Langkawi Ironman, Race Day

February 28, 2009

Since I’d already posted my prelim report on the Langkawi Ironman, I figured I might as well post my raceday report. Again, if any of you journalisty types read this, do let me know how I’m doing. Here’s the report:

The Langkawi Ironman kicked off this morning at 7.30 and saw 44 professional athletes from 13 countries taking on the waters of Langkawi, followed 15 minutes later by 600 odd amateur ironmen. Some 40 minutes later, the first breakaway group of 5 swimmers were spotted on the return leg of the 3.8km swim course a good 5 minutes ahead of the rest of the pack. It was 2 time Langkawi Ironman champ, Brian Rhodes, who set the pace getting onto his bike first followed by Luke McKenzie of Australia, Japanese Olympian Hiroyuki Nishiuchi, Canada’s Matt Ohalloran  and Brazilian Olympian Reinaldo Colucci.

The second batch of athletes out the water saw Japan’s Maki Nishiuchi being the first of the women to head on to the second leg of the competition; the 180km Bike course. She was followed closely by defending champion Belinda Granger. The bike course has been changed a bit this year incorporating one big loop of the island followed by three smaller loops and features a few challenging hills that made the final lap or two a bit of an obstacle for many, but didn’t so much as faze the pros.

The first Amateur, or Age Grouper out the water was Japan’s Hirotsugu Kuwabara, and our very own Frankie Ambrose was the first Malaysian to head to the second leg after completing the swim course in just under an hour.

It proved to be quite an exciting second leg as Luke Mckenzie,Bryan Rhodes  and Reinaldo Colucci took turns up front, with Luke taking lead after 30km. They were trailed closely, no more than 5 minutes behind, by Hiroyuki Nishiuchi, Mathieu Ohalloran, and Brian Fuller. Although Maki Nishiuchi paved the way for the women’s category, Belinda Granger who is very comfortable on the bike soon took the lead in the cycling stage, with Maki tailing her closely and Dona Phelan of Canada just 5 minutes behind. This picture stayed pretty much the same until the halfway mark, when for the first time, it wasn’t Luke McKenzie leading the race, but former Olympian Reynaldo Colucci. McKenzie didn’t let him get very far though, as 10 kilometers down the line, he regained pole position.

Of course, everyone was aware that cycling happens to be 2 time Langkawi Ironman Bryan Rhodes’ favourite discipline, and he showed it at the 140km mark, when he broke away, leaving behind Luke McKenzie and reinaldo. In the meantime, The Belinda show seemed to roll on as Granger widened the gap of her lead with each passing kilometer. And at the 170km mark, Donna Phelan overtook Maki to be in second spot.

The placings from the cycling stage didn’t change much in the transition to the final leg of the competition, the 42.2 km marathon. But about 5 km thru the run, Luke McKenzie who’d won the japan Ironman last year, decided he couldn’t have Bryan Rhodes showing him up with a hattrick Ironman win and pulled away to lead the pack. Luke McKenzie and Belinda Granger were scorching the track in their categories respectively, with Bryan Rhodes and Donna Phelan playing catch up. Donna Phelan couldn’t maintain her pace, and was soon overtook by German Nicole Leder, while Maki Nishiuchi regained second place. Leder soon destroyed the tarmac however, with a blazing run and took second place behind overall leader in the women’s, Belinda Granger. About 20 minutes before the first competitor was due at the finish line, rain started pouring. But Luke McKenzie made a quick call to the clouds saying “I’m not done yet!” and the rain promptly stopped, clearing the skies for McKenzie and a victorious Langkawi Ironman championship in the Australian’s hand. He clocked 8 hours 26 minutes and dashed the hopes of a hattrick for Bryan Rhodes, who came in 6 minutes later, followed by Brian Fuller of Australia, who was in the leading pack all the way. A little over an hour later, defending champion Belinda Granger proved that she still is THE Langkawi Ironman as she broke the course record and clocked in an impressive 9 hours and 21 minutes, 8 minutes faster than her previous record. 15 minutes later, Leder arrived, clocking in at 9 hours and 36 minutes. Japanese Maki Nishiuci completed her ironman at third place, in just over 10 hours. And our very own Iron Man, Jasmi Sarael became the first Malaysian Iron man to finish the race, clocking 10 hours and 6 minutes. Each of the top winners take away 8500 usd in prize money, out of a total of 50000 usd in prize money for this, the 10th edition of the iron man langkawi. We’ll look forward to another edition of the toughest show on earth next year.

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