, where he remained for the rest of the race.
Behind him, however was a battle going on for the remaining two medals between Schoeman, Alarza and Blummenfelt. The three took turns passing each other and eventually Alarza pulled ahead to take the silver and first podium of the year.
While it then looked like Schoeman would take bronze after Blummenfelt held a face of struggle, he then surprised even himself and sprinted ahead of Schoeman with just enough time to snag the last podium spot.
“I am very happy obviously, it has been a very good day for me. On the bike we had to be careful. We saw at the end I think it was Jonny who had a crash with so many others. But with this day you never know what is going to happen, today luckily it worked for well for me so I am very pleased with it,” said Mola.
“I have said this before with triathlon it doesn’t matter how fit or how good you think you are, races put you in a place where sometimes you are happy and sometimes you are disappointed. But I was confident that I made the work during the winter, I kept doing the same work and when the result comes around you have to be pleased, so I will just keep trying to work to do the same things in the future.”
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After suffering tooth ache and a root canal infection earlier in the week Javier Gomez finished 9th tweeting “9 today in Yokohama, gave everything it had, that certainly wasn’t much. Congratulations to the @mariomola cracks and @Fernando_Alarza! Great race!”
Her return to WTS racing could not have gone better for Flora Duffy (BER). The ITU World Champion had missed the first two races of the season due to injury, but this performance in Yokohama signalled to the world she was not going to relinquish her world title lightly.
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As well as Duffy the women’s field at WTS Yokohama included Katie Zaferes (USA), Vicky Holland (GBR) and Non Stanford (GBR) but with wet and slippy conditions the race would prove anything but predictable.
In the swim Britain’s Jessica Learmonth and Lucy Hall took the lead and upon exiting the waters were among a group of five, which included Sophie Coldwell (GBR), Duffy and Summer Cook (USA), that headed into T1 ahead of the pack.
Proving her biking skills were still as good as ever Duffy then wasted no time in breaking away from the group, taking Coldwell with her.
And despite the best efforts of the chase group of 10, which contained Learmonth, Hall, Vicky Holland (GBR), Alice Betto (ITA), Zaferes, Kasper, Gillian Backhouse (AUS), Natalie Van Coevorden (AUS), Yuko Takahashi (JPN) and Minami Kubono (JPN), they could not catch Duffy and Coldwell.
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The rain continued to pour down, and cause problems for the riders. A slip on a corner took GB’s Non Stanford out of the running for a podium finish, while on the eighth lap Learmonth and Zaferes took a tumble on the wet streets. This briefly took them out of the leading chase group, but they both managed to catch the group as they entered T2.
By the time Duffy and Coldwell headed out on the run they had created a lead of 1:21. Coldwell made an early break but within a couple of seconds Duffy overtook her to take the lead, and there she remained for the rest of the race, finishing 1 minute 51 seconds ahead of her rivals – a new WTS record.
Coldwell then got passed by the two American athletes Zaferes and Kasper, who would then take silver and bronze respectively, but managed to hang on to take fourth spot. Vicky Holland finished in fifth
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“I didn’t know what I would have in the tank for today, I was pretty nervous coming into the race today, I felt like a WTS first-timer, but I had to keep reminding myself that I am the World Champ and I need to ride with confidence. So the race worked out great to my strengths and I am super happy,” said Duffy.
1.
Flora Duffy
BER
01:56:18
2.
Katie Zaferes
USA
01:58:09
3.
Kirsten Kasper
USA
01:58:17
4.
Sophie Coldwell
GBR
01:58:48
5.
Vicky Holland
GBR
01:58:50
6.
Ashleigh Gentle
AUS
01:58:57
7.
Non Stanford
GBR
01:59:04
8.
Jessica Learmonth
GBR
01:59:18
9.
Claire Michel
BEL
01:59:26
10.
Natalie Van Coevorden
AUS
01:59:32
3x Ironman World Champion Craig Alexander, Olympic gold and silver medallist Simon Whitfield, 2x Ironman World Champion Erin Baker, and 11x Ironman champion Lisa Bentley, have been named as the captains for the International Team at The Collins Cup.
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Inspired by golf’s Ryder Cup, The Collins Cup is a long-distance team competition among USA, Europe and the Internationals. Each team will consist of 12 professional triathletes, six men and six women.
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These four captains join USA captains Dave Scott and Karen Smyers and European captains, Chrissie Wellington and Normann Stadler
“This will be a stunning competition,” said Erin Baker. I’m thrilled to be an International captain. Since the Collins Cup was first announced, I was excited to see this compelling forum and particularly the PTO’s commitment to our sport’s ethos of gender equality.
“Having men and women professional athletes competing together as a team once again puts on display the unique nature of triathlon’s position in the sporting world.”
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Craig Alexander said: “It is a privilege to have been selected as one of the International Team Captains for the inaugural Collins Cup and to serve with Simon, Erin, and Lisa. The Collins Cup is an exciting new concept and with legendary Captains Dave Scott, Karen Smyers, Chrissie Wellington and Normann Stadler coming together to help lead today’s top athletes, it should be an epic event. It will be an incredible celebration of our sport, and I am excited and honoured to be a part of it.”
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Exercising hard and regularly can slow down the ageing process by about nine years, new research from Brigham Young University reveals.
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“Just because you’re 40, doesn’t mean you’re 40 years old biologically,” exercise science professor Larry Tucker said. “We all know people that seem younger than their actual age. The more physically active we are, the less biological ageing takes place in our bodies.”
The study, published in the medical journal Preventive Medicine, finds that people who have consistently high levels of physical activity have significantly longer telomeres than those who have sedentary lifestyles, as well as those who are moderately active.
Telomeres are the protein endcaps of our chromosomes. They’re like our biological clock and they’re extremely correlated with age; each time a cell replicates, we lose a tiny bit of the endcaps. Therefore, the older we get, the shorter our telomeres.
Tucker found adults with high physical activity levels have telomeres with a biological ageing advantage of nine years over those who are sedentary, and a seven-year advantage compared to those who are moderately active. To be highly active, women had to engage in 30 minutes of jogging per day (40 minutes for men), five days a week.
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“If you want to see a real difference in slowing your biological ageing, it appears that a little exercise won’t cut it,” Tucker said. “You have to work out regularly at high levels.”
Tucker analysed data from 5,823 adults who participated in the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, one of the few indexes that includes telomere length values for study subjects. The index also includes data for 62 activities participants might have engaged in over a 30-day window, which Tucker analysed to calculate levels of physical activity.
His study found the shortest telomeres came from sedentary people — they had 140 base pairs of DNA less at the end of their telomeres than highly active folks. Surprisingly, he also found there was no significant difference in telomere length between those with low or moderate physical activity and the sedentary people.
Although the exact mechanism for how exercise preserves telomeres is unknown, Tucker said it may be tied to inflammation and oxidative stress. Previous studies have shown telomere length is closely related to those two factors and it is known that exercise can suppress inflammation and oxidative stress over time.
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“We know that regular physical activity helps to reduce mortality and prolong life, and now we know part of that advantage may be due to the preservation of telomeres,” Tucker said.
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Double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee has announced he will race ‘The Championship 2017’ on the 3 June in Samorin, Slovakia.
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This new middle-distance championship is for professional and age-group triathletes alike, and has been organised by Challenge Family. To ensure racing is fair for all a 20 metre draft rule has been implemented on the bike leg.
Alistair’s announcement follows his two middle-distance wins, at Gloria Challenge Mogán Gran Canaria and the North American Pro Championship in Utah.
The field includes fellow ITU racers Richard Murray (RSA) and Richard Varga (SVK), who will both be debuting at the middle distance, as well as German athletes Sebastian Kienle and Andreas Dreitz
Alistair said: “There is a good field assembled for The Championship 2017 so I am excited to race, especially as the venue looks amazing. The bike course is relatively flat but the 20m draft rule will keep everyone honest and it should be a good race.”
The event will take place at the incredible x-bionic® sphere in Samorin, Slovakia.
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“Not only is Alistair a remarkable sportsman in his own right, he is also a great ambassador for the sport and we look forward to welcoming him to the start line,” said Zibi Szlufcik, Challenge Family CEO.
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“The Championship 2017 line-up is full of exceptional talent and big names who, I have no doubt, will all put on a hard and fast race at the stunning x-bionic® sphere next month.”
Alistair Brownlee’s key triathlon training sessions
Conditions in Lanzarote might not have been as windy as previous years but the scorching sun and temperature of 26°C made the day challenging for many.
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Known for her fast swim, Lucy Charles was first out of the water and entered the bike leg with a healthy 5 minute lead over Kate Comber (GBR) and 8 minute lead over Saleta Castro (ESP). Defending champion Tine Holst (DNK) was 16 minutes down to Charles, and the race seemed over before it even began for the defending champion.
@lucycharles93 out swam most of the pro men this morning
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The Slateman Triathlon in the epic setting of Snowdonia National Park attracted a sell-out crowd once again, with nearly 1,300 athletes taking part in the two events over the weekend.
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We named Slateman 11th in our top 31 triathlons across the world
Kicking off with a sprint-distance race consisting of a 400m lake swim, 20km bike and 6km run, participants climbed the infamous Llanberis Pass on the bike course before heading back down to complete a challenging run through Padarn County Park.
For the full-distance race (1km, 51km bike, 11km run) athletes complete the same climb on the bike plus a loop around the North Wales Countryside, with the brutal run consisting of a struggle up the breathtaking Dinorwig Quarries.
Heavy rain made a tough race tougher on Saturday, but times at the head of the race were impressive despite the conditions. In the men’s race, Tomos Neesham was victorious in a time of 1:11:27, with Paul Hawkins and Richard Straughan taking second and third in times of 1:13:07 and 1:13:20, respectively. Rebecca Lodge was the female winner, crossing the line in 1:23:20. Alice Jenkins took second place 3mins later, with Helen Talbot taking third place in a time of 1:29:19.
The rain subsided for the full-distance event on Sunday with light winds, making the 1km swim in waters reported to be a chilly 12C more bearable for the 950 athletes taking part. Spectators were treated to a stunning swim from Stewart Moore of Manchester Tri Club, emerging from the water in 12:59mins and almost 90 secs ahead of the chasing pack.
Over the bike leg Moore was quickly reigned in by some blazing quick riders, and it was Peter Brook who had the fastest bike split of the day with a 1:20:56 over the tough 51km course. It wasn’t quite enough to reign in Lewis Eccleston, who put in a run split of 49:13 to win in a time of 2:28:18. Brook’s time was 2:28:59, with Paul Hawkins taking third spot in 2:29:48.
In the women’s race, Becky Schofield overcame a fast swim by Alice Jenkins to take over the lead on the bike course, recording a bike split of 1:34:13 and a 58:29min run to hold on for the victory in a time of 2:52:54. Olivia Matthews also pulled back the deficit over the bike and run to finish second in a time of 2:53:54, with Jenkins crossing the line in 2:54:18.
Athletes could also opt to race the ‘Slateman Savage’, a combination of the sprint event on Saturday and then the full-distance on Sunday. It was Paul Hawkins to came out on top, finishing second in the sprint and third in the full-distance race for a combined time of 3:42:55. The second and third male finishers overall were Richard Straughan and the appropriately-named Paul Savage, while Alice Jenkins, Rebecca Lodge and Helen Talbot were the first three females.
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Entries are open for Slateman 2018 already, with pricing staying the same as the 2017 race until May 31st.
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