Ariane Monticeli and Marino Vanhoenacker blazed to championship titles at IRONMAN Brazil, guaranteeing their start in Kona in October.
The inaugural IRONMAN Latin American Championship Brazil delivered speedy times as pros descended on Florianopolis looking to punch their tickets to Hawaii. All eyes were on Brazil as the top four pro men all clocked sub-8 hour finishes. The women's race featured a come-from-behind runner's victory.
Vanhoenacker the veteran consistent and strong
Paul Mathews (AUS), Igor Amorelli (BRA), Brent McMahon (CAN) and Tim O’Donnell (USA) all clambered out of the water and onto the white sand of El Divino Beach within six seconds of each other.
Once on the bike, McMahon, Amorelli, Matthews and O’Donnell formed an allegiance at the front, while Tyler Butterfield (BMU) and Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) floated 1:45 back of the lead quartet for much of the first loop of the bike. During the second half, Vanhoenacker and Butterfield bridged the gap to the front pack, while Matthews faded. As expected, Vanhoenacker pushed the pace with 50 kilometers remaining on the bike and pulled away from his rivals who simply couldn’t match the torrid tempo the Belgian was holding at the front.
Vanhoenacker dismounted his bike carrying significant leads over McMahon, O’Donnell, Amorelli and Butterfield who came into transition together. Butterfield's work to bridge the gap was for naught, however, as the two-time Olympian had to serve a penalty before he was permitted to continue.
Once the men hit the run, O’Donnell and McMahon pulled away from the field and managed to successfully chew into Vanhoenacker’s lead. O’Donnell appeared to be the one content to push the pace while McMahon followed suit off the back. At one point, O’Donnell looked poised to make a serious challenge for the lead at 30 kilometers when he ran to within 30 seconds of Vanhoenacker. However, that was as close as the 2013 IRONMAN Brazil champion would get, because within two kilometers, O’Donnell found himself over a minute off the pace.
Vanhoenacker went on the capture the 2015 IRONMAN Latin American Championship title in a winning time of 7:53:44. O’Donnell was next in at 7:55:56, while McMahon finished off the men’s podium with his 7:56:55 clocking.
Monticeli storms and surprises
Haley Chura (USA) was first out of the water, holding almost two minutes over Amanda Stevens (USA) who is no slouch of a swimmer. Lucie Zelenkoa (CZE), Laural Wassner (USA) and Karen Thibodeau (CAN) followed, over three minutes off the pace.
Chura who is equally strong on the bike as she is on the swim exploited her strength to extend her lead throughout much of the bike. Unfortunately, Chura suffered a mechanical on the bike and forfeited much her lead to the women who were in hot pursuit. Tine Dockers (BEL), who was laying down the fastest bike split on the day had worked her way into second as Chura led the women into T2. Asa Lundstrom was right behind Deckers, and Stevens was next off the bike.
Chura’s lead was a mere two and half minutes off the top four women into T2 and immediately handed back time to the women behind her. By 2.5 kilometers, Deckers and Lundstrom stormed past a fading Chura. By five kilometers, Chura faded to sixth while Lyles and Stevens moved towards the front. Stevens grabbed the lead and appeared to be running away from the field. Lyles was tenacious during the whole run—always within striking distance but could never make to the front.
Meanwhile, well out of sight of the front runners, Brazil’s Ariane Monticeli was storming through the field in an attempt to reduce the deep hole she dug herself into during her swim and bike. Monticeli put together an brilliant 2:56:28 marathon that saw her blow through the field and into the lead at 34 kilometers. Monticeli never looked back—her blistering finish time of 8:59:08 won her the IRONMAN Latin American Championship title in her home country. Lyles was steadfast all day and came second, stopping the clock at 9:00:31. Stevens gamely hung on to claim the final podium placing with her 9:01:27.
Top 10 Men
1 Vanhoeknacker, Marino BEL 0:48:31 4:11:23 2:49:38 7:53:44
2 O'Donnell, Timothy USA 0:47:03 4:19:26 2:45:52 7:55:56
3 McMahon, Brent CAN 0:47:02 4:19:01 2:47:08 7:56:55
4 Amorelli, Igor BRA 0:47:01 4:19:23 2:49:05 7:59:36
5 Butterfield, Tyler BMU 0:48:17 4:18:05 2:48:54 8:05:22
6 Trautman, Matt ZAF 0:52:21 4:25:19 2:44:31 8:06:29
7 Buckingham, Kyle ZAF 0:48:29 4:26:05 2:50:30 8:09:33
8 Aigroz, Mike CHE 0:48:17 4:26:17 2:54:42 8:13:22
9 Manocchio, Guilherme BRA 0:50:29 4:22:39 2:58:18 8:17:02
10 Silvestrin Souza, Frank BRA 0:48:16 4:29:46 2:56:22 8:20:07
Top 10 Women
1 Monticeli, Ariane BRA 1:00:18 4:57:59 2:56:28 8:59:08
2 Lyles, Elizabeth USA 0:57:49 4:54:31 3:03:04 9:00:31
3 Stevens, Amanda USA 0:51:15 4:57:32 3:05:47 9:01:27
4 Deckers, Tine BEL 0:59:15 4:50:19 3:14:03 9:08:29
5 Wassner, Laurel USA 0:52:51 5:03:11 3:07:27 9:09:47
6 Chura, Haley USA 0:49:35 4:58:29 3:20:47 9:14:03
7 Hufe, Mareen DEU 1:00:27 4:51:32 3:17:09 9:14:50
8 Thibodeau, Karen CAN 0:53:03 5:05:09 3:11:47 9:15:08
9 Lundstrom, Asa SWE 1:01:12 4:48:36 3:29:08 9:23:35
10 Borba, Ana BRA 1:01:08 5:11:49 3:23:44 9:42:27