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October 2008
One week after Kona and back home Petr Vabrousek proved it must have been the heat - he tested his fitness in a marathon in 40 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Centigrade) and came out on top, finishing first in 2:48h. Bella is already preparing for IM Florida.
ITU athletes Filip Ospaly and Jan Zelustka finished up a very long season finishing 8th and 20th at the last ITU circuit race of the season in Lorient, France.
Bella Comerford finishes 7th, Stephen Bayliss 19th and Petr Vabrousek 32nd - Ironman Hawaii once again proves to be unpredictable.
Konstantin Bachor wins his first International race.
Becky Lavelle wins the Lifetime Fitness/Toyota Cup Series 2008.
She finds the hot conditions of Hawaii difficult but that didn't stop Bella Comerford to finish 7th in Kona this weekend:
 Photo and Interview: Ryan Bowd
Bella Comerford said “I am absolutely over the moon to have finished 7th at Hawaii. My goal was to finish top 10. Through the race I thought that might not be possible, but I kept my head together and dealt with the challenges that came to me. I was nervous coming into the race as I find the hot conditions difficult. But I feel that I conquered Hawaii!
Next year I will be back, and I believe I can improve on 7th.”
Bella's fiancee Stephen Bayliss, having had a brief stint in a Korean hospital due to blood poisoning just 3 weeks before Hawaii, didn't perform as well as he had hoped:
Stephen Bayliss said “ I had a good start and ended up in the main group behind the 3 leaders. I came out of the water in 9th and onto the bike with the main group. I didn’t quite have the power to stay with this group and had an average bike ride to coming off somewhere in the mid 20’s [later I learnt I was 30th]. I wanted to have a good run, but off the bike I felt pretty wasted with a very stiff back. I got going a bit and picked up a few places, but did not have the spring in my step that I have had in other races this year.
In the end I finished 19th, I came for the experience and didn’t expect any particular result but thought I may be able to scrapped a top 10, which would have been possible with a 2:50 run. It was not to be on this occasion. I have learnt a lot from this race and will be back next year fitter and stronger.”
Konstantin Bachor, German rookie professional, can celebrate his first international victory.
He just won the Spanish International Long Distance Championships on the beautiful island of Ibiza, Spain.
The 23-year old Konstantin finished the 4km swim, 120km bike ride and 30km run in 5:48:59h, leaving nobody even the slightest hope of beating him. Estlands Kirill Kotsegarov followed in second place 17 minutes later.
In the beginning of the race Bachor found himself in the leading group and decided after the first of four loops it was time to attack. Despite the very hilly course and hot day he averaged 40,5km/h and separated himself from the rest of the field for good; he never gave up his lead in the following run.
After some well deserved rest Bachor will start concentrating on South Africa on January 4th. This year he finished 4th and just missed the podium. "Next time I want to be ON the podium", he says.
More ways than one!
Pro athlete David Thompson found himself in a pickle last weekend, October 5th, in Dallas at the Toyota US Open when the race organization suddenly changed their position on allowing him to race with his soft cast (David broke his hand four weeks earlier). Unless he covered it up he couldn't race. He had nothing to cover it with, and the refs were giving him grief.
Fellow pro athlete and David's good friend Jordan Rapp solved the problem. The two made a makeshift sleeve out of a pair of Jordan's SLS3 compression sox, and the refs gave David the thumbs up to race.
Jordan and David placed 13th and 16th respectively. Fellow SLS3 athletes Brian and Becky Lavelle raced Dallas as well, finishing 14th and 6th in their respective category.
Thanks to Jordan Rapp for this awesome story, and thanks to YndeCam for the photo.
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September 2008
Just one week after the ITU World Championships in Almere, Netherlands, Petr Vabrousek finishes 12th at the ETU European Long Distance Champs in Gerardmer, France.
Bella Comerford and Stephen Bayliss reign supreme at Sherborne Castle with wins at IM UK.
Becky Lavelle wins 2 races in one week.
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Comerford and Bayliss win IM UK.
Scotland’s Bella Comerford and her fiancée Stephen Bayliss both fulfilled their pre-race pledges to have their best races of the year, destroying the field at the UK Ironman event in Sherborne, Dorset, England.
Both Comerford and Bayliss where ecstatic with their victories, their second wins at the same event since becoming engaged, with the first earlier this year at Ironman South Africa. On her win Comerford comments “I’m really thrilled, I gave it my all and it was fantastic. It was a hard race all alone at the front”.
She also gave the organisers credit for creating what she believes is the most challenging course on the Ironman circuit having said “This course was so tough and challenging, it is by far the hardest course I’ve done all year and I’ve done Lanzarote and Embrunman. It may even be harder than anything I’ve ever done.” |
Becky Lavelle - 2 victories in one week
Becky won the LA Triathlon and is now the women leader at the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon Series. Just 6 days later she races for the first time in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon, winning again ... making it 3 wins in a row. Her next race will be in Portland, OR, where she and Brian will race the US nationals.
Petr Vabrousek still isn't slowing down. Just one week after Almere he figured Gerardmer, France would be quite lovely this time of year. The ETU Long Distance European Championships happened to take place and Petr joined the race, coming in 12th.
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