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Records Tumble in Arizona

24 Nov 2008

Andreas Raelert, setting both a new run and overall course record who persevered for the win, blueseventy’s Lieto was second and Scarborough, NY resident Jordan Rapp came in for second. All of the top three pro men surpassed the previous course record set in 2006 by Michael Lovato. It was a first Ironman championship for Raelert of Germany.

blueseventy’s Joanna Zieger broke her own swim course record in her helix tst to lead the women out of the swim portion of the race, only 15 seconds down from the lead man! She continued to build the lead to just over six minutes onto the run, unfortunately the Boulder, CO resident was forced to withdraw part way through the run due to illness. Great Britain’s Leanda Cave took the lead and held it through twenty miles into the run when Heleen Bij De Vaate passed her for the lead. Bij De Vaate put her name in the record book, posting a 3:07:56 marathon to better the old mark. It was the first Ironman championship for the Dutch athlete.

Ford Ironman Arizona was held for the fifth time on Sunday, November 23, 2008 in Tempe, AZ. Athletes were competing for a $50,000 pro prize purse and 80 qualifying spots for the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. For more information go to http://www.ironmanarizona.com

Top Ten Men and Women
1.    Andreas Raelert     GER             8:14:16
2.    Chris Lieto           Danbury, CA     8:19:25
3.    Jordan Rapp         Scarborough, NY 8:19:45
4.    Jozsef Major         HUN             8:21:34
5.    Jan Raphael         GER             8:23:03
6.    Ben Hoffman         Durango,CO     8:24:13
7.    Paul Amey           Cardiff by Sea, CA 8:27:20
8.    Petr Vabrousek       CZE             8:28:09
9.    Frederik Van Lierde   BEL             8:34:34
10.  Chris Brown           CAN           8:39:18

1.    Heleen Bij De Vaate   NED           9:21:06
2.    Leanda Cave         GBR           9:25:07
3.    Edith Neiderfriniger   ITA           9:28:09
4.    Kim Loeffler           Colchester, VT 9:33:54
5.    Tove Wiklund         SWE           9:44:44
6.    Haley Cooper         Spokane, WA   9:45:59
7.    Ana Lidia Borba       BRA           9:48:03
8.    Camilla Lindholm     SWE           9:50:23
9.    Imke Schiersch       ESP           9:53:14
10.  Christine Fletcher     CAN           9:58:55