Triathlon: McCormack and Bentley make it three in a row in Australia

1541 competitors from around the world began a journey that, for some, lasted 15.5 hours in Forster-Tuncurry at the 2004 Snap Ironman Australia triathlon.

Perfect conditions greeted the athletes as they entered the calm waters of Wallis Lake, for the first time in the history of the event, without the aid of wetsuits. Due to the unusually warm water temperatures (24.9 degrees C) in NSW, Triathlon Australia enforced the no-wetsuit rule which saw the race start resemble an early 80's event before the wetsuit became a mandatory piece of equipment.

Missing from the race start was Germany's Lothar Leder who just 48 hours prior was joint favourite with hometown hero Chris McCormack. Within a few hours of being introduced to the thunderous crowd at the traditional Carbo party, Leder pulled his left calf muscle only metres from his hotel door whilst on a training run. Disappointment was simply not enough to describe Lothar's emotions with the realisation that the Show Down in Forster Town was no more. This left McCormack as clear favourite with the challenges expected to come from Chris Legh and Jason Shortis.

Lisa Bentley was confident she could continue her winning run at the Snap Ironman Australia triathlon with the knowledge her run leg was the strongest in the field. Expected to challenge Bentley with their superior bike riding were Australian duo, Belinda Granger and Kate Major.

First to exist the water in 49:05 was new full-time pro, Pete Jacob from NSW. After a fifth place at the New Zealand Ironman only four weeks prior, he showed no signs of fatigue. Side by side with Jacobs was 24-year-old age-group athlete Shane Gibbs in 49:05 followed closely by race favourite Chris McCormack in 49:17. Chris Legh ran into transition 1:20 down after having one of his best swims on the Forster course. The small time deficit gave Legh confidence that he was close to the leaders and confident in riding them down. Shortis was a further one minute back in 51:21 and was sure to be a factor the longer the bike ride went.

Granger led the females out of the water in a time of 54:16 with age-group athlete Melinda Mentha in second place. The swim of the day had to go to race favourite Lisa Bentley who, after a winter of specialist swim training, found herself existing the water in 54:41, in touch with her main rival. Kate Major would have some work to do after a poor swim saw her exist in 58:25, four minutes behind her Australian rival Granger.

Chris McCormack was quick to take the lead from the front and continue to put time small time gains into Chris Legh, who had now ridden himself into second. Between the 28- and 82-kilometre mark the time gap remained a steady three minutes separating the pair. Behind McCormack and Legh was Jason Shortis who was leading a group of five riders and managed to break away in the final stages. McCormack dug deep to increase his lead to 7:43 from Legh by the time they reached the bike-to-run transition. A further four minutes back was Shortis who had finally broken away from the group of riders that included Nick Saunders and Pete Jacobs.

After leading the swim Granger went from strength to strength and continued to put time between herself and her fellow competitors. By the time Granger entered the bike-to-run transition she had increased her lead to 10:20 over Marissa Robbins and 11:35 to the fastest runner in the field, Lisa Bentley.

It didn't take long for McCormack to stamp his authority on the race, setting off at a blistering 3:20-kilometre pace. Legh's back was causing him trouble early on the run after having to replace his cracked bike frame just the day before. Shortis was making up time on the run and got within 1:30 of Legh before Legh recovered and regained the time. McCormack was unchallenged after he increased his lead to 10 minutes and was holding it. The only trouble McCormack had was in the final five kilometres when leg cramps forced him to slow down for the first time all day.

McCormack hit the 15,000 strong crowd at Main Beach in Forster to cross the finish line in 8:18:11 after spending quality time in the chute celebrating with his fans. The crowd continued to rejoice as Chris Legh crossed in second place in 8:28:04, his best result since his Ironman win in Ironman California in 2000. Making for a clean Australian sweep, Jason Shortis ran through to take out third in 8:33:29.

A slimmer-looking Granger was running strong but couldn't manage to hold off the speed of the Canadian. Bentley flew into first place after the 29-kilometre mark and didn't look back before taking her third victory at the Snap Ironman Australia triathlon after a 3:01:51 marathon, with a total time of 9:03:28. Granger crossed the finish line in 9:10:37 to hold onto second place for a PB Ironman finish. After serving a 10-minute penalty, Kate Major finished strongly to move into third place finishing in 9:24:52.

1478 finishers were able to finish the Snap Ironman Australia triathlon including Andrew Stanfield from the KIDS Foundation. Andrew completed five Ironman-distance triathlons in five days and raised over $75,000 for the Foundation. After a rest day on Saturday, Andrew went on to complete his tenth Ironman triathlon at Forster crossing the line with KIDS Foundation founder Suzie O'Neill.

Results:

2004 Snap Ironman Australian Triathlon - TOP TEN MEN & WOMEN 
P NAME FROM   Cat Swim Ride S/Total Run TOTAL 
 WOMEN            
1 Lisa BENTLEY Caledon,Ontario CAN  Pro 0:54:41 5:06:54 6:01:36 3:01:50 9:03:27 
2 Belinda GRANGER Waverley,NSW AUS  Pro 0:54:16 4:54:51 5:49:08 3:21:28 9:10:36 
3 Kate MAJOR Noosa Heads,QLD AUS  Pro 0:58:25 5:13:09 6:11:35 3:13:16 9:24:51 
4 Marissa ROBBINS Caringbah,NSW AUS  Pro 0:57:33 5:02:58 6:00:31 3:34:27 9:34:58 
5 Nicole RUDAN Slacks Creek,QLD AUS  Pro 0:54:43 5:23:42 6:18:25 3:29:00 9:47:25 
6 Bella COMERFORD Tarland, Aberdeenshire SCO  Pro 0:59:28 5:16:26 6:15:55 3:33:25 9:49:20 
7 Sarah FIEN Higgins,ACT AUS  Pro 0:54:42 5:23:29 6:18:12 3:32:52 9:51:04 
8 Rebecca ROBB Toowoomba,QLD AUS  30-34 1:01:34 5:14:46 6:16:20 3:37:21 9:53:42 
9 Charlotte PAUL Erskineville,NSW AUS  30-34 0:59:54 5:32:48 6:32:43 3:23:14 9:55:58 
10 Edith KOSZTOVITS Adelaide,SA AUS  Pro 1:00:08 5:27:24 6:27:33 3:32:13 9:59:47 
              
 MEN            
1 Chris MCCORMACK Cronulla,NSW AUS  Pro 0:49:17 4:34:46 5:24:03 2:54:07 8:18:10 
2 Christopher LEGH Donvale,VIC AUS  Pro 0:50:39 4:41:14 5:31:54 2:56:08 8:28:03 
3 Jason SHORTIS Burleigh Waters,QLD AUS  Pro 0:51:21 4:45:03 5:36:24 2:57:04 8:33:28 
4 Pete JACOBS Terrey Hills,NSW AUS  Pro 0:49:05 4:51:52 5:40:58 3:01:51 8:42:49 
5 Damien ANGUS South Yarra,VIC AUS  30-34 0:54:21 4:49:00 5:43:21 3:06:34 8:49:56 
6 Uwe WIDMANN Hofheim,Hessen GER  Pro 0:50:54 4:52:18 5:43:13 3:08:10 8:51:23 
7 David MEADE Bendigo,ACT AUS  Pro 0:56:37 4:51:52 5:48:30 3:03:36 8:52:07 
8 Kevin CUTJAR Penticton,British Columbia CAN  Pro 0:54:46 5:00:47 5:55:33 2:57:55 8:53:29 
9 Justin GRANGER Waverley,NSW AUS  Pro 0:54:13 4:54:16 5:48:30 3:05:42 8:54:12 
10 Guido GOSSELINK Enschede,Overijssel NED  Pro 0:51:54 4:54:58 5:46:52 3:07:43 8:54:36