Josh Tinson reports on a hot day of racing at Ironman China
It was another hot day of racing at the 2010 Ironman China, with Australia's Luke McKenzie and the American Amy Marsh each taking the lead early in the day and dominating from there to take the titles.
The morning started with relatively cooler conditions than 2008 & 2009 and a new swim course that provided some fast times. As the day progressed, the mercury soared, and a finish, let alone victory, was going to have to be earned through a long hard day at the office.
Australian Luke McKenzie had a day to forget at Ironman Malaysia two weeks ago, but turned it around today at Ironman China as he lead out of the swim and never looked back -- setting a new course record in the process.
Up against known Ironman champions such as Chris McCormack and Lothar Leder, the young Aussie held up and later increased his lead as many of his competitors fell away and pulled out of the race.
Towards the latter stages of the run, Hungarian Jozsef Major made a charge, but finished up too short, coming in ten minutes behind the eventual champion in McKenzie. Haikou, China is a long way from Madison, Wisconsin, but for Amy Marsh - who won Ford Ironman Wisconsin last September - they're both just as special as she took the women's crown here at Ironman China.
After coming out of the swim four minutes behind swim leader Maki Nishiuchi, Marsh caught up and then proceeded to storm ahead into the lead, and like McKenzie, didn't look back. And, like the men's event, Marsh faced a late charge from Nicole Leder, but the sixteen-minute deficit was too much for the German to overcome -- she would come in second place, ten minutes back.
View the image gallery of Ironman China 2010, race week and race day.
Men
1. Luke Mckenzie 8:41:15
2. Jozsef Major 8:52:29
3. Jens Groenbek 9:17:06
4. Shingo Tani 9:19:01
5. Mike SCHIFFERLE 9:30:16
6. Eneko Elosegui 9:31:46
7. Justin Granger 9:41:45
8. Hiroyuki Nishiuchi 9:43:57
9. Brandon Marsh 9:52:00
10. David Bentley 9:52:51
Women
1. Amy Marsh 9:52:45
2. Nicole Leder 10:02:58
3. Heidi Jesberger 10:08:52
4. Maki Nishiuchi 10:21:52
5. Shiao Yu Li 10:48:26
6. Amy Simonetta 10:55:09
7. Amy Gluck 11:07:15
8. Anna Baylis-Scheiderbauer 11:09:08
9. Rebecca Kynaston 11:17:00
10. Ali Croser 11:26:10
www.ironmanchina.com
www.ironman703china.com
Photo: Ironman China (C)
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