Mary Beth Ellis – 2015 Ironman Mont-Tremblant Champion.
She’s just a winner. Yesterday’s Ironman presented every conceivable obstacle for Mary Beth to have a bad day. Trained to dog tired condition, she raced Alpe D’Huez two weeks ago, which in itself was a follow up to her runner’s up position at Ironman Zurich. A plane trip, a change of time zones, no sleep the for two days as we arrived late as we could. Lesser human beings would have just raced this one for training. However they’re not the Honey Badger. When the gun goes off it doesn’t just start the race – it defines what MBE is, was and always will be: ‘The ultimate competitor’.
A little over 9-hours of giving it every thing she had. And when her body said no more? She just dug deeper and did what very few can do – improvise and overcome. Make no mistake Mary Beth is a born winner and is going to finish her career with Ironman Titles into the double figures.
Third place for Carina Brechters at the Allgäu Triathlon Half Distance.
This weekend I was also very happy with Carina’s second attempt at the Half Ironman distance. We are working towards teaching her to ride a bike like the big dogs do. This takes time, effort and commitment. She is now showing the latter two. Time will tell if she has what it takes to do that for three years.
Recap from Coach Jo Spindler:
Embrun, France – Andrej Vistica’s already impressive 2015 season continued today with a fantastic win at the 32nd edition of Embrunman.
In addition to it’s long tradition Embrunman is famous for it’s very difficult course. With more than 3800m of ascents on the 186km bike leg and a run course that is far from easy, this race is formidable and known as the toughest iron distance event in the world. The race has cult status not only among French triathletes.
As per tradition the race started at 6:00h, in complete dark. For the first 20 minutes participants need to follow a boat with a light reflector. Vistica exited the water with Victor del Corral and with a 3 minute gap to lead group with all the main favorites.
After the first 40km of the bike ride Vistica caught the lead group and went for a solo break. His lead grew steadily and he reached second transition with 6 min lead to James Cunnama, 9 min to del Corral, while all others had double-digit gap. The ride was made even harder by the rain that started on top of Col d’Izoard. The temperature on the top was only 5 degrees Celsius.
Although Andrej’s lead was reasonable, the race was far from decided. Both Cunnama and del Corral are known as very strong runners. In the first 3km Cunnama took a minute out of his gap and it looked like a matter of time that he would take the lead. However, by the half-way point Cunnama only managed to get another 45s closer and then Andrej’s lead started growing again. At the end, Vistica added fastest run split (2:53h) to his fastest bike split and won the race with a huge margin of 12 minutes to Victor del Corral and James Cunnama.
At the finish line, Andrej was very pleased with his effort:
“This is my best race performance so far! I’m very happy! Coached by Jo Spindler, I spent the last 4 weeks in St. Moritz preparing for this race in Brett Sutton’s group and it obviously paid off.”
Men’s podium: James Cunnama, Andrej Vistica and Victor del Corral.
At the German Allgäu Triathlon (Olympic distance) our Philipp Gubler placed 2nd in his age group, beaten only by Sebi Kienle. Philipp placed 6th overall only a few seconds behind Faris al Sultan who came in 5th!
Steffen Warias raced ICan Nordhausen in Germany. The gourmet chef from Merseburg raced hard and the work paid of with a 3rd place in his Age Group. He had a solid swim and bike and at the end he hammered the half marathon in 1:36h which ended up in a 4:57h total. After a broken collarbone we’re looking forward to his first long distance at Cologne226 since 3 years now.
Thomas Schäfer second at the ICan Nordhausen.
Finally, our para cyclist Thomas Schäfer raced the ICan Nordhausen as well but only in his parade discipline: cycling. Thomas team achieved the 2nd place in the relay category. He hammered the bike and had the 2nd fastest bike split of 2:10 over 90km of the day. Well done to all our athletes competing today.
Recap from Coach Bella Bayliss:
I feel happy and I have a big smile on my face today because we had some very, very good performances this weekend. The winning will come when these people work as hard as they do.
This weekend Esther and Victor were our role models for the kids at TriActiv Lanzarote.
Victor del Corral: Runner’s Up at Embrunman.
I have competed in tough races all over the world, but having also raced Embrunman many times I know it is one of the hardest iron distances out there. Starting the swim in the dark at 6am, a 190km ride up and down the French Alps including the Col d’Izoard which is over 2300m, then the marathon up and down the hills of the village of Embrun. Victor has been dealing with an annoying niggle in his ankle since Ironman UK, so although we had planned to go to Embrun we knew the ankle may make the race difficult. He had a very good swim and bike, finishing the bike in 3rd place ahead of race favourite, Marcel Zamora. After 18km on the run his ankle began to get sore and difficult but he kept his concentration, he ran 2.56 with the bad foot, passing James Cunama to come 2nd! Congratulations Andrej Vistica who was the champion of the day with a great race. On the podium were all athletes who have been helped by Brett or by Brett’s coaches!
Esther Rodriguez 2nd at TriNautico sprint distance.
I took Esther Rodriguez on at the beginning of the summer, I am very happy to be working with Esther because she is a gutsy and hard working girl, but in the need of being pointed in the right direction with some solid training. I am really enjoying seeing Esther take this training on board and getting stronger by the day. I work with Esther at Sands Beach, she helps me with the kids training so we are a little Team. TriActiv Lanzarote continues to go from strength to strength.
Esther came 2nd at the TriNautico sprint triathlon on Lanzarote yesterday, after a solid swim bike and run. She was a great role modal for all our juniors also racing. Now we continue with the training for her upcoming Spanish Championships and 70.3 Lanzarote.
James Mitchell raced the same sprint triathlon. After some injury problems it was lovely to see him enjoy the afternoon race with no problems. Hollie Craddock racing also back on track after some recent injuries.
Mia Leadbeater raced the adult sprint race continuing to show her hard work and dedication to us all. Congratulations Mia on your great race. Marcos Knight, Jorge Wilkes, Adrián Rodríguez Hernández, Juanma all raced the kids race showing us all how it is done. Well done all of you. Lots more to come from all of you and I’m very proud of you all,
Aya Stevens came 4th at the Slovakian Mountain Bike Championships as training in preparation for the upcoming Xterra UK! Richard Newey smashed his 50mile TT pb by 4 minutes in England while he continues to prepare for 70.3 Worlds then Hawaii. Great work Richard.
Recap from Coach Susie Langley:
Mariana winning the 10km event at the Maratona de Santa Catarina.
Congratulations to Mariana Andrade for another win this week, this time in the 10km event at the Maratona de Santa Catarina. Sharpening up the run legs before heading to Challenge Maceio next week.
Jessie Donavan and Anne Basso both raced at Ironman Mont Tremblant. Jessie rode very strongly through the field and fought on hard to secure a 6th place finish.
Anne performed consistently across all 3 disciplines and finished in 11th place. Encouraging signs for both women.
Trisutto.com team member, Trevor Desault, representing the boys in Canada also finished a solid 6th. Great job guys.
Recap from Coach Luis Villavicencio:
So proud of our Squaddie Lottie Riddle who in her 3rd Half Ironman distance has achieved something very special. She did a great job doing a PB and winning her Age Category! Well done Lottie, very happy for you.
Recap from Coach Robbie Haywood:
Gisela Reichmuth was 1st place in her category!
Well done to two of my Swiss athletes racing this weekend in cool and wet conditions in Switzerland and Germany.
Sandy Benz was 1st place female overall in the Rhyathlon at St Gallon, a local sprint triathlon. A training race for Sandy, as she prepares for the ITU World Championships in Chicago in September.
Gisela Reichmuth was 1st place in her category, and 6th female overall at the Allgäu sprint triathlon in German. A good results off the back of Ironman training this season
Well done to all of our athletes competing this weekend.
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