IRONMANIA WEEK: The Final Wrap Up

By Barrie Shepley

IRONMANIA WEEK is coming to a close. Tomorrow, October 10th, is the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii! We’ve sized up the competition for both the men and women’s line up and think we can safely say that this year will be close race – to say the least!

2015 WILL HAVE THE DEEPEST TOP 10 MEN’S RACE EVER

Unlike 1989, when Mark and Dave were 20 minutes clear of third place at the Hawaii Ironman, the depth of the men’s field is so amazing that its very possible to have ten men, within 10 minutes of each other in the closest and deepest field in history. Its possible that the top 10 men, under good heat/wind conditions could all beat Mark Allen’s 8hrs 10 minute finishing from the iconic 1989 battle. The top men know that there is zero room for error if they want to be a threat for the podium. Canada has three men (Brent McMahon, Lionel Sanders and Jeff Symonds) who could all be in the top 10. It is the first time that the three Canadian men have eve raced in Kona.

We would also like to bring attention to the German’s growing reputation for the biking leg on the Ironman’s world stage. Let’s keep an eye out for them as well. Tomorrow’s second leg promises to be an exciting race!

A UNIQUE EDGE: GERMAN ASSULT RIDERS

It was the German’s who changed they way the bikes are now ridden in Kona with some of the most ridiculously fast bike splits in history. Over a 15 year period of time, a number of Germans  (Thomas Hellrigell in 1997, Norman Stadler,in 2004 and 2006, Faris Al-Sultan in 2005 Sebastian Kienle 2014 have changed the race by riding 41-42km per hour in the heat, wind and humidity of the Hawaii Ironman course.

This year Nils Fromhold, Jan Frodeno and last year’s champion Sebastian Kienle are all capable of going after the bike record. Don’t forget Belgium’s Frederik Van Lierde and Canada’s Lionel Sanders who can all ride a bike very fast.