ROTH, Germany—On a record-setting day in Roth, defending champion Yvonne Van Vlerken of the Netherlands took out a dramatic win that smashed triathlon legend Paula Newby-Fraser’s world record of 8:50:53 set here in 1994 with a scintillating 8:45:48.
And proving that the bar has been lifted to new heights in women’s triathlon, the second place woman—Hungary’s Erika Csomor—also came in under Newby-Fraser’s time, in 8:47:05. Third went to New Zealand’s Gina Ferguson, in only her second year of Ironman racing, in 8:57:18. Australia’s Belinda Granger, the 2005 champion, took fourth less than a minute behind Ferguson with fellow Aussie Rebekah Keat fifth in 9:02:34.
All this on a day that started out with steady rain that continued until the start of the marathon.
“I am so happy. I trained so hard and dreamt of a world record every night, but today with the weather it was so hard,” an ecstatic Van Vlerken said at the finish. “It was raining all the time and there was a lot of wind—but bye, bye, world record. I felt great.”
Van Vlerken and Csomor are rivals from their years racing duathlons and they marked each another all day. It started in the swim and they stayed within hailing distance on the bike and together pursued bike leader Granger, who started the run with more than eight minutes over the pair. After they made their way to the front the battle continued into the last 10km of the run, when Van Vlerken was finally able to open up a gap on Csomor, a frequent top five finisher here in Roth and winner earlier this year of Ironman Arizona.
“I really had a hard fight with Erika and I could hear her breathing, and I said ‘Yvonne, stay cool, stay cool, take it easy and run your own rhythm and if she overtakes then she’s just better.’ I really pushed hard,” the 29-year-old Van Vlerken said of the run. “I don’t know if I would have broken the world record if she wasn’t there, because she really pushed me.”
“The world record belongs to Roth and I hope it will last until next year when I can break it again if there are good conditions,” Van Vlerken said.
Csomor, for her part, said that Van Vlerken was never far from her mind in training—proof that the women are driving themselves to new heights in triathlon. “In the training camp for the last six weeks, Yvonne was the favourite topic,” Csomor said. “We kind of motivated each other. We knew she was training hard. And we are training hard in another place. We are pulling each other, not just in the race but during training.”
How it happened
On a morning that dawned with rain that kept coming until the marathon started for the leaders, many observers predicted slow times—but they were wrong.
First out of the water was legendary German long-distance star and superfish Ute Mückel, trailed by Keat and Granger, with American Hillary Biscay next out onto the bike course. Granger, known for her bike prowess here, then started opening up a gap on the rest of the women—by 70km she had 2:30, more than 6min at 120km, and 8min by T2.
Granger set out on the run with determination but the pursuit was relentless and by 9km Van Vlerken and Csomor had closed her lead down to one minute, then overtook her at about 15km. From there they drove one another to a pair of sub-three-hour marathons—2:54:22 for Van Vlerken and 2:55:54 for Csomor, a frequent top-five finisher in Roth and the winner of this year’s Ironman Arizona.
“It’s just amazing to come to a race and get pushed to your absolute limits,” said Granger. “At 37 years of age I don’t really expect to do PBs, and that’s a PB by 9 minutes so I’m really happy.
“Erika is a training partner of mine. It was really good to see her do so well. One world record’s pretty insane but two is out of this world.”
Ferguson, for her part, was just going as fast as she could with the goal of catching Granger, which she did with just 4km to go. "I was just giving everything to the end. I never race with a watch so I had no idea what the time was. I thought maybe I would do 9.10 today; 8.57 for me was really, really special."
“I’ve been in Ironman for one year,” she said. “To be under 9 hours—I never thought I’d be able to do this so I’m really happy.”
Other notes
Dagmar Matthes came home in eighth place in 9:30:14 and, as the first German finisher, won the German long course title. Mückel, unable to start in Roth last year after a bike crash, closed out her long distance career with a 13th place finish. The women’s firefighter world champion is now Caren Schröder of Germany in 11:44:21.
Inspired by Herbert
Many athletes raced on Sunday wearing black armbands that read “Danke Herbert” (“Thank you, Herbert”) in memory of longtime race director Herbert Walchshöfer, who died last October after a long illness and was beloved by competitors, race staff and volunteers alike. The new world record holder was just one—but she like many had a story to tell.
“Herbert was with me on the bike. My boyfriend put the band on the bike because he knows how scared I was on the bike in the rain and it gave me strength,” said Van Vlerken, who crossed the finish line with her armband raised in the air. “This year I definitely hurt more than I did last year. When I had pain I thought about Herbert and told myself to push myself and stop complaining because it is for sure that he had more pain than what I was going through. I was thinking of him all the time.
“I had a lot of people to run for today and it really helped.”
To learn more, visit www.challenge-roth.com.
Quelle Challenge Roth’s sponsors include: Quelle AG, Deutsche Post AG, N-ERGIE, Sponser, Sparkasse Mittelfranken-Süd, Bayrische Versicherungskammer, Erdinger Alkoholfrei, Wöhrl, Arndt, Fiegl & Konrad, Hofmann, Mavic, Nürnberger Nachrichten (Nürnberg Newspapers), County of Roth, City of Roth, City of Hilpoltstein, Pyraser, B&C, Arvena Hotels, Frankenbrunnen, Heinloth, Der Beck, Jura Kälte and Guttenberger & Partner.
RESULTS:
Quelle Challenge Roth - Roth, Germany; 13 July 2008 (3.8km/180km/42.2km)
1) Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 8:45:48 (53:47/4:54:11/2:54:22)
2) Erika Csomor (HUN) 8:47:05 (53:37/4:54:10/2:55:54)
3) Gina Ferguson (NZL) 8:57:18 (48:52/5:01:42/3:03:08)
4) Belinda Granger (AUS) 8:58:08 (48:49/4:50:24/3:15:10)
5) Rebekah Keat (AUS) 9:02:34 (48:55/5:08:12/3:03:42)
6) Hillary Biscay (USA) 9:24:19 (48:59/5:09:59/3:22:03)
7) Leanda Cave (GBR) 9:28:03 (53:02/5:13:17/3:17:59)
8) Dagmar Matthes (GER) 9:30:14 (53:46/5:16:19/3:16:27)
9) Eva Novakova (CZE) 9:38:35 (48:46/5:13:54/3:32:06)
10) Melanie Hohenester (GER) 9:40:49 (1:00:06/5:26:12/3:08:06)
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