Saturday Frederik Van Lierde obtained a 9th place at Ironman Texas, but it was his finishing time that made the eyebrows frown. Sub-8 hours and still only be 9th? Everybody had an opinion: 11 athletes stayed underneath the magical threshold and Starky even managed to bike his 180km in less than 4 hours! A short bike leg should be the culprit, which does not undo Matt Hanson's performance of winning in 7hr39'25 after a 2hr34' marathon.
Andrew Starykowicz went all in on the bike. The 4hr barrier is something all athletes aim for, but he beat it by 5 minutes! With a 3hr54'59 bikesplit on 180km he averaged 44,4km/hr. Several athletes mentioned the short bike course, some gps devices even noted up to 7km difference. Starky could not reap the benefits of his bikeleg however. Although starting with a strong lead, he only finished 8th.
Sam Gyde 22nd and winner in AG
Seppe Odeyn was the second Belgian pro in Texas. He lost over 15 minutes in the swim, a non-wetsuit event, but managed to make up some time on the bike. Finishing in 8hr30'07 he came 29th overall and 24th pro, which was behind Sam Gyde, who came 22nd and second of all age groupers. In 8hr21'39 he took a clear win in the M40 and has his ticket to Hawaii. Stefaan Devliegere, Seppe's trainer, was 8th in M45, Phil Saussus 10th M55.
"Frustration caused by stayering"
Tine Deckers also finished 9th, but it leaves a sour taste. Melissa Hauschildt took the win, followed by Jodie Robertson and Leslie Smith.
The female pros know they will be up for a chase when former swimmer Lauren Brandon is on the starting grid. Texas was no exception. Lauren opened hard and left Meredith Kessler second in the swim 5 minutes later. Tine already had an 11 minute gap to deal with. She could not make the difference in the background and entered T2 with the same gap. in the run Melissa Hauschildt took the lead and Tine managed to get a decent pace on during the first lap. The second lap was less evident, giving it all for that 9th place.
The race was scarred, mainly due to a massive and unpunished stayering. It leaves a sour taste for Tine: "I'm not the kind of person to search excuses in stayering when I had a bad race, but this time it was flagrant. I did not see one single referee during the whole race. Compact grupettos came braging over, but I chose not to cling on. Having to drop is a waste of energy: slowing down, accelerating, ... Everyone who raced fairly was punished by those who took the easy way out. I didn't have a super day, but there was more to be gained from this race. I managed to secure quite some Kona points, so my qualification will be obtained via coming 70.3 races."
Annabelle Pirotte got on the F30 podium as third, 24th overall female. Madeleine Vergauwen fifth F50, Cai Lesaffer 10th F50.
Original article posted on 3athlon.be by Hans Cleemput on 29/04/2018
Translation by @T0v3