Ironman Arizona – April 13, 2008
Conditions: brutal
Temp (low – high): 63 – 94
Wind: 30+ mph
UV index: 9 / 10
Rel. Humidity (high – low) 23 – 4 %
Starters: 2027 – approx. 300 people who were registered no-showed; they must have seen the weather forecast
Finishers: 1689 – 17.5% attrition rate, the third highest in Ironman history
My place: 1115 – total time: 14:28:13
My age group: Male 55 – 59
I was 22 of 47 (8 Did Not Finish [DNF]) – I met my goal, to finish in the top half of my age group!
My splits:
Swim (2.4 miles) 1:22:36
Transition 1 15:26
Bike (112 miles) 6:56:45
Transition 2 12:35
Run (26.2 miles) 5:40:53
Total number of men and women older than me in the race – 71
Number of women in my age group – 3
Finishers – 2, one of whom was an Iowan
Total number of Iowans – 14
Finishers – 14
TJ Tollakson, from Des Moines, finished second overall, losing by 17 seconds to Jozef Major, from Hungary, who finished in 8:34:36. Defending champ, Rutger Beke, from Belarus, DNFed.
Fastest woman was Ericka Csomor, also from Hungary, who finished in 9:14:49, beating Ironman world champion Michelle Jones, from Australia, by about twelve minutes.
Oldest finisher, age 77, finished in 16 hours and 34 minutes (but no, the living legend, Frank Farrar, age 79, did not finish. At about 11 pm, with an hour left, he still had about nine miles to go, so he called it a night).
Strong winds blew all day, directly in our faces, as three times we made the twenty-five mile ascent up into the Salt River Indian Reservation. By late afternoon the winds had died down, but the heat took its toll as people staggered and dropped out of the “run.” After the sun set it was a bit cooler, but almost no one left could actually run. Everyone was “power-walking,” as best they could, jogging occasionally – it was hot and dry and the sun and wind earlier in the day was so punishing that most people were just trying to finish before the midnight deadline.
This race will be held again in November. It has been run four times now in April and it has always been hot and windy, so this year it is being run a second time, the weekend before Thanksgiving, and then going forward it will be on that weekend annually. I’m doing the race again in November 08 and I’ve already registered for the November 09 event. I’m also registered for Ironman Wisconsin, which this year will be on my birthday, in September.
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