Monday, May 4, 2009

Full Results of the Busselton Half Ironman

Dear Athletes

Wow! What a weekend! Awesome conditions greeted the TEAM CORE athletes down by the jetty at Busselton for this year's Half Ironman. It looked set to be a fast day for most, but with record numbers in the race, drafting on the bike course was always going to be a concern. We had some great results, some solid results and a couple of unfortunate incidents during the day, but this is really what racing this type of event is all about. Sometimes you have everything go your way and you have a great day, other times you don't. What is important is that you maintain composure during the adverse times and focus on doing the very best that you can at that moment in time. And if you needed a prompt to get you smiling and seeing the lighter side of things, there was always a wacky-looking Elvis impersonator (or 5!) on the course to help you!!!! So, without further ado, here are the results:


...the top-3 men are shown in blue and the top-3 females in pink (please note, it has not been possible to calculate the team entrants times as team member names have not been stipulated in the results. So please, if you were in a team and know your details, let me know).

  • Nathan Jones had a really solid race to take 2nd in the 25-29 AG and 21st overall - showing his prowess on the bike to post the 10th fastest bike split of the day.
  • Sandy Burt also took out 2nd place in the 45-49 AG and 28th overall - despite suffering a bad bike crash just 2 months ago that threatened his whole season with multiple fractures of his ribs, this was a stellar result.
  • Tim Howley finished just 2 minutes behind Sandy to round-off the podium in the 45-49 AG and showed his experience on the run, each lap being within 30 seconds of the other!
  • Matt Illingworth set a staggering pace on the bike as he searched for the course record, only to end up with a puncture on the final lap sadly. Still 7th place in the 40-44 AG is a good result with a much-improved swim split to boot!
  • Mike Bowles dusted off the cobwebs with a tremendous return to the sport finishing 6th in the hotly contested 45-49 AG with an 8 minute PB on the swim and 15th fastest bike split overall - showing promise for the World Championships later this year.
  • Alan Nicholls also saw a good improvement on his swim time to finish 3rd in the 50-54 AG category and hung on well with a typical gutsy run leg.
  • Rob Newman has been plagued all season with injury and unfortunate mishaps but that didn't stop him taking a top-10 spot in the 45-49 AG with a new overall HIM P.B too! This really was a superb result for Rob and a big boost going into Ironman Canada later this year.
  • We haven't seen too much of Zane Randell this season, but an 8 minute improvement from last year with a really strong swim and bike combo is a great result.
  • Joe Kierath only turned 18 a couple of weeks ago and as such was the youngest competitor on the course on Saturday. Over the course of the build-up to this race, we had predicted Joe's result to within 30 seconds of his gutsy first performance over this distance. Joe's strength and experience will grow over the years to allow him to really back-up his super-strong swim and bike disciplines with a solid run leg. Joe finished a very credible 6th in the competitive 18-24 AG category.
  • Sally Scafidi destroyed her competition in the 40-44 AG category to be the first of our 3 AG category winners across the line in a time of 4h46'36", just 8 minutes shy of the overall female podium. Nice work Sal!
  • Marius Grobbelaar finished just 2'28" behind where we predicted he would finish from the recent string of brick sessions to take out a top-20 position in the 40-44 AG category. As his first attempt at this distance his consistency over the first 2 laps of both the bike and run legs (within 5 seconds of each other!) will surely lead to future success in his AG as his experience and strength grows.
  • Graham Crocker - half man, half machine never ceases to amaze by taking out 1st place in the 60-64 AG category in a time that most of us could only dream about: 4h46'50". Congratulations Graham - age is clearly no barrier!
  • Daniel Tarborsky surprised himself with a very credible sub-4h50 first time performance. Having come from a very limited swimming background just 6 months or so ago and to go sub-35 mins for the swim on Saturday was a testament to his hard work in the pool - well done!
  • Paul Heyes had a dream of breaking 35 minutes for the swim and did just that - by 4 seconds!!! finishing 16th in his 45-49 AG category. Well done, mate, told you you could do it!
  • Ian Klasens also overcome a very limited swimming background to smash the swim in an amazing time of 32'10". He also clocked the 8th fastest bike split overall. With a bit more work on the bike to run transition, Ian will go well at Busselton Ironman in December. Incidentally, we predicted Ian's time to within 2 minutes from his Brick Session performance a few weeks back.
  • Jess Huston was on fire on Saturday taking out a stellar top-10 position in her 25-29 AG and a finish time of 5h01'35" which proved to be well over 10 minutes quicker than we had her pegged down for. Awesome result Jess - well done!
  • Dan Timbers followed just 21 seconds behind Jess with a much-improved swim split of 34'56" and nearly 30 minutes quicker overall than last year - smoking!
  • Tim Cooney was without a doubt the "Dark Horse" of this year's HIM squad, again finishing a good 10 to 15 minutes quicker than we thought he would to finish 35th in his AG. Not a bad first-time outing mate! Well done!
  • Anthony Tholet backed up a gutsy IronmanWA performance with a great result of 5h05'11" just a couple of months after his 2nd child too! Ant showed real consistency in pace on the bike and run disciplines - is 2nd and 3rd lap being just 1 second apart! Amazing.
  • Bruce Matthews hung in tough for a credible 5h07'12" finish and a vastly improved sub-30 swim split. Well done mate for getting through this one, it was a tough day but you lived to tell the tale!
  • Another Englishman taking off nearly 30 minutes from last year's time was Matt Biddle to finish top-50 in the 40-44 AG category. Again, a much improved swim split a superb pace awareness on the bike set Matt up for this commendable result.
  • She said that she hadn't trained much and we haven't seen too much of her recently, but Jen Newman did amazingly well to finish 13th in her 30-34 AG category in a time of 5h08'15" - must be all that secret training Jen! LOL!
  • Suzanne Laidlaw raced well to shave off just under a minute from last year's time and to also take-out a top-10 finish position in her 40-44 AG category. Well done Sue!
  • Carl Andrews suffered badly with the flu in the lead-up to this event and wasn't sure if he'd be racing or not on the day. Despite all that and really not feeling too hot on the day, Carl still knocked off over 6 minutes from last year's time. Don't worry mate, with a similar preparation next year and an anti-flu shot, you will smash that 5 hour barrier!
  • He wasn't dressed as a waiter this time around, but still managed a lap of the run dressed as Elvis Presley! Glen Blackwell also knocked off over 30 minutes from last year's time and will soon be knocking on that sub-5 hour window with Carl. Well done champ.
  • Dean Turner showed great pace awareness on the first 2 laps of the bike ride, finishing each within 1 second of each other! Dean finished in a time of 5h15'12" and took out 31st spot in the 50-54 AG category. Well done Dean!
  • David Laidlaw was a man on a mission this year, finishing over 5 minutes quicker than last year and averaging over 36km/h on the bike! 2 minutes of this time came from a much-improved swim leg - well done mate, the effort was surely worth it!
  • Judi Clemie proved that her 2007 result was a not a fluke but a sign of her experience over this HIM distance. Judi finished 15th in her 40-44 AG category with a great time of 5h21'43". Well done Jude!
  • Mike Hodgson had a much-improved swim split of 33'07" on Saturday and ran strongly to average just over 5 mins per km. With a bit more work on the bike, Mike can be assured of lifting this performance higher still. Well done!
  • Stuart Murray unfortunately missed the start of the swim leg and had to frantically chase them down. Still to knock out a 35'52" swim split (including the missed start) was a real sign that Stu's swimming is improving. Stu also averaged just under 35km/h on the bike leg which is a good step in the right direction.
  • Chris Swallow also had a good swim, just breaking the 30-minute barrier on the day. This result saw him finish well within the top-100 of the hotly contested 30-34 AG category.
  • Mark Rayner put the disappointment of last year's DNF behind him and started the day with nearly a 5-minute swim time improvement and a very credible run split of 1h50'00" off the bike. Well done Mark!
  • Despite crashing on the first lap of the bike course and also suffering a 5-minute time penalty, Renee Baker had a great day and learnt a lot from this race for future races. Incidentally we had predicted Renee's result to within 30 seconds of her actual finishing time of 5h26'50", so without the "hiccups" of the day this would have really been a top performance. A swim split of 30'49" is a massive improvement from Renee's starting point in January at the back of the first swim lane - well done!
  • Despite not having had a great run build for this event, Helen Buckle still managed to P.B both the swim and bike disciplines, averaging a cool 33.5km/h on the bike and riding each lap within 60 seconds of each other. Great pace awareness. Hopefully Helen's legs will now have a little time to recover and get things back on track for her strongest discipline, the run.
  • Nathan Thomson loves numbers, and surely he will be impressed to know that he went 26 seconds faster than our initial predictions! Well done mate on your first HIM event and with a 34'05" swim split, this shows very positive signs of what is to come in December at IronmanWA!
  • It was a welcome return to Busselton for Nat Sumner who finished 28th in the 25-29 AG category after a hiatus from the sport for a few years. Great to have you back and firing Nat!
  • Brett Semler must have been pretty happy when he got out of the water in just over 32 minutes and backed up his race by averaging bang-on 5 mins per km on the run leg - well done that man!
  • Glenn Young was another athlete similarly impressed with his swim split of just under 32 minutes, and rightly so. Consistency on the bike leg to ride each lap within 80 seconds of each other saw Glenn finish his first HIM in a very credible 5h36'36".
  • Not only did Neil Welsh survive the swim, but he averaged 1'48" per 100m for the 1.9km distance which from where you started just a few months ago Neil is a great achievement well done. Neil finished 114th in the 30-34 AG category.
  • We haven't seen too much of Lindy Brand this season but despite a tough swim leg, Lindy went on to ride each of the 3 bike laps within 60 seconds of each other and take out 27th position in the 35-39 AG category. Well done Lindy.
  • Anne Murrell missed a mention in last week's race preview (sorry Anne!) but she had a great day to win the ladies' 55-59 AG category with a 40 minute swim split, an average pace of over 32km/h on the bike (if you don't mind!) and a solid 2h08' run split. Great result Anne, well done!
  • Liza Magennis should be very happy with an average swim pace of 1'54" per 100m and a consistency on the run of just over 30 seconds between the 3 laps - hot stuff Liza! This saw Liza finish 29th in the 35-39 AG category.
  • Melissa Murphy was stoked to have swum the 1.9km in just over 41 minutes, and rightly so! Well done Mel. An average speed on the bike of bang-on 30km/h and good pacing on the run saw Mel post a 5h45'55" time. Nice job!
  • Two Melissa's, two minutes apart - this time Melissa Cooney, wife of Tim "Dark Horse" Cooney finished 36th in her 40-44 AG category with a stellar run split just less than 30 seconds behind Tim's. This was an excellent result for Mel and again (incidentally) just 2 minutes off where we predicted she would finish. Not bad for a mother of 5 young children - seriously! Well done Mel, hope you loved it!
  • Lisa Hitchcock surprised herself with an average swim pace just on the right side of 2 minutes per 100m, before backing up with an average speed over 30km/h on the bike and a strong run to boot - well done Lisa!
  • Our fourth Mel across the line was Melissa Cundy in a time just 4 minutes outside of last year's performance. Despite holding off the same flu that Carl was suffering from, Mel swam 3 minutes quicker than last year and still gave us her trademark "Cundy Consistency" on the bike leg before suffering a touch on the run. Well done for toughing it out Mel!
  • Just breaking the 6 hour mark was Paul McQueen who finished 92nd in the 45-49 AG category. We think something funky must have been going on with Paul's timing chip, showing that he averaged 42.6km/h on the 3rd lap of the bike and 3'53"/km on the 2nd lap of the run, but we're confident he did break the 6-hour barrier. Well done Paul!
  • Chris Murphy and main sponsor of the TEAM CORE, did exceptionally well to break 6 hours and go 10 minutes quicker than last year given his recent workload. Hopefully the legs held up well for you though Chris this time around!
  • Carly Innes needed not to have worried about the swim, having completed the 1.9km in 35'13". Carly finished the race just under 6 hours as well which is a great result for her very first HIM event - well done!
  • Jo Thomson has to win the most-improved award by breaking 40 minutes on the swim, averaging just under 29km/h on the bike and topping it off just over 2hrs for the half marathon run to finish just 22 seconds shy of 6 hours. Great result Jo!
  • Sandy Tindale proved to be very consistent in the final 14km of the run leg to finish a very credible 3rd place in the 55-59 AG category, with a good swim split of 35'35" also. Nice job!
  • Karlee Cannon had pretty much everything that could go wrong, go wrong on the day...but she soldiered on and still finished with a big smile in a great first-time effort of 6h08'07". First off she lost her bike computer in T1 so had to go back and get it, then it wasn't working anyway, then came a puncture followed by an unfortunate trip to the "sin-bin" for 5 minutes for a call on unavoidable drafting...most people would have quit then by this stage, but Karlee held it together and with a very commendable spirit, put it all down to experience for next time! Well done Karlee, you did well!
  • Julie Kiely had to have been happy with a 40-minute swim split over the 1900m course - it was a great result again for someone with a very limited swimming background! Julie then rode each lap of the bike within 20 seconds of each other before a similar display of pace awareness on the run - nice job Julie!
  • Anna Foster started the program with a goal of completing the Half Ironman for the first time. Our initial predictions were that she would finish in ~6h30', but she far surpassed that to knock out a very credible 6h11'59" for her first crack at this distance and to take 41st place in her 25-29 AG category. Well done Anna, you did yourself proud!
  • Helen Masson swam a full 4 minutes quicker than last year, but then unfortunately suffered some bad abdominal cramping on the run which made things tough going. Still, she toughed it out and got through it, all still with a big cheesy smile, going to show that nutrition really is the 4th discipline of endurance triathlon and which can (and often has) hampered many a race, my own included. Well done Helen, you'll nail it next time, don't worry!
  • Desiree Silva was only just back from a trek up Mt. Kinabalu in Malaysia before taking on her first Half Ironman, which she did in style, finishing 30th in her 45-49 AG category in a time of 6h15'33", some 5 minutes faster than our fastest predicted pace for Desi - well done that lady!
  • Petra Cameron knocked out a very commendable 6h16'47" HIM on Saturday to finish top-50 in her 35-39 AG category, a full 28 minutes quicker than we had initially predicted that she would go - well done Petra!
  • Gabe Alves managed very little training indeed for this event, having just had his first baby with Belynda just before Christmas. However, he had set himself two very simple goals - 1) to finish and 2) to not puncture...having punctured twice last year on this same course, he just wanted a clear run at the course and that he did. Well done buddy!
  • Mary Tennant unfortunately suffered a nasty bike crash right at the start of the bike leg which saw her having to take an unprecedented trip to the medical tent to get bandaged up etc. Luckily, despite hitting the tarmac with her head quite heavily and also badly banging her shoulder, Mary did not break anything, but will be sore for a couple of weeks. All this on the back of a 36'44" or 1'56" per 100m P.B swim too! Such a shame, but unfortunately these things occasionally happen and I've also personally been in this situation myself too as well. Well done Mary - here's to next time!
  • Gillian Evans made the very sensible and commendable decision to withdraw from the event on the very morning of the race. For the last 3 to 4 weeks Gillian has been suffering from a very nasty, lingering bout of bronchitis and has been throw several stints of antibiotics. We were hoping that she would miraculously come good for the event, but time was sadly not on our side and Gillian made the right decision to pull out and not seriously risk her health on the day. Well done, Gillian, it was a tough call, but the right one.

So there we have it chaps, another race down, another season gone...onwards and upwards as they say to another winter of fresh and fruitiness before we do it all over again next year - I do hope you can join us, till then "...you ain't nothin' but a Hound Dog...uh-hu, thank you very much!"

Paul & Adam







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