Forty-one year old Marino Vanhoenaker added a 17th IRONMAN title to his illustrious list with a hard-fought victory at IRONMAN Australia in Port Macquarie. The Belgian star went with the early move on the bike, held strong as the bungee cord stretched, and then withstood a challenge from eight-time IRONMAN winner Luke McKenzie to prevail for the first time in Australia.
Vanhoenaker went with a break in the one-lap swim with Kiwi Mark Bowstead, Casey Munro, and defending champion David Dellow opening a 3-minute buffer. As Munro and Dellow dropped, the remaining pair pushed on – with McKenzie commenting that their 3-min gap at 90kms was at a speed that was too fast. Bowstead’s new bike record of 4:29:08 enabled a 1:30 gap to Van Hoenaker and 5:30 to McKenzie on to the run. By 21 km, Bowstead’s charge faded and McKenzie’s prediction was beginning to ring true as he closed to 2 min from the lead. That was the closest he came; Vanhoenaker dug deep with a 2:54 marathon, enough for victory in 8:14:37. McKenzie took a proud second nearly 4 minutes back, with Bowstead scoring his first IRONMAN podium.
In the women's race, Annabel Luxford set the tone, exiting the swim with American Kelsey Withrow holding a massive 7 minute margin. By 90 km it was down to 5:40 before the defending champion Laura Siddall claimed the lead at the 145 km mark. Asthma issues accounted for Luxford’s day, leaving Siddall to charge ahead at the front. Her 4:56 bike put her 15 minutes faster than anyone else, and her 3:10 marathon, also the fastest of the day, clinched her win 24 minutes ahead of New Zealand’s Melanie Burke, and Withrow a further nine minutes in arrears.
Top 5 Pro Men
1 Vanhoenacker, Marino BEL 8:14:37
2 Mckenzie, Luke AUS 8:18:10
3 Mark Bowstead, Mark NZL 8:26:25
4 Shearer, Nathan AUS 8:29:13
5 Ambrose, Paul AUS 8:29:37
Top 5 Pro Women
1 Siddall, Laura GBR 9:05:58
2 Burke, Melanie NZL 9:29:49
3 Withrow, Kelsey USA 9:44:59
4 Visser, Elis NLD 9:56:31
5 Kiley, Renee AUS 9:58:13