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Canada’s Luke Dragstra and Australia’s Belinda Granger took emphatic
wins at the inaugural Orca Challenge Wanaka on New Zealand’s South
Island on Saturday.
Dragstra, fifth at Ironman Western Australia in early December and at
Ironman Wisconsin in September, took control of the race on the run
and held off a determined charge from Aussie Justin Granger to come
home in 8:54:17, less than two minutes ahead of Granger. In third was
Kiwi coach and Epic Camp veteran John Newsom in 9:05:58.
“I was just solid all the way through,” Dragstra said. “I really had
to fight the last couple of Ks because Justin was coming on and they
were giving me the splits. He kept getting closer and closer and I
just bit down the last four km.”
Dragstra, now training in coach Brett Sutton’s squad with the
Grangers and American Hillary Biscay among others, said he knew it
was going to be tough when Granger got close on the challenging
two-lap 42.2km run, which sweeps through town and along the Clutha
River on winding, hilly roads and forest trails: “I was actually
quite scared because I know the kind of athlete that he is. I knew it
was going to be a challenge the whole way.”
Dragstra was the second man out of the water more than two minutes
behind Kiwi Kieran Doe, who then charged to the front on the 180km
bike before eventually succumbing to the effects of lost training due
to a serious bike crash in late December and illness in the week
leading up to the race. He withdrew 81km into the bike.
While Dragstra and Granger came into T2 with less than a minute
between them, Granger said he just couldn’t close down the gap to his
training partner, who opened up his margin early in the run and by
the halfway point had gained about two minutes. “I went through the
first lap in 1:28 and finished up running three hours,” he said.
“It’s a very challenging course, a very honest course. It’s
spectacular.”
The Czech Republic’s Petr Vabrousek, who led into the run, was
disqualified during the race when it was learned he had worn webbed
gloves during the swim. The veteran Ironman athlete told organisers
he believed the gloves were permitted in Lake Wanaka’s 17-degree
waters.
Triathlon New Zealand considered Vabrousek's appeal to the
disqualification carefully and decided to impose a penalty equal to
10 percent of his swim time for use of the webbed gloves. But race
director Matt Tuck said he felt that use of equipment such as webbed
gloves was not in the true spirit of triathlon and exercised his
right to disqualify Vabrousek as per the rules of the race.
“It’s really disappointing that we had to disqualify Petr, but
Challenge Triathlon is all about values and spirit and that does not
encompass a breach of the rules as committed by Vabrousek,” Tuck said
after the race.
The Women
Granger — winner of Ironman Canada and eighth at Ironman Hawaii last
year — was the second woman out of the water behind the flying
Biscay, hitting land more than 3min behind the American. Biscay, the
second athlete overall out of the water, now owns the course record
with her 50:09 swim because Doe did not finish the race. Onto the
bike, Granger quickly moved ahead and soloed the tour of the rolling
hills through the Southern Lakes District, even encountering some
sheep in the road at about the 70km mark that she herded back into a
paddock.
“It’s tough,” Granger said of the course. “That’s why I came to do
this race; I knew it was going to be hard. It’s just the most scenic,
magnificent course.”
By T2 she had a gap of more than 13 minutes on Biscay, but Kiwi Karyn
Ballance had held her ground on the bike and was only another six
minutes in arrears and running strong. Ballance, who said she had
decided to come to Wanaka in an effort to erase a disappointing day
at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, had closed the gap down to
a minute by the halfway point of the run and crossed the finish line
more than four minutes ahead. Her 3:17 marathon was the day’s fastest
among the professional women.
At the finish, Ballance announced to the crowd that it would be her
last triathlon.
“I wanted to retire in Hawaii but this race came about and I was
still quite fit and so I just thought this was ideal for me,” she
said. “I’m really proud that I finished on a better note than
Hawaii.” Ballance, a podiatrist, won Ironman New Zealand in 2002 and
Ironman Western Australia in 2004 and has always held down a job or
been a student during her 14 years in triathlon. But she’s not giving
up sport entirely, saying she’ll now turn her attention to running
races.
Biscay, who at 28 completed six Ironman races last year, was most
recently second at Ironman Wisconsin in September. “I really wanted
very badly to be second today but there was nothing I could do,”
Biscay said. “Karyn was so strong.”
The first-year event had 80 individual starters and 40 relay teams
with crowds awaiting the last finishers at midnight and a fireworks
show. Tuck said he was thrilled with how the day turned out and hoped
the race would only continue to grow, a sentiment echoed by Quelle
Challenge Roth race director Felix Walchshöfer. “The organisation
and the support of the community and volunteers has far exceeded my
expectations,” he said.
The winners shared a prize purse worth 50,000 euros (US$65,380).
Relays
The relay teams event also drew some serious star power, with Aussie
Craig Alexander leading Team Orca to the top relay swim in 49:13,
nearly two minutes clear of popular coach and professional triathlete
Gordo Byrn, whose Epic Camp training week has wrapped up here in
Wanaka, with many athletes participating in either the whole race or
a relay.
Challenge France
Organisers of the international Challenge series also announced the
debut of a new race, the Challenge France, a half Ironman race to be
set in the Strasbourg region on 25 May 2008.
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